Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Firstly I want to start by saying that I absolutely love and highly recommend Ms. Walls' The Glass Castle. I read this early last year and have loaned out my copy countless times - not to mention I even forced everyone at work to buy a copy for our book club, because yes, I was fascinated by this book and Ms. Walls' tale of coming-of-age, the skedaddle, home-made braces and the scrapes, bumps and bruises she went through to get there.

With that said, I could not wait to get my hands on Half Broke Horses. In this book we go further in time and are now reading about Ms. Walls' maternal grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. The story takes you through Lily's childhood in the early 20th century, all through the desert, living in ranches, teaching at one-room school houses, to the Great Depression and World War II.

Although I will admit to it not being as phenomenal as I found The Glass Castle to be, Half Broke Horses was still very entertaining. It's the type of story that grabs you and the next time you stop to look up you're done with the it...there was never a dull moment.

Lily Casey Smith was an amazing, courageous woman - I'm so glad that Ms. Walls was able to create such a beautiful tribute to her. She mentions at the end of the book that these are stories she remembers hearing from, or of her grandmother, while growing up. She was able to piece them together and fill-in (where needed) with her own ideas - thus the story is labeled fiction.

I absolutely loved how the ending tied in to what we already knew of the Ms. Walls and her eccentric family from The Glass Castle. This was just a fun, light read that I would recommend to anyone who's read The Glass Castle or is a fan of Jeannette Walls.