Monday, March 24, 2014

Review: THE STABLE BOY by Harmony Stalter

Clair is a 40 year old widowed farm owner. She lost her husband in a terrible freak accident. In a constant state of depression for the past two years, her farm is failing. She barely has enough money to survive and her last farmhand just left to follow his new wife’s dreams.
She is all alone, until he walks into her life. She knows she needs the help, but does she want his help? Can she resist his good looks, charm, and flirting or will she give into temptation and open her heart and bed to him?

 EXCERPT 
He came walking across the field in his tight blue jeans, dark brown boots, beige plaid shirt and dark brown cowboy hat. He was walking my unruly colt by a lead rope with ease.
The colt had broken the fence and ran off. He found him. How he got the horse calmed down was a mystery to me. I could not get that horse to walk on a lead rope. He reached my door. I stepped out from behind the screen door.
“Ma’am, I believe he is yours,” he said with a slight southern drawl.
“Yes, he is. Thank you for bringing him back,” I said, taking all of him in. He had ice blue eyes, a five o’clock shadow, and broad shoulders. His tight shirt showed off his muscular arms and tight torso. “How did you know he was mine?”
“I pass by your house sometimes in the morning on the way to the Everett Farm, he said. “I work there when they need an extra hand.”
“Thank you for bringing him back. Can you please put him in the paddock with the other horses?”
“Sure can,” he replied. “Do you need help fixing the fence?” “Thank you, I would really appreciate it.” “Be happy to help. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look around the farm and help you out in anyway I can. It does not seem that you have much help around here,” he said, as he looked me up and down.
I was wearing my blue jeans and white T-shirt. My long, chestnut brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. “Unfortunatly, I do not. I had a farm hand, but he got married recently and they moved out west. I don’t have enough money to hire someone else.
You can get your copy of The Stable Boy here: 
AMAZON US  
AMAZON UK  
BARNES & NOBLE
Add it to your To Read list on GOODREADS

MEET THE AUTHOR
Harmony Stalter was born in Newburgh, New York. She currently makes her home in Central Florida and is a freelance writer for the monthly All Access Magazine. She was an architectural drafter for three years before she dove head first into pursuing her first love, writing. 
Check out her WEBSITE 
Stalk her on FACEBOOK
And on TWITTER


KELLY'S REVIEW
The Stable Boy has all the makings of a good story, even if it is just a light, predictable romance. But the execution needs a lot of work. The language is simplistic with short, choppy sentences that can be quite jarring, especially in what is supposed to be a love scene. The dialog is often contrived. There is way too much small talk and “please”, “Thank you”, “You’re welcome” that just ends up taking up space. And the entire book is dialog with just a tiny bit of description. I still have no idea what the farm looks like except that it has three barns and barbed wire fencing that is being replaced with wood fence. I barely have an idea what the characters look like. She has chestnut hair, he has incredible eyes and wears tight clothes.

Another thing that I had difficulty with was the point of view. It is told in the first person, Clair is telling her story, but the narration continues even when she is not present. And the number of grammatical and spelling errors and the stilted language make the story difficult to read in places.

The story itself is cute and well plotted. I think this author shows potential, but needs help with language.

I give this book 2 stars * *
I received this book in exchange for an honest review and this in no way influenced my opinion.
This is my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of others at Ravenz Reviews.

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