Hearts Over Fences: An Equestrian Romance

by Toni Leland

Romance is the last thing on Bethany Webb's mind as she gazes across the lush green fields of Highover Gate, her prestigious world-class horse training facility in Lexington, Kentucky - the dream of a lifetime. Before the day is over, Beth's equestrian future is snatched right out from under her in one wet, terrifying instant as she soars over a cross-country jump.

Ambitious and handsome, equestrian Brett Hall's only objective is to unseat the national horseback riding champion in 3-Day Eventing. As Hall steadily gains on his goal, a chink in his armor allows his heart to peek out - a weakness that seriously undermines his professional focus and affects his dedication to his therapeutic riding facility.

Hearts Over Fences glows against the backdrop of Olympic-level equestrian horseback riding - a world filled with drama, excitement, romantic suspense - and a large measure of ambition.

Genres: Horses, Fiction

249 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2009

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

[Lisa Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still looking for a new writer of horse stories to really grip me, this one was okay but a bit wishywashy , would probably read more by the author if I found them but not going to rush out and buy more based on this one

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on the sample from Kindle, I had high hopes for this book. Set with 3-day eventers, which is my fave discipline, I was excited to see what happened. I liked the characters, loved the setting. However, I ended up being sorely disappointed. It was kind of slow to get started, but that's often typical, so I stuck with it. The plot & premise were good. But it ended with barely a whimper. SOOO many possibilities went unused, and maybe even unnoticed! The author wrote well, so I can ony think that the editors didn't give her good feed back (or maybe she chose not to take it). Either way, there were at least a half dozen loose ends with secondary characters, and even the main characters. The ONLY thing that came to fruition was that the two main characters did, finally, get it together. And even that was unsatisfying.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first half of the book fairly well, but somewhere in the middle it turned a bit cheesy. Too much she-loves-me-she-loves-me-not, gushing, gazing into each others' eyes, blushing, and embracing to be anything close to a realistic relationship. And though the book's name is Hearts OVER FENCES, there wasn't a terrible lot of jumping in it. I enjoy reading equestrian books, but in many cases the authors who can write well don't know squat about horses and the people who DO know horses can't write worth beans. The best equestrian authors I have found so far are Sara Gruen (Riding Lessons, Flying Changes) and Judy Renee Singer (Horseplay).

[Linda Shantz]

Can I give this one negative stars?? It was soooooo bad....so bad! Sorry!

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

A little corny and predictable, but ok. Not a favorite.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Got a little trite and silly.