Romance with crossover appeal
Book Review: Dressage Dreaming
On the first Tuesday of the month, I publish a review of a book by a not-so-famous Ohio author.
Kimberly Beckett, Dressage Dreaming (2024)
Paperback $12.99, Kindle $3.99 on Amazon
About the book
“Uh, Harold, a romance novel? Seriously?”
Let me get my disclaimers out of the way. No, I do not habitually read romantic novels, but my wife does – a lot of them. Once or twice a year, she succeeds in persuading me to read one she thought might appeal to my Y chromosome. Except this time, I bought this book at a book fair for her. She was so-so on it, but I thought it was a good story and decided to review it anyway.
Most romance novels are feather-light (what one might call beach or poolside) reading and generally follow a stereotypical storyline: Boy meets girl. Girl happy for a while. Conflict occurs where they break up. Girl (usually) regrets they broke up. They get back together and go to their happily ever after. Such novels generally follow one of the following tropes: Girl gets caught up with royalty. Girl swept away by hunky cowboy or first responder. Girl gets caught up in a world of werewolves. Girl moves away from her high-pressure job in Bigcity to take over a cute little shop in a small town (often a tourist destination). A dog or horse draws boy and girl together. You will note that romance novels are almost always written from a feminine point of view; though there are exceptions, notably those by Nicholas Sparks.
In Dressage Dreaming, Michael Stafford is a member of the British Olympic dressage team.1 He has endured several personal tragedies: His horse died, his fiancée broke the engagement, and his brother has been arrested for manslaughter. He believes his luck has turned when he finds a talented stallion in Germany in time for the next World Cup competition.
Jessica Warren lives on a farm east of Columbus, orphaned at the age of 21 when her parents were killed in a car accident. She is the legal guardian of her younger sister and has lost her mount to injury. She learns of a spectacular horse in Germany.
Both deeply want to win the World Cup with the same horse. Only one of them can have him.
While there is romantic tension in this novel – and the romance is well written – the real story for me is how the conflict is resolved over the horse. Michael and Jessica are not the only players in this drama. Michael has a raffish younger brother who causes trouble for him. Both have to deal with their national federations and a German breeder who is all business. The story held my interest and was not easy to put down. Her characters are well developed, and the plot is less formulaic than I expected. I probably am not well qualified to judge this kind of book, but I was impressed, so the book gets 5 buckeyes.
About the author
Kimberly Beckett has loved horses since she was a small child, wearing out four rocking horses before age 5, then reading every known children’s book on horses. When she became an attorney for the federal government, she finally made enough to buy a horse, and has not been without one since, and she practices dressage with them. She lives in southwest Ohio.
Dressage Dreaming is the first novel in the Horses Heal Hearts series.
Her website is www.kimberlybeckett.com. She is available on multiple social media platforms, Goodreads, and has an RSS feed. Links appear on her website home page.
Faithful Citizen with Harold Thomas consists of the musings of a mainline Protestant, libertarian Boomer who tries to keep up with the news while remaining true to his faith and the principles of the American Founders. Harold is an author and retired business analyst with degrees in political science and foreign service living in Columbus, Ohio.
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Dressage is the art of riding and training a horse in a manner that develops obedience, flexibility, and balance. It is beautiful to watch, the viewer marveling how a horse can be trained to perform such delicate moves. The Spanish Riding School in Vienna famously teaches dressage (YouTube video, 4:12)