REVIEWED BY CINDY
TITLE: Country Strong
AUTHOR: Caitlin Ricci
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 84 Pages
Blurb:
With only three months left on a lease-to-own agreement on a quarter horse Wyatt’s worked hard to own, a thunderstorm spooks General and he throws Wyatt, changing both their lives forever. Luckily, Kellen, a friend of the stable owner, calls for emergency medical attention, and Wyatt comes out of the hospital with a broken wrist and a concussion.
When Wyatt returns to the stable, he finds the owner has sold General to Kellen for retraining. But Wyatt’s woes have just begun, and now he must drive an hour to see his horse. The perks help balance the hardships, however, and Wyatt finds himself falling for Kellen. His fortitude is soon tested again by the ultimate betrayal when he learns Kellen doesn’t intend to return General after he’s trained.
Review:
When I read the blurb for this story I was so intrigued by the premise but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
Wyatt loves his horse and when a tragedy pulls them apart, I really do feel sorry for him. Kellan is a man who is trying to do the right thing and help both the horse and Wyatt out. The biggest problem these two men face is a serious lack of communication and a whole lot of jumping to the worst conclusions.
Wyatt and Kellan both had so much potential as interesting characters but I feel like there wasn’t enough done to explore who either of them were. Half the time Wyatt comes across as kind of a hot-headed brat when what I really wanted was to feel Wyatt’s anger and sadness and frustration with life and the events he has no control over.
And Kellan is pretty much a mystery. We never really get to know very much about him beyond a few paltry details and I feel like I didn’t know either man enough to make any kind of connection to them.
This story suffers badly from a lack of time to let anticipation grow and characters become people to the reader. There are some tender moments that had me tearing up but for the most part I never really connected to the story.
Simply put, this tale needed to be longer. Everything happens so fast with no time for momentum to build and carry the story along. You can see what’s going to happen right from the start and that’s okay if you can make the journey to get there interesting and exciting and this just didn’t do that for me.
Rating: 
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