Abandoned: A Time Travel Horse Adventure

by Angela Dorsey

When Lauren’s dad discovers she is being stalked, he sends her away to stay with his sister. Lauren doesn’t want to go but when she arrives at Misty Lake, a surprise her own horse to ride! The golden days of summer stretch before her with wondrous promise. Then Lauren overhears her stalker’s name. Shocked, she runs away on her new horse, and finds something she never expected in a million years, something both terrible beyond belief and more amazing than she can imagine!

Genres: Childrens, Horses, Novels, Animals

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

ANGELA DORSEY currently lives on Vancouver Island and is thoroughly enjoying the ocean breezes, awesome hiking, and lack of snow! In the past, she has lived in a number of small towns throughout B.C., and loved them all.

She loves hiking, traveling, and animals, and has a tendency to name her pets after things that remind her of her coastal home, such as Misty, Raven, and Cedar.

Angela writes novels, screenplays, and non-fiction, and has a number of literary publications (short stories, poems, and postcard stories) and articles published as well.

Reviews

[Sarah Ryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was nothing like I thought it would be! Based on this author’s other books I’ve read so far (the first two books of the Freedom trilogy, the entire Horse Angel series, and Winter of the Crystal Dances) I figured this one would follow some type of ghost or supernatural angle and to an extent it did in Lauren’s horse, Trooper, being a bit more intelligent with things that happen plus Lauren does have a “ghostly” moment (not as a real ghost, that’s just the only way I can describe it in a non spoilery way), but primarily this is a time travel story which is the whole part I wasn’t expecting and was very surprised by!

The beginning was a bit slow as we build up to the whole time travel element which was handled in a really unique and clever way, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen time travel handled this way before? I think this was one of the author’s first books due to the slow beginning and Lauren not having as much depth as some of her other heroines, but it’s still well written and very tense in seeing what’s going to happen to Lauren next. And Trooper was done so amazingly well and he’s such a sweetie I want to hug and possibly own. 🥰

The ending also felt a tiny bit…I’m not sure how to put this as it wasn’t rushed or flat but it kinda was a little? It’s an odd feeling I can’t quite grasp, but there was something a bit OFF about it even though everything is wrapped up nicely.

Despite the slow beginning and weird/off ending I really enjoyed this book and recommend it if you like this author’s other works.


‼️Content‼️

Language: oh God

Violence: a girl falls off a ladder and is knocked out; a girl imagines bones rising up and reforming to come after her (this is all in her head, not reality); it’s implied that animals trapped in a barn slowly starved to death

Drug/Alcohol: a man takes pills for his heart

Other: a girl is being stalked; bones of long dead animals are found in a barn; time travel; in the past a girl’s mother died of cancer; a man died of a heart attack; a woman had cancer; grief over lost loved ones; past death and grief

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This scary and sometimes creepy YA story involves horses, dogs and other animals. Can a girl be brave and determined enough to save her own life? Before we get that far, we've seen a possible stalker and a derelict property full of past sadness. We've learnt something about Western trail riding and met a smart buckskin horse.

I think the tale would suit readers from nine upwards, especially girls.
I read an ARC; at one point a girl is calling her horse Ben and the next breath calling him Trooper. I'm surprised this hasn't been spotted and corrected as the book is a few years old by now. This is an unbiased review.

[Lynn Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghostly emotional

A rather dull beginning that spirals into a fantastic ending. I LOVED the ending. I don't want to say more or spoil il for t

[Stephanie A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite this particular publisher's tacky imprint on the cover making it look like a commercially rather than creatively produced novel, the title/cover illustration intrigued me enough to override my usual refusal to even touch these books. Paging through it in a thrift store, I took a chance and paid 50 cents for it. As a great champion of The Mystery of Pony Hollow, if you give me "girl exploring on pony finds abandoned barn with horse skeleton," I am ON IT.

And having read through it: my stars, why didn't I write this book? This sounds like a book I could have written. It has every single element I would put into a book, including but not even limited to Sad Single Dad Trying His Best, a plucky heroine with a Golden Retriever, relatives in the country who own horses, a beautiful buckskin at the center of it, multiple trail rides, an abandoned property (barn AND house, the latter largely untouched) she finds while exploring alone on horseback, an amazing story behind the abandoned farm and the most pleasing, delightful resolution to the mystery that you could ever imagine.

Spoiler section: (it's actually more delightful than I could have imagined. Like, that her stalker was her mom who went away for ~reasons~ was pretty obvious. But that the farm was where her mom grew up? And that newly-purchased Trooper WAS ONCE HER MOM'S HORSE? Never mind the twisty-turny-time-traveling bit where Plucky Heroine...literally went back in time while knocked unconscious and freed all the farm animals who had previously died locked in a barn when their owner suffered heart failure. Oh, and also, because of going back in time, Modern Day Trooper magically remembered where to look for a long lost letter from her grandfather to her mother. Such a good story!)

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely one of my favorites of all of Angela Dorsey's books. No matter how many times I read it, it always struck anew something inside of me. There's something decidedly real in everything that happens in this book, despite the fantasy elements, and the characters just seem to pull at the heartstrings. This is one of those books I don't think I'll ever be too old to read.

[Christine Meunier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[Carylle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heart braking story

This story tells of a young girl who was being storked by someone that she did not know,so her farther sent her to his brothers family to keep her safe until he found out who is was,their she found that her dad had got her a horse for her birthday present and a hole new world opend for her ,untill her father phoned the house and told her aunty that her mom has shown up again and she overheard the phone call and took of in pain and that her dad kept it from her that her mom was still a live.I would like to say thank you for all your hard work and may fortune smile 😃on you always 😁from a bookworm that loves to read

[clint fries · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book, tho I wish it described her parents reaction and if they believed her or not.

I love this book,and I recommend it to anyone who loves animals.It's a bit slow at the start,but it is GREAT!!!!!!!!!

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

It brought back great memories from my childhood when I'd get every month a package from PonyClub. I loved those books. These books aren't the best when reading it as an adult, but still I loved to reread it after years.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little sad but beautifully written and great story

[Lucy Siskova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Četba dětských let, kterou jsem si zamilovala a dodnes si pamatuji, jak na mě zapůsobil konec knihy, kde došla v tak velkému odhalení. I popis toho, jak působila opuštěná farma, i popis toho, jak se prolnuly světy...