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planktonpey's review against another edition
3.0
popsugar 2022 - a book that takes place during your favorite season
wheatengator's review against another edition
3.0
YA book. Lots of "issues" are dealt with. It's a horse book.
eupomene's review against another edition
4.0
What a treat to find a horse book like this -- I would have loved this when I was 12 or 13 and taking riding lessons. Francie is the daughter of the stable manager at a high-class riding stable, and she works as a groom to be able to ride and train there. The story begins as she heads into her last chance to ride as a junior at Madison Square Garden. Training brings her conflict at school, a very cool love interest, a fairly abusive trainer and the usual "mean girl" who is also an excellent rider. If you grew up reading books like The Monday Horses, Summer Pony, Last Junior Year -- heck, anything with the horse symbol on it at the library, then you will really enjoy this one.
anna_catherman's review against another edition
3.0
The Perfect Distance strikes a rare balance of Young Adult fiction with horses that isn't insufferably annoying, inaccurate, and/or not horsey enough. It's a bit heavy on the romance, and there's some rebellious teenager stuff I could've done without, but overall this was a fun, interesting book that left me with things to think about. Francie was a likable character, and all the supporting cast was, too-even Tara was more human than most "snotty rich girl" types in horse books. It's a nice, breezy read that nevertheless had me rooting for Francie, Katie, Gwenn, Colby, and their horses, and sad for them when things didn't work out. The horse stuff was well-portrayed, too, giving enough characterization to the horses in the book, while also fairly accurately describing the riding and care without talking down to the reader too much or feeling like an info dump. And the ending. Oh, the ending! I won't spoil it, but suffice it to say it upends the cliches in all the right ways and was honestly one of the best parts of the book.
(3.5* rounding down to 3* due to the amount of crass/crude content, not overbearing, but a little too much for my taste)
(3.5* rounding down to 3* due to the amount of crass/crude content, not overbearing, but a little too much for my taste)
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