This is the second time I’ve read this book, the first time being about five years ago when it was released. I instantly recognized the sweet story about a girl who moves with her father and pregnant step-mother to a huge horse farm in Kentucky, owned by an obscenely wealthy family. Her father works with the horses and her step-mother works as a maid in the main house when her pregnancy allows. Meanwhile, Savannah goes to school with the farm owner’s son, Jack. He is apprenticing under his father to take over the large farm, and she has strictly been told to stay away from him.



Obviously Savannah and Jack can’t stay away from each other... or keep their hands off each other! When I read the book the first time I found this to be a very sweet story, both Romeo and Juliet-esque, as well as rags to riches as Savannah’s family is near destitute. This held true the second time I read it, although five years later and five years wiser I found some of Savannah's actions problematic. Savannah is a very intelligent young woman with a true talent with horses, just because her family is poor does not mean she's ignorant. So, it really bothered me when Savannah felt the need to ask Jack to accompany her to guidance office to get information about colleges, in case she didn't understand what the guidance counselor was telling her. Girl! This book was published in 2013, you are a strong, independent young woman who can handle a trip to guidance counselor yourself. I had the same problem when Jack's father asked her to have Jack look over all her college applications, and even more of a problem when Jack's father patronizingly took care of Savannah's money the way he saw fit, not the way she asked him to.



These modern feminist issues aside, this was a quick read, a sweet romance that held my attention. I really rooted for Savannah when it came to her horse training and of course I wanted to see her and Jack end up together, all other females and angsty parents be damned. There was plenty of love, teenage angst, big rich houses, and fun parties to keep me entertained as a I read. If you like YA romance, I definitely recommend this book. A big thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me a review copy; I apologize it took me five years to review it!

I’ve come to expect a super sweet, romantic, and character oriented read when I pick up a Kenneally book and this is, again, exactly what I got from Racing Savannah. This one has its own charm that separated it from the others as it’s kind of like the “new generation” of this series. We see glimpses of our beloved characters from the other books who have now gotten a bit older and their relationships are moving ahead which was very exciting to see, and bittersweet because it made me miss them! 🙂

This time our wonderful protagonist is Savannah. She has a passion for horse racing – well horses in general – and a take-no-crap attitude that I loved. As a girl, she unfortunately get the expected chuckles and odd looks from the other hose jockeys, thinking she’s not tough enough to be a part of this sport. Well, she surely shows them! You can’t help but root for this girl! As usual, the side cast provides great personality to the book as well. While the other novels focused on either a sports team or a whole camp personnel, Racing Savannah brings us into the lives of the elite, and the help who work for them. I’m always fascinated by this rich side of society that I don’t often – or ever – encounter where I’m from. Live-in maids and farm help who are barely making ends meat, working for – and living with – a family who could buy a million dollar farm at a moment’s notice. I especially loved the dynamic between the workers; the “stick together” bond they all seem to have.

With that said, Savannah and the love interest, Jack, are from quite opposite spectrums. Plus, Jack being her boss was given a rule to never mingle with the staff – but you and I both know this never stops young love, right? *dreamy sigh*. I wasn’t sure what to make of Jack at first, thinking he would sustain the stereotypical snotty attitude that’s often associated with his status and social standing. Instead he quickly grew on me. His hesitations stemming from his need to show his dad he’s got what it takes to run the farm, not his monetary ranking. He also learns he has to stand up for what he wants. The romance has that great forbidden fruit vibe with a ton of chemistry, but it’s not all flowers and butterflies either. They both have to overcome obstacles built from their differences in class and realistic expectations of their futures – theirs and their parents’.

Fans of the series are sure to find themselves swooning over this newest installment in the Hundred Oaks series. Like the others, it’s not necessary to have read the prior books to fully understand this one. Though, it’s so much fun to see our old beloved characters from new angles, to realize everyone in this small town is all interconnected somehow, that I truly recommend reading this series as a whole.

Cleaning out my netgalley of all the books I don't have downloaded to get a better idea of what books I have to review. Sorry I didn't get to this book.