Contemp Review: Leaping Hearts [Mass Market Paperback]

I've finished "Leaping Hearts" by J.R. Ward.

Product Description

Everyone thinks A. J. Sutherland is crazy to buy a rogue stallion that no rider or trainer has been able to tame. But if anybody has the hustle to make something out of that hell-raiser, it’s A. J. She can’t do it alone, however, so she goes after the great Devlin McCloud, an equestrian legend with a bad leg — and a worse attitude. Devlin recognizes a fighter when he sees one — and that horse isn’t a wallflower, either. Before he knows it, he’s got a wild stallion in his empty stable and a hotheaded, heavenly-bodied rider sleeping on his couch. But can he get all three of them through the championship in one piece?


From the Inside Flap

Her dreams are within reach?

All she has to do is learn to hold on . . .

A beautiful young woman with a defiant spirit, A. J. Sutherland spends a small fortune on a horse with a wild reputation, and is forced to sacrifice her position at her family?s stables to keep him. She plans to ride the magnificent stallion in the biggest event of the show jumping season?and she knows she can win. But without the backing of Sutherland Stables, A. J. must rely on a stranger to help her: a man who makes her heart pound, her head spin . . . and who just happens to be a legend in equestrian circles.

When Devlin McCloud's career was cut short by a tragic accident, he never expected to get back in the ring. But when A. J. asks him to be her trainer, he finds he cannot resist the chance or his stunning new employer. And what begins as a business arrangement soon becomes something deeper, as Devlin and A. J. learn that even in a sport full of hazards, sometimes the most dangerous thing to risk is one's heart . . . .


Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Signet (July 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451230868
ISBN-13: 978-0451230867

My Review:

A. J. Sutherland buys a throughbred black stallion named Sabbath at a Virginia horse auction that no one wants.  He has a history of being rambunctious and having a nasty temper.  Her stepbrother Peter Conrad the one who runs the financial records for Sutherland Stables objects.  When she returns home to the stables she finds out that Peter is the new owner and he has sold Sabbath.  He informs her that it was a good move that she paid for the horse with her own finances instead of the corporate account.  She is so upset she leaves her home with Sabbath and desperate for a place to stay she finds herself at Devlin Mcloud's home. 

Devlin Mcloud is a former champion jumper when a terrible accident ended his career and killed his beloved horse Mercy.  A.J. manages to convince Devlin to train her and Sabbath for the Qualifer which is only two months away.  During their training they both start a relationship which deepens into something more.

This book is an intriguing contemporary book with two great characters who find an everlasting love in the world of horse jumping.

4/5

Thanks Penguin Canada for sending me this book to review, greatly appreciated!