Reviews for If Wishes Were Horses

The average rating for If Wishes Were Horses based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-18 00:00:00 Darrel J. Antonelli This book was difficult for me to fully enjoy. Once Trevor stepped foot on the horse ranch it was like he was magically transformed into a thoughtful, exuberant teen in practically the blink of an eye. There is plenty of conflict and excitement, but much of it stretched my capacity to suspend disbelief to the limit. There are moments of tenderness and moments of laughter, and honestly, the story-telling flowed smoothly, but, for me, the whole believability factor was just lacking. Conflicts, anger, and hatred seem often to be resolved with a few choice sentences. Toward the end, I felt the book was finally coming to a satisfactory conclusion, but then a final twist and tease occurred that, frankly, made me grit my teeth in frustration. I especially would have liked to have learned more about the beautiful horses. The book maintained my interest while I was reading it, and, for the most part, I enjoyed it, but at the end I was disappointed that I never felt the connection to the characters that I hoped to feel. Laurie Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More Full Review:

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-18 00:00:00 Rachael Ward Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes I don't want to do this, but I'm afraid I have no choice. The premise of If Wishes Were Horses intrigued me and it could have been great, but it fell flatter than a pancake for me. This was a cheesy chick flick type novel that felt over the top with cariacture characters, forced plot and dialogue. On the cover it is compared to Nicholas Sparks, who I've never read before, so can't comment, but I hope they mean the story of love and redemption. I've seen The Notebook and I've no doubt the intention is for this novel is to be made into a movie - that's exactly how it reads - but If Wishes Were Horses lacked depth and emotion for me. Hopefully the right acting and directing can pick up where this story lacks. The love story between Wyatt and Gabby seemed off right from the beginning. It didn't feel natural at all and their initial meeting to suddenly having weird feelings to wondering what those feelings were to falling madly in love just didn't jive. Something about the progression seemed odd. I also couldn't figure out why Wyatt would hold the accident against Gabby and Trevor. They weren't driving the car. I undersood why he might not want the reminder of them there day after day, but the initial anger didn't seem justified and then the sudden thawing was odd too. Trevor's angst at Wyatt though seemed slightly more realistic as he was a child at the time of the accident, but I still had a hard time with it all. I also couldn't grasping Ram's huge secret and yes, it was sad, but the reaction of his sons seemed well over the top for me. The dialogue felt forced and don't get me started on the dialogue tags 'he whispered stealthily' or the amount of exclamation points peppered through the dialogue! I couldn't even get a feel for the setting much of the time or the description which went much like this: "Celia took another sip of Gabby's coffee. It was hot and good", and my favourite "At forty five, Celia remained an attractive woman." Really? This sentence did nothing to help me picture the woman, all it did was offend me instead. I was disappointed not to see more of the actual equine therapy in this novel. It was glossed over to focus on Wyatt and Gabby which was unfortunate as it would have added another layer to the story. There a few moments that I did wonder what was going to happen and the last scene before the epilogue was a bit of a surprise, but it didn't compensate for the rest of the novel for me. I anticipate seeing this on the big or small screen soon where I hope it will redeem itself as a better screenplay than novel.