The publisher provided me with a copy of this book via NetGalley.

It's been a long time since I have read a middle-grade book but I'm a sucker for a story involving horses, so I wanted to check this one out.

Misty and her two best friends, Jasmine and Ruby, have a close bond that shows right from the beginning. Jasmine is my favorite of the pair because she is more levelheaded and understanding, whereas Ruby can be self-centered.

Despite losing her mom a few years ago, Misty has a loving father who does whatever he can to make sure Misty is provided for - even if some of those decisions don't sit well with Misty. Her age does play a factor in her not fully understanding why certain things must happen.

While dealing with her father's job loss and moving to Redbridge, Misty goes through a pre-teen crisis. There is a bit too much teen drama thrown in at this point, with Misty assuming that because she is moving away, her friends will disown her or something else, so she cuts them off completely. Then she is shocked that they don't welcome her back with open arms when she does talk to them again.

Perhaps because I am much older than the demographic for this book, but this part grated on my nerves a bit because Misty seemed to be doing everything she could to put a wedge between her and her friends while also desperately wanting them to be there for her.

The town of Redbridge doesn't have much going for it at first glance, but there are horses, and that is the thing that brings new friends into Misty's world. While Carin and Dylan don't immediately bond with Misty, the common thread of horses pulls these three together into a wonderful friendship.

Carin's mom, Judy, and their uncle Frank play important roles in helping Misty and her father feel welcomed and become a part of the Redbridge community. Frank is a big help in getting Misty to develop a love and understanding of the horses.

Watching Misty learn about the joy of horses, the freedom they give, and the love you can feel for them was my favorite part of the story. It's a shame this part of the story seems so small given the significance the horses play as the main sticking point of the novel.

It does take a while to get to the main crux of the story, which is the free-roaming horses coming under threat of development. This finally spurs Misty into caring about Redbridge as she, Carin, Dylan, and a few others work to save the horses and the commons area of Redbridge.

Throughout this book, Misty and her dad's relationship is awkward at best. I can understand why, to a certain extent, but it also felt that this was dragged on a bit too long, given everything happening.

While I understand why Misty was the driving force behind trying to save the horses, after all, she is the main character, it didn't quite feel right. Maybe it was because I was tired of her ways at this point, even though she had made strides to deal with the rift that she had put between her and her friends as well as her father, but I wished the focus of this had been put more of the other locals, such as Carin.

Overall, I thought City of Horses was decent. I do believe I would have liked it more if I were younger. Reading middle-grade books as an adult gives you an entirely different experience than when reading them as a child. Even so, I will consider adding other books by the author to my TBR.

City of Horses is a middle-grade novel about a girl who has recently moved into a new part of town. There she meets new friends and learns to ride. It’s sort of a horsey novel, but it also focuses on some social issues that she faces. It’s a bit like Jacqueline Wilson but more modern, mixed up with an old-timey horse book. I have to say, whereas I love both of those things, and I did enjoy the mash-up, it didn’t quite work. I feel like the book would have been stronger if it was one or the other. I enjoyed the Jacqueline Wilson style social parts more than the horse parts.

The main character is a 13-year-old girl called Misty who lives with her dad. Her mum died a couple of years before the story starts, and she doesn’t have any siblings. The book features Misty’s two best friends, Ruby and Jasmine. Ruby was my favourite character and I also really liked Jasmine. The problem was that I liked Misty’s friends more than Misty. Misty starts out the book living in what I assume is a nicer area, and they end up having to move to a rougher area when Misty’s dad loses his job. Misty is embarrassed and hides what’s been going on from her friends. Once the story moves to Misty’s new home in Redbridge, we meet Dylan and the horses, and Misty’s world is split in two as she tries to adjust to her new home and hide everything from her richer friends.

The book was really enjoyable and I kept wanting to read it or read more of it. This is a big deal for me lately! It reads like a middle grade, but the characters are 13 and in Year 9 at school, so it was a bit jarring at times. I also got frustrated when I realised it was a save-the-horses type of horse story in part, because I’ve read that trope a few times before. I also didn’t really get the title, City of Horses sounds like it would be set in a city, or have some fantasy element to it. It was mostly set on a working-class housing estate and there was no fantasy element to it at all. It was still good though.

All in all, I had a few problems with City of Horses, but I did really enjoy it and I will keep an eye out for the author.

3.75 out of 5 stars. (It’s nearly a 4.)

My pony loving ten year old loved this story of resilience , friendship, ponies and life not going as you expect it too.
She read it and then reread it, she especially enjoyed how Misty, the main character dealt with how with what life threw at her from her secrecy at the start to having the courage of her convictions. The book prompted some good chats too which I always appreciate.
A big recommendation from my daughter and I loved how it made her consider changes in circumstances and how to deal with them.
Thank you for the arc and wishing the author much success with the book.

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Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. Misty is having to move cause her dad lost his job. She delays in telling her friends because of where she now lives. This book deals with the power of friendship and how they are still friends and stay strong. She becomes really good friends with the family nearby. They also take a stand for what they believe in.

I enjoyed this book, and liked the way it dealt with the friendship issues and Misty's emotions regarding her dad losing his job and them having to move house. While horse lovers will obviously enjoy this book, it is written in such as way that it doesn't exclude people (like me) who know nothing about horses. Great story.

This is a good fictional story about how life can throw different things your way. I feel like this would resonate with someone who may be going through something similar.

Description:
Misty's dad loses his job, and they have to move into a 'bad' part of town. There's one upside, though - they have horses there.

Liked:
Misty's in a genuinely shit situation and navigates the complexity of trying not to further upset her dad and working things out for herself about how I'd expect a young teenager to. The characters mostly felt believable and engaging. The moral of the story is a good one.

Disliked:
The cast of characters was pretty large and could probably have been cut down by a few - it became difficult to keep track of who's who at times. Ruby and her mother feel kinda caricaturish. The author mentioned in the afterword that she'd done research on real inner-city equestrian areas - this sounded fascinating and I wish a little more of that had made it into the book. Misty seems to treat it as just pretty normal that horses are wondering around - I'd have loved a little more of the nuts and bolts of how keeping horses in the city works, I think.

Would recommend: a solid read with its heart on its sleeve.

I was invested in what was happening and enjoyed the way this worked as a middle-grade novel. I was hooked from the first page and enjoyed getting to read about this story and thought the characters worked overall. Frances Moloney wrote this well and am excited to read more.

It’s hard to go wrong with a book that has animals both in the title and on the cover. We follow Misty as her family undergoes financial struggles and she is forced to move, causing friendship DRAMA at the teen/teeen level. The characters were all realistic and relatable to me, as an adult, and I suspect they will be to teens/tweens as well.

This is a great middle grade story for anyone looking for a realistic fiction book that touches on current, real life struggles and the comfort that animals bring to our lives. I will be recommending this for my school’s library once it is released.

A really lovely story that will appeal to young girls and boys who love a family story with friendships and ponies thrown in. The story is about Misty whose mum has passed away and now is coming to terms with her loss. She has two very good friends at school but she is horrified when her dad loses his job and they have to move to a different part of town. Misty is ashamed to tell her friends the truth about the circumstances and the move and tries to keep up the pretense that nothing has changed. She makes new friends in her new neighborhood, particularly Dylan and his family. The ponies that they all care for live on the local common and Misty gradually starts to enjoy her new life.
There are lots of twists and anxious moments especially when her old friends find out the truth but everything comes out right in the end. I loved reading pony books when I was growing up and this is one that I would have loved.

The thing about middle grade fiction is that it is often about friendships and self worth, because that is what is most important in that age group. This book is no exception, but the social standing issue is also thrown in. Misty, the main character, has to move to a lower-class part of town after her father loses his job, and she tries to hide that fact from her two best friends.

Thus begins the story of a girl who moves out where the poor people live, near a “common” area of wild horses and garden allotments, which she grows to love, just in time for the local city council to decide to sell the land to put up luxury apartments.

So, Misty has to embrace her new home, rather than be ashamed of it, in order to save the common area, and the land the horses live on.

I liked how she slowly came to embrace living where they move to, and not being ashamed of it. We all have preconceived notions about the “other” until we become them, and then realize that they are just like regular people.

Cute story. I liked how this was not an easy process for Misty or her friends.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book will but published on the 1st of April 2025.

When thirteen-year-old Misty’s dad loses his job, she’s forced to move away from the home and friends she loves to the Redbridge estate where horses roam free. Misty soon finds herself living two lives – the one with her friends at school, whom she’s determined to keep up appearances for, and her new life on the estate with the horses and the mysterious Dylan. When the horses she’s grown to love come under threat, her two lives collide and she must find a way to save the place she now calls home.

I felt so nostalgic while reading. The author describes the book in heir acknowledgements as an ode to the pony books they read as a child, and I couldn’t agree with this more. It was so nice to immerse myself in a ‘pony story’ but not just the tried-and-tested pony story, but one that felt like more than a pony story.

Misty was a very realistic character. Spending time with her and her friends reminded me so much of what it was like to be a thirteen-year-old girl – while my own childhood was quite different and I didn’t always agree with her choices, I could understand why she was making them and appreciated the feelings she had despite it being a long time since I was that age.

Beyond this, I felt like the book dealt so well with a wealth of other important topics for its target age range, including friendship, grief, unemployment, poverty and so so much more.

And of course, we can’t forget the bond between human and animal – I am a big believer in the healing power of horses and this was truly showcased in this book.

I would completely recommend this book to a new generation of pony lovers, and an older one – I have no doubt it will be appearing on my ‘pony shelf’ too!

With thanks to Pushkin Children's Books via NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Great book for the pre teen/teen who loves ponies. It’s a story about grief, sadness, anger and friendship, love and acceptance. Beautifully written and emotional. Ponies can definitely heal a broken heart! I would buy and gift this book I really enjoyed reading it.