The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (only time I will type out the title) was a pretty interesting read for me. Though I didn't like it very much at all, I still sort of enjoyed myself and thought the author did a lot of things right. So maybe I should talk about those first.I liked the writing a lot. I did. And I think the author has a lot of talent in that area. The sentence structure, flow, and imagery was done very well. I enjoyed the atmosphere and felt she captured the setting in an exceptional way. I also really enjoyed the tone of the novel. The book is incredibly depressing, but not the type of depressing that will necessarily bring the reader down. On the contrary. It only made me want to keep reading. Also, I can feel that the author is passionate about the subject she is writing about. That much is clear to me. Unfortunately this novel suffers in pacing, direction, and characters. Which is pretty much the whole enchilada when it comes to reading for me. There isn't much of a story and it lacks focus and direction. It started off well and I liked it a lot in the beginning, but then the plot became sluggish. It wasn't well-paced at all. It's hard to explain, but it feels like almost nothing happens during the entire book even though things are happening. Not the type of book I usually like. And then...there is the issue of the characters. They are awful. All of them. They are either flat and undeveloped, or in the case of the protagonist, completely insufferable and impossible to like. She is ignorant. Selfish. Foolish. And a complete snob. Without spoiling the book, it's pretty much impossible to talk about why she is the way she is, but her decision making process is defunct. She is a straight-up idiot. And frankly, she deserves everything she gets. Towards the end, I think the author made an attempt to redeem her, but huge freaking fail. That girl did so many horrible and selfish things that there is NOTHING that could redeem her. I read this on vacation, and I managed to finish it all, but the book is not memorable in the least. At this point, all I can remember is how ridiculous the MC is and how much I wanted her to get a dose of her own medicine and then some. And that's all I need to remember, to be honest. This book could have been wonderful with some changes to the story arc. Instead, it's maddening and frustrating. The only thing saving it from the dreaded 1 star rating is the writing and atmosphere. I'm being generous. Not recommended, unfortunately.
