Lisa Wingate has written a meaningful and entertaining little story titled Word Gets Around. Let me state right upfront the title, the cover, and the back cover copy don’t do this story justice. The title and the cover indicate this novel could easily fit into the chick-lit category, and the back cover copy does nothing to dissuade that assumption. Frankly I’m glad I didn’t see the cover when I selected it as an alternative for the February CFBA tour. If I had, I wouldn’t have given the book a second look or a second thought. I don’t know if Bethany House intended to lure chick-lit readers to join romance readers by the cover illustration and story description, but in my opinion for this book it’s a lousy title, cover, and back cover copy. This is neither chick-lit nor category romance.
{I apologize to Lisa Wingate if this is her title choice and back cover copy and if she likes the cover. Honestly, I think all three sell the story short.)
The story itself presents the unique struggles of three individuals thrown together in what looks at first like a preposterous venture in small town Daily, Texas. The heroine Lauren returns to her home in Daily after a two year absence during which time she’s been teaching anatomy to pre-vet students. By coming home she will be forced to face a senseless tragedy which her hiatus away has done little to dull. Before she agrees to return she learns her father has invested everything he owns to help an old friend salvage a previously broke down racehorse by using him in a movie adapted from a novel called The Horseman, a similar story to The Horse Whisperer. Lauren’s mission is to rescue her dad from losing it all in what she considers to be a reckless gamble.
The super-action-hero movie star Justin Shay solicits his oldest and perhaps only friend, screenwriter Nate Heath, to pen the script for "The Horseman". No one besides Justin, and certainly not Nate, sees any hope for translating the book to film since it's been hanging around Hollywood types for years with a stinker reputation, but Justin has already spent a few million on an old abandoned ranch in Daily which he’s renovating for the prospective film and plans to transform it into an abandoned and hard-luck kids’ home when filming his done, using the film as part of the promotion and vice versa.
Nate Heath is still trying to figure out why he bothered to leave his little mountain hideaway where he retreated to write his legendary “opus” which would surely rock the world of everyone fortunate enough to lay eyes on it—except for the fact that not a single word, let alone a few sentences, presented itself to him in any form of glorious creativity. Upon viewing the loser script, Nate is convinced this bomb might just cause the final explosion to the fragile psyche of the party-hardy “Shay-Man” and blow his well-meaning project to help kids to parts unknown. Arguing vehemently with himself against taking part in this career suicide pact with Justin, he accompanies “the Shay” to Daily, Texas, along with Justin’s heavily bribed personal trainer.
Lauren’s abilities to work with problem horses—and animals in general—make her the obvious choice to train the frantic Thoroughbred Lucky Strike so Justin Shay can play the role of the horseman in the movie. Turns out the movie star needs every bit as much work as the horse.
In the process of re-training a messed up horse, several messed up people find their way to a previously unknown place of peace amidst a colorful cast of quirky small town Texas folk whose comfort food is the answer to all dilemmas and whose honest realism highlight and add humor to the zany world of moviemaking. Cleverly including an allusion to the Brangelina tribe in the form of an esteemed director and his family somehow manages the make believe of this story to seem more “real”.
As is the trend, this novel skirts the gospel but makes plain the forgiveness of God and the value of church and prayer. The characters are vivid, demanding our engagement and compassion. Being skeptical of writers who take on horse racing at any level without a notable background in the sport, I only found a couple of objectionable statements which most people won’t even notice.
Although this novel sports a shallow title and a meaningless cover, Lisa Wingate has written a clever and enjoyable story about “broke down” people who find healing in an unlikely town in an unexpected way.
Father, thank you for Lisa Wingate and her efforts to include you within her stories. Thank you for her clever insights and her meaningful characters. Continue to bless her with the stories you have for her to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764204912
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