Kristin Hannah grabbed my attention when The Nightingale became easily one of my favorite books to date. The Great Alone followed a couple of years later which I ordered with my Book of the Month subscription and I was immediately enthralled. I decided to read one of her earlier novels, True Colors, to see if it could live up to her newer works.
One thing that is consistent across all of Hannah’s tales are her well developed characters. True Colors is the story of three sisters living on a horse ranch with their ornery, stoic father. Winona is the eldest sister. She is smart, hard working and under appreciated by her father. She is plagued by insecurity due to her forever single status and being overweight. She tends to be sidelined to “the best friend” by every man she is interested in. As a young girl, when her mother passed away, she was deemed incompetent as a horsewoman by her father and immediately he lost interest in her while her youngest sister, Vivi Ann, stepped into easily into their mother’s shoes and had a natural knack with horses. This moment becomes the basis of Winona’s jealousy and resentment towards her youngest sister, that and her envy of Vivi Ann’s beauty and constant attention from men in town. The middle sister, Aurora, is your typical middle child who spends most of her time trying to keep the peace between her sisters. When a new ranch hand comes to town with a mysterious aura and dangerous past, the lives of these three sisters are changed forever.
One thing that I enjoyed about this book were some of the parallels I could draw between the Grey sisters and my own relationships with my two sisters. Although not to the extremes seen in this story, it was interesting to see the dynamic between sisters play out across the pages.
Once Dallas, the new Native American ranch hand, is introduced to the Grey family, chaos ensues. Vivi Ann is immediately drawn to him and although she tries to fight it at first, she ends up giving up her resolve and falling for him. She faces exile from her prejudiced father, whom she once adored, as well as judgement from both of her sisters. After Dallas is arrested for murder and their small town turns against him, the bond between the Grey sisters is really put to the test. Horses are known to see a person’s true colors- will this trio be able to weather the storm of scandal and stay true to theirs? I would recommend you read this one through to the end, you won’t be disappointed!
2 Book Girls 