Unexpected Allies and Recurring Warts by Grace Marshall

Title: Unexpected Allies and Recurring Warts

Author: Grace Marshall

Series: Horse Haven, #2

Genre: Christian Young Adult Fiction

Era: contemporary

Setting: Missouri, USA

Publisher: Grace Marshall

Source: from author (in exchange for honest review)

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

A spunky kitten on a daring rescue, a neglected mare full of love, and boys that recur like warts make teenager Ruth Deloach’s life far from boring. For every kind person that comes to the ranch there seems to be two warts.

The attitudes and temperatures of southeast Missouri starkly contrast the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but Ruth doesn’t have time to adjust before her father holds an open house for their horse ranch, Meredith Meadows. Ruth’s overbearing older brother seems to just add dangerous sparks to her frustration as she tries to figure out who she has to be nice to and who she actually wants to be nice to. At first, the horse lessons on the ranch start making Ruth feel as if she is back in her comfort zone until she gets tossed by one of the horses.

Sometimes the best way through life is to laugh through the tears, warts, and her own attempts to mow the grass in a straight line.

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I was excited to read this book because I really enjoyed Horse Haven Book 1, No Pizza Delivery? The second book in the series did not disappoint. It was just as funny. The author’s writing has also improved a great deal; there aren’t so many typos, grammatical mistakes, etc.

I admit that the plot isn’t extremely strong. There is no real arc, no main theme. It’s mostly about Ruth’s adventures, often hilarious, around the horse ranch, her meeting new people, etc.

This is all fairly believable, interesting, and entertaining (especially for a horse-lover like me), except for one thing. Every boy who comes to the ranch seems to be attracted to Ruth. I find this unbelievable! I mean, she’s a younger teen – I think she was like fourteen, right? Thirteen? Maybe fifteen at the most? – and it’s ridiculous that all these teenage boys would be so attracted to her.

Aside from that, it was a good plot.

The characters were all well-developed and fun. I especially like Ruth (of course!). Her narration is very clever.

I didn’t see as much of her brother as I’d have liked to, but the couple scenes in which he was were great. Her dad and grandpa are standup characters, especially her grandpa. He’s hilarious!

It was interesting to meet all the people who come and go at the ranch – whether to get lessons or board their horses.

But, of course, the best character was Amerigo.