Title: Remember My Beauties

Author: Lynne Hugo

Publisher: Switchgrass Books

Pub. Date: April 18, 2016

Genre: Literary Fiction

Past the hard skin of a family torn by divisive relationships and destructive choices that have eroded hope to a bare minimum, Remember My Beauties is a visceral glimpse at a family finding the strength to transcend bad history and rediscover their purpose. The horses and the farm are a great backdrop to the story, though when it serves, both elements step up as important characters themselves.

This book is a case of getting a lot more than I expected. I thought it was a book about a horse loving family saga. It is that, but not only that. It is most of all a story of people overcome by hard life experiencing and overcoming hardship to build a stronger family. This book is hard, gritty, and steely-eyed about pain, but it has a soul. The author creates a fantastic portrait of people. You may care about them, or care to hate them, but as in real life, they are not what they first seem, and they evolve in pleasantly unexpected ways.

The horses and farm are part of the family, but the story is the family. Read it for heartbreak moments, times when you grit your teeth with frustration, pages where you know what the character should do but they just won’t, moments when you forgive them even when you know you shouldn’t, unfair sadness, and gut-wrenching shocks.

This review title was provided by the publisher for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.