I apologize but I was unable to get into this book so have not left any public reviews. I am removing older books from my profile and I am sorry that I was unable to read more of them. I will be more judicious in the future about which books I request and will keep up with publishing my reviews.

I have begun a campaign to work on my enormous backlog of requested books on NetGalley and the first one I started with was White Horses by Alice Hoffman. I have read various books by Hoffman over the years although never the one she is perhaps most well-known for, Practical Magic. Yet there is a mysticism and magic to each of her novels, and White Horses is no exception. Thanks to Open Road Integrated Media and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My gratitude also for the patience.

I was enchanted by Alice Hoffman's book Property Of, her first novel which centred on a toxic relationship, which I read in 2014. I was younger then, a good 8 years younger, and was gripped by the danger and the fire of that story. Now I'm almost 29 and dangerous and reckless love has a very different pull on me. I still recognise the enchantment of it, feel the pull of it, but my brain is older, more experienced, wiser. That perhaps explains my very different responses to Property Of and White Horses. While reading the latter I was again utterly lulled by Hoffman's lyrical writing, but once I put the book down the consequences of it all crashed down on me every single time. To be clear, I don't think that Hoffman would have preferred my (slightly wide-eyed) response to Property Of, I do not at all think she is in anyway in favour of toxic relationships. The narrative she weaves in these books, with all the naïve talking points of 'I can save him', 'he can save me', 'if not him I'll be all alone', is one that only slowly unravels but when it does it all comes undone. Whether her narrative in Property Of was too subtle or if it's simply a book that stays relevant on re-reading, I don't know. But I can imagine that, like Property Of, White Horses isn't for everyone. While beautiful, White Horses is a hard read full of confronting scenes. It is a truly messed-up fairy tale in which a happy ending often seems impossible.

Teresa lives in a world of magic, especially when she sleeps, which is often. Her mother raises her on stories of the Arias, wild men on wilder horses with fire in their eyes, who swoop in to enchant and save young girls. And all Teresa sees when she thinks of those stories are her brother Silver. And so her mother's disappointment in her own life warps Teresa's view on men and her role in the world. As she grows into her teenage years, life becomes intricately more difficult and traumatic as Teresa tries to find a way out of her dreams and away from her sleeping sickness. Teresa is like a fairy tale princess, but only in the way that she is a sheltered and dreaming girl in a much crueler world. The adults in her life do not prepare her for the hardness of the world, in part because they themselves were never prepared and have been crushed as a result of their own hopes and dreams. White Horses therefore almost feels like a tale of generational trauma, a tale of undoing not just your own trauma but also that of those who came before. While White Horses switches perspectives frequently, Teresa is at the heart of it, always. And she was very close to my heart by the end of it.

Alice Hoffman truly writes unlike any other. The word 'lyrical' truly is a perfect descriptor for the way Hoffman moves between the fantastical and the truly real in her stories. Reality blends into myth, myth into legend, and legend into the lodestar for reality. What truly stuck me about White Horses was the way Hoffman so perfectly encapsulated this circularity, that fascinating way in which we mythologise real life trauma into a "story" that then guides us for the rest of our lives. I recognise this because I had to undo some of those created myths through therapy in order to start making better and healthier choices. Coming from that perspective, the perspective of a girl in love with stories who suffered from that love, White Horses had a deep impact on me. Teresa is so young and so indoctrinated that it becomes hard to see what is being done to her and what she chooses. That is where part of the tragedy lies in White Horses, that Teresa has never had the chance at a moment of clear and free thought, a real moment to choose where her life is going to go. And so countless of tragedies befall her, although tragedies is a mild word. I've put quite a few trigger warnings into the tags because many things happen and the way they happen is hard. While Teresa may not see some of the things that happen to her as things that have been done to her, that is very much the realisation an adult reading this book has. And that is difficult because all you want is for her to be free. But there is something cathartic about White Horses as well, about confronting the part of yourself that is also blind to danger as long as the danger comes with love. Hoffman definitely did it again with White Horses.

White Horses is a hard book that deals with difficult topics and won't be the right read for everyone. But if you can read through to the message of Hoffman's story, it is an incredibly rewarding story.

The story centers around Silver has romantic feelings towards his depressive sister Teresa Connor. A very dysfunctional family, who have an incestuous relationship that overshadows their entire lives. It had so little plot that it could almost be a short story and much too long and uneventful to be all that gripping for me.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

This might not be my favorite Alice Hoffman novel but its worth a read for her fans who might have missed it. Is it a fairy tale or a metaphor? it's certainly got an interesting take on how things we are told when we are young will echo through the years. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Although I usually love Alice Hoffman’s books, this one missed the mark for me.some upsetting subject matter.

White Horses was a captivating, melancholy, and beautiful story. With much dysfunction and complicated relationships, these powerful characters told a wonderful tale. Thank you NetGalley, Alice Hoffman, and the publisher for the e-copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This might seriously be my last one.

Every single character in this book was one hot mess.

And Teresa's 'illness' <spoiler> is called depression people </spoiler>. It is no small wonder, she is surrounded by horrible people and (nurture vs nature?) she didn't turn out so great herself.
I am not a fan of melancholy books. This was not sad or dark just melancholy.
Not my jam.

As far as the writing style goes I don't really get 'lyrical' from Hoffman on this one, there are phrases thrown in here and there but it just does not flow. It almost seems like it would have been better just being what it was, melancholy, and stop trying to add in vivid colors and lacy words. Hoffman usually writes in elements of magical realism in most of her books this one had a single token 'magical realism' character (Harper) at the very end. After several AH books I am officially giving up on obtaining my 'fan girl' badge. I still adore Practical Magic (the movie) but even that book couldn't grab me.

See my full review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1990118310

Thank you so much for this already released gem!! Alice Hoffman is so great a weaving a story together and drawing the reader right in.

and I just love the cover perfect for this book!


My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for this already published work of Alice Hoffman

If you haven't read any of Alice Hoffman's books before this is a great one to start with! Wonderful story and excellent writing as always!

This book was a really good read. I love alice hoffman and shevdidnt disappoint with this. It was slightly more gritty and less winsome than her other novels and it was a true reflection of his dreams are made, but crumble in reality.

I'm sorry for not reviewing this. I tried to read it, couldn't get into it, and didn't get back to finishing it.

I have such a complicated history with Alice Hoffman as a writer. While I find some of her novels to be delightfully complex stories. Other's I find bogged down by her prose. Such was the case with White Horses. I wanted to love this book but something I can't quite put into words left me unsatisfied. Still I gave it three stars because I did enjoy the characters just not so much the plot.

Yet another beautifully written and compelling tale from Alice Hoffman, with her especial blend of magic and realism that always manages to get the balance between them just right. It’s a haunting story of Teresa, whose often destructive relationship with her brother is the defining relationship of her life, and which negatively impacts on her and all those around her. As dysfunctional families go, Teresa’s is on the extreme side, and there were times when I felt that the melodramatic took over from the dramatic, but overall I very much enjoyed the novel, and if some of the narrative threads didn’t quite tie up, this didn’t detract overall from my reading pleasure.

I requested this because I thought it was a new Alice Hoffman which is always an exciting event, but turns out this was an earlier published novel. Not sure why it was provided for request.

This story was different from other Alice Hoffman books that I've read. I found it interesting and finished reading it, but I'm afraid I didn't connect with the characters as I have in her other books. The relationship between Teresa and her brother gives the book a rather morbid turn. Although I am a big fan of Ms. Hoffman's books, I wouldn't recommend this one to readers. Any of her other books, I definitely would.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Alice Hoffman, who I am familiar with because of Practical Magic, but this novel wasn't it. I try not to read too many depressing or uncomfortable novels, so I ended up not finishing this.

I am not posting a review online because while I enjoy the author's writing style, I didn't enjoy the story and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I gave it 3 stars for her writing. Thank you.

As haunting and powerful as all of Hoffman's fiction - a lovely blend of myth, mystery and complex characters.

I am a huge fan of Alice Hoffman and was surprised that I hadn't come across this book before. While it is not a favourite it is still a good read even though it deals with a somewhat controversial subject.