"If you're looking for a new equestrian author to fall in love with, Dappled Grey has a tip for you! We've become overnight fans of Natalie Keller Reinert after reading her debut novel, 'The Head and Not The Heart!'" -- Dappled Grey Equestrian Style Guide (dappledgrey.com)
For anyone who ever loved a horse...
For anyone who ever wondered what makes a horse-person tick...
Horses have always been Alex's obsession. Their presence has defined her life: all her choices, from her love-life to her career, have been made with horses as her priority. But the horse business isn't for the sentimental, and it's growing harder for her to tamp down her emotions and think about the horses with her head and not her heart.
When their racing stable suffers a loss, she and Alexander, her partner and teacher, slowly begin to fall apart. A chance find of a long-lost horse sends Alex alone to New York City, and she wonders if this is the sign she's been waiting for. Is it time to leave it all behind and start fresh?Â
From the green hills of Ocala, where horses graze beneath centuries-old live oaks, and the rhythmic sound of galloping hooves fills the foggy mornings, to the cracked pavement of New York City and the swirling cold winds of Aqueduct Racetrack, Alex finds herself in a whirlwind weekend that tests all of her convictions.
Dealing with love, loss, and obsession - all the components of a life with horses - "The Head and Not The Heart" brings the world of racehorses and the people who love them to life.
Reviews
"I truly enjoyed this novel - about a young woman struggling with her passion for horses while trying to figure out the rest of her life. Written by an author who clearly knows her stuff, I give it 2 Thumbs up! (And if you're a horse person - 3 Thumbs up!) A very good read!" - Lin Benson, author of "The Horse Jar"
"Natalie has an uncanny ability to place the reader firmly into her written world, and you feel/smell/taste the sweetness of a horse's every day life." - Barb Macdonald, GoLightly Blog
"Natalie gets it 100% right on both the emotions and the details when it comes to horses and horse racing." - H. Tonini, Amazon.com review
"The story is richly detailed, and it is clear the author is well-versed in all areas of the subject matter, from the leg movement of a potentially injured horse to the atmosphere of a Florida horse town to the interior of the Aqueduct barns. She knows these settings and she doesn't miss a detail. You can almost taste the grime of a side street in Brooklyn, and you can exactly picture what the old Claremont Riding Academy looked like." -Andrea Galbraith, Eventing-A-Go-Go Blog
