I love the fact that author Maggie Dana who wrote Keeping Secrets is a horse rider herself. In this book, Maggie has such a strong knowledge of horses.  I feel as though I am one of the riders at the barn where most of the story takes place. This book is a story of friends who through trials and sacrifice work together to save the barn.

The main character, Holly,  can not ride horses because she is in a wheel chair.  She is just as hopeful and passionate about the sport even from her chair. “Doesn’t everybody like horses?” Holly is my favorite character by far because she has a ton of faith in everybody that she meets no matter who they are. Holly sees the the best in everybody. Even going through her trials of being paralyzed and being unable to ride, Holly wakes up everyday optimistic and full of life. To Holly every day is a new day.

Liz who is Holly’s mom is the instructor of the riding team.  It’s just Holly and her. Her husband is dead. Liz must make sure the riding team takes first in their competition or she will be fired.  One of her riders does not want her to succeed.  Angela will do anything it takes to make Liz make a wrong move.

Keeping Secrets is filled with so many secrets. Everybody has his/her own secret. Some are bigger than others. That is what keeps this book super interesting;  you find out one secret then there is another one that someone else has.

The biggest theme of this book is that sacrifices are hard to make, but they are very important to make for life to work out in the way it is supposed to go. Also the hardest decisions teach us the most valuable lessons that we would not have known without making those decisions.

The hero in this book is surprisingly not Holly; it is Kate. Kate is a friend of Holly’s who helps take care of her. Kate changes a ton throughout this book. She says that “Trying your best and feeling good about yourself is more important than winning prizes.” and she makes the biggest decision of her life. Everybody on her team loves her for the decision that she makes.  To find out what this decision is, you will have to read the book.

Maggie Dana has written other books. I really enjoyed this book. I Hope that you go out and read it if you are into horses. This book appears to be written for a younger audience. If you are older you can still totally read this book. It’s a fun read more than anything else. Also other books Maggie Dana has written are Taking Chances and Kate and Holly. Jump into this book for sure, it is definitely worth your time!