Swift Current

Horse Guardian #4

by Angela Dorsey

Ali opened the door to the dilapidated feed shed. Before stepping inside, she looked up. Nothing was poised to fall down on top of her. Last week, an empty bucket had missed her by a hair, and ever since then Ali looked up before she entered any of the old outbuildings of the ranch. After the bucket almost landed on her head, Ali finally clued in that all the strange things happening around the ranch weren't accidents. Someone was moving things, setting traps, trying to hurt her and the horses. Someone was invading her sanctuary. Suddenly-a mysterious girl appears-golden-haired Angelica, who has an uncanny sense for danger, the ability to talk to animals and understand them in return, mysterious powers, and the voice of an angel. A horse angel. Can Ali truly trust her?

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Supernatural

154 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

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 5 out of 5]

Video Review: https://youtu.be/caiIOjc7tuc

Another old favorite that lives up to my past feelings of it! This one is set in Hawaii and we follow Ali as she tries to figure out who is sabotaging her ranch and protect her three horses, Daydream, Crystal, and Rhythm, from the attacks now being directed at them with Angelica’s help.

The situations the girls face to protect and save the horses from are really intense and dangerous on a number of levels combined with the mystery of who exactly is causing all this chaos and pain and how they can stop them.

The villain is insane and seeing her perspective both made me pity her and creeped me out at just how far the mind can fall and how a person like that feels justified in what they are doing even if it’s wrong or even downright murderous. It’s really eye opening in that sense and scary in another.

Unlike the other books in this series so far, this one ends on a bittersweet moment that makes me tear up every time—in fact, I’m positive I cried when I first read it years ago—as I’ve been in a similar situation and it’s so, so hard, but the beauty Ali is left with despite the tragedy makes up for the sadness.


‼️Content‼️

Violence: a dog is slapped/yelled at; a dog fight (not detailed); injuries and blood (not detailed); a horse is led into a poisonous sulphur field to die; one person punches another

Other: poisoned grain; a woman is insane; a character has supernatural powers; magic; death and grief

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is good, but there are better books in the series. I did not like the main plot - the idea of two sisters from which one of them suffers with mental illness. It was a little bit too much and not very surprising at the same time.

Tenhle díl je trochu slabší, nelíbila se mi zápletka se dvěma sestrami, z, nichž jedna má trpí duševní nemocí. Bylo to takové přitažené za vlasy a zároveň předvídatelné.

[Rylyn Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!!

[Amanda Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well...that was an emotional ending! Loved it, but I was actually weeping at the end.

[Liz . · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a WILD RIDE

[Mikayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was ill and it has and will always remain one of my favorite books of all time. I love to write fiction (currently working on the second book). This book I was not ashamed inspired me to write my current novel. At first, I thought it would be too light of a story but the aspects of fantasy as well as a mentally disturbed individual that adds the darkness was perfect. A wonderful book in every way!!! A book to be put on the reread shelf.