Silent Harmony

Fairmont Riding Academy #1

by Michele Scott

Small town seventeen-year-old Vivienne Taylor is a talented equestrian with Olympic dreams and a little something extra going on she is also an equine empath, someone who has the ability to read horses minds and moods. When she receives a full scholarship to attend Fairmont Riding Academy, a prep school with a famous riding program, she struggles with homesickness, hazing by the school's snooty drama queen, intense competition in the sport of three-day-eventing, and the not-altogether-unwelcome interest of a hot guy.

On top of all of that the horse given to Vivienne via the scholarship is an animal that she cannot read or understand. When Vivienne learns that her new horse Harmony belonged to the school's vet, who recently died in a freak accident, she senses that the horse's aloof behavior may be the result of her witnessing this accident. But as a connection begins to unfold between Vivienne and Harmony, Vivienne begins to believe that the vet's death was no accident at all but rather murder and she resolves, at considerable peril, to track down the killer.

Michele Scott lives in California with her family. With her days spent in the barn or at the keyboard, Ms. Scott has forged a flourishing career as mystery writer and is also deeply involved in the world of horses and equestrian riding.

Genres: Horses, Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Animals, Fantasy

238 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2013

About the author

Michele Scott is an American author and the CEO/owner of equestrian sports medicine company Professional’s Choice, Inc. She has written over forty novels in various genres including thrillers, mysteries, young adult mysteries, fantasy, and women’s fiction. Her thriller Daddy’s Home from her Holly Jennings’ series written under her pen name of AK Alexander has sold over one million copies and was the #1 bestselling book in the UK Amazon. Her thriller Mommy, May I? and was number 2 on the Amazon list.

Subsequently, Daddy’s Home hit #4 in the US Amazon store (over all books). She was a featured author in Jeff Bezos letter to the shareholders and one of fifteen authors invited to the reveal of Kindle Fire. Amazon also produced a short documentary about her and her writing story and featured her in a book on bestselling Amazon writers. Daddy’s Home was also a top ten bestseller on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list.

Michele’s bestselling mystery series (The Wine Lover’s Mysteries) has gone into multiple printings and has been optioned by a Los Angeles based producer and production company.

Michele is a lifelong equestrian, having horses since she was five-years-old. If you don’t find her at her desk writing, you’re sure to find her at the barn!

Reviews

[Ixris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good: Bitchy rich kids and bitchy teenagers being bitchy and constantly thinking about being in each others' pants. Also, horses, which I am terrified of in real life, but can appreciate from a distance.

The bad: Awkward writing comes off forced at first, full of weird tense shifts that make sense only tangentially, and there's a murder mystery in here uh... somehow? Also, MOST of the book is first-person, except for the chapters narrated by the boys, which frequently lacked the distinct voice the boys had outside their narrative chapters, and read like abridged thoughts more than honest chapters. They often left me wondering why we bothered to go visit Riley's or Tristan's heads at all - Vivienne's narration carried us beautifully everywhere else, and she was there right away to provide commentary on what just happened. *SHRUG*

The PSYCHIC: ..................... how do horses understand that a picture of a heart means you really love someone? *SO CONFUSED*

So continues my tendency to read ... uh, really awkward YA stuff.

It was a pageturner after about 40%. And then the murder became resolved and I just kinda went "....... /what/?" That last 8% felt rushed and like it was visiting from left field.

[Kar Achondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think I like it... It sounded entertaining, the premise was good and I was really excited about it, but somehow I fell on a reading slump while reading it. I had to fight through the pages because I couldn't keep my mind on task. The story wasn't bad, I mean, it wasn't like I hated the book, I just couldn't make myself sit and finish the goddamn thing. It has around 240 pages, so it's not that long and I'm a fast reader, but it took me a week. Yes! A freaking WEEK to finish it!

After doing some thinking, I came to the conclusion that there were a couple of things that prevented me from loving this book, and a few others that still kept me reading.

The first problem is the multiple points of view. The book starts off with Vivvie's POV in first person present and it's great. I loved her, I love her voice, the way she thinks, she's passionate, she's driven and she's a really good heroine. But then, when she arrives to this new school, we get two additional POVs, Tristan's and Riley's. Both of them are written in third person present and I couldn't handle it. It drove me crazy because I was really liking the story from Vivianne's POV, but I found myself cringing every time I was starting a chapter with either of these other two POVs. The writing wasn’t THAT bad, but it made me confused and it felt a little forced.

There isn't a lot I can tell you about the plot that isn't already in the premise of the book and I think that blurb is pretty accurate. Just a little background...

Our main character is Vivianne, who lived in Oregon and attended to Thomas Jefferson High before they granted her the scholarship at Fairmont Academy (As a curious thing, I found out that Thomas Jefferson is the same high school Sam attends to in Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Small world, people! Even in fiction!). This academy is like a private school and a riding school mixed together: the kids (mostly rich ones) take normal classes and horse-related curses in the same place. I found this genius! I loved that idea.

Riley is a boy who attends to Fairmont Academy and one of the first people Vivianne mets there. I liked him a whole lot at the beginning, he is cute and smart and overall a good guy.

Tristan is another member of the popular crowd who doesn't really like being with them, but has no choice because he made a mistake and now he has to stay with his annoying girlfriend, who happens to be the most popular kid in Fairmont. He plays the part of the love interest but I didn't really like him as such. He was okay, I guess, but I didn't fall for him and wasn't crazy about how he handled the situations he found himself in.

The second main problem with the book: there is too much going on in the story. We have Vivianne, struggling with her new mare which won't communicate with her and trying to find out what really caused the death of the doctor. And this is supposed to be the main conflict. But then, when we get the other two POVs, we have issues all over the place. Riley's family issues, Tristan's family AND girlfriend issues, Martina's family issues and a couple of other character that appear in the book and they clearly have some issues too, but come on! The book is 240 pages! You can't develop every character's issues, find them solutions and leave everyone happy in so little space... What I'm trying to say is that the author went a little bit overboard with conflict. I know this is intended to be the first book on a series and therefore, it shouldn't have to solve every single conflict because then there would be no point in writing the next book. But, with the few conflicts we get solved by the end of this book, the author took what little room was left to solve as much as she could with the fewer words possible. So, even those conflicts that were solved felt underdeveloped and the ending was really unsatisfying for me.

Overall, I think the premise has potential and this could become a great series, but the author has to make some decisions, put some order to the messy conflicts and take it one at a time. I think there's still hope for this one.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Source: Netgalley ARC provided by publisher ( Thank you! )

Rating 3.5 Stars.

The quick version: Good for older teens (language, sexual references) and has a lot of potential with complex characters and a well thought out mystery. If 3rd person present doesn't bother you, you'll probably like it better than I did.

The long version:
Silent Harmony is exactly the type of book I would have picked up when I was a kid, and even still today. But especially as a teen who thrived on the Thoroughbred series, Saddle Club, Nancy Drew, James Patterson, Dick Francis... This book immediately caught my eye because it sounded like it had the potential to be a bit of all of the above. Oh, and don't forget to add the new trend of YA slightly supernatural or magical romance into the mix. Vivvie is gifted, she's got boys surrounding her up to her ears, and she is entirely focused on horses. Yup, all of the above.

So admittedly I had high expectations. And in some areas, this title fell a bit short for me where in others I really loved it.

The opening chapter pulled me, in the voice was compelling, and the pacing was great. I was never bored, and never confused. Not once did the early chapters make me want to give up on the book. But then we got further in, and she arrived at her new school, and we gained new POV characters and I wanted to pull on the reins and come to a full friggin halt. While Vivvie's POV is told first person present and done well, the contrary POV's are told third person limited present and it made me want to scratch my eyes out. I hated it. It was completely jarring and just ugh. It nearly ruined what was otherwise a good book for me.

The other thing with this title is that it tried to be too much of the all of the above. In the end we had not enough horse activities to satisfy me ( I wanted her to compete!), not enough mystery to just be a mystery, (though it came sort of close) and a bit too much of ring-a-round-the-boyfriend. Also the language and the sexual references make me suggest this book be for older teens only.

I think there is so much potential here, and the series could end up being great. I liked the characters, I loved how complex they were, and I really liked the setting. Vivvie is a compelling main character, a smart heroine, and fun. I also hope it solves its identity crisis and it figures out what it wants its main genre to be - Teen romance, Teen mystery, or targeted at horse crazy girls. Regardless, I'd like to see the language and the older content toned down and then I think it could really have wide appeal for an even younger crowd.

So what's the final verdict? I'd say a yellow ribbon. If the short sections of 3rd/present were cut, I'd put it at almost a blue. If you aren't bothered by the POV, you like mystery, horses, and romance, you'll probably really like this book so I do suggest giving it a try.

[Jennifer McClelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Posted at Book Hoarder Reviews

First off let me say Thank You to NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book. I was so excited to be able to read it. This book sounded like it had me written all over it. Teenage girl with a love of horses? Check? A ritzy prep school? Check? A little murder? Double check. Okay so I never went to prep school or solved a murder, but I’ve experiences with both.

I love books that have a strong female character. Unlike a lot of the popular YA novels, Viv already had a strong sense of who she was when the story started. She didn’t sway or change herself for anyone, and I think young girls need role models like that. However there is a lot of adult themes in this story so I would use caution when giving it to a younger reader.

One of the biggest things that annoyed be about the book was there was not enough of the horse shows in the book. Having been involved in horse shows myself I would have loved to see more of that. With that said I absolutely loved the horse elements of this story. I believe that there are people who are true “horse whisperers” and Viv was one of them.

Without giving too much away the last thing I wanted to mention was the different point of views. As a writer I’ve never tried to to do this, but as a reader I know that I love being inside different character’s heads. With Silent Harmony that was still the case. The only thing that threw me off was the different pov’s weren’t the same. While Viv is in first person everyone else is in third. I’m sure the author did this because she wanted to add “mystery” to those characters, I was somewhat confused by it.

All in all I thought it was a great book and I’ll probably read it again in the future. If you’re a girl who loves horses, or a woman who wants to relive that love you had when you were a girl, pick up this book today.

[Fly To The Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review first appeared on my blog, Read Books and Live Green

I received this book for review via Netgalley.

When I first saw the cover I was interested. It has been a while since I picked up a book on horses. And it sounded like a step up from Heartland, Chestnut Hill, and Canterwood Crest, the series that I had previously read. (I loved Heartland and Chestnut Hill and Canterwood crest was okay.) And then I read the summary and it sounded AMAZING. I mean horses and a murder with a girl who is like a Doctor Doolittle with horses... And there were parts I loved, but there were parts I really didn't like...

THE PREMISE
Vivienne Taylor may come from a small town, but she dreams big. Her one goal in life is to become an Olympic Rider, but that's not all. Viv is the equivalent of Dr. Doolittle, except for the fact that the only animal's minds she can read are horses. After getting the chance of the lifetime she leaves her small town of Albany, Oregon and heads to Fairmont Academy in Southern California. There she hopes to follow her dreams and achieve the beginning steps to becoming an Olympic Rider. Moments after arriving she realizes she has been immersed into the world of rich kids, who are total jerks. Things get worse for Viv when she realizes her horse Harmony, has suffered trauma after seeing her owner and school vet die. Harmony slowly lets Viv learn her secret and Viv realizes that there was more to the death of Dr. Miller than everyone originally believes. Viv also has to deal with the abuse of her peers and trying to make new friends.
(Summary via me. The GoodReads summary sucks, but I doubt mine is too much better.)
THE PROS
1.) I really liked Vivienne. She was a strong character who wasn't scared of the evil new kids in her school. Instead of conforming to what everyone else was, she stayed her own person.
2.) I really liked the opening chapter. I loved reading about the horse and the author wrote that scene very vividly. I liked learning about all of the technical terms of what was happening to the horse.
3.) I loved that Viv could read horses minds. It was a cool gift and it was really unique.
4.) I liked Riley. He was a really cool character.
5.) I love mysteries and I loved how Viv was involved in the mystery of the vet's death. I loved how her gift played such an important role in the mystery.
6.) I really wanted to find out Riley and Tristan's secrets. Both had secrets and they really kept you reading. So that was definitely good!
7.) There were some things left open at the end of the book, making it possible for a sequel or series. They weren't big cliff hangers, but it's enough to make you want to pick up the next book!
THE CONS
1.) Random third Person POV. This is just me, but I am not a big fan of third person. I never can get into the book. So when it started off with Viv's POV in first person I loved it, but then there were these random chapters from Riley and Tristan's POVs. They were just so weird. There didn't seem to be a pattern to them either.
2.) Riley and Tristan, although intriguing, were gross. I mean ewwww. I would have liked them so much more if I didn't have to be in there minds.
3.) The popular crowd was so cliched. You've read the same thing a million times in these books. The popular girls are rich smart and awesome riders. It is always like that. These girls didn't even have redeeming qualities, they were just evil!
4,) The ending was way to quick! It was like, ooohhhh killer. Boom, crash, kissing. .........WEIRD.......
OVERALL
This was a really enjoyable read. It was kind of predictable and there were parts that totally disgusted me, but I liked the overall book. I will definitely be checking the next book in the series out!
WOULD I READ THIS BOOK: YES, It was a fun read
WOULD I BUY THIS BOOK: If I was in the mood for something light
WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: To those who don't mind the grossness of the guys and who like horses and murder.
WILL I READ THE NEXT BOOK: YES
WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR: YES, I am interested to know how her writing evolves.

[Claire (Cem) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

I really liked the premise of this book. For a horsey girl like me, it certainly satisfied there. I'm sure all horse people like myself would LOVE to have the ability to 'talk' with horses as Vivienne Taylor does here. The authors authentic horse know-how clearly comes from years of experience, rather than book learned theory, coming across naturally on the page. Vivienne was pretty easy to like, and Harmony caught my heart.

However. I did have a few little issues with this. I found it hard to get on with the chapters that focused on other characters, giving their side of the story. When Viv what dealing with things other than Harmony, I often found her emotions lacking as well. I wanted more. More depth, more feeling. Any yet, when it came to the mysteries, I wanted less. Much less. There were a lot of little threads throughout the book, come connected to the mane story, some not. And while it ends with the suggestion of more books to come explaining some of these, it felt like there was just too much scattered thoughts and possibilities at times. I wanted more focus on the main story and Viv adjusting to life at this special, exclusive equestrian school. There were also times where sentences just didn't seem to fit, jumping from one thing to another without warning. Possibly this is a result of the Kindle edition format, but either way it interuppted the flow of the book and a couple of times had me clicking back a page to reread bits to see if it made sense.

Overall I did enjoy this book. It certainly satisfied on a horse front, and is sure to be a fan with the majority of horses teens and adults alike. I hope there are more to come with Vivienne Taylor, because despite my issues with the book, I'd love more of Viv's connection with horses.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I was excited to read this book when I heard about it. Ever since I was young, I always loved horses, so I couldn't wait to read Silent Harmony. It was good, but not great. It had many of my favorite things--horses, mystery, and paranormal qualities (the main character is able to read horses minds/moods and communicate with them).
At the beginning, I felt she overdid it with the guys. Which turned out to be fine, since they were all a part of the "Scholarship Girl Game" where the first three guys who see the new girl on a scholarship compete to be with the girl in order to win the money of those who placed bets. Another thing that I didn't like was that the author jumped from POVs, which annoys me. It would be fine if it was Vivienne, then Riley, then Tristan (not necessarily in that order, but each character's POV would be in every third chapter), instead of the POVs being somewhat randomly placed. At times, I felt like the author just threw in the details randomly--they weren't introduced well. There was also a lot of conflicts that got to be overwhelming. Each character had some sort of problem in their life, and it got to the point where the conflicts seemed to just be fillers.
Overall, this was a good book. I loved the characters, and the whole idea of the book was original and something that appealed to me (Who wouldn't want to be able to understand horses?). It was funny, unique, and something I definitely would read again.

[Genevieve Scholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to LOVE this book. When I saw it in Walmart and read the back, I was so excited for such a unique concept. However, it did not live up to my expectations. The POV of the boys was weak and less interesting than the main character (not sure why it was even included, honestly). The story dragged quite a bit, with no real “action” until Chapter 20. It was going to get a lower grade, but after Chapter 20 it really did get a hell of a lot better, so it got bumped up. The author and the storyline has potential, but I don’t think it was executed as well as it could have been. I gave it a chance and finished the book, but not everyone is as happy to do that, so I worry that readers aren’t getting to the “good stuff”. I loved Viv and her gift, and I never saw the result coming- could not predict the killer, and I love that, because it seems mystery books are easy to predict lately. I sort of wish the story hadn’t gone to the academy, but rather stayed at Viv’s home. I much more enjoyed her chemistry with her mother, brother, friends, and horse, Dean. All of that being said, if the author continues the series, I will probably check it out, because I’m curious about Vivvie and her journey through life.

~Genevieve~

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot: There was a lot going on in this book. The main mystery was interesting, but there were a lot of questions that never got resolved. The plot was entertaining in a ridiculous, soap opera kind of way. I did feel like the resolution of the mystery was a bit rushed and didn't necessarily make the most sense.
Characters: I wanted to like Vivienne. Her ability to communicate with horses was cool, and she really loved the animals. But I just couldn't make myself like her. Overall I felt like the characterization of most of the characters was inconsistent. Martina was the only character I really liked.
Overall: The writing style was what really kept me from enjoying this book. I had a big issue with the fact that Vivienne's chapters were in 1st person while Riley and Tristan's chapters were in 3rd person - it made the transition between chapters really jarring. I also felt like the writing style was very stilted and more suited to a children's chapter book - but the content of this book was definitely for teenagers, not kids. The crazy plot was entertaining, but the writing kept me from really engaging with it.

[Nancy Steinle gummel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silent Harmony by Michele Scott is a first reads win and I am given my honest opinion. Vivienne is an average 17 year old high school junior who loves horses. She's an equine empath where horses talk to her and she talks back to them. She has dreams of competing on the US Olympic Equestrian Team. She was awarded a scholarship to Fairmont Riding Academy for her junior and senior year. Fairmont is a prestigious school. There are the "in" crowd and the rest of the student body. Riley welcomes her. He's a part of the in crowd. He's paired with Shannon. Then there's Lydia the leader of the innies. Her roommate Martina is very nice. Her new horse is Harmony. Vivienne can't read Harmony. Harmony's very sad. Her former owner was Serena Miller, the school vet. She died in an accident. Or was it?

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book much more than I expected to at first glance. The author did a great job not only in getting the horse details right, but also in developing characters and plot. I grew up with a lot of kids like these and - sad to say - there was a lot in the book that rang true.
I'm looking forward to reading more by this author!

[Carmel Keely · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much snotty high school drama... blah! Reading the summary, I thought the storyline had potential but it ended up lacking substance. It focused way too much on the nasty cliques of rich kids rather than the main plot. I could be wrong, but I always believed that most people, teenagers especially, read to escape crap like that.

[Abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character in this was alright.

This felt a bit young for me at points, and there wasn't anything in it that really caught my interest, but it wasn't a bad read. It felt like quite a quick read, which was good.

Overall, An okay read.

[Emory Ivie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know it's totally not cool to give a book a poor review if you didn't finish it, but in my defense, I gave Silent Harmony a chance - a solid, three-chapter chance. If I have more time and compile enough motivation, I might force myself to finish it and update my review, but what I've read so far just hasn't been promising.

So far, the story is about seventeen-year-old Vivienne Taylor, the daughter of a large-animal veterinarian, who later competes in horse shows. The back cover suggests a murder mystery is intertwined in the plot, but I can't stand the narrative voice of this story and have no idea how a character who thinks like Vivienne would handle such a scenario in a way that's tolerable to read. Here is my lengthy review of the three chapters and bits of skimming I have completed:

#1 - Unrealistic Scenarios - The book begins with Vivienne following her mother to a farm call, where they discover a mare is sick from a contaminated water source in her pasture. What made me leery initially was how the vet responded to the inexperienced owner, immediately bashing her for neglecting her animals and downright shouting at her for not taking care of them properly. She even went to the point of suggesting she and Vivienne would confiscate the horses, which I found extremely rash. If these horses were lying emaciated in their stalls, then such a reaction would be expected, but the book described them as ... a little dusty and weary. The owner was shocked and felt terrible about what happened to her horse, and it was clear she didn't know what she was doing, but such a scenario didn't require the vet to scream at her - it just wasn't professional. That was strike one for me.

#2 - Uninteresting Characters - As for the side characters. I don't even remember them - it proves how exciting they were. Vivienne met up with a few friends and the guy she likes, who wasn't remotely charming and I just didn't see any sparks between them. In fairness, they might develop more as the book progresses, but I couldn't tolerate the rest of the book's issues enough to keep turning the pages.

#3 - Not What I Expected - I dove into this book looking forward to a realistic fiction about a girl and her horse, at least, that's the vibe the cover gave. What really surprised me was the introduction of fantasy/sci-fi elements ... Vivienne can talk to horses, actually talk to them - telepathically. It brought me back to my middle-school Keeper of the Lost Cities phase with the alicorn Silveny. The problem was, the horses didn't think in short, random words ... they were entirely human in their minds, using full sentences and expressing emotions in uncannily humanlike detail. Vivienne has entire conversations with her horses in silence. I'm a fantasy fan and might have been up for it, but Silent Harmony didn't seem like that kind of story.

#4 - Vivienne's Voice - What made me slap Silent Harmony back on the shelf for another year was the way it was written. It's a first-person narrative, so the main character's doing all the talking. She comes across as an extremely immature high-schooler - every other thing she says is sarcastic, and she has this way of speaking I can't stand. "My life is, like, totally normal, apart from the fact that I can talk to horses." Not an exact quote, but you get the idea. It just doesn't sound serious, and the repetitive insertion of "like" in the middle of every few sentences was very obnoxious. There are also curse words and allusions to sex which I found unappealing - it was the book's attempt to appeal to older audiences, but it seemed kiddish in the way it was written.

Those are the four things that did it in for me. I'm open to getting further in the book, but if these elements continue, I'll have to give Silent Harmony a hard pass.

[Whirlawayka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting off slow is not something this book did. Silent Harmony by Michele Scott, is an amazing read for all those avid horse drama lovers. A girl named Vivienne Taylor, gets a scholarship to go to the very well known and very expensive Fairmont Riding Academy one of the top riding schools in the world. The owner of the riding academy says "With your show record and your school grades, we felt you are the perfect fit for the scholarship." (Scott 27). Vivienne is a very talented rider, which is why they even considered letting her have the scholarship. When she gets there some of the "popular girls" are mean to her. She is given a horse to ride at the academy who's name is Harmony. Vivienne is a special kid and she is able to listen to horses thoughts and convey thoughts to them, so she can basically read the horses minds, its a bit like the wolves in the book Twilight. She can only project general pictures and emotions. But when she gets Harmony, Harmony projects nothing to her, hence the title Silent Harmony. So Vivienne digs a little deeper into Harmony's past, and she find that the horses former owner, a vet that worked at Fairmont died by falling off a ladder. In front of Harmony. Digging even deeper Vivienne learns something about the death that she never knew. And to figure out what that is, you will have to read it! I personally loved this book, it was amazing and I would give it 6/5 stars if I could! I cant wait to read more like it! I especially loved when she said goodbye to her horse Denver before she left for the academy, because it was so sad but at the same time he was still cracking jokes and being the funny gelding he is. On page 21 she talks about each of the horses that her and her mother own and what they have taught her "We have four other horses on the property--Chance, Lucy Liu (our miniature), Bronte, and my Dean. All of them are rescues except for Dean. Chance has taught me a lot about trust. Lucy Liu has taught me a few things about determination and willpower. Bronte helps me see the good in everything. And Dean--well, Dean has taught me everything I know about life." (Scott 21). And this is also one of my favorite parts because it truly shows the bond that she has with horses and how much she cares for them. I hope to have a bond like this with my horses, when I get them!

[Andrea Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feeling about this book. I love viv ‘s gift to speak to horses - it’s like the faintest touch of fantasy. The pacing was well done and loved to see the horses growth. I like do how the murder mystery was wrapped up. However I was disappointed that it wasn’t really brought up till halfway through the book. I was also disappointed with the extreme amount of fake drama but I will admit from the back cover description I had fare warning. I also liked how in viv’s Head we were able to get but but the way she handled their person for the other pov’s wasn’t my favorite.
I there were several mentions to sex but nothing was actually described or anything.
Overall as a boarding school ya book it was half decent. I’m still gonna continue the series.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horses, teens, competition, friends

Vivienne Taylor loves horses. In fact, she has a goal of becoming an Olympic equestrian. Being the daughter of a veterinarian who has encouraged Vivienne to be a part of her practice, Vivienne knows far more about horses than most of her equestrian age peers. She is also an accomplished rider which comes to the attention of people who can help her excel in her sport. The book includes themes regarding teen relationships, adult relationships, horses, equestrian training, and mystery. I would recommend this book for young adult and adult reading.

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is shockingly few fictional horse series available that adult's can read, as many of the well known sets are for junior readers. This is a book adults can read & be interested in. It does keep you thinking.

My biggest critique with this book is the dialogue between characters could be improved, and it's a bit slow to start off with, but definitely picks up speed half way through. Vivienne is a like-able character who at times
seems a bit too perfect. This book left some loose ends to be covered hopefully in future novels in the set!

[BlackfishGirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um no. Don't get me wrong, I'm under no illusion here, a lot of horsey writing isn't award winning or amazing in itself, a lot of it does follow a predictable pattern but like chick lit it can be really enjoyable when done right. This reads like bad fanfiction though, really weird and jarring writing at times and everything is over the top or plain two dimensional. Oh wow, that's a really complex problem but let's not talk to much about it because it's no fun to write so let's resolve it by agreeing to not be downers about it and have a dance party!

[R M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
Cute and very YA. But, the equestrian theme and thoughts were not nearly as bad as most horse books. At least the author knows the difference between a halter and a bridle.
Vivienne is a horse whisperer. Horses actually communicate with her. And I know this is real. Gifted ones can do this. ( I should be so lucky). So it’s not hokey paranormal stuff.
There’s a darkness at the famous and expensive riding academy. Something bad happened. The horse assigned to Vivienne is traumatized. She spends the book trying to find out why.
And being very much 17 as well. All that teenage angst.

[Gladys Johnsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivian attends an elite school that trains horses for the Olympics

This book was very enjoyable. in addition to the cast of characters, Vivian is assigned to a horse who is grieving the loss of her former owner. It takes the horse a few weeks to open up to Vivian; Actually other classmates do not know that Vivian can speak with horses.
One thing that I didn't like was it ended quickly, leaving loose
Ends. However it was a joy to read.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a YA book. But with a book combining two of my favorite topics, horses, and animal communication, I had high hopes. Honestly, I do enjoy YA fantasy books, but this one was just a tad too jr. high level for me. That said, while I really wouldn't rate this even a 2.5, I can't slam it for being a YA level book.

And you can tell the author knows horses as there were none of the annoying mistakes non-horse folks make when writing about equestrian life.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is competent, but the psychic element is not used well and the mystery was secondary to the teenage BS. Overall, everything felt rushed and there were too many ideas and not enough focus. This is not a series I'll be following.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a good read! Reminded me a little of my favorite drama Heartland. However, the book also had that mysterious feel to it, wanted to keep turning pages. Probably would have finished it with in a day if I was not interrupted.

[Carol Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new series!!,

I'm such a horse - fluff junkie'!
Yes, it's another boarding school drama with bitchy rich girls and cute guys, each with skeletons or hidden talents in the closet.
Off to read book 2!

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this was a good story. I liked the boarding-school setting and the multiple plot points going on. Unfortunately, the climax was a bit fade-to-black which was disappointing. This is a young-young adult story but I'm sure horse lovers would drink it up!

[Mathias · Rating 4 out of 5]

i would have eaten this UP in high school. super fast pacing right at the end but otherwise a perfectly stereotypical horse girl teen drama, you could see this as a tv show on the cw or something and it would fit right in

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put this one down!

As an equestrian and lover of a great murder mystery, I loved this book. I cannot wait to read the other two in this series.

[Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you into horses, mysteries and a bit of romance, then this is definitely the book for you. I loved this book.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it, but the conclusion seemed a bit rushed.