Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading.....
Review: " The Horsemasters Daughter" was a good book, however it took a long while for the story to grab hold of me...it sort of felt like it was split into 2 separate stories...first at the island and then later at Albion. I liked Eliza well enough, but I had a hard time connecting with Hunter. Honestly my favorite character was Hunters 9 year old son, Blue. This was a worthwhile read, and though I would have liked to have seen more of them, it was a pleasure to revisit with Ryan and Isadora from "The Charm School" I cant say that this book made it to my keepers list, but I have to admit that this story had an extremely satisfying ending that left me smiling.
Rating:
Summary: What a touching story
Review: A bruised and battered male heart and an incomplete and innocent female heart. These two lovers have many issues to overcome, and they do so admirably. Hunter is a great character, with both faults and heart melting tenderness. He knows what is "right" and what is "wrong", but his struggle with the debts his father left him, a vain and self absorbed wife, owning and then freeing slaves and trying to make a go of a horse farm that everyone looks down upon, leads him into a downward spiral of loneliness and alcohol abuse. Ms. Wiggs gives the reader a fairly good insight into Hunter's character and makes him very human. I enjoyed reading about that, as opposed to the clichéd perfect hero or reformed rake. Eliza is also an interesting character, though to me a little less believable. The literary allusions and outright comparisons to Shakespeare's Tempest were well done and integral to the plot. I do not know if anyone could truly be as isolated as Eliza and then have such keen insight to Hunter and his children's problems. Her father raised her to be perceptive, learning how to read a horse (which she uses to read humans as well), yet was able to hide so much from her. This dichotomy was a little much for me. All and all though, I loved this book. It was different and refreshing, unlike so many of the other hackneyed stories out there. The plot moves along and the secondary characters add much to the story. Ms. Wiggs, please keep up the great writing!
Rating:
Summary: An Afternoons Enjoyment
Review: An afternoons delight. This is one of those books you start reading, and end up spending a lazy afternoon absorbed in the story. I hated to put it down. I loved it when Blue spoke for the first time, and the compassion that Eliza had for animal and children alike. This was my first Susan Wiggs novel. I *will* purchase more of her stories because she knows how to make the reader fall in love with her characters. Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully Different
Review: As a long time romance reader, it is a breath of fresh air to read a novel like The Horsemaster's Daughter. It had substance laced with the romance. And it was refreshing to see to characters that were far from perfect who learned to compromise in the end. Both Hunter and Elisa are strong characters with secrets. I simply loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Her talent for healing goes beyond horses
Review: Eliza Flyte wouldn't know this though. She's barely been around people. All of her life has been spent in seclusion with her reclusive father, a horsemaster renown for his uncanny ability to tame wild horses, who retired from England to Flyte Island to raise his daughter. When he was unexpectedly killed, presumably for his witch-like talent, his daughter, Eliza continued on alone on the island, saddened by her loss but soothed by the memories of her father, which she associates with the island. But her isolation is intruded upon when plantation owner, Hunter Calhoun, arrives on the island in search for her father. Hunter Calhoun's last hope is the horsemaster, Henry Flyte. The horse he purchased from Ireland, to save his family from financial ruin, arrived in a maddened state and has been deemed a menace. The horse has already killed a mare and maimed a man. But when he hears of Henry Flyte, he decides to give the horse one last chance. When he arrives on Flyte Island only to discover the Horsemaster's daughter, Hunter is fully prepared to kill the horse. But Eliza prevents him from doing so and eventually teaches him what her father taught her: the secret to healing a broken horse. The Horsemaster's Daughter is a wonderful story about a girl who, unaffected by society's narrow-mindedness, infuses a man with hope even while she frustrates him with her self-confidence. Susan Wiggs has done a terrific job of illustrating how Eliza's power to heal horses can also be used to heal people. As Eliza demonstrates, the key is patience and understanding. Eliza displays these traits in spades when she is forced to leave Flyte Island and travel to Albion with Hunter. Eliza is a simple girl and she doesn't understand the malice of Hunter's society friends who are amazed by her and cruel when it comes to her ignorance of their ways. Even Hunter is at times impatient when it comes to her unsophisticated way of thinking. But Hunter has problems of his own. His children haven't been the same since his wife's death and he is resentful of his father who gave him a life full of high expectations but left him with nothing but a bitter reality. But with Eliza's help, Hunter and his children reconnect and learn to embrace life and love once again.
Rating:
Summary: wonderous
Review: frankly I think that susan wiggs horsemasters daughter was absalutaly amazing I hadnt even known that the book was lying on my shelf for 5 years and as soon as I read 1 page I was inseperatible from it and when I was finished I let all my friends read it and asked them what they rated it my first friend said said definatly 5 stars my secound friend read 2 chapters and I asked her "what do you rate this book so far?"she said its 4 stars but heck im only 2 chapters in it im pretty sure it will be 5 stars by the time im finished it because every page gets better!All in all i would recamend it to anyone even a guy!
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Review: I count some of Susan Wiggs' novels among my favorites, such as "Passing Through Paradise," and, most especially, "The Lightkeeper," but I found myself mildly bored with this one. It began interestingly enough; Hunter, an embittered widower, seeks out a reclusive horsemaster to tame his crazed prize horse. Turns out, the horsemaster is dead, but his daughter, Eliza, claims to possess her father's skill and persuades Hunter to stay while she tames the horse. Eliza is charming; a sheltered girl alone on a small island with a gift of healing. Hunter is a tortured alcoholic unable to connect with his children after the tragic death of their mother, and struggling to make a formerly successful tobacco farm into a sort of racehorse ranch. Sparks fly between Hunter and Eliza near the beginning of the book, culminating in their making love on the island, but when Hunter persuades Eliza to return home with him to become governess to his troubled children, the story changes focus towards the children, Eliza, and horses, and Hunter strives, (rather too successfully), to keep Eliza at arm's length, certain of her unsuitability as a wife to him, though he apparently has feelings for her (which I found somewhat difficult to discern). Throughout the book, however, there are several references to his flouting the common convention of post-Civil-War southern plantation life, to the shock of friends and neighbors, so I found myself wondering why he'd give a fig what they would think were he to marry Eliza. The characters of the two wisened, elderly black women who chose to stay on with Hunter's family, even after he freed all of his father's slaves, were scarcely ever mentioned after the first several pages of the book. Worth a read, but not my favorite from this talented author.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: I enjoyed reading this book, and would suggest it to others looking for a good romantic novel . . .If you want to read a book that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties. I intended to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter's battle with lupus and her growing love for Don Lipton. This love, in the face of Julie's impending death, makes for a story that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are great, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I've never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie's story will remind your readers that life and love are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I'm grateful. Stolen Moments is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to cry. It is a spellbinder. What terrific writing. Barbara does have an exceptional gift! This book was edited by Lupus specialist Dr. Matt Morrow too, and has the latest information on that disease. ..A perfect gift for someone who started college late in life, fell in love too late in life, is living with any illness, or trying to understand a loved one who is. . .A gift to be cherished forever
Rating:
Summary: Misty of Chicoteague!
Review: I grew up reading and rereading Marguerite Henry's wonderful stories of wild ponies off the coast of Virginia. When I read Susan Wiggs's THE HORSEMASTER'S DAUGHTER, I was transported there all over again, and in the throes of a wonderful Romance to boot. This book is a TRUE keeper!
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Summary: A 20th century tempest
Review: I have read many versions of Will Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, as well as viewed many film versions. From the Louisiana bayous to Mediterranean fields, there has been a tremendous variety. That's why I so very much enjoyed reading this book set in the South during the tumultuous days of runaway slaves. As a reader of romances, I feel happier when the classics impact this genre. Too many people discriminate against this genre. I love it. The heroine's comparisons between her life and that presented in the Shakespearean version are accurate. She is a romantic at heart and appreciates the limited classics she has available to her. The Tempest was an effective choice for her as she works to better understand her father who was murdered and the life he created for her on his island home. Unlike Shakespeare's Tempest, the reader of this book knows exactly the kind of life the heroine is stepping into.
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