cover image Remember Me

Remember Me

Laura Moore. Ballantine Books, $7.99 (407pp) ISBN 978-0-345-48276-1

Moore's first book of a projected trilogy tells the story of 18-year-old Margot Radcliffe, who runs away from her family's estate after a disastrous attempt to seduce stable-hand Travis. With astonishing ease, she finds success with an international modeling career, but it all turns to ashes when her father and stepmother are killed in a plane crash eight years later, leaving Margot to deal with a debt-riddled horse farm and a 16-year-old stepsister, Jade. Rejuvenating the farm hinges on Margot convincing Travis to work for her, but modeling pays the bills, and Travis' jealousy of Margot's career threatens their partnership-both professionally and emotionally. Taking place primarily in the horse country of Virginia, with excursions to New York and Milan, Moore's novel makes details of horse farming as interesting as the fashion world, but her vivid settings elbow out character development; when the lovers do get together, there's plenty of sizzle, but they get much more face-time with the horses than each other.