Intense read. Dealing with several serious issues against a competitive backdrop. Great debut novel.

This ended up being a DNF for me. As someone that has no real interest in horses or equestrian, I found that, that portion of the story was too heavy handed for me. The writing style was also a little too 'cold' for me. I had a hard time reading the story as it felt choppy vs. flowing in a meaningful way.

The subject matter is very important and intense, and I respectful that the author wrote about something as dark as this family.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a powerful ,hard to read book but I loved it very much. Learned a lot about horses and the will to live and go on. A very heart rendering book.

Dark subject matter but told with grace and sensitivity. It was hard to read and at some parts I felt like was a little too graphic for a fictional piece.

The media has made sex abuse front page news...rightly so. Respected coaches, doctors, movie producers have been committing terrible crimes for years and gone unpunished. Retribution is at hand. This novel reveals one case of horrible abuse by a wealthy, renowned Olympian athlete against his daughter. This is a very difficult book to read. The protagonist is 15 and training to ride competitively in events to prepare her for the Olympics. Her father is her coach and her abuser. The author makes that clear from chapter one. Then the novel continues and reveals the depth of the manipulation and abuse. There are no words to explain the horror I felt reading this book. For me it was hard to accept that a fifteen year old could have such depth of understanding of her manipulating father. I saw this as a flaw of the novel. The author writes beautifully and the descriptions of the equestrian events reveal first hand knowledge. The abuse revelations seemed so authentic I hope they were not the author’s own. Honestly, without giving away the ending, I do not really know how I feel about the final event. It is so brutal and life changing. This novel is difficult to recommend. Not many readers will want to read this horrible retelling of such intimate details. However, forewarned, it is worth tackling...... but reader beware.

I requested the ARC of this book because of my love of horses and horse showing, having been a horse show mother for years. The surprise of the actual novel knocked me over. The gripping story, the taut emotional writing left me with beating heart, dripping sweat and the need to take frequent breaks from its intensity. Thanks so much to the Scout Book division of Simon and Schuster for a chance to review.

If you are a woman of any age you will relate to the story of Roan Montgomery, a 15 year old high school student whose life consists of riding and training for, three-day eventing with the goal of competing in the equestrian events at the Olympics. Her life is filled with working for these things and dealing with her alcoholic, pill popping unloving mother and her brilliant but abusive father.

Michalic brings to this book her extensive knowledge of the horse world. But she also exhibits an unusual take on an abuse victim's feeling guilt about her own complicity in her abuse. The author even has a sharp sense of humor. (Rather than describe her experience with incestuous sexual abuse as "MeToo", Roan refers to it as "OnlyMe.")

What else can I say when a book is so difficult to read yet so impossible to put down? What else can I say about a writer who can even elicit sympathy for an abusive father? What else can I say about a novel so totally engrossing and thought provoking that no matter how difficult it's a book everyone should read. It's also a testament to the unquenchable spirit of a young woman who finds the strength to save herself. That says it all.

I really wanted to just reach out and steal Roan away. Both of her parents were so utterly awful in a multitude of ways. The book was very well written. Heavy content, but a very interesting read!

5/5
#NetGalley #Dark Horses
If i had to only choose one book to be my favourite this year; it'd be this one. Their was not only a story to this novel, but emotions. Not too many books I've read had the emotions as this novel had, and with that being said, I feel everyone who reads dark plotted stories should give this one a try. Yes, the plot in this one is very much a trigger warning and at first so much, I wanted to stop reading it all together, but I'm glad I didn't because our main character, Roan gives us the hope for a better future, and the end proves victory comes in varies ways.

I highly recommend this novel

Roan is only 15 but her every waking moment either at school or on her horse is controlled by her father. She has no life other than her shortened class schedule and training and competitions. She has no friends, no boys are allowed to call her and even her mother doesn’t seem to love her. Roan’s life is surrounded by her father, engulfed by her father who is also her riding trainer. He wants Roan to be the Olympic champion he was but he wants even more of her. She loves her horses the training and competing, it’s her only safe place. She has the makings of a champion if she gives up everything else a teen should have. Hurt by a mother who is much more into alcohol and prescription drugs than saving her and a father who knows he possesses all of her. He uses his power to control her and he will destroy anything that interferes with him and what he wants of her.

A story of a girls incredible strength and what she has to do to survive. This story will get to you where it hurts the most, your heart. It’s about surviving behind a persona of one happy family in the very public eye.

Emotional book that will make you mad but will let you enjoy victory over suppression. Strong language adult fiction that unfortunately has truth in our society.

Thank you NetGalley, Susan Mihalic and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC.

Sadly shocking. Raw and honest. Heartbreakingly true. Dark Horses, the debut novel by Susan Mihalik touches on a sensitive subject: sexual abuse. Fifteen-year-old Roan Montgomery, a lovely, intelligent, and an accomplished horse showman, was being regularly abused by her father, a strong-willed, successful man with zero ethics. Unfortunately tragedies like this exist in real life and need to be confronted by our society. Let us hope that this ground-breaking book, Dark Horses, will be the impetus to start a long-overdue recognition and airing of this heinous crime. Everyone must read this book! And then take action!
Nancy Simpson-Brice
Book Vault
Oskaloosa, IA

Engrossing and sickening all at the same time. Major characters: Monty Montgomery-disgusting power hungry abuser, Roan Montgomery-strong and dedicated, Will Howard-endearing and faithful. This doesn't have the most fantastical writing you've ever read, but Mihalic does know how to weave a good story. I read this in one day. A sticking point for me with this book is that I feel there were a few opportunities that Roan would've gotten away from her father or told someone about the abuse before she actually did. She's too strong of character to have let these two events pass without doing something. One, after the hotel room rape that left her bleeding and injured, and two, after she thought her father had sold her horse to Frank and Jamie. She had nothing left to lose after that! She could've gone somewhere else to continue her path to the Olympics, but losing Jasper should have been too much for her. I definitely enjoyed the horse stuff scattered throughout this book. Dark Horses was a nice bit of getaway fiction for a change for me. Glad I gave it a chance.

Thank you Net Galley for the free. There is nothing good I can say about this book. I hated it and dont see the point of it.Sorry!

Tragic, disturbing, but hopeful. Roan's father (and his father & grandfather) is an Olympian and is training Roan to continue this family legacy. She has no time unless it involves her riding or her horses; her schoolwork and her mother have learned to take a backseat. Roan's father does not allow any interference, so when he suspects she has a boyfriend, he can't contain his disapproval. But Roan and her father have a darker secret... can this secret be contained or will it destroy them both first?

Thank you#Net Galley for the ARC. This book has trigger warnings. Susan Mihalic built the characters so well I was literally absorbed into the story. The storyline was intense and kept me on pins and needles. This novel is very well written and I got lost in it.