Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses.

Dare to Dream was one of my stand out books when it appeared, and its sequel, Dream On is right up there with it. Sequels aren’t necessarily easy things to write. Often authors have used up their best plotlines; any dramatic tension was resolved in the previous book, and you can’t help but be aware of the author scrabbling round frantically trying to find something else with which to engage the reader. None of that applies to Dream On. At the end of the previous book, Marley’s beloved horse, Cruise, had to be sold to enable the girls and their stable to survive. The New Zealand horse world is a relatively small one, and so there’s no way in Dream On  that Marley can escape Cruise. It’s not that his new owner, Bubbles, is a monster either, because she isn’t. She understands just how bad Marley feels. The worst thing for Marley is that it’s obvious Cruise still misses her. He’s not jumping to the best of his ability, but in an act of real love, she advises his new owner ...

Elaine Brown and I first met when she asked me what I thought of her first pony novel, Jackie's Pony Secret , then unpublished. I read it and loved it, and have watched Elaine's progress ever since. Elaine has followed up Pony Secret with another novel, and after several nearly-there episodes with publishers, has decided to go it alone. This is the story of how she did it. Elaine's books are: Jackie's Pony Secret The Ponies of Penstorran and you can follow Elaine on her website:  www.in-my-own-write.com ~  0  ~ Books were a large part of my childhood. My older sister and my mother used to read to me every night at bedtime - more, I think, in the interests of getting me to sleep than anything else as I was a poor sleeper. However, I was told that they would often fall asleep themselves but I would still be awake. It wasn’t long before I started reading for myself and I was able to read quite fluently at a very pre-school age. I was fascinated by words...

As I worked on this book I can't review it, so thank you very much indeed to guest reviewer Sue Howes for standing in. Sue is the author of The Bay Mare , and has had her short stories published in Horse and Pony. She's also contributed guest pieces on self publishing to this blog. ~  0  ~  My first impression on reading the blurb of this book was that it promised to be one of those ‘bonkers’ pony books, like Michael Maguire's  Mylor, the Most Powerful Horse in the World , or John Thorburn's Hildebrand . I was intrigued, as I enjoy seeing where authors take their stories when the normal rules of life don’t apply. Throughout the book I felt as if I were missing something, and now learn that there was indeed a previous book. I would like to read this, to see if Beth, the main human character, comes more to life. I didn’t feel as though I got to know her very well in this book alone. Harry, her talking horse, is another matter! He bounces off the page, a bo...