Love Is a Gift

Heartland #15

by Lauren Brooke

Heartland is a horse farm nestled in the hills of Virginia, but it's much more than that. Heartland is like no other place - it's a place where the scars of the past can be healed, a place where frightened and abused horses learn to trust again.

Amy and Lou are excited to visit their father's ranch in Australia. When they arrive, Lou immediately bonds with their father's new wife, Helena. However, Amy finds herself holding back. She avoids the farmhouse and seeks the security of the stables. Amy wants to reach the reluctant Spirit, a gray gelding that was trained by Helena. But no matter what Amy does, the horse won't let her in. Can working with Spirit help Amy to open her heart and accept her father's new family as her own?

Genres: Horses, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Animals, Middle Grade, Contemporary

173 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Lauren Brooke grew up in a ranch in Virginia and now lives in Leicestershire, England. Her husband is a veterinarian who specializes in horses. Her books have been published by Scholastic since Mid-2000, starting with the first book of the Heartland book series. The first book of her popular Chestnut Hill series was published in 2005.

According to an interview on scholastics' website, Lauren Brooke has been riding since before she could walk. She also said she competes in a few local-level horse shows and events.

There may be some other people in books and movies named Lauren Brooke:
Amazon lists the author of "Book of spiritual regeneration" (1995) as Lauren Brooke.
IMDB.com has a record for an Actress named Lauren Brooke. Her only movie is "Wiseguys vs. Zombies" (2003) as Goat Man's Wife.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, this book just didn't do it for me like the others in this series. While still a great book with plenty of horse action, the family drama that was apparent in this book was a bit much for me, someone who was just looking for an easy, quiet read. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars if I could.

[Luuka9999 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marnie wróciła 🥹

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eens een paardenmeisje, altijd een paardenmeisje. Ik mis het zo erg!!! 4 sterren voor de nostalgie 🩷

[Iralynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartland, The long Winter is a fictional book. It was meant for entertainment. The author (Lauren Brooke)did an okay job of achieving her purpose. Sense I have watched the series, I usually know what the stories are at Heartland. But in this story of Heartland, the book had way more details than the episode. Also the story had changed. In the episode Amy and Lou's dad lived just down the road. In the book his ranch was in Australia. This book had a lot of weaknesses. One was that it wasn't as interesting as the show at all. It was way more boring than the show. It had some strengths, but not many. The best strength that it had was all of the details that were put into it. My favorite quote was on page 143. "It's so different from being at home she went on. There's always something that needs to be done at Heartland. But here, there's nothing for me to do besides working with Mistral and Spirit." This shows the difference between the book and the show. I would recommend this book to people who like the show. Is they didn't like the show, they wouldn't like the book. I would also recommend this book to people who like horses. Amy deals with horses almost all of the time during the book.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amy, Lou, and Scott are off to Australia to visit their father's farm. Unlike when their father came to Heartland, Amy is having difficulty connecting to her new stepmother and half-sister, while Lou seems right at home. Amy turns to the horses to give herself the sense of usefulness she is used to feeling at Heartland, but the horses don't seem to respond to her, and some of the stablehands are not welcoming either. Eventually Amy learns that she needs to offer herself too.

Amy seems to take a long time coming to this realization. She persists when one of the stablehands is aloof about learning new remedies, mostly because of Amy's attitude, not because she doesn't want to learn about the remedies.

[Eva Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good! I love the heartland series, so i am reading it again!😁 I love how Amy faces all these problems and comes out even stronger than before. I love how supportive and honest Ty is, it really helps Amy out. (they are such a good couple!) Ty is also there whenever Amy needs him.
I think there is some really good lessons in the book.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've finally finished this book.
It is awesome! I love it.
I really liked how there were many problems in the story and how Amy ended up solving all of them and even bettet than that she got to know her
new family.

[Fifi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like it it was wholesome

[Patrice Doten]

I’ve watched all 13 (14?) seasons of Heartland, but never knew the TV show was based on a book series until I found this on the library free cart. The show seems to have deviated quite a bit from the books and since this is #15 in the series, I got a bit tripped up trying to sort the book’s timeline and characters from that of the TV series. It seems a fine book, but I only made it about halfway through before setting it aside. If I was younger and didn’t have so many other books piled up around my house waiting to be read, I might’ve looked for the first book in the series and saved this one for later. But I doubt that will happen at this point, though it was interesting to get a glimpse into the inspiration for the show.

[Clemence D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dans ce nouveau tome on retrouve Laura et sa soeur Lou qui s'envolent vers l'Australie et plus précisément vers le ranch de leur père !

Laura va devoir trouver sa place dans la nouvelle famille de son Père et ce n'est pas gagné d'avance ! Entre la nouvelle femme de son père et sa demi soeur, Lily, Laura a encore des problèmes pour se sentir à l'aise avec cette nouvelle famille... Heureusement, il y a les chevaux et avec eux, Laura est en terrain connu.

Il ne s'agit pas de mon tome préféré de Heartland mais ça ne m'empêche pas de vous conseiller cette série à 200% !

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amy and Lou travel to Australia to visit their estranged father on his horse ranch. The situation is uncomfortable and strange, and Amy isn't sure how to handle it or her feelings. She begins to work with the horses on her father's ranch, which causes his stable hands to get into a little baby fit of jealousy. I thought this book was annoying. Who gets jealous of a teenage girl who is only visiting? Crybabies.

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one up to now has been my favorite book in the series.
Lou and Scott getting engaged were awesome. This was the first time in the series I can say I 100% enjoyed the Lou Character. I love how Amy adjustment to be part of the "new family" and how she did not recognize her on pic on her dad's desk.

[Tibbara's Den · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last of the series that I had previously read. I enjoyed this one a lot. The different setting and characters were refreshing. While the angst is still there, it does feel more believable. I really like how Amy finds who she is outside of Heartland while still working with horses and sharing her mom's methods.

[kat♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ahhh this one was probably one of my favorites in the series. i really connected with amy for feeling like an outsider in her dad’s new family and trying to find her footing in his home. but yet, the story’s simple, powerful theme rang through and i really enjoyed this book!!! can’ believe i only have a few more to go and im done with this series!

[The Chapter Conundrum (Stacey) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that this book went in a direction that the show veered totally away from so it was all new content for me. :) I also really loved that it portrays the idea that you are a different person to different people that you come across.

[Olivia H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has such a good ending, I almost don’t want to go on to the next one! This book wasn’t traumatizing like the last two, thank goodness! It was a really good read! I really love this series and I totally recommend it!

[Twyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite part was when Emma and Amy started to gety along better. My least favortie part was when Emma was mad at Amy, even though she was just trying to help.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amy earns a new family.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really stuck out to me because of all of the emotion and the love the characters showed it really made me feel the emotion more than a lot of the other books.

[Lcecnca · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

[Katie Hildreth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this series! It is different from the tv series, but it is hard to put down.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really good book from this series, with a different setting in Australia as Amy and Lou get to spend time with their Dad's new family and Amy helps with the horses on his ranch.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably would have been a little hesitant too, Amy.

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things just aren't the same when she leaves the farm to visit her father. Hse doesn't seem to fit in with the family. She wants to go home. Her sister fits in just fine. Jealousy. Longing. Desire. Love.

[Amanda Schell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore the heartland series!!! All of them! And in case you were wondering the TV series is pretty good too <3

[Isabella Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read from the Heartland series, though I did find that I missed the setting of Heartland in this story! I did enjoy reading about Amy seeing her father again and meeting her new family though. 😊

In this story, Amy Fleming and her older sister Lou are excited about the opportunity to fly over to their Dad’s ranch in Australia for a month to meet his new wife and their baby half-sister. But on arriving Amy feels left out and unsure about her new family. She soon takes on the responsibility of training two horses to help keep her mind off things. But the more she secludes herself in her training work the more she feels like she should never have left Heartland in the first place, that is where she is most needed. Will Amy be able to accept her Dad’s new life in Australia? Will she be able to put the pass behind her and focus on the important things before it is too late??

*Feel free to check out my overview for the Heartland series over on my Substack blog:

https://thepaintedcaravan.substack.co...

Isabella Ann of The Painted Caravan ♡

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a novel for the animal lovers! The book shows bonding between people and animals and the meaning of teamwork. I felt this book was an interesting way to learn how teamwork can really effect the way you preform. From this book I also learned that if you work to fix something that hurt you it will eventually be successful. The quote in the book that taught me this is, "Heartland is a horse farm nestled in the hills of Virginia, but it's much more than that. Heartland is a place like no other---a place where the scars of the past can be healed, a place where frightened and abused horses can learn to trust again." This book is great if you love animals and if you want to learn about the importance of trust and teamwork. This book delivered a meaningful and positive message and was overall a great book.

[Sully · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was definitely not my favorite in the series. With Amy and Lou going to Austrailia to visit their father, I figured this book would be more focused on the personal story lines and not on horses. Yet, the horses take center stage once again with the family issues as just a subplot, almost like an obstacle Amy struggles with on the trip. Granted, it plays more of a role towards the end of the book and her issue of bonding with her family is a key plot point, but I would have preferred it if Amy had gotten off well with the family from the start. With her loving and caring personality, the whole plot seemed a little out of character for her. This book also focuses more on Lou than most of the others, so that was nice for a change!

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Heartland books are a fun read, and they’re pretty quick to get through for me. You get your horses and your heartache from Heartland. These books are pretty steady, all continuing the story of Amy, Lou, Ty, Jack and the assorted horses.
The writing and subject matter are obviously intended for children, and can be a bit clunky at times for individuals with a higher reading level.
Since there isn't a lot to say, this review is similar to past reviews of this series. I recommend this series to kids who love horses, or parents who want there children to read something that's about hard work and some of life's tough lessons