It seems that the Windflower Saga is a series for adults written by Aleksandra Layland. That said, the author has created a short story for younger readers. I downloaded Bright Star a Pony of the Kimbrii free on Kindle.  It follows the lives of the ponies that are bred and also trained for the Kimbrii tribe. Many they keep and ride themselves. Others they use for breeding. And still other ponies are sold onto local villagers.

Bright Star is a colt that grows up in the herd. He is one of twins born to the coloured horses in the herd. The young colt narrates the story, talking about his days of growing up alongside his sister and mother. He watches the stallion of the herd – his father – with pride, dreaming of the day when he will become a herd stallion.

In time Bright Star is chosen by one of the young Kimbrii people, something that seems to be a right of passage for seven year olds. Bright Star develops a bond with his rider who in time becomes the Clan Chief. His story follows through to the years when he is able to be a stallion of a herd of his own and later retire on a beautiful property.

Bright Star a Pony of the Kimbrii

Bright Star a Pony of the Kimbrii is a unique story that looks at herd life, tribal life and also the way of the fictional Kimbrii people. It is interspersed with colourful drawings of the herd horses. Although the series is aimed at adults, this short story is sure to engage young readers. The beautiful illustrations are an added bonus.

Author: Aleksandra Layland
Fiction – children’s
In My Library? As an eBook it is.
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.

I downloaded All the King’s Horses for free on Kindle a few months back.  It seems my collection of ‘freebies’ to read is growing faster than I can read them!  Not that I’m complaining 😉  This book is a very horse focused adult romance.

Amy is running from a life that she no longer wants.  She applies for and secures a job as a stable hand over 8 hours away from her home.  Dustin runs an equine facility where he competes, boards horses for a fee and retrains rescue horses.  His passion for taking on neglected and abused horses is obvious.  So it seems, is his desire to help out broken people.

Amy isn’t broken as far as Dustin can tell.  He recognises that she doesn’t have any issues with handling his horses.  She can competently muck out boxes, lead horses to their yards and bring them in for the night.  She has no issue with feeding them, either.  But Dustin has an issue with Amy.

As far as he can see, the horses evoke no feeling whatsoever.  He can’t understand how anyone could look at a horse, receive a nuzzle from it or observe a youngster kicking up its heels in play and not react at all.  It’s like she sees all of his beloved horses as mere machinery.

It takes Dustin awhile to realise that Amy may be more broken than the abused horses he is working with.  With some wise observations shared by his mother and Amy going against his wishes when it comes to a couple of the horses, Dustin realises there is more to Amy than he gave her credit for – a lot more.

As he starts to put the puzzle pieces together, Dustin finds himself inexplicably drawn to Amy.  Amy tries to ignore her attraction to him, especially after what she’s been through.  As the two are drawn together by mutual attraction as well as a desire to heal horses, it seems a relationship is inevitable.

All the King’s Horses is delightfully spot on with the horse information.  The story aptly explores gaining the trust as well as retraining horses that have been abused and misused.  The two issues I had with this novel was the crude language and also the way physical romance was described.  For a woman who was so drawn to Dustin’s gentle side, it surprised me that their physical relationship seemed anything but.  Remove the bad language and crude sexual descriptions and this story would be so much better.

Author: Lauren Gallagher
Fiction – adult romance
In My Library? As an eBook it is.
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.