I knew I would probably enjoy The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle because it’s about a girl growing up in a small town in Colorado — this girl did the same.
Alice Winston lives on a horse ranch in the desert with her father and reclusive mother, while her older sister Nona has run off with a cowboy riding the rodeo circuit. With her sister gone, Alice’s father struggles to make the ranch profitable by boarding the horses of the wealthier women in town. It’s a lot of work for just the two of them, and somehow they make do for awhile. But all of them miss Nona and can’t understand why she’d leave the family and the ranch.
Meanwhile, Alice is dealing with being accepted at school and recovering from the death of a classmate. She experiences her first kiss and her first crush. She tries to make sense of the adults around her. I sympathized with Alice and winced at the all too familiar pains of growing up. I rooted for things to go her way. Sadly, however, life doesn’t always turn out the way we plan. Sometimes we just have to accept the way things are.
The God of Animals was Aryn Kyle’s first book.
2008 Spur (Best Western Long Novel)
2007, 320 pp.
Glad to see that you liked this one. I hope to read it soon.
this is one of my faves this year. glad you liked it!
Another booking that has been languishing on my shelves. I wish I could prioritize and get these great books read so I wouldn’t feel so impatient with myself when I read such a favorable review.
The story in the book was good,but the equine terminology was way off. How hard would it be for a writer to have someone who knows horses edit the book? As an horse person it drove me nuts.
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