Friday 18 April 2014

Review ~ Breaking the Reins by Juliana Haygert.

Title: Breaking the Reins.
Author: Juliana Haygert.
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance.
Release Date: August 19, 2013.
Source: Review copy.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Purchase: Amazon UK ; Amazon

Horses, mansions, tea parties, and lies are twenty-year-old Hannah Taylor’s life. To others, her family and her relationship with Eric is perfect. But she knows the truth. She lives it.

After a fire takes her grandma's life and kills her horse, Hannah's immaculate life spirals out of control. Her father disapproves of her decision to run her grandma’s ranch instead of focusing solely on learning the family business; Animal Control brings her Argus, a mistreated horse that she can't turn away even though she's not ready for another horse; and her boyfriend, Eric Bennett, a world famous polo player, becomes possessive and authoritarian. Despite her best efforts to disguise it, Hannah grows wary of him.

Then, Leonardo Fernandes struts onto the polo scene. A cocky rookie with a messy life of his own, he’s drawn to Hannah and isn’t afraid of showing it, even when Eric makes it clear she is his and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Hannah suffers for Eric’s jealousy. The abuse only gets worse when Leo steals the title of best polo player in the world from Eric.

But the title isn’t enough for Leo. He wants Hannah too, and she can’t deny her attraction to him either. Somehow, she must find a way to break free from abusive Eric before he breaks every bone in her body.

**New Adult Contemporary Romance Novel** **Contains scene of domestic violence**




Review:

Breaking the Reins is another fantastic book by Juliana Haygert. I don’t know how she always manages it but the author is great at writing books which I sit and think – this may not be for me – and then I pick it up and I’m blown away.

This book had it all from sweet moments to hard-to-read, serious moments to heartbreaking moments and heartwarming ones too. My emotions were changing constantly as I was completely gripped with the plot and hoping everything would turn out right.

I really liked Hannah’s character and her chemistry with the swoon-worthy Leo was stunning to read. Eric, on the other hand, was a complete jerk – but you’ll have to read the book yourself for you to understand why I hated him so much. Is it wrong that I was more in love with Argus, the horse, than any of the other characters? Not that I wasn’t a fan of the other characters, but that poor horse tugged at the heartstrings.

My only slight issue was that at times, this book was a little too hard-going for me. Obviously, I knew what I was letting myself in for when I read the synopsis but I guess I didn’t realise I’d find some of the powerful, emotional moments a little too gruelling. Credit to the author though because she wrote it all brilliantly and sensitively – that’s why I felt it so much.

Breaking the Reins handles themes a little stronger than a lot of New Adult books but this is not something that should be off-putting. The author writes a dignified and very real story and one which needs to be read. Breaking the Reins is a great book.

Rating:
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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