Saturday, July 23, 2022

Raising the Horseman by Serena Valentino - OPTIONAL

Raising the Horseman by Serena Valentino
, 300 pages. Disney Hyperion. 2022. $18.

Language: PG (8 swears); Mature Content PG (same sex attraction); Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: MS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Kat van Tassel is in high school and a direct descendent of the original Katerina van Tassel of Sleepy Hollow fame. Because of that, she is expected to continue the family legacy and marry her longtime boyfriend and run the family estate, though she has other plans for herself. As the 200th anniversary of the Headless Horseman’s haunting is approaching, she is given the original Katerina’s diary and she notices some eerie similarities that make her think ghosts could be real and that she will need to protect what she truly loves.

Part of Disney’s Villian series, the premise was interesting and the book made for a fast read, alternating between current day Kat and her ancestor’s journal, but I was unhappy with some of the storyline. If someone gave me a journal that paralleled my life and seemed to have answers about creepy things I was experiencing, I would read it in one sitting. Kat only reads a little at a time. When Kat meets Isadora, she changes gender attraction in the blink of an eye. Kate and Isadora pretty much skip the whole friendship thing and go right into a relationship which seemed too fast to be believable and took away from the plot for me. The ending wraps up, but hints at more to come. I wanted to like this book more than I did. 

 Michelle in the Middle 

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