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emp1234's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. First of all, if I picked this one up and hadn't recently finished Chosen by a Horse (which I liked very much), there's no WAY I would have finished it. IMO, this is not a stand-alone book - unless you really dig reading about what small book tours are like. I only enjoyed it as much as I did because I felt I knew the author's backstory and how far she'd come. Do yourself a favor. Read her first book and then if you really love it, grab this one.
leia_lynn's review against another edition
2.0
I have three main beefs with this book. Maybe four.
Firstly—this book has little to nothing to do with Chosen by a Horse. Which would be fine, if it weren’t deliberately titled to invoke that book. I enjoyed that one, with some reservations. This one I did not. Which leads me to—
Secondly—this woman cannot be grateful for anything. She got her book blurbed on Oh!, but it was too small and didn’t have a picture. Her publisher sent her on a book tour, but the turnout wasn’t as good as Richards expected. It’s incredibly irritating to read about an author who wrote a book that was more successful than she could’ve imagined, but at the same time, was constantly griping about how things weren’t good enough. I realize this is probably a symptom of her anxiety, but I couldn’t get past the lack of self-awareness here.
Thirdly—she paints her relationship with Dennis Stock in a very romantic light, despite some glaring issues. He announces a major relationship step to everyone without talking to Richards first. He agrees with her about how to approach an event, and then wheedles her away from everything they agreed upon afterward. He has no apparent sense of personal boundaries, touching people’s faces whom he’s never met, and is just all-around an annoying human being. Richards portrays him as this daring, romantic man, but even then the reader can clearly trace controlling behaviors. Also, she decides at one point to stay with him because she sees two bald eagles flying together, because “it was a sign.” WHAT?
Fourth(ly?)—this is more a meandering memoir with no overarching premise. The first half is mostly about the success of Chosen by a Horse, the second half mostly about the relationship with Dennis. Interspersed throughout are anecdotes about the family she remembers, some animal stories, and just so much overthinking. Once again, this is probably a product of the author’s self-professed anxiety, but it made for a self-involved narrator who had no self-awareness and whose self-reflection was nothing short of irritating.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. There are charming moments, to be sure, but watching Richards repeat the same mistakes toward men (overthinking to the point she checks out of a relationship, being too accommodating, which at one point she shows how she broke away from that and then goes right back to doing it, making commitments with partners that she is ambivalent about) is so frustrating.
Tl;dr: Read Chosen by a Horse and stop there.
Firstly—this book has little to nothing to do with Chosen by a Horse. Which would be fine, if it weren’t deliberately titled to invoke that book. I enjoyed that one, with some reservations. This one I did not. Which leads me to—
Secondly—this woman cannot be grateful for anything. She got her book blurbed on Oh!, but it was too small and didn’t have a picture. Her publisher sent her on a book tour, but the turnout wasn’t as good as Richards expected. It’s incredibly irritating to read about an author who wrote a book that was more successful than she could’ve imagined, but at the same time, was constantly griping about how things weren’t good enough. I realize this is probably a symptom of her anxiety, but I couldn’t get past the lack of self-awareness here.
Thirdly—she paints her relationship with Dennis Stock in a very romantic light, despite some glaring issues. He announces a major relationship step to everyone without talking to Richards first. He agrees with her about how to approach an event, and then wheedles her away from everything they agreed upon afterward. He has no apparent sense of personal boundaries, touching people’s faces whom he’s never met, and is just all-around an annoying human being. Richards portrays him as this daring, romantic man, but even then the reader can clearly trace controlling behaviors. Also, she decides at one point to stay with him because she sees two bald eagles flying together, because “it was a sign.” WHAT?
Fourth(ly?)—this is more a meandering memoir with no overarching premise. The first half is mostly about the success of Chosen by a Horse, the second half mostly about the relationship with Dennis. Interspersed throughout are anecdotes about the family she remembers, some animal stories, and just so much overthinking. Once again, this is probably a product of the author’s self-professed anxiety, but it made for a self-involved narrator who had no self-awareness and whose self-reflection was nothing short of irritating.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. There are charming moments, to be sure, but watching Richards repeat the same mistakes toward men (overthinking to the point she checks out of a relationship, being too accommodating, which at one point she shows how she broke away from that and then goes right back to doing it, making commitments with partners that she is ambivalent about) is so frustrating.
Tl;dr: Read Chosen by a Horse and stop there.
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