Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally

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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 a horse 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…

Review:

Savannah wants more than what she has right now.  Like most people, she wants to reach beyond that.  But her vision isn’t as big as other teenagers.  Her dad is a groom.  She wants to go a step up and be an exercise rider.  And if she wants to dream really big, a jockey too.  Those are wonderful aspirations for horse lover to have.  But the sad part is how completely removed she feels from any possibility of receiving a higher education.  It isn’t that she isn’t interested.  But how could she possibly afford that?  For a family that makes so little that eating at Wendy’s is a special night out, just the cost of college applications and SAT’s seems like an insurmountable challenge. 

After showing an ability to calm down a horse that has been giving the owners of Cedar Hill Farms a difficult time, Savannah is hired on as an exercise rider.  She is elated.  This is a dream come true.  She is doing what she loves while making money that will help her family.  But her new role comes with its share of problems.  The biggest one being Jack Goodwin.

Jack Goodwin is taking on one of his father’s many lessons/tests that will prepare him to run the farm when his dad retires.  The most current is the mother of all tests….running the farm for a year.  That includes managing the grooms, trainers, jockey, etc.  When he sees Savannah’s ability with his problem horse, Tennessee Star he hires her as Star’s exercise rider.  He spent half a million on a horse that has yet to win any race and he can’t figure out why.  Maybe with Savannah’s help he can still make the horse a champion and prove to his dad that he didn’t make a terrible investment. 

But Savannah proves to be a challenge as well.  He’s ridiculously attracted to her but his father has very strict rules about fraternizing with the staff.  And regardless of the rumors that are passed between the staff at the stables and the housekeeping staff, Jack isn’t interested in taking advantage of any girl let along girls that work for his family. 

A relationship between a girl from a family that can barely scrape two pennies together and a boy whose dad just hands him a half a million dollars to buy a racehorse seems impossible.  Particularly to their parents that keep warning them away from each other.  They are from completely different worlds and neither really know how to navigate or understand each other when they aren’t on common ground (the stable or school).  But at some point they’ll both have to grow up a bit and decide if those struggles are worth conquering in order to be together. 

One of the things Miranda Kenneally is really great at is portraying human imperfections.  And sometimes those imperfections can be really painful.  She is also wonderful at making you constantly second guess the relationship between her main characters.  Why does she do that?  My guess is that she wants us to feel the uncertainty her teens are feeling.  If I am correct then she is quite successful.  Each of Kenneally’s books has had me guessing until the very end.  And each time I reach the end I am immensely satisfied.  

Being a fan of contemporary YA, Miranda Kenneally’s books will always be an auto-buy for me.

Nat

Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally - Pre-Order Gift from Sourcebooks!

I am a huge fan of Miranda Kenneally's books which means I am super happy to help Sourcebooks out with the following promotion.  This was an auto buy for me already and I will definitely be pre-ordering now.  How about you guys?

~Nat

From Sourcebooks....

They’re from two different worlds, but Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules. . . get the next contemporary novel from blockbuster YA novelist Miranda Kenneally: RACING SAVANNAH!

Right before her senior year, Savannah’s father whisks the family off to Tennessee to work as head groom at fancy Cedar Hill Farms. Savannah finally sees it as the perfect opportunity to earn extra money as an exercise rider—no matter how many others don’t want a girl around the barn.  But she’s also caught the eye of Jack Goodwin, the owner’s son. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries. With her dream of becoming a jockey, Savannah is 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.




A Special Announcement from Sourcebooks:

We’ve put together a fun campaign to thank readers for pre-ordering: send us your proof of pre-order and we’ll send you this fabulous horseshoe key chain! 

A Gift for You, for Pre-Ordering RACING SAVANNAH by Miranda Kenneally

We have a special offer for U.S. and Canada YA fans for the release of RACING SAVANNAH by Miranda Kenneally in stores in a little over three weeks! If you pre-order the book, we will send you an exclusive horseshoe key chain—perfect for any busy teen on the go! You have until December 2 or until quantities run out.

Here’s how to get your charm:
1. Pre-order the book (print or eBook) through any retailer (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, your local independent bookseller/Indiebound, Books-A-Million, Hastings, etc.)

2. Email your proof of purchase (receipt or picture of the receipt) to teenfire@sourcebooks.com. Put “Racing Savannah Pre-Order” in the subject line. Don’t forget to include your home address (US & Canada only please) so we can send you the horseshoe key chain! If you’ve already pre-ordered this book—not a problem! Send us your receipt!

3. You will get an email back confirming when the items have been sent out.

4. Enjoy Racing Savannah when it comes out in December!

Optional: take a pic of you and your horseshoe key chain and share it with Miranda Kenneally or Sourcebooks Fire on Twitter! You can find Miranda @mirandakennealy and Sourcebooks Fire @sourcebooksfire.