Title: Bluegrass Dreams Aren’t For Free
Author: Gerri Leen
Rating: ★★★★☆
Source: Book Sirens
Blurb: These race horses can talk, race riderless, and manage their own careers thanks to genetic manipulation in the past intended to make Thoroughbreds hardier. But living free doesn’t mean living without problems of the career and family (both blood and found) kind. Nor does it mean they are free from having to interact with humans.
In this mosaic novel, stories of two very different stallions and their friends and families (both four legged and two) interconnect to explore how these horses deal with career decisions, love, family, retirement, illness, and having to find alternate paths when flat racing does not prove a profitable or fulfilling life choice.
Not all roads lead to the winner’s circle, and even when they do, winning doesn’t always equal happiness without someone to share it with.
The stories explore themes such as friendships, loyalty, parents (both present and absent), resilience, taking risks, love, the place of humans in this new racing world, rivals working together to help a friend, tragedy and counselling, and many others.
Review: This is a very different book to the ones I usually read (and review) but that is very much a good thing!
The world Gerri builds is unique, though the exact way that horses have come to be able to talk is not given. Yet by treating it as a matter-of-fact makes talking horses believable. You’re simply sucked into each tale (pun intended!) and quickly become invested. Especially if one was a horsey girl growing up.
I really loved the lines of connection between the stories, whether that’s the familial ones or the rivalry ones. Then there are those forged between equine and human… and feline – Lucy was an immediate favourite, sounding exactly like my own cat in the way she got into trouble!
I’m not a watcher of horse racing – the one I used to see was the Grand National, but it’s been years – but this was never an issue. I followed those stories where racing is featured without difficulty. Those who do watch racing might understand the background a little more, but I didn’t feel like I was missing out.
In the end, the issues that the horses face were very similar – if not identical – to those faced by people all over, and I found the book an interesting way to examine them.
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