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Wishing Star #17
A Summer to Remember
Carrie’s brother is dead. She has to accept the fact. But Allen was her idol, and it’s so hard to forget him…especially when Marc comes to work on their ranch. Everything about Marc brings back painful memories of Allen. And Carrie hates him for it – but at the same time she loves him. He’s kind and gentle and does everything as well as Allen did. Carrie feels so torn. She knows she has hurt Marc by avoiding him and brushing him off, but she doesn’t know what to do about it. Then comes the day of danger and excitement that pulls them together – and forces Carrie to face her true feelings.
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1982
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 13, 2025
From the day of my seventh birthday, I have actively collected horse related books, whether fact or fiction. Over the years, pretty much any book I see with a horse on the cover has come home with me. The majority of them are at least a decent one-time read. Some are treasured, kept close with original hard cover editions sought to take pride of place on my shelves. There are a few though that are a let down; this, unfortunately, was one of them.
We learn early on that four years before, Carrie saw her older brother Allen trampled to death by a wild mustang that he had captured hours before and tried to ride, even though the horse hadn't even been trained to wear a halter, let alone carry a rider. His stupidity is apparently tragic - although I have sympathy for a young girl witnessing this unlikely disaster, I didn't quite believe that a talented, sensible and animal attuned young man would be so incredibly dumb. I'm also not sure how likely it would be that the mare would trample him to death, rather than simply buck him off and run away.
However, I let that slide and read on as Carrie took an instant dislike to a nice new ranch hand, Marc, who had made the grave error of being, in some ways, similar to her utterly perfect dead brother. She was an absolute bitch to this poor guy, because he, a man who worked with horses, had the nerve to be... good with horses. Go figure that that would be a requirement for his job.
I have compassion for anyone who has lost a family member, however you cannot use that as an excuse to be cruel and condescending to other people. It isn't Marc's fault that he shares her brother's talent, which isn't exactly a rare one, or that he happens to be young, as her brother also was. There are scores of young, talented boys/men in the world, it's not their concern that some stranger got himself killed and that his death upset the sister and that she then feels the need to take it out on someone who has no idea what is happening.
I carried on reading, noting the horsey scenes continued to feel inauthentic, something I can let slide to a point, as I understand authors are typically trying their best to write a decent story. Then we reached the fatal blow:
"I've had this horse since she was a colt."
I get it, equestrian terminology can be tricky. There's a lot to remember and it can be confusing. A colt is a young male horse, usually under four years old. She should have said filly, the female equivalent. A young girl who grew up around horses would never plausibly confuse the two. My initial mirth increased when after an argument with Marc, gentle and accurate from his side, unreasonable from hers, she said that Marc didn't know what he was talking about - an accusation that carried no weight given her cluelessness to a fairly basic horse fact.
I may have excused this confusion of terms if the book had had more strengths; Interesting characters, refreshing writing, an exciting story. But no, things ticked along almost exactly as expected, predictable and quite irritating.
The reason for the second star, is that I did appreciate one plot point and outcome. Carrie is fixated on living up to her brother, being viewed as equally talented, almost as if she wants to become him. The focus on pointing out that it is no good to lose yourself to a person you have posthumously put high on a pedestal, always setting yourself up to fail when you cannot measure up to a myth you created in your grief, was good. Not beautifully written but a nice point. It isn't fair to you and it isn't fair to the person who died.
We learn early on that four years before, Carrie saw her older brother Allen trampled to death by a wild mustang that he had captured hours before and tried to ride, even though the horse hadn't even been trained to wear a halter, let alone carry a rider. His stupidity is apparently tragic - although I have sympathy for a young girl witnessing this unlikely disaster, I didn't quite believe that a talented, sensible and animal attuned young man would be so incredibly dumb. I'm also not sure how likely it would be that the mare would trample him to death, rather than simply buck him off and run away.
However, I let that slide and read on as Carrie took an instant dislike to a nice new ranch hand, Marc, who had made the grave error of being, in some ways, similar to her utterly perfect dead brother. She was an absolute bitch to this poor guy, because he, a man who worked with horses, had the nerve to be... good with horses. Go figure that that would be a requirement for his job.
I have compassion for anyone who has lost a family member, however you cannot use that as an excuse to be cruel and condescending to other people. It isn't Marc's fault that he shares her brother's talent, which isn't exactly a rare one, or that he happens to be young, as her brother also was. There are scores of young, talented boys/men in the world, it's not their concern that some stranger got himself killed and that his death upset the sister and that she then feels the need to take it out on someone who has no idea what is happening.
I carried on reading, noting the horsey scenes continued to feel inauthentic, something I can let slide to a point, as I understand authors are typically trying their best to write a decent story. Then we reached the fatal blow:
"I've had this horse since she was a colt."
I get it, equestrian terminology can be tricky. There's a lot to remember and it can be confusing. A colt is a young male horse, usually under four years old. She should have said filly, the female equivalent. A young girl who grew up around horses would never plausibly confuse the two. My initial mirth increased when after an argument with Marc, gentle and accurate from his side, unreasonable from hers, she said that Marc didn't know what he was talking about - an accusation that carried no weight given her cluelessness to a fairly basic horse fact.
I may have excused this confusion of terms if the book had had more strengths; Interesting characters, refreshing writing, an exciting story. But no, things ticked along almost exactly as expected, predictable and quite irritating.
The reason for the second star, is that I did appreciate one plot point and outcome. Carrie is fixated on living up to her brother, being viewed as equally talented, almost as if she wants to become him. The focus on pointing out that it is no good to lose yourself to a person you have posthumously put high on a pedestal, always setting yourself up to fail when you cannot measure up to a myth you created in your grief, was good. Not beautifully written but a nice point. It isn't fair to you and it isn't fair to the person who died.
February 21, 2026
It began with promise, delving into a young girl’s struggle with identity and the profound loss of her brother. However, the narrative took a disappointing turn into romantic melodrama. The cover makes up for the ending.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews