Showdown

Tilly Bagshawe
Warner Books (2006)
ISBN 0446576891
Reviewed by Tammy Petty Conrad for Reader Views (07/06)

This novel has it all: horses, cowboys, sex, greed, winners and losers. The good news is that the sex is not between the horses and the cowboys, but it does start on page ten and stays hard at it (no pun intended) up to the end. As long as that and the excessive use of the F word doesn’t bother you, you’ll enjoy this beach read.

Bobby Cameron, an excellent horse trainer, is an American cowboy with looks and money. Milly Lockwood Groves, a jockey with an innate understanding of horses, is the young English rider who stops him in his tracks. The only problem is she’s seventeen and he’s twenty-three and working for her father. It seems to be the first and only time he has scruples as far as choosing his playmates.

The story carries us between California and England and many points between on the international horse racing circuit. Milly has been banned from riding due to an accident. Bobby has his own problems once his father dies and leaves him his debt-ridden estate, Highwood, to manage. Anyone interested in the racing circuit will appreciate the details and horse lovers will weep when tragedy befalls the four-legged characters.

Milly is a lovesick teenager, obsessed with horses and Bobby. She ends up in California, where Bobby has agreed to train her in quarter horse racing after two years out of the saddle. Bobby’s own obsession for the girl he feels he can’t have, turns him into a stern taskmaster as far as Milly’s concerned. As the reader, I spent most of the story begging the characters to get over their pride, kiss each other and get on with life. Luckily there are other interesting characters to get to know, from Milly’s vain brother, Jasper, and her arch villain, Rachel, to Sean, the Irish trainer, and Amy, the harassed daughter of a big shot in the industry, just to name a few. There is no chance to get bored!

Subplots keep us further entertained including a ranch hand who really is an artist, but is afraid to tell his father and an unscrupulous real estate investor who has no qualms about ruining the lives of others to make another million. There’s even a scene at the Playboy mansion.

Having lived in England, I enjoyed the switch to an English vocabulary during the scenes in the United Kingdom. The English author, Tilly Bagshawe, has lived in both countries and seems equally versed in both languages. My only disappointment was when Milly had a baked potato instead of a jacket potato!

There is enough name dropping sprinkled throughout that you might think you’re reading People magazine or Hello in England. Even Donald Rumsfield has an entry rooting the story firmly in the contemporary world.

I mentioned bringing “Showdown” to the beach, although I usually opt for paperbacks with about half the length. Just take out beer, but don’t forget the sun block, because you won’t want to put it down between chapters.

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