Book Review: RACING SAVANNAH by Miranda Kenneally

Book:  Racing Savannah

Author:  Miranda Kenneally

Publisher:  Sourcebooks Fire

Category:  Young Adult Fiction

“Be with me. Please don’t date him.”- Jack

“Oh, so you’ll stoop to date me now that I could be interested in another guy?  That sucks.”- Savannah

“I care about you.”- Jack

“Then prove it.”- Sav

Description via NetGalley:

They're from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming jockey, Savannah isn't exactly one to follow the rules either. She's not going to let someone tell her a girl isn't tough enough to race. Sure, it's dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack.

My Summary:y Summary:

Lack of money has always been an issue for Savannah.  She grew up not having much, specifically because everything they had, they poured into her mother’s treatment for cancer, which unfortunately still killed her in the end.  Sav’s father, for financial reasons, uprooted their small family to Tennessee from West Virginia in her senior year.  

Starting from scratch in a new school with a pregnant almost-stepmother isn’t exactly ideal, but then again, there’s one big perk to make her transition easier:  Horses.  Her father’s new job as a Head groom in a fancy farm assures Savannah’s chances of becoming an exercise rider.

Jack is the farm owner’s only son.  He is being groomed to take over the entire estate.  He is also extremely rich, handsome and too tempting for Savannah not to notice.  He holds her attention everywhere he goes, and vice versa.  He flirts then flees.  They both know the rules: no gallivanting with the help, and especially no forming romantic relationships whatsoever. 

Much as Sav wants to play by the rules, she can’t help but fall for the boy… and his horse.  She’s the only one Jack’s expensive horse responds to so eventually she starts training to be its jockey for big races.  This would help ensure Sav’s future and the rest of her family as well.

Is she willing to jeopardize everything she has worked for to be with a guy who wants to keep her a secret? The man who can’t fight for her? The man who is breaking her heart?

My Review:

This continues the Hundred Oaks series that Miranda Kenneally began with Catching Jordan, a personal favorite for its lightness and romance.  Though I can’t say this book delivered as much fun as Jordan, it did help me while away boredom for a few hours.  It is not that the book is bad, I actually liked it, but it’s just not as absorbing as the first.

As characters go, Savannah is impressive in that she is strong, independent and responsible.  More than anything she wants to help her growing family and is willing to sacrifice her meager earnings for the good of her unborn sister.  I like that she forces what she wants on others, which is becoming an exercise rider and eventually, a jockey.  Falls and injuries notwithstanding, she doesn’t give up easily and in fact, pushes to get back on the horse literally.

Jack is the opposite.  He tries to follow his father’s rules despite the fact that it goes against his heart’s desires.  He wants to be with Savannah yet he can’t fight for her.  In that sense he is weak.  But with love there is always redemption and he gets that in the end.

This book is romantic, the flow is good and the writing is as expected.  Thrilling? Yes, especially the end.  It also goes against expectations in that in other stories, the heroine always wins and everything is tied together with a big fat red bow at THE END.  This one gets close, but not quite all the way, and I like that.  No one is perfect, neither are Jack and Savannah.

The support characters here are lovable and the cameos are a plus for me.  I loved reading about characters from Catching Jordan like Henry, Jordan and Ty.  It’s makes the book more familiar and yet it still gives respect to this new story because their presence is never overwhelming. 

Racing Savannah is a good read.  A nice addition to the Hundred Oaks series.

All photos have been lifted from Sourcebooks.com