Customer Reviews

Showdown

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I grabbed this book because it looked fun, original and entertaining. Well, I guess at times it could be considered entertaining. But not in a, "Oh, that was good and entertaining!" kind of way. More of a, "Well, I sure am glad this isn't happening to me and the characters kind of deserve their fates," kind of entertaining.

The book started out fun and pulled me in in such a way that I couldn't put it down. The heroine, Milly, is young, beautiful and full of life. The hero, Bobby, comes to her parents stud farm in England to train horses for her neighbor, and rival Rachel's, family. A friendly, if not sometimes petty, fued between the two girls ensues. For about two hundred and fifty pages I really felt good about this book.

Then Milly turns into a total flake and a little bit easy. She starts hurting the people who love her and are trying to help her and becomes very selfish and unlikeable. At one point she even poses for Playboy magazine to "further her racing career."

As the book drags on, I felt compelled to finish. After all, I couldn't just put it down after getting this far into it. Toward the end Milly has a wake up call and finally pulls her head out. She decides she does love Bobby and is sorry for being such a you-know-what.

So, after almost costing him his family ranch, sleeping with his enemy and brushing off him and his offer to train her(even though he is the one who brought her to America) Bobby decides he loves her and wants her, regardless.

The hero turned out to be just as stupid as the heroine and I have to say I was more than a little disappointed with this book. It was underdeveloped and the conflicts were too dramatic and made the characters feel dark and unlikeable. It had potential, but at 472 pages, it fell short and drug on. Save your hard earned money.....

I only got half way through this book! That says alot for me when the book doesn't flow or have me not care about any of the characters or what happened to them.

Ms. Bagshawe needs more polish and more experience as a writer, and give her characters more depth. I also couldn't understand why Molly would want to be a Quarterhorse jockey, but then maybe I can with here living in England and breaking a male tradition is hard.

Bobby Cameron trains horses. He has the magic touch, and owners all over the world pay for his experience. He needs the cash. The ranch where he grew up is bleeding money, and his father's cowboy traditions didn't do it any favors. Bobby is a cowboy as well, but he can see the need for a new direction.

Milly Lockwood Groves is a British girl whose father owns a highly respected stud (a horse breeding facility) and some of the best stallions in the business. Forbidden to ride since a horrific accident, Milly is suffocating under her parents' overprotective ways. She wants nothing more than a career in riding racehorses.

When Bobby travels to England for a job, he stays with Milly's family. Impressed by the seventeen-year-old's tenacity and astounding ability around horses, he invites her to his ranch in California, where he plans to open a racing stable.

Milly's whirlwind career in the States is marked by love, betrayal, and the arrival of a determined enemy. With her innocence and integrity at stake, where will her choices take her? While this book is about many things, it is primarily Milly's coming-of-age story. She begins as a naïve girl and emerges something quite different. Her journey ranges from exciting to outrageous to crushing.

Aside from her tale, the reader is introduce to a heady cast of characters, including an unassuming ranch family, a poisonous rival from Milly's childhood, a lecherous investor, and a ruthless billionaire and his quiet daughter. Despite the large cast, it's not difficult to tell the subplots apart. Each is different and stars unique characters, all of whom invariably affect Milly and Bobby.

This story is intriguing, although the main characters all have flaws that tarnish their images. From the beginning, Bobby is a cold womanizer, and Milly makes mistakes that rival the best of them. That's the beauty of this book. The reader's journey with the characters shows how consequences can explode in the least expected ways, and how people can move past the worst of it.

Although this is a heck of story--one that would make a good movie--the author's confusing point of view shifts can pull the reader out of the story in order to figure out which character is thinking or doing what. It is for this reason that Showdown does not get a perfect score, but it is definitely above average and worth your time.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
5-19-2006

Alright, already.....from the very beginning I knew where this book was going and unfortunately Bagshawe took 472 pages to get me there. I was expecting a great read after just finishing her novel "Adored", which I adored!! I'm not giving up on Bagshawe yet, though, and will attempt another of her books. Her writing style is comfortable and it's an easy read, but the plot developed after just a few chapters and the rest just drudged along a predictable course.

What does a drop-dead-gorgeous California cowboy have in common with the daughter of a highly reputable English equestrian breeding farm? A deep passion for horses.

Bobby Cameron, a callous womanizer, has an international reputation as the consummate horse whisperer and is in high demand. Bobby's sole focus is to make enough money to save the cattle ranch that he has inherited from being repossessed by the bank, and then turn it into a quarter-horse training farm.

Milly Lockwood Grove's dream is to pursue a career as a jockey, but an earlier accident has caused her parents to become overly protective, leaving her to live a boring existence and vicariously watch her brother live out her dream.

In Showdown, greed and ambition are partners in a dangerous cat and mouse game played by a ruthless manipulative developer and a spoiled rich girl. He will stop at nothing to get the highly valued oil-rich ranch Bobby has just inherited. The girl, as Milly's nemesis, will do whatever she can to take the one thing her family values away from Milly out of narcissistic jealousy: Newell's Breeding Farm

Bobby and Milly's worlds intertwine as they become embroiled in the fight of their lives and dance around their feelings for each other, neither quite ready to admit they are in love. This is a coming-of-age story of a young couple that travel across continents in search of truth, love and commitment.

Tilly Bagshawe has written a modern romance similar to the genre of Danielle Steel. The only difference is that a great deal of gratuitous cursing in the story became tiring after a while--otherwise it a good read.

Armchair Interviews says: Horse, love, money, spoiled rich girl, big developer--all make up this story. Heed the reviewer's comments about the cursing if that concerns you.

This was a good book but not great. I felt that the author spent so much time introducing characters and situations to keep Bobby and Milly apart, that she never fully built their relationship. Most of thier encounters were in passing. I wish she would have spent more time on the the main characters rather than on secondary ones.

It was a decent story and plot. However, I felt the story was too long and could have been condensed. I often found myself skimming through chapters. If you like a romance with not much depth, this is a great book. If not, it's a decent read, especially at the beach.

Twenty-three years old highly regarded horse breaker and trainer Bobby Cameron inherits the family's renowned ranch Highwood in California when his father passes away. However, Bobby realizes that he does not have the capital to keep the spread going so he accepts work as a trainer in Newmarket, England where he is to work with two horses at Newells Stud Farm.

Bobby soon falls in love with the seventeen year old daughter of his employer. Milly Lockwood Groves is a frustrated rider whose neck injury prevents her from competing. She envies her neighbor successful rider Rachel Delaney and assumes that she cannot compete for the attention of Bobby. As Bobby seeks a wealthy partner for his California spread, Milly returns to racing encouraged by the American's deep feelings for her, but Rachel, who lives to get under Milly's skin, tries to seduce him as she did with Jasper, her long time rival's brother.

SHOWDOWN is a fascinating look at the horse racing business at a time when the Triple Crown is occurring. Bobby is a fine young man though a bit naive when it comes to women and real estate. Milly feels ready to return to the saddle, but her parents fear for her refuse to allow her to do so while Bobby encourages her. Rachel never comes across as a true competitor for the attention of Bobby as she behaves like a spoiled teenaged Lolita whose goal in life is to top Milly. Fans will appreciate this fine contemporary romance though the tension from the realty deal and the rivalry seems forced.

Harriet Klausner

Tilly Bagshawe has returned to the world of glitz, glamour and scandal with her second novel, SHOWDOWN, taking her readers deep inside the exciting world of horseracing. The novel introduces us to Bobby Cameron, one of the most skilled horse trainers in the world. When Cameron takes a job training horses in England, a love interest begins to develop when he encounters the farmers daughter, Milly Lockwood Groves. Milly dreams of making it on her own as a successful rider but her family disapproves of her desires. Her frustrations with her family are only intensified with the increasing competition coming from her neighbor and rival Rachel Delaney, who is making a strong name for herself as a professional rider. When Bobby and Milly team up, winning isn't the only obstacle worth pursuing. Love is defined, battle lines are drawn and no one knows for sure who is going to cross the finish line in this fantastic follow-up to Bagshawe's bestselling debut novel, ADORED. Bagshawe has done more than stake her claim in the world of fiction, she has given her readers a glimpse into provacative worlds with astonishing characters and fast-paced plots. Move over Jackie Collins, Tilly Bagshawe is here to stay.

I loved this book, much like Adored, however I thought it resembled Adored too much.

If you haven't read Adored, then you're good to go. If you have, then it is the same plot with horses instead of glam. But I still loved it!