Here is a Debut novel by a very promising author. I saw a review for this book in a magazine and online and couldn't resist posting the details. I feel like I have to check out this book now! I know nothing about horses and funny enough I am hosting a "Wild West" dance at my school tomorrow night. I have been running around all week wrangling up some straw and hay for decorating and still do not know the real difference between the two. This should be a fun Friday night.
Giddyup!
About the Author:Aryn Kyle graduated from the University of Montana writing program. In 2004 her short story Foaling Season, now the first chapter of this novel, won a National Magazine Award for Fiction for The Atlantic Monthly. Kyle spent most of her childhood in Grand Junction, Colorado, and now lives in Missoula, Montana. (www.ereader.com)
From the Publisher
When her older sister runs away to marry a rodeo cowboy, Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family's troubles -- a depressed, bedridden mother; a reticent, overworked father; and a run-down horse ranch. As the hottest summer in fifteen years unfolds and bills pile up, Alice is torn between dreams of escaping the loneliness of her duty-filled life and a longing to help her father mend their family and the ranch.
taken from: http://www.barnesandnoble.com
an excerpt from: http://www.ereader.com/
"My father was being kind when he said I didn't have the temperament for showing, because what he meant was that I didn't have the talent. I couldn't remember to smile and keep my heels down and my toes in and my elbows tight and my back straight all at the same time. When I focused on smiling, I dropped my reins, and when I thought about sitting up straight, my feet slipped out of the stirrups. My father said that he needed me more outside the ring anyway, but I saw how it was. We had a reputation to maintain and a livelihood to earn. In the end, I wasn't good for business."
