The Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls by Anton Disclafani

"Part coming-of-age novel, part sexy thriller. . ."

It’s the 1930’s, the height of the Great Depression, but 15-year old Thea Atwell knows very little about it. Protected from the financial woes of the nation on her parents’ citrus grove in Florida, Thea, and her twin brother Sam, learn the realities of the world only through the sporadic visits of their aunt, uncle, and their beloved 17-year-old cousin Georgie. And, Thea learns other things from Georgie as well.

Confused and aroused by their own burgeoning adolescence and intense adoration for one another, Thea and Georgie find themselves enthralled with the only two available teenagers around: each other. But, when Sam discovers their forbidden love for one another, tragedy strikes, leaving one boy fatal wounded, and the other guilty for the rest of his life.

Able to discern the truth that led to the unforeseen tragedy, Thea’s parents send her away to The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, an equestrian debutant camp that turns unruly girls into proper young ladies fit for marriage. However, what Thea learns there is anything but proper and the lesson leaves Thea wondering if what her parents want for her, is something different than what she wants for herself.

Part coming-of-age novel, part sexy thriller, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, takes the reader on a summer gallop through an unstable and confusing time not only for the country, but for one young girl as well.

Although the contradictory heroine and her love of horses does not dig so deep that they demand a divot stomping to reclaim the tears I had hoped to shed over this potentially timeless story, the author Anton Disclafani is a talented writer and story teller who keeps the reader turning the page on her debut novel and looking forward to her next one.

Reviewer: Amy Warwick, Author/Blogger