Blind Your Ponies

Title: Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5

There's not a lot of hope left in the fading town of Willow Creek, least of all for the high school basketball team with their ninety-three game losing streak. But the people of Willow Creek aren't quite ready to give up on their dreams, and Coach Sam Pickett and five young men are going to provide the strength and courage they need to bring joy and ambition back to their town.

Blind Your Ponies is a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down.

In the book, Stanley Gordon West created not just one or two fully developed characters but an entire town of them. Their lives are intricate and intertwined but not to the extent that the reader is distracted from the story by trying to keep track of all the subtle details. Within pages, I was completely invested in the characters and their happiness, from the grief-striken coach to the humble giant of an exchange student to kooky grandma Chapman.

Over the course of the story, the townspeople come together to support their underdog basketball team and begin to grow closer. It becomes clear that there's a lot that they don't know about one another and my one complaint about the book is that it almost seems like there are too many secrets for this tiny town. However, most seem to fit with the overarching story of these courageous boys and their fellow townspeople. And as they open up to one another, they learn that sometimes life gets better when you have someone to lean on and share your burdens.

To quote some cliches, it's the story of hope and hard work overcoming adversity, of getting up again when the world knocks you down. After so very many losses, almost no one believes that the boys can win a game, let alone the state-sanctioned conference, but with Coach Pickett and Grandma Chapman cheering them on, the boys are willing to believe in miracles.

Blind Your Ponies is an absolute must-read. It's one of the best books I've read this year and is definitely being added to my favourites list. I can't wait to see what this once-self-published author comes out with next.