I was rapt to recently receive a free copy of One Frosty Christmas by Laura Hesse. You can get an electronic copy free, too over at InstaFreebie.

Young Hannah Storey is struggling to come to grips with a move to a new town. She’s a survivor of a car accident and the nightmares haunt her still. She lost her grandmother in the accident. On top of this, she lost half of her leg.

Although she is an amputee, this didn’t bother Hannah. She has a supportive family and caring friends. But the move to River Bend finds her the victim of bullying. Determined not to cry, she works hard to ignore the taunts from local bully Penny Paddington.

River Bend doesn’t boast much that is appealing. Hannah is lonely and bored. There aren’t malls to go shopping. The local kids don’t embrace her.

In the cold winter months, Hannah finds her attention drawn to another outcast. An emaciated, angry looking grey pony she has nicknamed Mr. Frost lives in a paddock that is on her bus stop. Each day as she goes to and from school, Hannah sees the dejected pony.

In time, a plan forms to feed him and to rescue him from the neglect of his angry owner, Ole Man Levy. Hannah focuses first on gaining the pony’s trust. It’s hard to acknowledge that even if she manages this, she doesn’t have a clue of where to keep the pony – or how to look after him.

Hannah is pleased to find herself with an unexpected accomplice. But even as her new friend helps to feed Mr. Frost, Hannah knows she still needs to learn about horse care. A solution comes in a local riding school that offers therapeutic lessons for disabled people.

Johnny Joe, Hannah’s friend from school may also be able to solve the housing problem for Mr. Frost. As plans are made to rescue the pony, Hannah questions if they will indeed succeed. When Penny Paddington gets involved, Hannah doesn’t see how they can proceed. Can they trust the girl? Or is it all a set up?

One Frosty Christmas is a delightful read for young readers that looks at the life of a neglected pony as well as a young girl recovering from the loss of her grandmother.  Hannah’s character is strong and honest, whilst Johnny Joe helps to throw in some horse knowledge in the story. The end result is a delightful tale that brings the local community together. Worth the read.

Author: Laura Hesse
Fiction – children
In My Library? As an eBook.
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.

The concept of Gourmet Horse Treats Recipe Cookbook: 40 Horse-Approved Homemade Treats is great.  Author Lisa Travens explores various home made recipes for horses. Recipes include snacks that are suitable for young, developing horses. There are also ones for older horses that may have issues chewing and more delicate digestive systems.

There are also treats that are high in energy, while others focus more on roughage. Common ingredients include items that are known to be suitable for horses.  These include oats, lucerne (alfalfa), carrots, apples and molasses. Some ingredients suggested were questionable to me, including peanut butter and pumpkin.

The introductory chapter that covers the digestive system helps to show that the author is serious about giving appropriate feedstuffs to horses – in the appropriate amounts. I would have liked to see that the author had a degree or some such qualification relating to horses and science, or particularly nutrition. I’m not sure I’m comfortable taking recipe advice from someone who is solely going on what their horse has ‘enjoyed’ eating.

On top of this, it is an assumption that it has been enjoyed, because it was eaten. There was a lot of anthropomorphising in the book which I wasn’t so keen with. An example is comments relating to things that horses appreciate – I don’t know that I feel they can appreciate things. This is just a personal belief, however and not something wrong with the usefulness of the book.

The author did a good job of indicating how long to cook things for, but sometimes forgot to indicate at what temperature. And in all cases, the unit of measurement (which I assume to be Fahrenheit) was excluded. This would be beneficial particularly to people that utilise Celsius.

The book overall was made up of an interesting collection of recipes. The main ingredients were common, making it easy to make most of the recipes. The titles of the recipes were also fun and catchy. For those wanting some unique treats for their horses, Gourmet Horse Treats Recipe Cookbook may be of interest.

Author: Lisa Travens
Non Fiction – anyone
In My Library? As an eBook.
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.