Blog Tour Guest Post and Book Review: Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Racing Savannah
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Series: Book Four in the Hundred Oaks Series
Published By: Sourcebooks Fire (December 3, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary


Book Description:

They’re from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

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About the Author:

From gender roles, to parental expectations, to the influence of faith and the classic teenage search for identity, Miranda Kenneally isn’t afraid to take on all the hot-button issues of modern teen life. She is the author of Catching Jordan, Stealing Parker and Things I Can’t Forget, and is the co-creator of the website DearTeenMe.com. Miranda also writes and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. 

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Guest Post:

Which of your female heroines are you most like?

Thank you for having me today! To be honest, I have a bit of all my characters inside me. I have Jordan's voice - I sound like her when I talk. Yes, this means I have a potty mouth from time to time, and I'm super sarcastic. 

When I was younger, I was like Kate in that I didn't understand that people have different beliefs. I wasn't judgmental to people's faces like her, but I still thought "my way is the right way." I didn't understand that people think differently than me; it was a rude awakening when I found out. I also like doodling. 

Parker and I have a bit in common, in that when I was a teen, I would do things to make other people think a certain way about me. I didn't understand that people could misinterpret my actions and therefore think the opposite of what I wanted them to think in the first place. Now I know just to be myself.  

But of all the characters I've written, I'm most like Savannah. Not that I'm interested in horses, but that I stand up for myself and go after my dreams. I work really hard to accomplish my goals, and I don't let anyone tell me I can't do something if I want to do it. In Racing Savannah, Savannah learns that even though she's poor and nobody in her family has ever been to college, she has the right and the strength to apply to any school she wants. 

I hope that in reading Racing Savannah, all girls and women will learn that they have the right to do anything they want and have the power to go after it. 

My Thoughts and Review:

Miranda Kenneally has a knack for creating outstanding, down to earth characters that you instantly relate to and fall in love with. It just might  be what I love most about her writing. That easy flow of dialog, the lovableness of the characters and the real life situations that are so easy to imagine and picture yourself in.

Once again she captures the essence of first love, what it means to be different, fighting for what you want and believe in and standing up for yourself perfectly in Racing Savannah. 

Savannah is a strong heroine. She is a fighter. She fights for her family, for her friends, and for what she wants from life. She has to be one of the strongest, bravest heroines I have come across in a really long time and I absolutely adored her. 

Just like Kenneally can write a strong heroine, she can also write a swoon worthy, equally as strong hero and that is exactly what she delivers in Jack's character.

Although they are two very different people in very different worlds, they are both trying to prove themselves and make something out of what they have. 

I couldn't have created a better bunch of characters if I tried. Not only do we get a whole slew of new ones to fall in love with, but, we get sneak peaks at the old ones we have already fallen in love with from past books (Yay for Will, Parker, Sam, Jordan, and Kate).  And come on, this book is about horses, hello, almost every single girl at one point or another in their lifetime dreamt about owning and riding horses. Great characters, crazy horses, a sweet sigh worthy romance and great life lessons, what more could a girl ask for?

Kenneally has was again proving to me why I not only love her writing but adore this series. This is one series, one author I will continue to have on my auto buy list. 

*All thoughts ans opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*