Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Girls and their Horses

This is not a genre I usually read, but there was a horse on the cover so of course I was interested. Which is pretty ironic considering the book and it’s opinion of horse girls (I personally consider this to be a gender neutral title at least for myself, I am still a horse girl even though I’m not a girl).

The murder mystery aspect was interesting enough to keep me going and finish it, but I didn’t like any of the characters or particularly care about any of their individual storylines.

I was thoroughly entertained by the description of barn culture though.

Content Warnings

natalieba's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A super propulsive, fun/absurd read. I’m undecided about the ending and some parts just didn’t track for me, but I did look forward to picking this up while reading and it would be great for a beach/vacation read. Looking forward to talking about this with my bookish buddy who loves these kinds of books.

Content Warnings

mysterymom40's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book isn’t really about the glamorous world of rich moms putting their daughters through the elite world of competitive horse riding- that’s just the stage on which we see the challenges of family and growing pains play out on.
While there is a mystery- who is dead and why is a threaded needle piercing through the whole story, so you can’t forget about it, the story is more about people searching for family and belonging. There are two moms and their respective daughters at the center of the story. Each is struggling to find their place in the world and to receive the kind of care they need in order to feel like a whole person. It’s steeped with generational trauma and questions about what kind of happiness money can buy.

The ending makes it feel a little bit slice of life- some things are figured out, some threads are tied off, but the futures of the women and girls feel uncertain and deeply malleable.
An interesting ride for this non-horse world person.

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