Another Kind of Cowboy - Susan Juby

Another Kind of Cowboy - Susan Juby

I did enjoy this book, but perhaps it just wasn't the sort of book for me. The characters were interesting enough, especially our lead male. I enjoyed reading about the horses and the training bits, because they were knowledgable and interesting to learn about. In fact, they made me want to get on a horse and try to learn something. However, I just wasn't getting as invested in the story line as I hoped that I'd be, and this had nothing to do with the writing. 

Ever since he was a small child, Alex Ford knew that he liked horses. So, when his father finally bought him one, he was a little beside himself. Even though his parent's went through a rough patch and eventually separated, it was his horse that kept him going. When he was on that horse, he didn't have to worry about anything else in the world. It was just him and the horse. Nobody could judge him, and it was best this way. 

From a young age Alex had always been fascinated with dressage. He finally works up the courage to seek out lessons, and eventually meets the spoiled and bratty Cleo O'Shea. Cleo's life hasn't exactly been a walk in the park either. Sure, her parents spoil her plenty. but they're never around. They just foot the bill and ship her off to places that are meant to fix her bad decision making. Little does anyone know, that this last place might actually help her gain some perspective. 

The writing was nice. It was informative, especially the bits dealing with the horses, and it was very descriptive. The characters were described well enough and they did develop, but not in a mind-blowing realizational kind of way. That's not a strike against the writing, but I'll delve farther into that later. Honestly, I didn't find myself feeling attached to any of the characters, as much as I really wanted to. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the story was a bit blah, and I didn't feel like it was going anywhere. I mean, obviously things happened, but it just wasn't what I was expecting and there wasn't very much pizzazz. 

Pacing-wise, things weren't bad. It wasn't that things were written slowly or all wonky, it was just that I wasn't feeling anything. 

The characters were also nice and interesting enough. Their lives and backstories were described and detailed very nicely. Truly, we knew a lot about them, but even with all of this knowledge I still wasn't in overwhelming love with either of them. I don't know exactly what it was, but I just wasn't feeling either of them. They both also didn't seem to develop very much either. I found Alex, our lead male, interesting for his love and knowledge of horses, but also kind of boring. While he did come to terms with who he truly was and others found out about it, but it wasn't really because he told them. From the writing we could feel that he was a bit socially anxious and unknowledgable of what to say to most people, but even still, he didn't seem to do very much. It was a bit sad for me. I wanted him to do something, to say something, and he didn't. I was happy for him there in the final pages, but my mind still wasn't blown, you know?

Then, our lead female Cleo was a bit annoying. She was so jumpy and all over the place, that I never knew what the hell she was going to do next. Also, she was very spoiled and very bratty, and it really put me off of her character. Surely her character was supposed to come off as the uppity brat who was supposed to come into herself with being surrounded by hard workers and horses, but even there at the end, she was still uppity and annoying. While she did have a small realization, I still don't believe that she was really changed. I can't bring myself to believe it. 

The synopsis makes this book sound like their meeting each other was vital and that they leaned on each other for support and everything. I didn't take this from the story at all. Sure, they did talk every now and again, and Alex's secret was revealed, but none of it seemed like integral character growth to me. They hung out, yes, but it didn't lead to any phenomenal realizations or confessions. To me they were more acquaintances than real friends as they're described as being in the book synopsis.. 

Overall, Another Kind of Cowboy was a decent read. The horses were fantastic, and the writing was nice. Sadly, the characters were a bit lackluster and didn't make me feel anything for them. Truly, this book was too blah and understimulating for my taste. There wasn't anything mind-blowingly awesome or any phenomenal realizations. Maybe that was the point. To illustrate that phenomenal things do not happen to everybody. I don't know, but it just didn't do very much for me. 

☆☆☆/5

Recommend?: If you're a big fan of horses.