Ginger's Heart by Katy Regnery
Date of Publication: March 22, 2016
"I finished Ginger's Heart last night, and I am completely and utterly in love." --Mia Sheridan, NY Times bestselling author
Blurb
Once upon a time there were two cousins:
one golden like the sun,
one dark like midnight,
one a protector,
one a predator,
one a Woodsman
and
one a Wolf…
both owning equal,
but different,
parts of a little girl's heart.
In this modern retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood," the woodsman and the wolf are cousins, and Little Red is the girl with whom they both fall in love.
Beautiful Ginger McHuid, daughter of Kentucky's premiere horse breeder, grows up on her family farm, best friends with Cain Wolfram, the son of her father's Stallion Manager, and Cain's cousin, Josiah Woodman, son of a local banker. Throughout their happy childhood, the three are inseparable friends, but as they mature into adults, complicated feelings threaten to destroy their long history of friendship and love.
Ginger's Heart
*****
This is a standalone novel inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to profanity and very strong sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.
(The next standalone a modern fairytale novel, Don't Speak, inspired by The Little Mermaid, will be released in 2017.)
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I don’t even know where to begin this review because so much
of this book was just amazing to me.
I’ve always been a fan of Katy’s and she never fails to blow me away
with her stories, but this book? It has
stayed in my mind for days because it pulled at my heart so much. Breathtakingly beautiful are only a few words
I would use to describe this story.
Ginger McHuid has grown up knowing Josiah Woodman and Cain
Wolfram most of her life. Ginger has had
a good life, her dad having one of the best horse ranches around. Josiah and Cain are cousins who are opposite
in every way. Cain’s father works for
Ginger’s father on the farm and Josiah’s dad is a banker. Since Ginger and Josiah were raised around
money and Cain was not, he always felt inferior to them, and who can blame them
with Ginger’s snotty mom. She really
disgusted me in how poorly she treated Cain and anyone below ‘her level’ in
society.
All of his life, Josiah has loved Ginger. That is one touching moment in this book
because his love never faded, it only grew stronger. Josiah is your typical good guy, the golden
boy, who’s nice and polite and would do anything for her. Cain, on the other hand, is the bad boy, but
he seems the one to have Ginger’s heart.
Cain is reckless with everything he does, including women. He’s
definitely not too choosy with who he takes to bed. He’s dark and mysterious at times but the
heart wants what it wants, and Ginger wants Cain.
“Her body, her heart, her very soul would always yearn for
Cain. But deprived of that soul-based,
forever sort of love, she gratefully accepted what she had: Woodman.”
After Josiah professed his feelings for Ginger to Cain at a
young age, Cain knew that she would be forever ‘off limits’ because he loved
his cousin and would never betray him.
But, never say never as they say.
Cain and Ginger sure prove that, unknowingly breaking Josiah’s heart.
As years pass, each of their hearts continues to grow. When Ginger finally stands up for what she
wants, Cain refuses her and she rushes into Josiah’s waiting arms. And this is one of many places where my heart
breaks for Cain. His decision to love
Ginger comes a little too late.
“We were two cousins in love with the same girl. It doesn’t
make one of us a villain and one of us a hero.
You can’t help who you love. But
someone’s heart was goin’ to break.”
As time passes and things change, Cain truly grows up to be the
man he was meant to be. He matures into
such a good guy. Don’t get me wrong, he
still has that bad boy in him but he’s more stable. Even more sexy than before.
I won’t go into any more detail because the story takes a
dramatic turn and I wanted to toss my Kindle a few times, but it made the story
so beautiful. You can feel the emotions
pouring out of this book and it just captivated me. It devoured me from beginning to end. This book is extremely emotional but in the
best kind of ways. You will laugh, cry,
get angry, but by the end, my heart was content. I was so worried there would
be cheating because that’s a big no-no in a book for me so I admire Katy for
not adding that into their story. I felt Katy did an exceptional job in writing
this story and even though the ending was something I truly was NOT expecting,
she couldn’t have written it any better
The characters were adorable and easy to fall in love with, even Cain,
no matter how many times he made me furious. You can truly feel the love among
the three of them as well. One part that
really stood out for me was Ginger’s relationship with her grandmother. I was close to mine and this brought back
some beautiful memories for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better book and
it’s one of those few that I could read again and again. It was so hard to choose just a few quotes because
I loved so much of this book and with that said, I give Ginger’s Heart 5
amazing stars!!
About Katy Regnery
Katy Regnery, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author, started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract for a winter romance entitled By Proxy.
Now a hybrid author who publishes both independently and traditionally, Katy claims authorship of the six-book Heart of Montana series, the six-book English Brothers series, and a Kindle Worlds novella entitled "Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date," in addition to the standalone novels, Playing for Love at Deep Haven and Amazon bestseller, The Vixen and the Vet.
The Vixen and the Vet is included in the charity anthology Hometown Heroes: Hotter Ever After, and Katy's novella "Frosted" appeared in the Jan '15 anthology, Snowy Days Steamy Nights. Additionally, Katy's short story, "The Long Way Home" appeared in the first RWA anthology (Feb '15), Premiere.
Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.
Find Katy Regnery Online
Teaser
Excerpt from Chapter 12 of Ginger's Heart, a modern fairytale, by Katy Regnery. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
An hour later they stopped by the Glenn River, eight miles downriver from Ginger's house and two from the distillery where Cain had partied last night.
"We should water them," he said, reining in Thunder and dismounting with the ease of a lifelong horseman.
She reined in Heath, who nickered in protest, and grinned down at Cain who reached up for her. His hands lingered for an extra moment on her hips as she slid down the front of his body. Leaning her head back, she stared up at him, daring him to pull her closer, to kiss her, to admit that this whole "friends" thing was bullshit on fire. But, he clenched his jaw, cleared his throat and dropped his hands.
"Thanks," she murmured, her voice husky in her ears as he stared down at her, his eyes flinty and dark.
Taking Heath's reins with a grunt, he turned away from her, leading the horses to the river's edge and leaving her to follow behind. She leaned down to pick up a flat stone and skipped it across the slow moving water.
"Not bad," said Cain.
"You were always the best."
"Nah," he said. "Woodman was better."
"Nope," she countered, picking up another stone. "Woodman was good, but you were better. Remember that Fourth of July that you skipped eleven times? Eleven times. It was a record."
Satisfied that the horses were calm and drinking their fill, Cain leaned down and grabbed a rock of his own, skipping it over the dark water.
One-two-three-four-five-six-seven…
"Wow!" she said, clapping lightly. "You've still got the touch!"
He turned to her, grinning. "You always get excited about the littlest things. What's it like gettin' a kick out of everythin', Gin?"
"What's it like gettin' a kick out of nothin', Cain?" she asked, her voice full of sass.
"I'm gettin' a kick out of you right now, princess."
A charge zapped between them as the words left his mouth, and her breath hitched and held for just a moment, but she looked down and picked up another rock. She was enjoying today too much to go back to Awkwardland.
She skipped her rock, which sunk after three measly hops.
"Remember when you saved my Cabbage Patch doll from certain doom in this river?" she asked him.
He screwed up his face as her. "Wasn't me. Must have been Woodman."
"It was you!" she insisted. "Not Woodman!"
"Savin' a dolly? Please. That has Woodman written all over it. I couldn't have cared less if it drowned."
"But I cared," she said softly. "Which is why you saved it."
"Fine. Have it your way," he said, sitting down on a large rock near the water's edge.
She sighed, squatting down to wash her hands in the clear water before looking back at him. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Let Woodman take credit for all the good things?"
He shrugged, looking away from her, out at the water. "I don't."
"You just did. Twice."
He sighed, giving her a long-suffering look. "If somethin' good happened, chances were, it was Woodman's doin'."
"How do you figure?"
"He's the better man, Gin," said Cain, his eyes severe, his words deliberate.
She stood up slowly, turning her body completely to face him. "Do you really believe that?"
He looked away. "It's the truth."
"Cain. Cain, look at me." Her words didn't feel like enough so she beseeched him with her eyes too. "You're just as good a man as he is."
"Ha!" scoffed Cain, standing up and moving away from her. "Not in this life, princess."
