Objects in Mirror by Tudor Robins (Review)

Release date: 16 February 2016 (Re-release)

Publisher: Tudor Robins

Number of pages: 226

My rating: 4/5

*Minor spoilers ahead!*

First of all, I’d like to say congratulations to Tudor for getting the rights back to Objects in Mirror! Objects is a good book that does deal with some difficult issues, but unfortunately it didn’t particularly stand out to me.

Grace’s summer is ruined when the horse she rides, Sprite, gets sold to a new owner. She gets offered a job working at the barn alongside a guy called Matt instead. However, the eating disorder she has been struggling with threatens to ruin everything.

Grace is a lovely character, typical of a teenage girl. I really loved the way that Tudor portrays her eating disorder (just to be clear, I think that anorexia is a terrible disorder and a real problem, especially among teens. I just like the way that Tudor wrote about it). Her anorexia begins before the book, so you meet her partway through her struggle with it, and you gain a lot of insight into her illness through her narrative. Grace definitely has a love for horses, her family, and for Matt. I really did enjoy reading from her perspective.

Matt was slightly less memorable for me. I know that the story is told from Grace’s perspective, so it’s kind of a given that I would get to know Grace more than Matt. However, I just felt that Matt wasn’t as well developed as he could be. He seems like a nice guy who cares about Grace and a great horseman. I just couldn’t really see anything beyond that. Which in a way is fine, because not everyone has a bunch of secrets or quirks, but I think it would have been nicer if we found out a bit more about Matt.

Throughout the book, Grace keeps a journal detailing her weight loss. I really liked this nuance of the book, because it shows the obsession with numbers and food that an anorexic can have. It’s an interesting insight into an eating disorder. There were little comments in almost every journal entry, and it becomes an interesting insight into Grace’s mind rather than just a journal of numbers.  

I love the horse aspect of this book! I loved all the different horses and personalities that they had. I think that a non-horse person could read Objects and not have too much trouble with it, although it’s preferable if you have at least some horse knowledge.

A character that I would have liked to gain more insight into is Mavis. Although she acts as a bit of an antagonist, she doesn’t appear much in the book. I would have loved to have Mavis fleshed out a little more, so that we could get some more insight into her personality and her life. I think that it’s important to make sure that the reader understands the antagonist a bit, so that they don’t just act as a source of conflict for the main character without any substance. It wasn't essential to the plot that this character be involved more, but I think it would have been a nice touch to Objects.

I don’t particularly have any problems with this book. Make no mistake, it is a well written, realistic horse book that is a pleasure to read. It just didn’t stand out to me as much as Tudor’s other books have. The characters were great, the horses were great, the storyline was decent, but it didn’t really stick with me very long after I put the book down. I recommend this book to people who are looking for a nice contemporary YA read, especially if you’re into horses!

A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.