Maggie Roberts went from an average wife and mother to a prison inmate in the blink of an eye. Her fatal mistake cost her her freedom and her family. In return it gave her insecurity and nightmares. With the maximum sentence of ten years, Maggie had time to build her own walls of protection around her heart. She stayed out of trouble and for that had been rewarded the opportunity to be part of a rescue program for injured Thoroughbred horses until her parole. As a girl she loved horses. As a woman she would have to find a job, but who would want to hire an ex-con? Hopefully this program would help her on that journey.
Eddie was born with spina bifida. While his mother could not accept that he was not perfect, his dad, Gil Winters, provided him with a great home. Eddie had Maria, his caregiver and maid, and Bonnie, his servant dog. Eddie was a strong boy, despite his being wheelchair bound. And now he was becoming a confident young man thanks to Carly and the therapeutic riding school he was attending. Gil still was unsure of the whole riding experience and cringed each time his son took a near spill. Eddie insisted; however, that he wanted a horse of his own more than anything in the world. It would help him to build strength and more confidence. How could his father deny him his son's request?
Trenton James, the Thoroughbred trainer had more confidence in Maggie than she did in herself, but when a blood red, uncontrollably feisty horse, named Breaking Free, showed up, Mr. James, questioned either of their abilities to tame the animal. The warden wanted to put the horse down, but Maggie pleaded to have a chance with Breaking Free. After a few new discoveries, things went well enough that Mr. James let Maggie ride Breaking Free at the open house.
At the open house, Breaking Free was up for adoption and Eddie fell in love with him the moment he saw him. Would Gil allow his son to ride such a huge and unpredictable animal? If so, who would train Breaking Free if Carly could not? He was not about to have an ex-con around his son. But then again, he was not about to buy the first house he had seen either. Eddie said that God had answered his prayers for that one. Would God answer Eddie or Gil's prayers or both?
Injury may have been the initial bond that brought Eddie, Breaking Free, and Maggie together, but love would be the bond that keeps them there. Lauraine Snelling's, BREAKING FREE, is one of the most endearing novels about human nature and learning to trust outside of one's comfort zone I've ever read. From its appropriate title, BREAKING FREE's characters break their own bondage as they find how to love the unlovable. Animals and children are such good judges of character, and the ones in this novel are no exception. The plot is so believable, and the ending so touching that you want to read the book all over again. This is the book I will take out again to read when I need a "pick -- me -- up" in life.
Just get by. Those words have gotten Maggie Roberts through
ten long, hard years after a tragic accident sent her to
prison. There, she's kept her heart walled up and her head
down, so when a chance to work in a high-profile retired
Thoroughbred race horse program is offered her, Maggie is
reluctant.
Nevertheless, her love of horses makes the opportunity too
tempting
to resist. Maggie finds new purpose working with Breaking
Free, an
abused blood bay gelding who lashes out at anyone who tries
to help
him. Maggie soon learns he'll be put down if he can't be
controlled,
and she is determined to save him. But when a local
businessman
sets his sights on adopting the horse, Maggie may have to
let go of
the one thing keeping her afloat.
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