Rafferty Lincoln Loves... by Emily Williams
Emily Williams is one of the wonderful book bloggers I’ve mentioned in previous blogs. She’s also a talented author and I was delighted to be sent a pre-publication copy of her new Young Adult novel, Rafferty Lincoln Loves… Here’s my review:
Take four disparate teenagers:
• Rafferty – out to improve his popularity with girls and going about it in all the wrong ways;
• Liberty – Queen Bee at school and the object of Rafferty’s desire;
• Will – Liberty’s amiable younger brother;
• Dexter – bullied at school, with a shadowy home life, but an expert horseman.
Let them find a horse: a beautiful bay gelding that they name Minty and put in a disused field by a canal.
Not only must they learn how to keep a horse, they have to keep a secret too as they suspect it is a famous racehorse that has been reported missing across every national and local news outlet. Bound by their secret and their growing affection for Minty, these four non-friends spend their evenings, weekends and summer together by the canal. But pressures in their school and home lives can’t be ignored forever. They realise that nothing can stay the same.
Good characterization and well described scenes of horse riding and horse care. (Even the dangers of ragwort got a mention which was my first thought when the teens put the horse in an abandoned field.)
Ideal for horsey readers or anyone who enjoys stories about relationships. Suitable for mid-teens. Contains swearing and some sexual references.
Publisher’s blurb for Rafferty Lincoln Loves…
Rafferty Lincoln doesn’t like horses. Not one bit. But when the popular high school girl of his dreams, Liberty Ashburn, pulls him into a world of lead ropes and horse brushes, who is he to say no?
Except this isn’t any old horse. This is the missing racehorse, Profit’s Red Ridge. The horse Rafferty and three of his friends are hiding from the world. And Liberty Ashburn isn’t just any ordinary high school girl. How far will Rafferty go to win her over?
An intense, witty and powerful coming of age story with startling consequences.
Rafferty Lincoln Loves… is published on 14 February and is available to pre-order from Amazon.
About the Author
Emily Williams lives by the seaside in West Sussex with her family and a menagerie of small pets. After graduating from Sussex University with a BA in Psychology, Emily trained as a primary school teacher and teaches in a local school.
Rafferty Lincoln Loves… is her first YA novel after the success of her debut adult novel, Letters to Eloise, released in 2017.
The proceeds from the novel Rafferty Lincoln Loves… will be donated to The British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre.
BTRC is dedicated to improving and promoting the welfare of retired race horses through education, retraining and suitable rehoming in order to ensure that our Thoroughbreds have a rewarding and valuable life after their racing careers have ended.