Stacy Gregg

Representation: Latina main character, major Brown character
Trigger warnings: Near-death experiences, blood depiction, death of a mother, grief and loss depiction, storms, contagion, divorce
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Note that I bought this book, and now I own it. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

7/10, after reading a book which is the same genre as this one I cracked into this one after buying this one and then just forgetting about it for a few months but now I finally read this and honestly I kind of enjoyed this but again this was a light read which didn't leave me with anything much and it could have been improved in some aspects to make it better than it was. Where do I begin? It starts with the main character Beatriz Ortega or Beatriz for short and she lives with her divorced mother in a houseboat in the Bahamas of all places only because her mother is a marine biologist and she's researching something. The book mainly revolves around a place called Great Abaco and everything looks fine at first until after Beatriz was swimming and landed on the island she discovered two critical plot points, one there was a shack alongside some rare horses with another major character called Annie and two after that event she discovers a centuries old diary and that's where it got intriguing to say the least. The book now has another point of view from Felipa set in 1493 out of all periods making the entirety of it non-linear as with other books like this it felt jarring at first mainly because I felt like I was reading two books but eventually, I got used to it and as I was reading these stories I noticed several things. One I liked Felipa's story better since it was set in a historical setting and two I didn't get Beatriz's character since all she did was be defiant and disobedient to her mother only for the former to be proven right when a storm hit and Beatriz's advice turned out to be correct? Seems far-fetched. Felipa's story soon wraps up as the caravel she was on sank and she almost died until Cara saved her however if it weren't for the word galloped I would've thought that that character was a human and not a horse, that being said Felipa soon had to leave Cara behind after almost a year but then the book cuts to present day where Beatriz puts her diary alongside Felipa's ending this on a high note. Oh did I mention the book was told in diary style? It's more character-driven at the sacrifice of details. Well. Can't have everything I suppose.… (mais)

"The Forever Horse" was a fabulous novel for younger readers. It had two intertwining stories - one set in modern-day Paris and the other in 1852. Both protagonists were young females and talented artists although neither was appreciated thanks to their gender. The first chapter was a cliffhanger! The story then went back twelve months so the reader has to wait until the end before discovering the resolution.

I did find Rose and Maisie rather obnoxious at the start but both girls grew on me and by the end, I was cheering for them both. They each had issues and problems they were struggling with but they both loved horses and spent most of their days drawing, painting and observing them.

My favourite character, however, was Claude, the beautiful, brave horse who was seriously injured in the line of duty while working for the National Gendarmerie. He became Maisie's muse but it broke my heart when he was hurt and in so much pain.

From the start, this story was compelling and I loved that it was about art, horses and overcoming obstacles. I also discovered that Rose's character was actually based on the real French artist, Rosa Bonheur so I did some research on her and her artwork once I had finished the book.

Being both a lover of art and horses, I found "The Forever Horse" a touching and interesting read.… (mais)

This book follows the winning format of many of Stacy Gregg's other historical horse books. There are two intertwined stories separated in time but linked in some way. In The Forever Horse, the link is a diary written by a famous horse artist, Rose Bonifait and discovered by Maisie, a horse-loving young girl who has won a scholarship to attend the Parisian School des Beaux-Arts, While Maisie loves horses, she doesn't have one and has never even ridden a horse. Shortly after arriving in Paris to begin her scholarship, she meets a police horse called Claude and falls in love. Claude becomes her muse, the horse that she paints over and over again despite her teacher's and classmates' disdain. It isn't until tragedy strikes, that Masie paints a picture that fetches the top price in the auction of the students' work.
The first chapter ends with a cliffhanger and then we are taken back a year in time to the beginning of Maisie's story. The reader has to wait until the very end of the book to discover the resolution of the situation set up in the beginning. This technique creates a tension that keeps the reader reading. Both Maisie and Rose are well-drawn characters who each have to struggle with their own problems and issues. Chapter by chapter, the story moves between the girls. The use of different fonts signals the move between characters.
Like the other books in this series, this story has a nugget of truth at its core. The character of Rose Bonifait is based on the famous artist Rosa Bonheur and the police stables that Maisie visits can still be found on Boulevard Henri IV. However, those details won't matter to all the horse-loving girls who enjoy Stacy Gregg's books. They want beautiful horses, girls they can identify with and a thrilling story and they have all these in The Forever Horse.… (mais)