Book Review: Sunny Dale
Book Details:
Book Title: SUNNY GALE: A NOVEL by Jamie Lisa Forbes
Category: Adult Fiction 18+, 268 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Novel
Publisher: Pronghorn Press
Release date: May, 2024
Content Rating: PG-13 +M: There is no profane language. There are some sexual scenes, non explicit. There is one instance of sexual abuse that is more recollected than described. My specific reason for giving this rating was two scenes where animals are harmed intentionally.
Book Description:
It's 1895 and fourteen year old Hannah Brandt is struggling with the hard life on a new Nebraska homestead. When her imagination is captured by a wild filly she becomes obsessed with horses, which opens the door to her destiny. Just four years later she enters the first Cheyenne Frontier Day rodeo where she wins the relay race and her fate is sealed. She gives herself a new name, Sunny Gale, and pursues a rodeo career, much to the disgust of her young husband and her very proper mother. Sunny defies convention with every move as the drive to compete takes over her life, leaving everything else behind, including husbands and children. It is a rough life she has chosen, but she craves the glory of the spotlight and refuses to bow to the expectations for a woman in her time.
Award winning author Jamie Lisa Forbes has once again brought us complex characters in a story based on real women and the early days when rodeo was wide open for them to become stars. It is a story of the social mores of the times and of a woman determined to defy them no matter how high the personal cost or where that choice might take her.
It's 1895 and fourteen year old Hannah Brandt is struggling with the hard life on a new Nebraska homestead. When her imagination is captured by a wild filly she becomes obsessed with horses, which opens the door to her destiny. Just four years later she enters the first Cheyenne Frontier Day rodeo where she wins the relay race and her fate is sealed. She gives herself a new name, Sunny Gale, and pursues a rodeo career, much to the disgust of her young husband and her very proper mother. Sunny defies convention with every move as the drive to compete takes over her life, leaving everything else behind, including husbands and children. It is a rough life she has chosen, but she craves the glory of the spotlight and refuses to bow to the expectations for a woman in her time.
Award winning author Jamie Lisa Forbes has once again brought us complex characters in a story based on real women and the early days when rodeo was wide open for them to become stars. It is a story of the social mores of the times and of a woman determined to defy them no matter how high the personal cost or where that choice might take her.
My Review
Hannah's journey of horse riding starts with Zephira, next Atlas, and Helios to name a few. I could relate to Hannah's love of horses. As a little girl, I loved horses as well. I still do like horses.
You could tell she shared a great bond with the horses. Each one brought something to Hannah's life. She will never forget each of the horses. This is very apparent, unlike the men that came into Hannah's life. Not to say that they were bad but just that Hannah was meant to be free and not tied down to married life.
It was this free spirit that I liked about Hannah aka Sunny Gale. She was not afraid to pursue her happiness.
I did like the historical time period that this story took place. This book reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. It featured a young woman named Sonora, who became a diving horse girl at the fair. Readers who love horses or just looking for a really good story to read will want to check out this book.
Meet the Author:
Jamie Lisa Forbes was raised on a ranch in the Little Laramie Valley near Laramie, Wyoming. She attended the University of Colorado where she obtained degrees in English and philosophy. After fourteen months living in Israel, she returned to her family’s ranch where she lived for another fifteen years.
In 1994, she moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2001, she graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law and began her North Carolina law practice.
Forbes’ first novel, Unbroken, won the WILLA Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction in 2011. Her collection of short stories, The Widow Smalls and Other Stories, won the High Plains Book Awards for a short story collection in 2015.
Forbes’ novel of rural North Carolina in the segregation era, entitled Eden, was published in 2020. Her historical novel about women bronc riders in the early days of rodeo, entitled Sunny Gale, was published in May 2024 by Pronghorn Press.
Ms. Forbes continues to live—and write—in North Carolina.
Connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ pinterest ~ X ~ goodreads
Jamie Lisa Forbes was raised on a ranch in the Little Laramie Valley near Laramie, Wyoming. She attended the University of Colorado where she obtained degrees in English and philosophy. After fourteen months living in Israel, she returned to her family’s ranch where she lived for another fifteen years.
In 1994, she moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2001, she graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law and began her North Carolina law practice.
Forbes’ first novel, Unbroken, won the WILLA Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction in 2011. Her collection of short stories, The Widow Smalls and Other Stories, won the High Plains Book Awards for a short story collection in 2015.
Forbes’ novel of rural North Carolina in the segregation era, entitled Eden, was published in 2020. Her historical novel about women bronc riders in the early days of rodeo, entitled Sunny Gale, was published in May 2024 by Pronghorn Press.
Ms. Forbes continues to live—and write—in North Carolina.
Connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ pinterest ~ X ~ goodreads
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Oct 22 - @acourtofspinesnpages * - book review
Oct 22 - @bearyintobooks * - book review
Oct 22–@adriftinfictionalworld - book review
Oct 24 – Deborah-Zenha Adams – book spotlight / author interview
Oct 24 - @this.human.reads * – book review
Oct 25–Book Corner News and Reviews - book review
Oct 28 – Sharing Life’s Moments – book review
Oct 28 - Gina Rae Mitchell – book review / guest post
Oct 28 - @jilljemmett * - book review
Oct 28 - @onceuponamaltesereader * - book review
Oct 29 – @bookameme * – book review
Oct 30 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / guest post
Oct 30 - @kiv_coffeeandpages * - book review
Oct 31 - Cheryl's Book Nook – book review
Oct 31 - @alwaysreadingxo * - book review
Nov 1 – @Leannebookstagram – book review
Nov 2 - @readsandmusic * - book review
Nov 4 – FUONLYKNEW – book review / guest post
Nov 5 – Books R Us – book spotlight / guest post
Nov 5 - Country Mamas With Kids – book review
Nov 6 – Bigreadersite – book review
Nov 7 – Connie's History Classroom – book review / author interview
Nov 8 – Liese's Blog – book spotlight
Nov 8 – @bookscape__ * - book review
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