Arden Reviews: Dark Horses by Cecily Von Ziegesar

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Book: Dark Horses

Author: Cecily Von Ziegesar (known for the Gossip Girl Series)

Intended audience: Young adult fiction

Actual audience: Animal lovers, especially horse lovers. Teens and their parents

Basic description: From the internationally bestselling author of Gossip Girl comes a dark, psychologically complex update of Black Beauty replete with jealousy, romance, mystery, and redemption.

Arden’s thoughts: If you thought Dan Humphrey being revealed as Gossip Girl flipped your lid, then get ready to totally lose it in Dark Horses. Von Ziegesar drew me into the world of young Merritt and her horse Red and wove a riveting story for readers of all ages.

We’re dropped into the world of Merritt as she deals with the loss her only earthly advocate, her grandmother, in a tragic accident. She finds solace in Red, a horse with walls against human affection so high he does nothing but lash out to everyone around him. His lashing out keeps him in isolation.

Until he meets Merritt. Then, he begins to open…

It’s Red’s isolation and subsequent opening that led me to recommend this book. When we encounter someone with walls, we tend to close off from them. We know they hurt us by lashing out, but what if we took the time to think about why they lash out and try to break down those walls? What if we believed the best in people?

I like a book which makes me take into account my own actions and makes me better without overtly preaching to me. For me, Dark Horses teaches me to really look past the seen and into the unseen. No character is perfect, but all have worth and value.