Winning Ways: equestrian romantic suspense

by Toni Leland

Young equine veterinarian, Liz Barnett, has moved her practice from Kentucky to rural California, excited by the chance to partner with an established equine clinic, as well as show her beautiful Arabian horses. She soon finds that she's living in an area by-passed by time and progress, as she butts heads with stubborn old ranchers who want nothing to do with a young female vet.

Hunky Arabian horse trainer, Kurt DeVallio, has spent the past ten years struggling with a tragic past and the mystery of a horse-drugging frame-up that destroyed his professional career. His tunnel vision for finding a way to clear his name, and be "his own man" again, has thrown him into the midst of greedy folks who'll try to win at any cost.

When circumstances force these two together in the risky world of high-ticket Arabian horse shows, not only does romance enter the stage, they learn that winning has many meanings.

Genres: Horses, Fiction

259 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Toni Leland has been writing for more than 30 years. She is the author of eight equestrian novels and mysteries, a paranormal romance, a paranormal teen novel, and two juvenile chapter books. Her short stories have appeared in Arabella Romance Magazine, True Story, Bylines Writer’s Calendar, From the Heart anthologies, and Horse Tales for the Soul.

Toni has written articles for international gardening site, Dave’s Garden (http://www.davesgarden.com); she writes feature articles for Grit magazine (grit.com), OHIO magazine/Over the Back Fence regional magazines (OHIOmagazine.com), Country Living, and Norwich magazine She also writes a monthly column on gardening for Norwich Magazine and blogs at Toni Leland's Garden Gate, http://tonilelandgardengate.blogspot.com.

Visit Toni at http://tonileland.blogspot.com
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Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take a female veterinarian and a horse trainer and put them together with Arabian horse shows you have quite the troubled romance going on with this story. Throw in a mystery that is someone trying to keep one of them from going on to the Nationals and you have a great story! I've had the fortune to see the Arabian World's show here in Tulsa after they moved here and Toni Leland nails the story with her descriptions of an arabian horse show. Another great horse related story by Toni!

[Betty Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed a nice, light, easy read during the power outage. Combining periphetic romance with Arabian horses in California fit the bill very nicely. And it was a very welcome contrast to "Heart of Darkness" with which I am struggling (in college I gave up on it, resorting to Cliff's Notes). Now I want to finish "Zelda," and delve into some European History, my college major, when the EU was but an emerging concept.

[Christine Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book and i enjoyed it.

[Caryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winning Ways is a fast, engaging read, with a good story line. The romance is somewhat formulaic yet manages to work while holding one's interest, partly because the characters are nicely crafted. The horses are accurately depicted, although as a show horse owner and breeder, I feel the book presents a somewhat dark view of the show world. Overall this is quite an entertaining book readers should find enjoyable, whether or not they are involved in horses.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

The protagonist is definitely not a horsewoman. She lets her horses walk all over her and isn't consistent with their training. She also doesn't do a very good job at keeping up with her morals. Don't bother reading this.