Lighter. Leaner. Faster.
Raesha will to do whatever it takes to win Nationals. For her, competing isn't just about the speed of her horse or the thrill of the win. It's about honouring her mother's memory and holding onto a dream they once shared.
Lighter. Leaner. Faster.
For an athlete, every second counts. Raesha knows minus five on the scale will let her sit deeper in her saddle; make her horse lighter on his feet. And lighter, leaner, faster gives her the edge she needs over the new girl on the team, a girl who keeps flirting with Raesha's boyfriend and making plans with her best friend.
So she focuses on minus five. But if she isn't careful, she's going to lose more than just the people she loves, she's going to lose herself to lighter, leaner, faster...
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[We started this morning / before the sun leaked across the sky / while the steers were still and slow with cold ROUNDUP]***
(@SourcebooksFire, 7 February 2017, 496 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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This is a novel written in verse. I have no issue with this. I've read quite a lot of novels that use this structure and tend to really enjoy it. It doesn't work here though. I found something very lacking in the book, despite the glowing reviews. This could have been such a good book and I really, really wanted to enjoy it. Using verse to tell the story does not come across as natural here or the best way to go, it felt forced, even gimmicky at times like the writer typed a prose paragraph then made it verse by randomly hitting the return key at different lines. This does not match it a poem or verse. I didn't get any real sense of characters. I'm sorry, but this lacked emotional contact. Given the premise of the book, loss, grief and eating disorders I should have been sobbing like a baby. The author didn't make me feel it.
