If Wishes Were Horses

Book Description

Young Tizra and her twin brother Tracell find their world abruptly changed when their father is unexpectedly called to fight in a war which promises to last much longer than the usual three-day skirmish. Their mother - the village healer - enlists her children to assist her in caring for the many refugees left wounded and homeless by the conflict. Inspired by her mother, Tizra learns never to surrender hope even in a time of fear and uncertainty.

Customer Reviews:

horses, magic and wishes.......2007-01-10

Another title which seems to have been written early in her career. It is aimed at horse mad younger readers who like a bit of magic and fantasy. I enjoyed it even though i am out of the target market

A great book.......2002-02-26

When war breaks out, and her father is mobilized, young Tirza Eircelly watches as her mother must prepare the demesne for the tribulations that war will surely bring to it. Her mother is a bastion of calm and wisdom in the dark days, keeping everyone moving forward while others lose their heads. Tirza learns to help her mother, and be the woman that her times require.

Although there are no wizards or exploding fireballs, this is a magical tale, a tale of a gentle magic, the sort that comes from within. This is a very touching story. Lady Talarrie is drawn as a formidable woman, a woman of courage and compassion, of action and wisdom. Though it might sound cliche, I don't believe that you can read this story without falling in love with it. This is a great book, one that I recommend to everyone!

Enchanting - A Great Read for All Ages!!!.......2000-07-08

I borrowed this book from the library and read it in a single day! It is well written and enchanting. The characters are charming and you will enjoy reading about their lives. It also gives a good picture of everyday life in the medieval time period. My daughter (11) is now reading it.

Great for a short story collection.......1999-06-05

So far, she has done three of these little books and I have loved all of them. I think that she should compile a book of all these stories when she's gotten a few more. I know that I'd definetely buy it.

CHARMING!!!!A WONDERFUL READ!.......1999-03-30

This book is worth it's weight in gold! It's a charming and whimsical tale of yesteryear that leaves the reader smiling and pleasantly happy.

Average customer rating:

Enjoyable, quick read

If Wishes Were Horses
Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0525464484

Book Description

All she wants is a horse. But at the height of the Great Depression, Lily knows her dream isn't possible. Constantly arguing with her older sister, Emily, doesn't make it any easier. In Lily's eyes, Emily is everyone's favorite. After all, Emily is allowed to have a cat. Only Great-aunt Nell, visiting from India, understands Lily's problems-and takes her dreams seriously. But when disaster strikes the family, and nothing is certain, Lily must face the fact that not even Aunt Nell can smooth away her troubles.

"An engaging coming-of-age story . . . tragic, wonderful, and sometimes humorous." (School Library Journal)

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable, quick read.......2001-11-13

The touching prolog tells of the "ghost pains" suffered by a grandfather who lost a limb in the Civil War. Lily can't understand how he can claim to feel pain in his missing leg until she undergoes a loss of her own. Her older sister dies, but readers won't know that's going to happen until the end. The sibling rivalry described is right on target. This is a wonderful story for girls who enjoy sentimental, fast-paced fiction. Don't be turned off by the critics...sure the book tinges on melodramatic, but fourth, fifth and sixth grade girls (and this librarian) love the book! It will make you appreciate family and offers lots of opportunities for discussion.

Average customer rating:

This horse fulfilled my wish
COVER TO COVER READ....HOT. HOT. HOT.
Not what I expected, but still a very good book.

If Wishes Were Horses
Joey W. Hill
Manufacturer: Ellora's Cave
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1419950614

Customer Reviews:

This horse fulfilled my wish.......2007-02-23

I greatly enjoyed this book. It has plot, character development, especially the heroine who morphs from an uptight emotionally repressed woman to a highly sexually open minded one. The hero is gorgeous, their orgasms explosive and it has enough otherworldliness to make it different.

COVER TO COVER READ....HOT. HOT. HOT........2006-03-04

If Wishes were Horses: What an outstanding read..
From the back - Sarah Wylde did not move from the Chicago to a small town to get involved with a man. Particularly one like Justin Herne, a man far too mesmerizing and dynamic to be in a rural town like Lilesville. To make matters worse, Herne runs a sex shop in the unincorporated limits of town. Sarah is the new police chief. She is keeping her eye on Justin. The only problem is, Justin is more than happy to stay within viewing distance. When a ritual murder draws them together on a case, Sarah finds that maintaining a professional distance isn't going to be an option.

Read this book in one sitting, definitly a page-turner with a cold shower in the end. I got really wrapped up in the characters. The scenes are steamy and detailed. The author hints at BDSM but there is only one scene and that is in chapter one. I wish she would have explored that a little more. He owns and runs a sex shop and the sex was a little vanilla.

A must read.

Not what I expected, but still a very good book........2005-06-11

Unlike some of her other books, this one was more "vanilla", which was a little disappointing. I also felt that the characters could have been a little more developed. Still all in all, a very good read.

Average customer rating:

Beautifully rendered, starkly real
If Wishes Were Horses
Whiteford's finest work yet!
Uncommon Love
A book that you wonýt soon forget

If Wishes Were Horses: A Novel
Merry Whiteford
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 031230188X

Book Description

If Wishes Were Horses is a moving, coming-of-age novel that explores the depth of friendship, the hope for redemp-tion, and the heartbreaking choices one must make in a diffi-cult, brutal world. In 1974, sixteen-year-old Star Hennessey lives with three other foster children in a broken-down central New York town. The daughter of an alcoholic prostitute, Star has relied on poetry to escape the gritty circumstances of her life. But her fantasyland is jolted when she be-comes preg-nant. Star's search for the right course of action brings her face to face with the cruel exploitation she fears is her legacy-but culminates in her personal triumph.

Customer Reviews:

Beautifully rendered, starkly real.......2003-08-17

Talented author Merry Whiteford explores the world of foster children in this tale of love, poverty and dreams, set in the mid-1960's and told by a young woman caught between the childhood she never really had and an adulthood she isn't at all prepared for.

Christened Veda by an alcoholic mother obsessed with the Joan Crawford movie MILDRED PIERCE, she renames herself "Star" when she, her brother and two other boys are placed in foster care together. Prior to that, she lived for a time in a Catholic-run orphanage, where she witnessed the suicide of another child who was punished for being pregnant. When Star discovers herself in the same predicament, she is determined to obtain an abortion, if only she can find the needed cash.

For Star has dreams. She is a poet, and her sights are set on something beyond the poverty and crime that surround her. After all, she notes, "Starting with almost nothing leaves almost everything open."

In this beautifully rendered coming-of-age novel, Ms. Whiteford vividly portrays the sense of isolation, the knowledge of separateness not only understood but, to a degree, cultivated by a child from whom relationships are controlled by fiat. In Star Hennessey, with her yearning for a life where the creativity and the life of the mind is respected, she has created a young woman of almost militant optimism who has managed not to lose faith, either in herself or in the power of love, despite obstacles life has placed in her path. Ms. Whiteford understands as well the mixture of childish innocence and precocious maturity young people caught in the wheel of poverty and foster care acquire.

IF WISHES WERE HORSES subtly studies the differences between cherishing dreams, as Star does, and nursing delusions as her mother, who insists her children call her "Mildred," clings to in the face of all common sense. Mildred has and does seek rescue, a helpless princess awaiting the arrival of her prince; while Star realizes the only one who can rescue her is herself.

What is particularly powerful about this book is its underlying theme that small applications of kindness and generosity-not necessarily of money but of time and experience and attention-can produce quality fruit even in soil that seems blasted and infertile. IF WISHES WERE HORSES is a superbly constructed window into a Dickensian world most people will hopefully never see, and yet one that everyone should have at least a taste of.

If Wishes Were Horses.......2003-07-02

I felt this book quite personally; I deeply indentified with Star and found her journey painful, moving and redemptive. I couldn't put this novel down and had to read it cover-to-cover straight through. I recommend this book to any serious reader.

Whiteford's finest work yet!.......2003-06-28

Merry Whiteford has eclipsed all her fine work with this magnificently told tale of Star - a young woman plagued by misfortune with an uncanny clarity and capacity to look and see beyond - with remarkable understanding, a lack of critical judgement and ability to move through the world with a sense of purpose that cannot be derailed, despite wrenching circumstances.

If you're tired of the *feel good* novel with trite, simplistic endings - this is the book for you and will undoubtedly leave the astute reader - like this one - hoping for more about Star. If Wishes Were Horses this writer would be rightfully acclaimed & celebrated for her exquisite talent and ability.

Thank you, Merry Whiteford, for a wonderful novel and reading experience. This hungry reader wants more ...

Uncommon Love.......2003-05-15

If Wishes Were Horses is about a teen-age girl, but it is a novel for everyone. The struggles are common human problems, but they are addressed with uncommon insight and care. The story is narrated by Star, a sixteen year girl living in a foster home with her brother and two other teenage boys. Star's mother is a prostitute, an alcoholic and an ex-con. She visits her children in foster care occasionally, and Star visits her mother in flashbacks. These visits reveal the embarrassment and abuse Star has suffered through her mother's neglect. They are more then sufficient to justify Star's total rejection of her mother, but this is not where the story goes. Star is resolute in her efforts to maintain her affection for her mother, and her efforts are rendered credible by Star's narrative. Star shows us how she sees her mother and other people in her life. We are spared pseudo-psychological analyses; instead we read of what Star sees in the people around her--their acts, their gestures, their comments. In these descriptions the affections of people who have been hit hard by life or lost their grip on life peek through. Such affection could be easily overlooked but is not. Star sees the love in her mother, and, through her poetic gifts she allows us to see it too. Star's ability to see those around her with generosity and honesty is at the heart of the story, and at the heart of the reader's admiration for her.
The reader, I think, will come to admire Star but will not see her as too good to be true. The plot is built around her slightly outlaw life with the other foster children and her unwanted pregnancy. Her efforts to solve the problems created by the pregnancy drive the plot and keep one wondering how she will resolve the situation. Her attempts at resolution lead to more problems that a less naive person might well have avoided. Star's gift is to see the capacity for love and affection in the midst of weakness and tragedy, and she applies that gift to herself as well.
Merry Whiteford has written an excellent novel. Star and her mother are characters who will linger with you. I find myself returning to the closing scenes of the novel with a fondness for mother and daughter and for what they can still mean to each other.

A book that you wonýt soon forget.......2003-04-09

It's 1974. In a used up town, near Nowhere, NY, sixteen-year-old Star Hennessey brings us along on a journey that isn't anywhere you want to go. She's living with yet another set of foster parents, with her brother and two other teenaged boys who are the end result of social services processes and society's failures. Star clings to what little childhood she had, while coming to understand that she is with child herself; a baby who is going to have a baby. Yet she is so grown up and mature when it comes to other things.

Her life has been one hell of a ride so far. Her mother, a prostitute, a drunk, wreaked havoc with the minds of her children, her occupational hazards. The "clients" she'd entertained didn't always ignore the fact that children were in the same apartment. Star found ways to deal with it. She entered a safe place in her mind. She wrote poems in her head, and hid within them.

Now, after living in the House of Providence, an orphanage really, she ekes out an existence with foster parents. People who have nothing to offer; people who show no interest or love. It is better than Providence though, where the nuns slap your knuckles with rulers and punish you for thoughts you might someday chance to have. Providence: where another young girl's belly grew large with child and she was sent away to give birth, only to return and hang herself in the dormitory. And Star understands why.

This isn't just a coming of age story. It is a slap across the face, grow up quick or be left behind story. It is a work of fiction but the people are so real that you might very well know some of them. Here is an example of such depth of knowledge of humanity; it is like looking in the mirror at a bruised and battered 16-year-old face. Look in the mirror. See the truth that is all around us. A young girl struggles to understand her own existence, she desperately tries to know who she is and why she is. She takes comfort in words and poetry and finds hope and purpose there.

Merry Whiteford has opened doors we usually keep closed. She offers a look at what makes people tick, and a look at the deepest darkest secrets that are often shut tight in little glass jars and held tightly to our chests. She offers a reminder to hold on to our memories, even if they have become memories of what we wish had happened and not what really did.

If Wishes Were Horses is a book that you won't soon forget, nor should you.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful story-- and true!

It's just not this awful!

I Loved This Book!

a source of great inspiration for mature students

compelling and real

If Wishes Were Horses: The Education of a Veterinarian
Loretta Gage , and Nancy Gage
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312928777

Book Description

When Loretta Gage entered her first year of training at Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, all the odds were against her. In addition to the tremendous pressures that her fellow classmates faced - brutally long hours, a rigorous load of lecture and laboratory classes, and the knowledge that many of them would not graduate - Gage brought with her the enormous emotional and financial challenges of a working-class upbringing. If Wishes Were Horses is the triumphant story of her struggle against hard work and self-doubt to become a practicing veterinarian. This memorable and heartwarming book envelops readers from the very first page, transporting them to a world filled with curmudgeonly professors, classroom disasters, and academic break-throughs, as well as many joyful and inspiring episodes involving the wounded and sick animals that come into the students' lives as they learn their trade. In addition to tales from the classroom, emergency room, and hospital barn where the students made daily rounds, Gage shares her battles with the moral and ethical implications of her work. The rich and gripping story of her struggle to fulfill a lifelong dream illuminates the triumph of the human spirit as much as the fascinating, often heartrending world of veterinary medicine.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful story-- and true!.......2004-03-03

I loved this book! It doesn't try to skim over the tough parts of vet school or the ethical, financial, and professional conflicts both in school and after one becomes a practicing vet. I believe in animal rights, and I find some of the things in this book horrific, but they do not detract from this story... they give it more of a ring of truth.
If you are really sqeamish, I wouldn't recommend this book, but otherwise, especially if you are/will be/would like to be a veterinarian!

It's just not this awful!.......2002-09-26

I read this book before starting veterinary school and it terrified me with its accounts of sleepless nights, failed relationships, nonsensical classes and cruel professors. Now that I'm in vet school, I wish I'd never read this book before starting!

This may have been an accurate portrayal of how vet school was for her, but I don't think it's an accurate portrayal of how it is for most people. She's right about financial stress, having huge amounts of info thrown at you, and having to study a whole lot and give up a lot of your social life. But my profs are by and large friendly, I don't study every free minute, and half my class is married, engaged, or partnered, including me! I still find time for the important people in my life and most of us generally get a reasonable amount of sleep!

She emphasizes the negatives and leaves out the positives. I think vet school have changed since her day, at least the one I'm at. And the veterinary profession is changing too. So -- don't assume that your experience will be like hers.

I Loved This Book!.......2001-09-28

There is so much to this little book. I laughed, I cried, I squirmed, I was inspired. Loretta Gage tells the truth about what a student must go through in order to become a vet - especially what is involved in learning to work with living animals. These are things most of us don't think about when we consider our vets' educations. I have a new respect for both my large and small animal vets from having read this book, and I recommend it to friends who are considering this profession. This book also shows that the only real obstacles to changing course in midstream are the ones we put there ourselves.

a source of great inspiration for mature students.......2001-07-28

as a 40-plus student hoping to gain entry into veterinary medicine, this book has provided great inspiration. I hope I won't encounter the same problems that the author did but if I do then I shall be better prepared after reading this book.

compelling and real.......2001-07-14

As a practicing veterinarian for over 20 years I view this book as the most honest and courageous to address this profession. It breaks the rules and debunks the simplistic mythology that pervades the profession. By shattering the illusions that many cling to in their unrealistic and romantic views of the complex relationships with our pets and the educational process, she understandably will offend some. That simplistic dream world needs breaking. This book was given to me by clients as a token of appreciation after a gruelling situation ultimately resulted in the euthanasia of their dog. This gift moved me greatly and reinforced my strength to face new challenges. Rather than finding the truth telling depressing it heartened me to find a veterinarian brave enough to reveal that we are as human as anyone, have lives with ambiguities, doubts, personal tragedies and diversions, like anyone else, and yet continue to face uncertain days regularly with committment, hope, dedication, and optimism.

Average customer rating:

Good book - better than I expected
Good read
I simply loved this book.
Good, but too slow paced
FANTASTIC!!

If Wishes Were Horses
Curtiss Ann Matlock
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 038079344X

Customer Reviews:

Good book - better than I expected.......2003-01-10

I tried other books by this author and never could finish them because they are just tad either too slow or too 'everyday' for me. However I liked this book. I can see transformation within the heroine Etta's character from the beginning to the end of the story. It was also refreshing to find that the hero was not perfect in any ways except being a born gentleman. I liked the way the author wrote about his feelings, doubts and weakness (how he liked to drink and controlled his urge at the end). The relationship between Etta and Latrice warms my heart.

Good read.......1999-01-19

This was a good read, but a little too slow paced for me. The storyline was good and great characters. This book just didn't have what it takes to keep me up all night.

I simply loved this book........1998-08-24

I could not put this book down, read it until after midnight. I really liked the prose, which gave a good feel for the story. It is very southern, and like a country song come to life. Etta and Johnny and Latrice and Obie were like real people to me, and I keep thinking back to parts of the story. I can highly recommend it.

Good, but too slow paced.......1998-07-30

This story of a young, pregnant widow starts off very intriguing. The plot is a good one, but you have to really concentrate to get through the language which is stilted and at a snail's pace. When I finally got to the chapters where things were starting to look up, the story was over. I felt like I'd been cheated. I'll select the next one more carefully.

FANTASTIC!!.......1998-06-22

This book is now in my "keeper" collection! One of the best books I've read in a long time....great writing, great characters, great story! I highly recommend all of Curtiss Ann Matlock's books, and this one really captures the heart!

Average customer rating:

If Wishes Were Horses...
Tim Hemlin
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345403185
Release Date: 1996-06-01

Book Description

HARD TIMES IN HOUSTON
Neil Marshall is a graduate student in the University of Houston's creative writing program. He is also a poet. Graduate student and poet--hardly the world's most lucrative endeavors, especially for someone who has just embarked on a money-draining divorce. To make ends meet, Neil moonlights as a chef for a high-society caterer.
Just when his life seems bleakest, Neil's oldest friend, racehorse breeder Jason Keys, is murdered. And guess what! Neil becomes the prime suspect.
To save his neck, avenge his friend, and rescue a missing championship Thoroughbred, Neil penetrates the dark underworld of horse theft and illegal breeding. Neil's friends--his attractive writing teacher, his cooking colleagues, and a freckle-faced teenage horsewoman--cheer him on. But Neil knows if he fails, his goose is cooked. . . .

If Wishes Were Horses... (Silhouette Intimate Moments, No 1072)

Average customer rating:

Another great tear jerker!
I read her in spite of myself!

If Wishes Were Horses... (Silhouette Intimate Moments, No 1072)
Judith Duncan
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0373271425

Customer Reviews:

Another great tear jerker!.......2005-05-29

I loved "Beyond All Reason" and while not really a straight romance reader, I have sent the book as a gift to someone. This book is the same setting, different H/H and similar format. I really liked the book, although not as much as Beyond, but Judith Duncan always does a great job of pulling emotion out of me. I highly recommend the book and will be reading more of her.

Check out - Blind Spot - Romantic Suspense with environmental theme

I read her in spite of myself!.......2005-05-11

I have read many of Judith Duncan's books over the years; the first was "Tender Rhapsody" and I was completely hooked. Another keeper is "Beyond All Reason" and some of the characters from that story reappear in this one. Judith Duncan's Canadian prairie stories are wonderful. She has built for the reader a community of interesting characters who live out their lives in the ranch country of southern Alberta. You feel the wind, smell the snow on the way and can see the Rockies on the distant horizon.

"If Wishes Were Horses" is a fairly simple tale of how the elder of two brothers has always loved his younger brother's wife. The younger brother dies, having wasted his potential, leaving behind a vulnerable yet feisty widow and two children. Elder brother rides to her rescue when life deals her one bad hand after the other and he carries her and her children off to his ranch in order to look after them.

There is a "hidden baby" (well, two to be exact) in this story and this device touches on AI and surrogacy. I don't want to say any more - it would spoil things but it is fairly realistically and sensitively handled.

However, I have to say why I read this author in spite of myself. I enjoy her setting - rather like I love Rachel Lee's Conard County, Wyoming. Duncan writes incredibly angst ridden stories that are full of high emotions. Unfortunately, though, and here is where I must criticise her, her wrenching emotions are always portrayed the same in her books. Here are some examples of what I feel is ridiculously over-drawn emotionalism:

.... "Dazed and devoid of coherent thought in her head, she reached for the chair, her knees so wobbly they wanted to buckle ..... heart pounding and her pulse thundering in hear ears" (No they have not had sex; he merely looked at her.)

.... "she bounced from one thing to another like a ricocheting tennis ball."

.... "he turned and walked out of the room his heart thundering like an express train in his chest."

...."His gut knotted and he suddenly found it hard to breathe."

My problem is that in order to convey emotion, the author constantly has her characters in tears, so choked up they cannot breath, their jaws locked, their hearts exploding, etc, etc. After a while it's just annoying and silly.

I give this one 4 stars because the story line was great and I really liked the hero despite the fact he spends half of his time unable to breathe, choked up with his gut twisted and dizzy with emotions. Indeed, a physician would wonder why the H/H were not about to expire from the physical side-effects of their emotions by the end of the story.

The author does tell a good tale, she writes with intensity but ever since I read her first novel some 18 years ago, I note that this tendancy for her characters to be so emotional as to be physical wrecks is getting worse. Please, Judith Duncan, take note. You don't need your wonderful heros to expire from heart, chest and lung problems. They are usually lovely just as they are, breathing normally, with a good digestive tract and hearts that beat normally!

Average customer rating:

If Wishes Were Horses
Jean Slaughter Doty
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The Crumb

ASIN: 0027330206

Average customer rating:

Field Of Dreams basis

If wishes were horses
W. P Kinsella
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Customer Reviews:

Field Of Dreams basis.......2004-07-16

Want to learn more about Ray Kinsella--the Costner character in Field of Dreams. Read this for vintage W.P. on baseball and how it grips our souls.

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