Canterwood Crest: Take the Reins by Jessica Burkhart

Posted by: harmonybookreviews on: January 11, 2009

• In: Book Reviews
• 5 Comments

 Title:Canterwood Crest: Take the Reins

Author:Jessica Burkhart

Rating: 8/10

Summary: (Taken from Amazon)

When Sasha Silver and her horse, Charm, arrive on the campus of the elite Canterwood Crest Academy, Sasha knows that she’s in trouble. She’s not exactly welcomed with open arms. One group of girls in particular is used to being the best, the brightest, and the prettiest on the team, and when Sasha shows her skills in the arena, the girls’ claws come out.

Sasha is determined to prove that she belongs at Canterwood. Will she rise to the occasion and make the advanced riding team by the end of her first semester? Or will the pressure send Sasha packing?

My Thoughts:I’m horse crazy despite the fact that I’ve never actually been on a horse. My room is full of horse posters and model horses and zillion other horse-related things. My favorite series as a tween were even about horses (Heartland and Phantom Stallion, anyone?) so when I found out there was going to be a new horse series coming out, I was ecstatic. I then began stalking Jessica’s blog and finding out as much as possible about the series until I finally got up the nerve to ask her for a copy because I couldn’t wait until the release date. Luckily, Jess is awesome and agreed so I read the book in two hours, without stopping, and it’s definitely as good as I was expecting.

Now on to the normal review stuff…

Take the Reins was everything I expected and more. For those who are looking at this and going “…but I’m not really into horses….”, don’t worry. Take the Reins is not all about horses. I felt that there was equal parts horses, friendship problems, and just being on your own for the first time. And there was a tiny hint of romance towards the end…

Sasha Silver is a character that I think most young teens and tweens will be able to relate to, despite the fact that most of us will never get to go to boarding schools with our horses. She’s fun and quirky (my favorite part of the book revolves around her lipgloss obsession!)  but also knows what she wants to do and isn’t afraid to take on big projects. She’s the one character that has definite personality, which brings us to my one problem with the book.

Each character’s personality seemed to run in with the next. I mean, yes, you could pick Heather out as the nasty one but all of her followers seemed to run together, as did some of Sasha’s friends. But since this is a series, it would leave nothing to be desired if everyone’s personality was just layed out which makes me think that as the series continues, this problem will be solved.

I definitely recommend this, especially if you enjoy books about boarding school experiences or horses. I look forward to book two, Chasing Blue, which debuts in March.