Friends Like These

Horse Country #2

by Yamile Saied Méndez

Trouble in Paradise? In this second installment of Horse Country, critically acclaimed author Yamile Saied Méndez welcomes readers back to the ranch. Carolina's hope of opening up Paradise Ranch to everyone is coming the Unbridled Dreams program is ready to welcome its first sponsored student! Gisella Bassi seems like the perfect fit -- on paper, that is. When she arrives at Paradise Ranch, she's not as excited as everyone expects. She might even be... scared of the horses? But if their first student isn't a success, there's no way the program will continue. Can Caro and her new friend, Chelsie, agree on how to rope Gisella in?

Genres: Middle Grade, Horses

224 pages, Paperback

Published June 28, 2022

About the author

Yamile (sha-MEE-lay) is a fútbol obsessed Argentine-American. She’s the mother of 5 kids and 2 adorable dogs. Yamile’s an inaugural Walter Dean Meyers Grant recipient, a graduate of Voices of our Nation (VONA) and the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Writing for Children program.
She’s represented by Linda Camacho, from the Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency.

Reviews

[Sarah B · Rating 3 out of 5]

So normally I just love and gobble up these middle grade horse books. And I did read this one rather quickly but there just was one character in here that I had found super annoying. And when that happens well it kind of ruins the whole story. Luckily that doesn't happen too often in books but it did happen in this one.

Otherwise this was a good story about kids riding at a stable. And it certainly brought back a lot of memories for me. There's nothing like these books to make you remember when you first started to be around horses.

This one did have a twist in the plot too.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. This was a cute story with some life lessons mixed in. I think this is a perfect story for young kids, and the young at heart, who love horses. I know some young girls who loved the first book and were very excited for this second book to be released.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the granddaughter who takes riding lessons. I loved this story and I hope she will too.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as part of my daughters book club. What a cute story of learning to interact with others and learning to listen.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter liked this book and wanted me to read it too. It’s a cute story. I hope that Carolina grows more during the series so that she isn’t always insecure. For me, this story is a 3.5 stars.