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shelvesofsamantha's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
dlperin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
karlyo83's review against another edition
5.0
My Rating: 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ devastating, depressing and heartbreaking stars!!!
Fifteen year old Roan Montgomery is a prodigy living in the constant shadow of her fathers equestrian career, but if shes trains hard enough and does all the right things just maybe she can make it to the Olympics her ultimate goal.
Roan only knows two things in life inside the arena and outside the arena and both of those worlds are ruled by her father who demands strict obedience in every facet of her life. Roan’s father “Daddy” is her coach, her father, her mentor and her abuser.
Things have long since been Ok in the Montgomery household but the abuse is commonplace and Roan is slowly but surely being eaten alive by the suffocating knowledge that her life is absolutely not how she hoped it would be.
Roan finds a glimmer of hope in a boy at school but her father can absolutely never find out… Will Howard cannot sway her focus… but things just never go to plan.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual Assault, Incest, Neglect, Abuse and a bunch of other - know your limits!!!
First of all this book is a story of abuse and control… but neglect from all the people that touch the lives of poor lovely Roan. You may read this and say but how can she let this happen… Roan is 16 and this has not just begun happening. This is her life this is her reality day in day out and her greatest fan, her so called protector and the person that loves her most is the one betraying her trust, her body and her soul every single day… what a confusing and devastating life for a young girl… it just broke me.
Second of all, this is not a thriller - so my GR friends if you follow me for the thriller books I read this is absolutely not one of them. This is depression and heartache and all kinds of f*cked up!!! If you’re looking for a fast paced action packed thrill a minute look away. This one is slow and it progressively gets more and more graphic as it goes along… it was a difficult read because the subject matter is just so heartbreaking.
Having said all that, it was excellent, the writing was wonderful - fully told from POV of Roan and in the current timeline but we get a sense for all the main and secondary characters just exactly as it should be. There is edge of your seat moments when you think this or that might be found out … or this or that might happen and I think if I didn’t paint my nails in STOP BITE nail poison I would have no nails left from this book.
The other really surprising thing about this book for me is the level of detail the author goes into about the sport equestrian and horses and riding in general. Now I am no horse fan - don’t trust them and I wouldn’t ride one. But I found this incredibly interesting - it was slow slow paced and sometimes there would be three chapters in a row about Roan and riding and horses and equestrian but I had trouble putting it down… I kept reading and reading and I was up late with this one.
If the facts that were shared in this book were researched as well as they appeared to be then I learnt a lot about horses and the sport and it was actually very interesting…. Competitive and cutthroat. I liked Roan a lot, she was a true victim that did not want to be a vicim and she tried to continue living her life but … her life was not meant to be lived… in the end… well I am not going to give away the ending but it was satisfying enough… it is absolutely not how I would have played it in real life but every action made perfect sense and I get why the author did what she did and I appreciated it.
Will Howard was a great character and perfect for Roan - oooh the tension between these two well that was pulled of really well and they are teenagers too… so you know sometimes you’re like meh teenage love barf - but I liked it. AND my god!!! Roan’s mother what an absolutely piece of sh*t - I dunno what it is but I seem to find all the books with the bad mothers… although in this case the dad is the devil himself and I wanted to stab his face off throughout the entire book.
Overall - I would only recommend this to people who an handle their trigger warnings and to my GR friends who like me enjoy the depression novels. I know thats not an actual genre but if you know me and my book choices then you will know what I mean. It wont be for everyone and if you really truly hate horses I don’t recommend it either. Everyone else if this sounds like something you can handle then I highly recommend it!!
I got this one of Kindle Unlimited so if you have that and are on the fence you can always try it without much fuss!!!
Fifteen year old Roan Montgomery is a prodigy living in the constant shadow of her fathers equestrian career, but if shes trains hard enough and does all the right things just maybe she can make it to the Olympics her ultimate goal.
Roan only knows two things in life inside the arena and outside the arena and both of those worlds are ruled by her father who demands strict obedience in every facet of her life. Roan’s father “Daddy” is her coach, her father, her mentor and her abuser.
Things have long since been Ok in the Montgomery household but the abuse is commonplace and Roan is slowly but surely being eaten alive by the suffocating knowledge that her life is absolutely not how she hoped it would be.
Roan finds a glimmer of hope in a boy at school but her father can absolutely never find out… Will Howard cannot sway her focus… but things just never go to plan.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual Assault, Incest, Neglect, Abuse and a bunch of other - know your limits!!!
First of all this book is a story of abuse and control… but neglect from all the people that touch the lives of poor lovely Roan. You may read this and say but how can she let this happen… Roan is 16 and this has not just begun happening. This is her life this is her reality day in day out and her greatest fan, her so called protector and the person that loves her most is the one betraying her trust, her body and her soul every single day… what a confusing and devastating life for a young girl… it just broke me.
Second of all, this is not a thriller - so my GR friends if you follow me for the thriller books I read this is absolutely not one of them. This is depression and heartache and all kinds of f*cked up!!! If you’re looking for a fast paced action packed thrill a minute look away. This one is slow and it progressively gets more and more graphic as it goes along… it was a difficult read because the subject matter is just so heartbreaking.
Having said all that, it was excellent, the writing was wonderful - fully told from POV of Roan and in the current timeline but we get a sense for all the main and secondary characters just exactly as it should be. There is edge of your seat moments when you think this or that might be found out … or this or that might happen and I think if I didn’t paint my nails in STOP BITE nail poison I would have no nails left from this book.
The other really surprising thing about this book for me is the level of detail the author goes into about the sport equestrian and horses and riding in general. Now I am no horse fan - don’t trust them and I wouldn’t ride one. But I found this incredibly interesting - it was slow slow paced and sometimes there would be three chapters in a row about Roan and riding and horses and equestrian but I had trouble putting it down… I kept reading and reading and I was up late with this one.
If the facts that were shared in this book were researched as well as they appeared to be then I learnt a lot about horses and the sport and it was actually very interesting…. Competitive and cutthroat. I liked Roan a lot, she was a true victim that did not want to be a vicim and she tried to continue living her life but … her life was not meant to be lived… in the end… well I am not going to give away the ending but it was satisfying enough… it is absolutely not how I would have played it in real life but every action made perfect sense and I get why the author did what she did and I appreciated it.
Will Howard was a great character and perfect for Roan - oooh the tension between these two well that was pulled of really well and they are teenagers too… so you know sometimes you’re like meh teenage love barf - but I liked it. AND my god!!! Roan’s mother what an absolutely piece of sh*t - I dunno what it is but I seem to find all the books with the bad mothers… although in this case the dad is the devil himself and I wanted to stab his face off throughout the entire book.
Overall - I would only recommend this to people who an handle their trigger warnings and to my GR friends who like me enjoy the depression novels. I know thats not an actual genre but if you know me and my book choices then you will know what I mean. It wont be for everyone and if you really truly hate horses I don’t recommend it either. Everyone else if this sounds like something you can handle then I highly recommend it!!
I got this one of Kindle Unlimited so if you have that and are on the fence you can always try it without much fuss!!!
lsan999's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sare1125's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
5.0
"Dark Horses" is a hard book to read as well as a hard one to review. The subject matter is as dark as they come, and the novel is hard to put down.
Gifted equestrian Roan is fifteen. Her father and grandfather were Olympic champions, and now she is on the same path. Her father is demanding, controlling. She has no friends and barely notices until she meets a nice boy named Will and starts a friendship with him. As she grows older Roan has been pulling away from her father's orbit in the tiniest ways and with the harshest results--he kills a beloved pet, sells her favorite horse, threatens to fire employees she has come to love. Her mother has left, saying that she can no longer be a third wheel in the family. Because her father has trained her body in all ways, he tells her that she likes having sex with him. And because she now has a friend, he focuses his sights on Will.
Yes, this is tough stuff, and her father's methods of control are especially vile. I don't think I've ever read a book so upfront with and issue so disturbing. Don't stop reading though. The ending is not what you expect.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for approval to read this novel.
Gifted equestrian Roan is fifteen. Her father and grandfather were Olympic champions, and now she is on the same path. Her father is demanding, controlling. She has no friends and barely notices until she meets a nice boy named Will and starts a friendship with him. As she grows older Roan has been pulling away from her father's orbit in the tiniest ways and with the harshest results--he kills a beloved pet, sells her favorite horse, threatens to fire employees she has come to love. Her mother has left, saying that she can no longer be a third wheel in the family. Because her father has trained her body in all ways, he tells her that she likes having sex with him. And because she now has a friend, he focuses his sights on Will.
Yes, this is tough stuff, and her father's methods of control are especially vile. I don't think I've ever read a book so upfront with and issue so disturbing. Don't stop reading though. The ending is not what you expect.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for approval to read this novel.
colbsbookshelf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
reillsreads's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Could not put this book down. It covers a lot of hard hitting topics that are uncomfortable to read at a lot of times. I admire the strength of Roan and her resilience and bravery. It's impossible to not love her character development.
calicokingdom's review against another edition
3.0
all i want is an adult horse book that is slightly dark and this is the second adult horse book in a year that has gotten all the horse stuff right but is just fully trauma porn conveyed with graphic scenes. the story was interesting and i will read more from this author, but a lot of this was gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous.