By Joanna Campbell
Rating: ☆☆1/2
Will Pride's winning streak ruin him?
Wonder's Pride, the three-year-old colt of champion mare Wonder, is the newest star in the Thoroughbred racing and the favourite for the biggest race of them all - the Kentucky Derby. But when Pride wins the Derby, it looks as if victory could be the worst thing that ever happened to him!
Pride's owner, Clay Townsend, wants to race Pride in the strenuous three-race Triple Crown. But Pride's jockey Ashleigh Griffin, and Ashleigh's friend Samantha McLean, who have watched Pride grow up, both believe that Wonder's Pride will suffer permanent injuries if he races too much. Can Samantha and Ashleigh stop Mr. Townsend before he races one of the greatest horses of all time-to death?
I hate the blurb. I hate it, I really do. First of all I don't under stand the need to write "the three-year-old colt of champion mare Wonder". Hello! We are not being introduced to Pride for the first time. We've just spent the last book with him hence the title "Wonder's Yearling". The worst part of it would have to be "But when Pride wins the Derby, it looks as if victory could be the worst thing that ever happened to him!" If you hadn't noticed Pride was fine coming out of the Derby. It was the Preakness that really took it out of him. Everything was really ok after the Derby except for Sammy being pushed out of the way by the Townsends, even if they had more right to be there as Pride's co-owners.
Hint CO-OWNERS. The next sentence "Pride's owner, Clay Townsend". ASHLEIGH GRIFFIN OWNS HALF OF HIM TOO!!!! Everyone seems to have forgotten this fact including Ash herself until finally a lawyer points this out. Ash must be pretty thick to forget that she own 50% of the colt. "Oh but I toe danced around it because I didn't want him or Wonder or Princess taken away from me" Ashleigh calls meekly at me *sighs* As much as we all know the Townsends are horrible people who mistreat horses they probably want to have at least one of the horses they co-own on their farm.
They then go on to undermine Ash by neglecting to mention that she is an owner instead of just her jockey and only call Sammy Ashleigh's friend. I think she has more rank as his groom. Otherwise she sounds like Lavinia only being Brad's girlfriend.
Now on to the cover... It wasn't too horrible. Much better than the cover for Hi-Jinx! Melanie's eyes are priceless in that! Ash looks quite pretty sitting on top of Pride, and he looks like a nice horse a part from the fact that the signature colour of chestnut that follows Wonder's stock around like a bad smell isn't portrayed in this one. Maybe the artists got tired of chestnuts? Sammy looks horrible. Her hair reminds me of Medusa's snakes and it is missing that beautiful red auburn colour they talk about.
The book itself was ok. Don't be put off by the two and a half stars. It wasn't terribly written, but it was boring. Probably because I wasn't feeling in the mood for a Thoroughbred book. I felt myself dreading reading it based on how many I've read recently.
This one didn't get my heart racing even if here was many races in it. Probably because Pride kept winning every damn one. It was predictable. It was only when they hit the Belmont and Pride lost by a head bob that I was surprised. I honestly expected him to win. Especially with the dramatic draw up to the photo finish and all of Sammy's intakes of breath as she waits to see whether her (funny how Sammy thinks she owns him, but they regret to remember that Ash is a co-owner) horse has won the Triple Crown. And he loses! Only by a head bob of course (he is one of Wonder's horses after all...), but its enough for Brad to feel like he's lost the whole universe.
In this book I think it is justified that Brad is made out to be a dick. Because he surely acts like one throughout most of it. I love Ash's backbone to begin with after the Preakness considering Pride only lost by a head bob. However Ashleigh's backbone breaks soon and that's when all the losing races happen.
Of course if you've read the rest of these books you can guess that eventually they get Pride back. I was disappointed with the massive argument at the end. Clay seems to give in too easily after coming over in a such a rage. He doesn't even look abashed about his anger. He is took quick to nip Brad on the ear and disappear.
I'm definitely looking forward to reading Wither by Lauren DeStefano. It looks awesome!
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