Thoroughbred Books

i love all of wonder's foals but i like champion the best because fo his spirit and wild nature. i also like that he won the triple crown!

This book begins with another of Ashleigh's Wonder's fabulous offspring, Wonder's Champion. Cindy(whom all thoroughbred fans have grown to hate) grows to love Champion, and has faith in him, and blah blah blah. Champion has an uncontrollable amount of spirit, that gets in the way of him doing his best in races. This book is extremely forgettable. And when you're done, you'll think, "So wait, what just happened?" All in all, the series has evolved into a disgrace to all equestrian novels. The series is filled with quick fixes, and happy endings. And Joanna Campbell will never be replaced, as it shows in this book. Thoroughly dissapointing. And it only gets worse. Although, arouns #70, the series is said to pick up, there will never be another thoroughbred book after 72. In my opinion, these books need a long rest out in the pasture.

The Cindy and second generation eventing portions of the series were dark days for Thoroughbred. The plots have since switched back to racing and the newest few books have been exceptional. Just as we thought there was hope for the Thoroughbred series to be restored to its former glory Harper Collins has decided to end the series abruptly after #72. With such a dedicated following and online fan base with members from all over the world, this is a classic and beloved series that has inspired many people and provided horse fans with vicarious thrills and adventure. Ashleigh saved Wonder, now it's up to you to help save Thoroughbred. [...]

I loved this book but I don't understand that glory is there one book but gone in the next. Read Ashleigh's Diary. Thoroughbred rocks!!

In Champions Spirit, Wonders Champion has just started his racing career. Wonders Champion was one of Ashleighs Wonders foals. Ashleighs Wonder was one of the best racehorses in her old racing days. And now she passed her talent to her foals:Wonder Pride, Townsend Princess, Mr.Wonderful, and now Wonders Champion has Wonders talent. But Champion is hard to handle. Unlike his brothers and sister, Champion has strong likes and dislikes, goes after the other horses in the walking ring and balks at the gate. Champion is almost perfect when he runs though. After Storms Ransoms death, Cindy Mclean has missed the grey colt terribiely. Cindy mclean has watched some of the best racehorses Whitebrook Farm grow up. Cindy has grew a bond with the famous track breaking record March To Glory, the amazing Sprinter Storms Ransom, and now will Cindy show that love again for Champion when Storm is dead. Cindy Mclean has watched the beautiful colt grow up into a beautiful racer. The only problem is Champions behavior. The track stewards tell Ashleigh Griffen, Champions jockey, trainer, and half owner and Mike Reese, Ashleighs husband that if Champion doesnt start to behave, they will have to disqualify Champion from his races. Cindy, his groom knows the colt could be a champion if he was given the chance. But will Cindy getover Stroms death to help a unperdactble colt become a champion like his family? find out in Champions Spirit. Or email me at Blades60@aol.com

Some people say that Parker is a jerk, but HE IS NOT!! He was wrong to push Fozy too hard, but he felt horrible afterwards indicating that he LOVES Foxy. And, I've learned ALOT from the eventing part of the series. So, it's not about racing for once, but that's OK! I LOVE Thoroughbred, and it is sad that some people think it's going down hill. It's NOT!

Parker is a horrible character. I can't believe he almost killed his horse just to win. The people that wrote this didn't really tell what happened after the Olympics. The ending defnitaly didn't wrap up the story. Bottom line: don't waste your money for this piece of junk!! Don't buy Team Player.

Let me see--Parker, the perfect child. Whoa, suddenly he needs money? GASP! Oh no! So he gets a horse, which should be left out, he deserves the break. Foxy is almost killed, what happened to Parker like promising never to hurt her way back when he first got her and hurt he? Well?
Parker, you're a horrible character.
Will someone get the facts right please? We can write better then these writers. C'mon guys!

Ok, so the ending stank. But the eiditors are the ones to blame for that.... they cut off the last chapter! I like Parker, and I am working on jumping, so I found this book just as interesting as the others, though not as good, because, let's face it this is a series about RACING. But a break from that subject is good! And Foxy almost dying... that's something that happens to ALL TB HORSES, HELLO! Wonder, Star, Pride, Princess, Image... you don't gripe about them almost dying, do you?! So relax, the rest of the book was good, and I love Ozzie! Parker IS A GOOD GUY, everyone makes bad choices, all TB characters do and again, YOU DON'T GRIPE ABOUT THAT! So, get real, this book is better then a lot of the other horrible downhill ones!

I liked this book, because I've been a fan of Parker since he was introduced. This book is really very close to what goes on during those big events and the life of an eventer, so much as I know. But here's anwser to a widely asked question: The story doesn't end itself because the editors/publishers cut off the last chapter to make the book shorter. ..

This was a pretty good book and was written well but it has many things in it that are wrong. If you read the first book in the thoroughbred series it states that Edgardale never had their own race horses in training they were strictly a breeding farm but in this book he is a horse in training. And also in the first thoroughbred book it says Ashleigh never considered wanting to be a jockey and in the Ashleigh books she has wanted to be a Jockey from book one in that series. So if you ask me any book in the Ashleigh series is a waste of your money the original thorougbred series is much better.

If you are looking at this review, then you have a great taste in books. This book has adventure, mystery, and, of course, horses!! I like it how ashleigh knows Renegade so well, if it wasnt for her, the old owner of Renegade would have gotten away. The old owner of Renegade was SO mean!! I hated it how he kept on yanking on the lead line when the horse wasn't doing anything!! Anyway, this is a great book!!

Edgardale has enough money to finally buy a stallion! They buy 3-year-old racer Royal Renegade. He wins his first race, but after being bred to a few mares, he starts to lose races and becomes mean. Ashleigh sees pictures and reads about another horse like him. Does this have anything to do with Renegade's strange behavior? Read it and find out. This book was very interesting!

i loved this book. i love them all. i hope that they do continue on and tell of stardusts foal- a filly too i hope. I f you love horses then you will love the thoroughtbred series. (...) thanks and enjoy reading.

This book was really good, but I think you would be able to tell it was another horse. Also, if Rebel was five then so is Renegade right? If Rebel was three then it wouldn't go with the story, and Renegade is three.I really loved this book and I hope Stardust's foal appears in a future book. I wish that Renegade could be in the Derby. Oh well mabye he got to be in the Belmont. All together it was a great book no matter how many errors were in it.

This was a good book. But if you want to read a better one on Man O' War then read MAN O' WAR - A LEGEND LIKE LIGHTNING has a lot more info and facts.

I really enjoyed this book. It not only told the story of Man O War but also the people that made him a legend. Man O War was voted number one on the Blood Horse top 100 horses of the 20 century. This book is a must read!

I REALLY ENJOYED THE BOOK, IT IS WORTH BUYING, BUT IT IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK MAN O' WAR BY PAGE COOPER AND ROGER TREAT.
WHICH IS ONE OF THE VERY BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ.

Edward L. Bowen is an Eclipse Award-winning Turf writer, formerly editor-in-chief of "The Blood-Horse" magazine, and currently president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. I believe his most recently published book is "Nashua," which is volume eight of the `Thoroughbred Legends' series.

In "Man o'War", Bowen ambles gently through the races, sales histories, and breeding record of 20th century America's greatest Thoroughbred. There are also black-and-white photographs and a chart of all of Big Red's races, where he was first twenty out of twenty-one times.

Of course, the race that Man o'War lost gets the most print. As Bowen puts it, "Few events in sports have been recalled as often as the 1919 Sanford Memorial." Consensus finally blamed the loss on the jockey, John Loftus although a fictional account I read of Man o'War's life had the two-year-old chestnut stumbling to his knees at the start of the Sanford. Bowen has tracked down another theory in the newspapers of the day: Man o'War was sideways at the start and when the barrier was sprung, he had to play catch-up for the rest of the six furlong race.

Upset beat Big Red. We Man o'War fans have to accept that. However, the big chestnut stallion by Fair Play out of Mahubah was still voted the best American race horse of the century by the "Blood-Horse" magazine, and again in another poll conducted by the Associated Press.

I don't think Upset left much of a record behind at stud, although the breeding shed was another arena where Man o'War excelled. Bowen spends some print defending Samuel Riddle's rather eccentric breeding theories. By today's standards Man o'War was not bred very often or to the cream of the mare crop, but his few progeny did exceedingly well. His son War Admiral "was a major link in guaranteeing the ongoing influence of Big Red insofar as successful producing daughters." His son War Relic sired only fourteen stakes winners, but several of his progeny kept the Man o'War sire line alive into the 21st century, mainly through In Reality, and later through the 1990 Kentucky Derby winner, Unbridled.

Bowen is an unhurried, knowledgeable writer and although this book isn't as exciting as some that come later in the series, his retelling of the legend of "The Mostest Hoss" is still worth reading.

I am adult age and fully agree with the 11 year old reviewer; this book was a huge disapointment! There is too little detail about the horse and no real feeling involved. Man O'War was an all-time marvel; is it too much to ask for some of that story? Was this a designated project with historical reasearch or time limited? I had planned to purchase the entire series, this is the end of that idea.

I loved this book! It's about Mel, and she's looking for a new horse and falls in love with a SUPER BLOODLINES HORSE! But, Hi Jinx has a horrible temper. But, AMAZING speed. She takes on the challenge. But, he hurts another race horse, chews and kicks at his stall, and tossed Mel off EVERY time she rides him! . Can Mel change all of his energy into speed? To find out Read this book!!

Okay, I think that this was one of the worst, most dreadful books in the TB Series. I didn't like the plot, characters, or Jinx. But I guess I'll give an overall review of this book:
It all starts out with Melanie & Christina riding at Belmont Park. Mel's real bored and there's alot of ranting from her about how sad she is because her special, precious horse Perfect Image will never be racing again, and there's no other special horse for her to work with or to look forward to. So when she goes back home to Kentucky, she goes to some old fancy party, trying to score up some rides. While there, she hears someone talking about some sale at a farm, and she gets all excited when she hears that there's a horse related to Seabiscuit from there. So the next day, she goes to see a big, chestnut 2 year old colt named Hi Jinx [who is related to Seabiscuit.] And then the colt nearly runs over her, and then bolts on the track riderless really fast, and Mel instantly falls in love w/ him because of his 'awesome' speed.
So she and Jazz agree to buy him, but when Jinx gets to Whitebrook, he starts behaving absolutely terribly, and ruins his stall, bites the grooms, and throws Melanie off when she tries him on the track, and later on chips a horse named Fast Gun's bone, and her aunt Ashleigh tells her she can't keep Jinx @ Whitebrook 'cause he's too much trouble, and Melanie starts crying and all that drama. But, in the end, Jinx turns out to be the perfect horse when Mel just lets him do what he wants on the track.
So that's pretty much it. Like I said, I didn't like the book one bit, but I'll still continue to read the TB Books, I just REALLY hope the authors can come up w/ something better.

This was probably one of the best books in the series! And now Melanie isn't acting so bratty anymore.
Melanie needs to find a new horse to race since her filly, Perfect Image is injured. She doesn't think she'll ever find another horse like Image again. But that's all about to change. One day she meets a beautiful chestnut colt named Hi Jinx, a direct descendant of the famous Seabiscuit! So Melanie buys him.
But when he gets to Whitebrook, Hi Jinx starts acting up! I won't tell you the ending, but Jinx finally behaves at the ending.
One thing though, in the book, Jinx is a chestnut horse. But on the cover, he looks more like a bay. Look, the books are good, but the covers could improve.

wow. this book was terrible. melanie's character was terrible. the plot was terrible. the writing was terrible. jinx was terrible. i'm so glad that this trend was no repeated in following books, which have been a HUGE and welcome improvement.

even though the series still stumbles, i've been buying these books for 11 years and will continue to do so. i hope that the editors reconsider their decision to end the series.

All right! Finally a horse descened from the greatest horse ever, Man O' War! I really like how High Jinx looks like Man O' War too. I hope the auther will let him win the Triple Crown! The one thing I don't like is that on the back cover it says he looks like Seabiscut, who is a bay, while Man O' War was a fire red chestnut, like Jinx.

In short, the author goes from being an everyday individual interested in the sport of kings and promptly being financially molested by the seasoned horse industry people.

From that shocking introduction to the horse industry the author ultimately puts together a winning stable of horses without outlaying huge gobs of money.

Another straight forward and informative written account by the author of an industry lurking with large numbers of financial predators waiting for the proverbial little red riding hood.

The author then embarked on a journey to become a winner, and along the way obviously acquired a large amount of knowledge to be able to beat the multitude of horse industry people, trainers and owners to hit the jackpot on numerous horses.

More fascinating are the winning tickets of past readers posted on this amazon site. There is no arguing with winning mutual tickets published after the book was published.

Passing up on buying this book is like betting on the lame favorite.

This book would only be useful to those who have never owned, or spent much time around racing or race horses. The information is basic, and not very well presented at that. If you know the difference between a claiming race and an allowance race, don't bother getting this book.

As a handicapper who is considering buying a thoroughbred race horse, I had high hopes when purchasing this book. I have read many handicapping books; this one is the most poorly written book by far. I can't believe a professional editor, if one was used, would have ignored the spelling, grammatical and typographical errors as well as the incomplete and awkward sentences. It made it difficult to read. The material was also very weak with very limited detail on any subject. Skinny to begin with, the author repeats many of his points using almost the same words with little additional insight. Hard to assess the value of the subject information. I can't say that it's not right and it gives the reader some different things to consider when handicapping or claiming. Despite all its weaknesses, I rated it one star because it got me motivated to quickly learn as much as possible about acquiring a horse, before I jumped in.

Page 13, paragraph 5 outlines a handicapping secret to look for pre-race. If you read the book, and remembered this handicapping secret, you would have avoided betting Barbaro in the Preakness Stakes-----

I find MisterG's bashing review ridiculous. It is fine to disagree with someone's opinion but to say this book rates 1 star when there is a picture of a WINNING $16,000 ticket AFTER THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED is utterly stupid, and to allow the review to be published is ridiculous. I am going to take the book with me this weekend for the Breeders Cup races and i'm going to bet a few superfectas on 2 year old and 3 year old races, and if I win i'll make sure i send a copy of my winning ticket so that MisterG seethes and burns more for whatever reasons he has for giving this book 1 star besides his stupid review- stillc annot understand how someone can bash a posted $16,000 winning ticket in images above.

This was the BEST HORSE BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!!!! I was very sad when I read the last word. I mean they didn't have a ending! What is Allie's Wonder going to be, a racer or eventer? What happens to Christina and Parker? Don't they get married?? Well, I've have read every book except #42 and #56. I have only rated 2 or 3 books with 3 stars. All the other's were GREAT!!!! I wish they ending it differently though. I mean, your ENDING THE BOOKS why didn't you end it with all of the old charaters? I mean couldn't you add a closing chapter that says " 20 years later......." and tells what happens. I HOPE THAT YOU RESTART THE BOOKS!!!!!!!!!! READ THESE BOOKS, THEY HAVE MADE BE SO MUCH SMARTER IN MY HORSE KNOWLEDGE!!!!!!!!

I am 12 years old and started reading these books 2 years ago. I liked them right off because of the fact that the books were written for girls around 10 to perhaps 14 (despite the fact that they are rated for 8 to 12 year olds) that were mature. I mean, most the time the girls in the TB books act mature, and don't do stupid things like become overly obsessed with guys and fashion. I feel that us, mature readers, can relate to that. I liked these books also because they focused on racing. Because of these books, I know want to be a jockey one day. And now, you're ending this cherished series??? What??? Don't you want other girls to want to become something else then those really popular, perhaps unrealistic careers? (singers, models, etc.) I have to say that ending this series is an act of immaturity and, maybe, laziness??? By ending this series, you are ending my DREAMS!!! (And many other kid's dreams too!!!) Please, reconsider your decision.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. WHY did I read this? You don't find out anything about the characters. There's no sense of closure, whatsoever. Unless you still really love these books and can stand the constant errors, bad writing, OOCness, and cliches, save your time.

I think they are making everyone age so fast, and everything, is because different authors are writing the books now, and have been for a while. I have heard nothing about the series ending. Ive been reading these books since they began, and I am currently 26. I still enjoy them.

I've read all 72 of these books, and this is my opinion: The first ten were incredibly good; I loved them, but then it started going downhill. The problem is, this series has had so many different authors that the characters are all out of character. For example: Ashleigh behaves differently in every single book. In one, she's kind and caring, and in the next, she's a total jerk (i.e. Faith in a Long Shot) And, the biggest mistake of the entire series was Allie. Talk about a Mary Sue! (Mary Sue-- Totally perfect character; so perfect that they get on your nerves.) I mean, Little Miss Perfect comes in, with her perfect additude, and her incredible riding skills, and so on and so forth <_> Anyway, I also did not like that the whole "A filly nearly dies, and a girl nurses her back to health" story occured again. Twice was already pushing it, but this is a bit ridiculous. I enjoyed reading books 24-60, but it went downhill again after that. The Cindy books were a bit up and down for me; I liked a few, I didn't like others. Kind of neutral on that. But one thing that they went way overboard with was Brad: Joanna portrayed him as a jerk, but not some sick, twisted man. He's turned into a horrible person by the end, and that was a bit of a mistake. All in all, I liked these books:

Good:

Pride losing the Belmont. I tought this to be very realistic

Star's loss in the Derby and Preakness. Same reason as above.

Selling Legacy: he did nothing for the books for me. Bringing him back was a mistake.

The introduction of Melenie: I thought that was a good addition.

Bad:

The out of character issue: That drove me nuts while I was reading this series.

Champion: Winning the Triple Crown??? Really???

Christina's decision to become a Vet... Uh, yeah...

Allie: I won't even go into it.

Glory: He was just too perfect.

Jinx: He didn'tdo much for me.

Anyway, these are just my opinions on the books: they are not meant to offend anyone :)

what happened to racing? is this before cassidy moved to kentucky? or is it after? help me pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee. i don't get it

this book is about Lyssa Hynde, an eventer who lives on a ranch with her family in Wyoming. One day when Lyssa is out Riding her horse Blue, she sees some hoofprints in the snow. She decides to follow them and is lead to the school where she meets a mysterious guy who tells her to get lost. Lyssa gets curious about who the guy is and what hes doing so she decides to follow him up the mountain. But while she is up their she sets off an avalanche which heads staight for her ranch. Will lyssa get home in time to warn her family and will she find out what the mysterious stranger is up to? Read to find out.
I think this book is great and very well written. A MUST read for all horse lovers. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it was written after TB #50 but set before it.

How did this fit in with the series?

On the cover, Blue (or so I think it's Blue) is seen as being well formed and rather attractive. This is NOT how he is portrayed in the book.
Unfortunately, this book has nothing to do with the rest of the Thoroughbred series, and there is no connection, unless you count Lyssa thinking about Parker and Christina. Lyssa is chasing after a stolen horse, but it ends up the way most books end up- Lyssa ends up liking the thief.
In this book it is revealed that Mitch, the cowhand, actually has a girlfriend, so he and Lyssa won't be getting together anytime soon, unlike what most people thought no thanks to Star's Chance.
This book gets unrealistic like all the TB series- Tony Ransom, the thief, leads Mystic, a lame mare, up a mountain. No no no, this would most definitely not happen in real life. A lame horse could barely walk three meters without being in pain. Lyssa also rides Blue up and down a mountain- big no no. I am an eventer, and I know for a fact that riding a horse up and down a mountain can lead to a serious risk of fracturing a bone or nerve. Lyssa, an eventing pro, should know better than to endanger Blue.
So all in all, its a pretty good read, but watch out for the things that you know aren't true.

Lisa hynde and her horse Blue.Love to gallop threw fresh snow. But one day when Lisa and blue are galloping they find fresh hoofprints!The hoofprints lead to the highschool. Lisa was hot on the trail.The hoofprints led to a storige shed behind the highschool. As Lisa and Blue near the shed A mysterius boy jumps out infront of them. He tells Lisa to leave and never come back!But the next day Lisa comes back.But she finds the shed emty but theres a trail of fresh hoofprints. Lisa desides to follow them. The hoofprints lead to Beartooth Mountains. Lisa knows how dangerus the moutain trail is this time of year.But curiosity overcomes her and she takes Blue up the trail. But the tracks lead farther up the trail than Lisa expected. Then Blue brakes a branch and starts an avilanche!It heads strait for Lisa's ranch! This book is thrilling myterius and over all great!

This book was one of my favorites. But I don't get it, in book #50 it was Rolex now Lyssa's training for Rolex. What's up with that? Even though it didn't make sense this book grabbed me from the start. I read the whole thing the afternoon I got it. This is a great book if you like danger and exeitment and you don't mind a little confusion (about Rolex) than this book's for you.

I absoluetly loved this book. I purchased an older version after my gerbil chewed up the library book that I hadn't had time to read. Later on, I was ever thankful about the gerbil incident...it caused me to find my dream job and my destiny with the thoroughbred breed. For the review about the person who thinks that he/she knows all about thoroughbreds and this book was not worth it, I strongly disagree...I know quite a bit myself having owned them and having worked with a relative of mine, Jenine Sahadi (who's trained several BC winners). She, too, found this book to be insightful and informative. Seems that the previous reaction's author was a bit jealous...or found the book too hard to handle because of her lack of knowledge (or his lack) of the breed itself. This is a delightful book that has been republished and updated 3 times. Be careful, however-retraining a thoroughbred is for expirianced trainers only, not the inexpirianced or even expirianced riders. These horses have seriously hurt and killed many people, including myself. Those who seriously love thoroughbreds will enjoy this book. This is the best book on reschooling TBs I've found and one of my all-time favorite books, period. Before you train your next thoroughbred, either fresh off the track or fresh to start, take a look at this book and the stories of success, photos, and information. You deserve it, and so does your horse. Also, it's good for reschooling other breeds of horses off the track, too...lots of valueable info for quarter horses and arabs off the track, as well.

The title is a bit misleading since this book doesn't contain any substantive training instruction and the "expert" horse trainer may be bored by it, but I think it was a very good addition to my library as a simple overview of the off-track Thoroughbred. (I try to learn SOMEthing from every source.)

The chapters on soundness and previous training were informative, especially for people who have not hung out at race tracks.

Even though the photos are murky by today's standards and a little "dated", I found several that provided good illustrations. There are lots of pictures of horses and riders to critique or emulate.

Pittenger's attitudes about training and care are, for the most part, still contemporary. I will reccommend this book as a resource to friends who rescue Thoroughbreds from the track.

This book was *not* worth the money. It tells you basically nothing you don't already know about horses or TBs if you have been around them at all, and if you haven't been around TBs before, you shouldn't be trying to take one off the track: go buy a quieter horse. Waste of money...I sent my copy back. You'd be better off using your common sense.

I assumed this book would give me good ideas for exercises, different training techniques, helping to get them bending both directions, bitting, etc. I was sorely mistaken. If you have worked with horses (not just TBs or racers) for even as little as one or two years, then you already know the stuff covered in this book. This book is more for someone who knows nothing about a TB or the racetrack. For example: the chapter on "Teaching the ex-race horse to jump" was 6 pages long, and 3 of those 6 pages discussed how to use cavalletti (plain cavalletti, like how long, how high, how to build them, etc.) and the other 3 pages were on the same beginner level, i.e. don't get in his mouth, and don't be ashamed to use his neck for balance. Now, I don't think anyone has any business trying to train any horse to jump if they don't already know this. Not to mention the fact that the pictures are so dark that you only see black blobs and outlines of the horses. I returned the copy I bought.

I started riding TB's in Virginia as a 16-yr old. When I was 50 I bought my first TB off the track. He was an "old campaigner" with 5 years of racing, a very kind guy, but an extremely challenging project. Despite my obvious experience with riding in general and Thoroughbreds in particular I might have given up on him. I found this book to be very inspirational and helpful. I could better train him knowing how his life as a racehorse had been conducted. 7 years later, he's now a mellow 15-year, restored to soundness and a sense of purpose, happy in his work, large of heart, popular in the barn, and a big puppy dog. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who loves the breed and wants to give a racehorse a second chance.

No, it's not Roberts' best -- but IRISH THOROUGHBRED is still enjoyable, and very worthwhile for a look at the evolution of a writer! Check this one out back-to-back with its sequel, IRISH ROSE (written some 7 years later), and you'll see how much Roberts grew in that time. IRISH THOROUGHBRED's main character Adelia is a plucky girl, but IRISH ROSE's Erin is more of a grown woman. Then sit back, hold on to your hat, and read steamy IRISH REBEL, published in 2000. It gives us Adelia's daughter and the man she falls in love with, going head-to-head as equals and as lovers. Adelia develops as a stronger character in the subsequent books as well. The reviewer who appears below me (Wendy Meade) is right when she calls IRISH THOROUGHBRED conventional, but it WAS Roberts' first published book, and those WERE the conventions of romance novels when it was written. (Check out those Harlequins of the '70s!) We've come a long way, baby, and Roberts is one of those who helped contemporary romances get to where they are now. IRISH THOROUGHBRED also began Roberts' tradition of lovable Gaelic characters, especially Adelia's Uncle Paddy. The polish may not be there yet, but the warmth is, and that's what keeps us coming back for more of her books 20 years later!

"COME TO AMERICA. YOUR HOME IS WITH ME NOW." Adelia Cunnane's uncle had written her. So Adelia had left Ireland to join him on what he had discribed as the finest horse farm in Maryland. Adelia agreed with her uncle about the farm. But what should she think about its owner, Travis Grant? She knew she could master his strongest horse. She had seen his eyes soften at the birth of a foal. Yet his lips on hers demanded a submission she wasa not yet ready to give- atleast not until he had spoken the words she had to hear.

This Nora Roberts book is fun to read - there's not a better way to describe it than that. It's not a story that requires a lot of time and mind energy but instead takes the reader on a pleasant journey.

Adelia (Dee) Cunnane goes to live with an uncle in America after the death of her aunt who she lived with in Ireland. Dee has struggled to keep the family farm and finally agrees to sell it and goes to see her Uncle Paddy. He's a thoroughbred trainer at Royal Meadows, reportedly one of the finest horse ranches in America. When Dee arrives, she whole-hearted agrees with that account and takes a job as a groomer. She's as happy as she's been in years, until she meets the owner, Travis Grant.

They have the usual romantic struggles until Uncle Paddy has a heart attack. Both of them would do anything for Paddy, on his deathbed he asks that they marry so he can die a happy man. They concede, get married, and a miracle happens - Uncle Paddy makes a miraculous recovery (so is he as conniving as Daniel MacGregor?). Dee figures the marriage will end in divorce soon since Travis only married her to make his horse trainer happy. What she doesn't figure into the equation is that Travis has fallen hopelessly in love with her. The rest of the story is how they discover the other's feelings and understand that this is a love that was meant to be.

This is a typical happily-ever-after romance but what makes it fun is the interaction between Travis and Dee, who has a temper that won't be leashed. While reading this book, I found myself laughing out loud in some places and smiling in others.

Nora Roberts captures the reader's attention with wonderful descriptions of not only Royal Meadows and the surrounding areas, but also of the racetrack and all that goes on behind the scenes. She has created two vivid characters who show up again in the sequel to this book, IRISH ROSE, but only in very minor roles. However, with her Silhouette book, IRISH REBEL, Roberts once again brings Grant and Dee to the forefront.

If Roberts continues to write these fascinating stories about the Grants, they could enjoy the popularity that the MacGregor clan now enjoys. For those who aren't Nora Roberts fans, the MacGregors are her most loved fictional family - full of fun, laughs, and pranks. I only hope there are more adventures in store for the Grants in the future.

I've read most of Roberts' books, but this one wasn't quite up to par. The characters aren't as well developed as in her more recent novels, and in general the book is just much more conventional and clumsily written. I could see all plot developments from a mile away, and the all the cliches made me physically ill. This was, of course, her first (?) book, so all of the clumsiness is understandable. But I'd stick to more recent novels - if you like Irish themes, try Jewels of the Sun and Tears of the Moon. These are books in which Roberts' ability to create unique, entertaining, and sympathetic characters who interact in vivid settings really shines through.

Written first in a spiral bound notebook when ever she had the chance, Nora Roberts strived to finish and publish this book, of course, then that was all a dream. Well, she has now woken up, from this book on she has been captipulted into reader's hearts everywhere. Read this, her first, and you'll be hooked for life. Take it from me, i have all of her yet published books and can't ever wait for her new releases! Hard to find, but when you do, it's worth it! :)