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rivmnoke's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
weird ass relations
peaknit's review against another edition
4.0
My day job is dealing with sex offenders, so I expect I saw the lead character as less of a vixen and more of a victim. She wanted to seem so in control of her choices, but young girls so rarely really are.
niremeyer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Book on CD read by Adina Verson
In 1930, fifteen-year-old Thea Atwell is sent from her Florida home by her parents to a boarding school in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to remove her from a scandal that has rocked her family’s foundations. It’s the early part of the Great Depression, but the residents at Yonahlassee Riding Camp for Girls are from the kinds of wealthy families that will generally survive and even prosper during this time. Isolated from home, they form their own societal norms, and Thea struggles to find her place.
The story is told in alternating time frames: the events leading up to the scandal, and the events at the school during Thea’s year at Yonahlossee. The reader watches Thea grow from a tomboy to a curious pre-teen, to a sexually charged young woman. As she related what is happening and how she feels about everything, I found myself worried for this emotionally distant girl, who seemed unable to control her impulses or to recognize the potential consequences of her actions.
One thing that bothers me:
Adina Verson does a fine job of voicing the audio book. Her detached, almost monotone, delivery really gives me a sense of Thea’s loneliness and struggle.
In 1930, fifteen-year-old Thea Atwell is sent from her Florida home by her parents to a boarding school in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to remove her from a scandal that has rocked her family’s foundations. It’s the early part of the Great Depression, but the residents at Yonahlassee Riding Camp for Girls are from the kinds of wealthy families that will generally survive and even prosper during this time. Isolated from home, they form their own societal norms, and Thea struggles to find her place.
The story is told in alternating time frames: the events leading up to the scandal, and the events at the school during Thea’s year at Yonahlossee. The reader watches Thea grow from a tomboy to a curious pre-teen, to a sexually charged young woman. As she related what is happening and how she feels about everything, I found myself worried for this emotionally distant girl, who seemed unable to control her impulses or to recognize the potential consequences of her actions.
One thing that bothers me:
Spoiler
Does no one recognize the predatory nature of the men/boys involved? Both Georgie and Henry take advantage of Thea. Even though she is an apparently willing partner, she is vulnerable due to her age, isolation and lack of experience.Adina Verson does a fine job of voicing the audio book. Her detached, almost monotone, delivery really gives me a sense of Thea’s loneliness and struggle.
vegprincess's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. This book is slow, much more character-driven than plot-driven. It's also fairly dark and depressing. While reading it I could feel the gloom of it, like a dark cloud hanging over me. The book is filled with characters who aren't very likable, who are dysfunctional and do awful things. My stomach feels sick thinking of what they did. The book was well-written, though, but I thought it would be better than it was.
dina_honour's review against another edition
3.0
There was a lot to like in this book. Good, complex characters. Lovely, descriptive passages and settings. Well drawn relationships of a girl coming of age (a particular obsession of mine of late). And yet….it was overly repetitive to me. I felt like I kept getting the same realizations over and over, just with a slightly different setting and because of it, I would lose interest. Still worth a read, especially if you like horses or coming of age stories.
icalyn_13's review against another edition
4.0
I saw this book on a website that was talking about the must read books of the year, and when I read the brief summary it had for the book, I added it to my 'to read' list. Then I had to wait to get it from the library for several weeks....and in that time, I was shocked to see the overall rating for this book plummeted. I saw reviews talking about Thea being annoying and whiny, and that there was too much horse riding in it.
I seriously don't know if those people read the same book.
OK - let's address a few things. First, the book title indicates it's about a riding camp. Second, Thea is a 15 year old girl that has led an isolated life that is suddenly in a dorm with other girls as the Great Depression is starting. What did you expect?
This book is vividly written - you can feel the characters and understand them. The pieces of the story of why Thea has been sent away are slowly revealed, which can be frustrating, but it is ultimately good writing.
This book was not what I expected, but honestly: I liked it. It had some history, it had some mystery and intrique, and it had young love with mistakes and confusion. It's not a light fluffy read, but worth picking up.
I seriously don't know if those people read the same book.
OK - let's address a few things. First, the book title indicates it's about a riding camp. Second, Thea is a 15 year old girl that has led an isolated life that is suddenly in a dorm with other girls as the Great Depression is starting. What did you expect?
This book is vividly written - you can feel the characters and understand them. The pieces of the story of why Thea has been sent away are slowly revealed, which can be frustrating, but it is ultimately good writing.
This book was not what I expected, but honestly: I liked it. It had some history, it had some mystery and intrique, and it had young love with mistakes and confusion. It's not a light fluffy read, but worth picking up.
badpriestess's review against another edition
1.0
I took this book with me on a trip to the gorgeous Tennessee mountains. Looking at the cover, doesn’t it look like it would be a perfect pick for such an environment? First of all, I LOVE the idea of summer camp. I feel that not enough books about summer camp exist for adults. From the cover and the description, I was expecting an exciting and lively adventure at camp with vibrant characters and a lush, green setting. I was so ready to dive right into this world, where young girls are walking arm-in-arm and growing up together for a summer, having new experiences and becoming friends for life. You don’t get any of that with this book, by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, you get a lackluster setting that has no excuse to be lackluster (THE SETTING SHOULD BE GORGEOUS. THERE IS NO EXCUSE. IT SHOULD BE DESCRIBED OUT THE ASS BUT IT’S NOT. IT’S BORING AND WASHED-OUT, LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS BOOK), supporting characters you can’t bring yourself to care about one way or the other, a plot that just meanders and doesn’t even try to get exciting beyond icky sexual encounters, and the basest, most selfish, most unfeeling and out-for-herself main character I’ve read about in a long time. Thea freaking Atwell, I am talking about you. Run and hide, girlfriend, because more than once I envisioned smacking you on the head with the very book you’re in.
So, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out right off the bat that there’s tenseness in the Atwell family, probably having to do with Thea, primarily. I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I am going to say that THEA RUINS HER ENTIRE FAMILY 4 LYFE. Her parents and her twin brother, Sam, are never the same after what goes down; thus the whole sending her to camp deal. Because Goodreads lumps this book in the “coming-of-age” category, I was hoping some kind of coming-of-age would happen. Maybe Thea would grow as a person and return to her parents a shining model citizen? Yeah, no. She’s the same nasty, horny brat that she was in the beginning. She doesn’t come to terms with what she did wrong. She doesn’t say she’s sorry. She doesn’t reflect on her part in what happened, or what she could have done differently. SHE DOESN’T EVEN SEEM TO THINK SHE DID ANYTHING WRONG. Being sent to camp should have been the first clue that she did something bad (actually, she should have known that what she did was wrong as she was doing it, yet here we are). That’s why I can’t stand her character. From start to finish, she is completely out for herself, pouty, and unwilling to even act human! Yet for some reason, she makes all these friends at camp? Are you kidding? SISSY, RUN AWAY. THEA IS A TERRIBLE PERSON. (I wish one of her horses had sat on her head and put us all out of our misery).
Thea is the biggest problem I have with this book. But there are other pieces of poop smeared all over this book that need mentioning. The only characters that even semi-intrigued me were Leona and Sissy (really, that’s only because I imagined Leona as Daenerys Targaryen). Everyone else was bland, bland, bland. None of the characters acted like someone would in real life. NONE. I also found that the author would spring new characters on me without introducing them? I had to backpedal a couple times to see if they were introduced earlier, but nope. We’re just supposed to know who they are, I guess.
Honestly, the more I think about this book, the more I hate it. I gave it 2 stars at first, because I did like the writing style for the most part. That’s too generous. 1 star, bitch. Nobody should read this book. It was terrible. Icky sex, god-awful characters, and a bland setting. Really, the only good thing I can say about this book is that it had an ominous tone to start, before we discover the reason Thea is at camp. I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here to find a tiny sliver of goodness. So glad this was from the library.
So, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out right off the bat that there’s tenseness in the Atwell family, probably having to do with Thea, primarily. I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I am going to say that THEA RUINS HER ENTIRE FAMILY 4 LYFE. Her parents and her twin brother, Sam, are never the same after what goes down; thus the whole sending her to camp deal. Because Goodreads lumps this book in the “coming-of-age” category, I was hoping some kind of coming-of-age would happen. Maybe Thea would grow as a person and return to her parents a shining model citizen? Yeah, no. She’s the same nasty, horny brat that she was in the beginning. She doesn’t come to terms with what she did wrong. She doesn’t say she’s sorry. She doesn’t reflect on her part in what happened, or what she could have done differently. SHE DOESN’T EVEN SEEM TO THINK SHE DID ANYTHING WRONG. Being sent to camp should have been the first clue that she did something bad (actually, she should have known that what she did was wrong as she was doing it, yet here we are). That’s why I can’t stand her character. From start to finish, she is completely out for herself, pouty, and unwilling to even act human! Yet for some reason, she makes all these friends at camp? Are you kidding? SISSY, RUN AWAY. THEA IS A TERRIBLE PERSON. (I wish one of her horses had sat on her head and put us all out of our misery).
Thea is the biggest problem I have with this book. But there are other pieces of poop smeared all over this book that need mentioning. The only characters that even semi-intrigued me were Leona and Sissy (really, that’s only because I imagined Leona as Daenerys Targaryen). Everyone else was bland, bland, bland. None of the characters acted like someone would in real life. NONE. I also found that the author would spring new characters on me without introducing them? I had to backpedal a couple times to see if they were introduced earlier, but nope. We’re just supposed to know who they are, I guess.
Honestly, the more I think about this book, the more I hate it. I gave it 2 stars at first, because I did like the writing style for the most part. That’s too generous. 1 star, bitch. Nobody should read this book. It was terrible. Icky sex, god-awful characters, and a bland setting. Really, the only good thing I can say about this book is that it had an ominous tone to start, before we discover the reason Thea is at camp. I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here to find a tiny sliver of goodness. So glad this was from the library.
jmj697mn's review against another edition
4.0
A melancholy period piece about a young girl named Thea holding fast to a secret that has begun to destroy her family. She is deposited at The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, a place nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains that has plenty of secrets of its own. I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, seeing as I despise horses. But the girls were likable and the writing was so lyrical and hypnotic that I couldn't help getting sucked into their lives. As Thea's secret is slowly revealed against the backdrop of the Great Depression, I disliked her more and more, all the while devouring the pages. I felt it ended rather abruptly but appreciated that the author gave us a taste of what the future would hold for Thea and her family.