I was contacted by Anna to see if I might like to read her book Challenger. She indicated that I was one author she’d come across who promotes being a Christian horse book author. In light of that, I was curious to read her book!
Challenger has a main character that appears to be too young to go through a mid-life crisis. And yet it seems that Joanna needs to reassess her life and the direction she’s headed. She is stuck in a rut and when a childhood friend reappears after a long absence, Joanna questions if she can regain a friendship that was pivotal in her childhood years. But it seems that Diane’s appearance isn’t set to make things comfortable – quite the opposite.
Joanna is used to a life where she and her father depend on and confide in each other. It seems that Diane’s return unusually upsets this dynamic. In Challenger, the small door that leads out of the house into the servant’s quarters shows a drastic difference between Joanna’s life and her father Ray’s. The story looks at family relationships, the benefit of equine therapy, dog training and even the Christian faith.
For two girls who lived and breathed horses, their lives have gone in very different directions. Diane’s interest in equine therapy has Joanna cringing as her comfortable life and routine are suddenly filled with the one animal that she has shied away from.
As Joanna seeks to fill a void with some canine friends, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to a man that can help her to train them. But his aloof nature has her questioning if it’s possible to really get to know him. This challenging friendship is at times more than the young woman can handle alongside the dramatics of Diane and her new love life. Challenger is an interesting read where the benefits of equine therapy really come into the story in the second half.
Author – Anna Rashbrook
Fiction – adult
In my library – a digital copy.
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