The Rocking Horse Paperback – August 18, 2011

This is a great read! I recommend it without any reservations. The writing and the editing are top notch and the storyline is realistic. I particularly like the "outside" help key individuals received via....well, you'll see for yourself! It is left for you to decide if the help is a "God thing" or is paranormal. Either way it is a good thing. (I have experienced similar "outside" help in my own life.) Content: It is a clean read with no gratuitous sexuality and the murder scene details are limited. This novel does bring up issues that may uncomfortable for some people: drug use with an accurately portrayed blackout episode (what happens in the story is not as uncommon as we would like to think). abuse, and the stigma of having a mental health disorder. Plot & People: Though the turnabouts in the story are more of a surprise to the main characters than to the reader, the journey alongside the well-drawn people of the story as events unfold is an enjoyable one as there is much that is not predictable. I find myself caring about these people and how they handle what happens. I have a definite soft spot for the unexpected hero, who is accurately drawn, based on my experiences working with his peers in real life. My heartfelt thanks to the author for doing a free promotion of her book and my thanks to Amazon for the free promotions they support. It is how I balance my reading needs with my budget and how I find talented authors like Gloria Zachgo. It is these authors I go to when I am buying books. I look forward to reading more by this author.

I downloaded this book when it was offered free, and I am so glad I did. This was a murder mystery and love story, and managed both beautifully. I understand this is the author's first book, but I hope to see many more.This may just be my favorite book EVER, and I read almost everything I can put my hands on. I really enjoyed the interaction between the main characters, and how they weren't portrayed as perfect - but as real people who had real flaws. I absolutely adored the budding romance between the main players, but it was also a story about long and lasting love, and friendship, and the forgiveness and the strength that is sometimes needed just to get through life.This is definately a book that I will read again many times, as well as handing over my kindle to make sure my mom can read this book!!There is absolutely no sex and no bad language. There were times reading it that I had tears running, but it was not really what I would classify as a tearjerker. While the events start off with a terrible act of violence that sets everything in motion, it is so much more about the people and how one violent day affected the rest of their lives. Suitable for ALL ages.

A wonderful and engrossing story - Suspense, murder, and romance along with a few other themes that I won't ruin the story by revealing. It captured my attention and my imagination from the first page! It is so encouraging to me to know that this is the first book by this author. Perhaps I, too, can learn to pen my own stories. I will definitely be reading her other offerings.

I really enjoyed this book. Likable characters. Suspenseful with good plot development.

Not the best book I have ever read, but certainly not the worst either. I enjoyed the book's setting--a small, rural town, and enjoyed the book's characters--small, rural town people. The plot was quite predictable. Not a fast-paced book. Some action in the beginning and end, and mostly relationship building in the middle. Wasn't ever on the edge of my seat, but not sure if that was the intent of the book anyway. I did enjoy the fact that the relationship between the main female and male characters was allowed to develop over time. Overall, I would recommend the book--it was a "comfortable" read.

I read this book in about 4 hours. The story captures your attention right away and doesn't let go, although it does slow down a bit in the middle. The story is somewhat predictable but even with knowing what's going to happen it's good enough that it still holds your interest. The characterization was okay but I felt as though we only got to know the characters on the outside and not the inside. If you're looking for an in-depth, intellectual read, this probably isn't the book for you but if you're looking for a light, easy read, this is definately it!

This is a wonderful story and well written to boot. It didn't take long to be so into the story that I didn't want to put it down. The characters were like old friends, the kind that you worry about when you know something isn't right. The author did a great job making them seem so "real".My only complaint was that the book was just was too short! I hope that author makes a series out of this story, it's that good, and I want to know how my favorite characters are doing.

I loved the book. It started off a little slow, but as I read further, I got more involved with the characters. A good mystery with several secrets kept my interested. Nice ending.

This was a great first novel. It doesn't purport to be anything other than a terrific little story and it doesn't disappoint. I really enjoyed it. The only fault was with the editing/proofreading process and that woefully cost it 5 stars. If I were the author and I'd paid fortunes for the service I'd ask for a bloody refund.All the way through there were apostrophe errors, most noticeably with parent's used instead of parents'. Yet at times it was correct so all the wrong ones, of which there were too many, were overlooked. The odd words missed out in sentences and lost fullstops, commas and speechmarks peppered throughout too. So disappointing. Dining was spelt as dinning three times that I saw. So with all these corrections made it would be a massive improvement.The story was pretty predictable in places but then that didn't ruin it for me in the least. We all need happy endings (at least in part) from time to time. I doubt it will be a huge bestseller but there were certainly as many errors I found in a recent bestseller so no shame in that, I guess. I certainly hope to read more by her.

This book starts well enough with an horrific crime and the disappearance of a child. Instead of following it up, however, and examining the impact on those left the story moves to the present day and the return of the child as an adult woman who chances to move to the original town in which she grew up and from which she was taken. The story is about Julie discovering who she really is.There are no surprises in this book and I had real difficulty in swallowing the massive coincidence at the centre of the story - of all the small towns in the world why did she chose this one ? I didn't completely understand the motives of the sheriff who hid exactly what had happened and I thought that the fact that most of the key characters had died obscured the story and denied the consequences. The threats to Julie in the story come from her new life and not from the original crime which would have been more satisfying.This plot deserved a more in depth story with more complex characters and a few more twists and turns. The progress of the story was obvious and I found the rocking horse creepy rather than comforting. A better story along the same lines is  Birthright  by Nora Roberts. Birthright

I was so lucky to be in the right place at the right time to download this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, the writer tells the story very well, fluently and without flaw and hesitation. I do agree with one reviewer in that it jumped up a notch to quickly from one year to several years later which left me wondering the 'in between years and what happened' it only distracted from the story line in a few minute until I got into it again.I loved the characters and they were very well brought to life in my mind. Off to look if she has written anything else. Well worth your time and money.

This was a really easy read, I really cared about the characters and wanted to know how things would pan out. It had a bit of a gruesome start, but it soon turned into a heartwarming tale.