Review of Hoofprints in Saguaro Shadows

[Mayang Bature]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hoofprints in Saguaro Shadows" by Shay Taggert.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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THIS IS A RE-REVIEW

Rye Dalton, an independent ranch owner who inherited the Dalton Ranch from her parents, enjoys her job and has a genuine, friendly relationship with her employees. She was a student who stood out from the crowd and had an interest in cybersecurity. That piqued the interest of Mark Benson, a field agent, who later recruited her to the counterterrorism unit. Suspicious events began to occur around her ranch, and they only became worse. All of this, combined with her newly formed friendship with Alejandro Mendoza, Mexico's secretary of foreign affairs, tested her composure. The story of how she navigates all of this with her experience and the help of allies is told in this book, "Hoofprints in Saguaro Shadows: When It's Time to Take a Stand."

To be honest, the premise of this book was very appealing, and I expected to be drawn in. When I started reading, I noticed it was a narrative-style story told in the third person. However, unlike the first edition, this one was more personalized, giving the impression that Rye was the person who was narrating. This felt much more natural to me, making the entire story easier to follow. The use of pronouns this time made me feel like I was reading a person's thoughts rather than a newspaper article. This made the characters more relatable, and I enjoyed learning about their motivations as the story progressed.

Even though the story had a more embracing feel in this edition, I noticed that the book's narrative style was sometimes overly formal. Rye seemed to be addressing an audience as she told the story. This formal nature was also present in the dialogue, making all the characters have a similar voice without any distinction. Furthermore, the narrative frequently overexplained things, including obvious ones. These factors greatly reduced the thrill of the story for me.

Despite these criticisms, I found the images accompanying each chapter to be warm and accurate. They accurately described the auras of the characters in the story. I also liked how simple it was to follow the story because the plot was well-defined. One of the errors I noticed the first time was corrected, but the other two remained. I give Shay Taggert's "Hoofprints in Saguaro Shadows" 3 out of 5 stars. The more personalized writing style made the book more interesting to read, resulting in a higher rating than before. However, the formal style of the writing keeps it from rising any higher. Regardless, I can now recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime and espionage fiction. If the drawbacks do not bother you, this would be a fantastic book.

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Hoofprints in Saguaro Shadows
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[Anozie Stephanie]

I love Rye Dalton's passion for her work, it is one of the things that fueled various events in this book.

[NetMassimo]

This seems like a spy story with great potential hindered by some problems that can be solved with some more editing that improves style and dialogues. Thank you for your great review!