Book picks similar to
Rain Shadow by Catherine Madera
horses
fiction
animals
inspirational
Change of Address (A Spencer Manning Mystery Book 1)
Rick Polad - 2012
Tracking down an unknown father involves him in murder and drugs as his first case leads him to a Chicago racetrack and the mayor's house.
The Bialy Pimps
Johnny B. Truant - 2012
The loathed customers are dealt the poor treatment they seem to deserve, bad rap music is played loudly, and The Rat is killed often enough to stem his immortality. And the insane homeless regulars -- like drunken Little Johnny Redbeard -- keep life interesting.But when a rival tricks the crew into thinking that the deli's closure is imminent, they do the only logical thing: instead of giving up, they decide to go out in a blaze of glory, handing their customers the humiliation and abuse that the pesky social contract had previously forbidden. But as insults turn to assaults and snide remarks turn to harassment and pro wrestling moves, a strange thing happens. Business goes up -- way up -- as people come back in droves, begging for more.But the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and as pop-culture welcomes the parody musical group "The Bialy Pimps" and its frivolous merchandising machine -- and as the crew pushes to see how much bad behavior society will accept -- the violent road to fame begins to feel like a runaway train, out of control and headed for destruction…The Bialy Pimps is a tale that could only be spun by the twisted, vaguely profane mind of outspoken blogger Johnny B. Truant. Combining hilarity with questions about conformity and whether the tail or the dog is the one doing the wagging, this story can't help but raise a question for the reader: If the rest of your friends decided to submit to the Face-Kicking Machine, would you do it too?
Wild Thing
Dandi Daley Mackall - 2002
She can gentle the wildest mare, but other parts of her life don't always come as easily. Along with her dad and sister, Lizzy, Winnie is learning how to live without her mom, who was also a natural horse gentler. As Winnie teaches her horses about unconditional love and blind trust, God shows Winnie that he can be trusted too. Readers will be hooked on the series' vivid characters, whose quirky personalities fill Winnie's life with friendship and adventure. In #1 Wild Thing, Winnie's fearful heart finally begins to trust God again as she tries to gentle the horse of her dreams, Wild Thing.
Songs for a Teenage Nomad
Kim Culbertson - 2007
Fearful of putting down roots anywhere, but armed with her song journal, she moves to her own sound track through a world that bounces her between the school drama crowd, a mysterious loner, and an unlikely boy who will become her first love. But it's the troubling truth she uncovers about her father that forces Calle to face the toughest choice of her young life.
Borrowed Horses
Sian Griffiths - 2013
She has given up everything (career, romance) to pursue her goal of riding for the US Equestrian Team, but now, with no horse to ride and no money to buy or support a young prospect, she finds herself faced with a choice: should she take a chance on a relationship with the attractive stranger pursuing her, or invest her time in training her coach's abused and violent mare? As she explores each option, Joannie finds that a fully lived life is much like the jumping courses she's always ridden, every path bearing obstacles that she will have to clear to find her way forward.
True Horsemanship Through Feel
Leslie Desmond - 1999
Learning that language can expand any horseman's knowledge and abilities—whether he or she is learning to ride, train, or compete. In a writing style that is generously detailed and packed with meaning, Dorrance directs the reader’s attention to the many subtle things about how horses and humans act and interact. In these pages, he urges us to reach toward a deeper level of insight into horses and their riders, as he shares a wealth of helpful information. With hundreds of illustrations, True Horsemanship Through Feel takes the reader step by step through the basic challenges that have characterized horse-human relations for centuries. Drawing on his years of experience, Bill Dorrance has crafted a book that imparts knowledge previously available only by word of mouth.
In Her Mothers' Shoes
Felicity Price - 2002
About the AuthorAuthor of the best-selling Penny Rushmore novels, including “A Sandwich Short of a Picnic”, Felicity Price has also written several other published novels, the John Britten biography “Dare to Dream” and a couple of company histories. Sandwiched (like Felicity's fictional character Penny Rushmore) between the emotional turmoil of elderly parents, teenagers, a demanding career and a badly-behaved spaniel, Felicity similarly tries to juggle with jelly and often feels it slither between her fingers.
Island Passage
Sherry Hartzler - 2010
Devastated by her husband’s infidelity, Francine Durret flees her upscale suburban home with her angry fifteen-year-old daughter, returning to the island house, where she'd spent childhood summers with her best friend, Claudia Angelo. Francine hopes to heal a broken heart, re-connect with her daughter, and attempt to rediscover the simple, uncomplicated love she had known as a child.When Claudia arrives unannounced on the doorstep of the island house, the past comes to life. Claudia is rich, brash and stunningly beautiful, but unlike Francine, her childhood memories recall nothing but lies, poverty and neglect. For Claudia, the subject of her past is a dead issue. She comes to the island to repay a long-standing debt, rooted in deception. Alan Bromsley grew up on the island, a free-spirited boy who'd lived a charmed life. He now operates a small island flight service. No stranger to grief, Alan is a loner, a man at war with himself. In this tender-hearted story, Alan is confronted by the two women he once loved and lost twenty years ago. Island Passage unites three estranged friends, torn apart by unforeseen circumstances, and then brought together in a tragedy that inadvertently unravels an old secret—a secret that could ultimately destroy them all.
The Eagle of Spinalonga
Nike Azoros - 2012
He is sent into exile to Spinalonga, a rock island of Crete where there is no food, no electricity, no medical help, no supplies, nothing. He catches an eagle as a unique way to source food then, armed with his education and natural instincts he decides to create a life of dignity for the inhabitants of Spinalonga in the style of the city state system of Ancient Greece. Pavlos a thug criminal sent there by the state from prison does everything in his power to maintain chaos and terror so as to keep control of the island. World War 2 breaks out and the Nazis invade and inflict horrors upon the Greek people. Nikos and the people of Spinalonga outsmart the Nazis and play a major role in the resistance.
Here Among Us
Maggie Harryman - 2010
After all, she has been battling Maeve most of her life. Disagreeing about the extent of their Irish mother’s creeping dementia and the fate of the family’s thriving restaurant business, named for their beloved, long dead father, Paddy, is surely a recipe for a world-class brawl. What Flynn doesn’t expect is the fragile truce the sisters forge to save O’Shea’s from the clutches of Maeve’s scheming husband, Jeffrey. Flynn and Maeve are reluctantly aided by their forty-four-year-old brother, Osheen, a handsome Peter Pan still cruising the Jersey shore, getting high and dodging responsibility. And while Didi tries to convince her mother that “everything is as it should be,” just when Flynn is sure she’s gained the upper hand on Jeffrey, her own mother’s shocking confession sends her into a wine-soaked tailspin and forces her to deal once and for all with the ghosts of her past. Devastated, Flynn must choose to save O’Shea’s or risk losing forever all she has left of her father.In Here Among Us, the O’Sheas find themselves dealing with the very timely issue of Alzheimer’s, a disease that strips the victim's identity and wreaks havoc on the family left to pick up the pieces. But Flynn, Osheen and Maeve’s troubles began long before their mother started to “slip.” For the O’Sheas, much of their shared angst is rooted in the single most devastating event of their lives—the death of their father when they were young children. The novel explores not only how deep wounds can seem impossible to heal, but how refusing to let go of the stories the O'Sheas desperately cling to about who they are, threatens to hasten their demise.
Mounted
Barbara Morgenroth - 2012
Talia Margolin's life has been marked by events completely beyond her control--her mother's death, her move to her father's horse farm, the retirement of her show horse. Now she faces the arrival of a new coach whose job is to get Talia's half-sister, Greer, qualified for the finals at the National Horse Show. Greer is brutal on trainers but Lockie Malone is different. Handsome, talented, and with a will of hardened steel, Lockie can be an immovable object. He also becomes the agent for change in the lives of everyone at Bittersweet Farm. For seventeen year old Talia, change has never meant anything but loss. Will this time be different?
Bombshells
T. Elliott Brown - 2011
Six-year-old Birdie Adams wants to run away and join the circus but guesses she’ll have to go to the first grade and hang around with her new baby brother instead. Maybe her big sister needs a little help, too. The circus will have to wait.Twelve-year-old Melanie Adams wants her friend to stop bugging her to get her first kiss. Melanie’s already had her first kiss, but won’t spoil the special secret by talking about it. Norah Adams is a good mother and wife who wants to keep her family safe and happy, but tucking the order form for dogtags in her daughters’ lunch boxes is a big change from the everyday bologna sandwiches.Lola Carter wants the life her sister, Norah, has. Instead she has a factory job, an alcohol and prescription drug addiction, and an abusive boyfriend. Even if President Kennedy prevents World War III, these women’s lives will be changed forever.
When Stars Collide
Tammy Robinson - 2013
It’s fortunate she does, because this leads to the most magical night of her life, and it’s not long before the simple love between them and Walt’s lovesick smile infects the whole town. After the happiest and most wondrous weeks of Ivy’s life, tragedy strikes without warning and in one brief moment Ivy’s life as she knows it is ripped apart. Grief stricken and unable to cope with the haunting reminders everywhere she turns, she pushes Walt away and flees her hometown without even a goodbye, desperate for answers from a world she no longer understands.Eventually though the moment she has been avoiding comes and she must return home to her grandfather and his ailing health. Will she come home to find the same place, and the same sweet guy, that she left behind? When Stars Collide is a story about love, and the journey of one woman to rediscover what is important to her following the loss of her life as she knows it.
Torn
Gilli Allan - 2011
Sex is not always awesome; it can be awkward and embarrassing, and it has consequences. You don't always fall for Mr Right, even if he falls for you. And realising you're in love is not always good news. It can make the future look daunting.Jess has made a series of bad choices. Job, relationships and life-style have all let her down. By escaping the turmoil of her London life, she is putting her young child first. This time she wants to get it right, to devote herself to being a mother. But the country does not offer the i ‘good life ’idyll she pictured. The landscape she looks out on is under threat, new friends have hidden agendas, two very different men pull her in opposing directions. In the face of temptation old habits die hard. She is torn between the suitable man and the unsuitable boy.E Book linkhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Torn-Gilli-Al...Paperback linkhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Torn-Gilli-Al...
As a Decade Fades
Joshua Fields Millburn - 2012
While he stares at the rubble of his one-hit-wonder musical career, his mother is diagnosed with lung cancer, his marriage ends abruptly, and Jody starts drinking heavily to deaden his new reality.When he hasn't a single reason left to live, he attempts suicide and ends up in a psych ward where he's prodded by doctors and social workers with questions he isn't yet prepared to answer. Amid the tailspin, Jody receives a phone call from his recently estranged girlfriend and she has unexpected news: she's pregnant.As a Decade Fades begins with this phone call. As his twenties twilight, Jody Grafton grapples with loneliness, depression, lust, and infatuation, while glancing at the mounting wreckage in his rearview. When he can't fit--or force--the pieces of his life back together, he leaves his native Ohio to search for answers in the most unlikely of places: Brooklyn.Cover design by Spyr Media · Published by Asymmetrical Press