Title: Caroline's Purpose
Author: Erica Zaborac
Year Published: 2021
Publisher: Torchflame Books
What's it about?: Life has caused Caroline Davis to loose her dreams and faith, so she is facing her future with anxiety. The direction of her life must change as she enters her sophomore year of college, but she has no path to follow anymore. As her relationships with her classmate, Connor Taylor, and an abused horse, Edison, grow, she must make the decision to face her fears and rekindle a lost dream or remain lost to herself.
Thoughts:
As a reader, this is a book that I fell in love with from the first page. It's a fun, easy read. The story is light enough to enjoy as a way to wind down from the day, but it is also full of moments of learning and emotion for the characters and reader that make it a deep story to read. The characters are all believable and I felt instant connections with them.
As an editor, Caroline's Purpose is a beautifully written book. I love that I was able to feel the character's many and complex emotions. In particular, I was able connected with Caroline and her anxieties even though we have different anxieties. The story is structured wonderfully, and it kept me turning the page.
From the characters to the themes, Caroline's Purpose reminds me a lot of JUMP by Tiffany Noelle Chacon, and if you've been reading my blog or following me on Instagram, you know how much I love Chacon's writing! If you enjoyed JUMP or FALL, be sure to put Caroline's Purpose on your TBR.
Author Erica Zaborac is clearly a horse girl and it shows in this story. The horse care, the horses' personalities, and horses' reactions all feel perfectly life-like.
This is a book I highly recommended for all readers, especially young horse girls or anyone who's at a crossroads in their life.
Likes:
The characters, their development and backstory, and the tension build up. Caroline and Connor both have their own complex backstories. Their backstories are told in snippets of detail that are just enough to hold my interest, but always leaving me wanting a little bit more so I had to keep reading.
I asked Zaborca which scene was the most stubborn to write, and it actually involved the concept of revealing Caroline and Connor's backstories without giving too much away.
Zaborca told me, "The scene that was the most stubborn to write was what became Chapter 9 of the book. It is now one of my favorites, but it took a lot of work to get it to its final version. This is the scene where Caroline and Connor really talk for the first time. Caroline tells him about softball, being careful to keep her secret about horses in place. Connor is starting to fall for Caroline but stops short of telling her once he learns about Ryan, Caroline's boyfriend. This is a pivotal chapter in the book, but I didn't want to reveal too much too fast. There was also the question of why Caroline is suddenly so willing to talk to Connor about her past and softball that had to be addressed as the story continued. I love how the conversation between them played out, but it was difficult to not dive in too deep, especially since I knew where the story was going and the backstory of each character."
I think she nailed this scene and the reveling of backstory perfectly.
In addition to this, the characters sometimes did the smallest acts that demonstrated so much about their personalities which I loved. For instance, Connor felt the need to protect Caroline from the beginning which I found so sweet.
I also enjoy going to horse college with Caroline and Connor. It wasn't something I experienced myself, so I really loved getting a feel for what it is like. I've never read a book about going to horse college and I would like to read more (email me at bloemker.joyce@gmail.com with recommendations).
Lastly, I really love the connection between Caroline and Edison. Because Zaborac is a horsewoman, the connection felt real. It wasn't like in the horse girl movies where Caroline was able to handle Edison perfectly from the moment their eyes met. Both horse and human had to build trust with each other, but because they could sense they shared similar past experiences, they knew the other understood them. Caroline demonstrated real techniques to help gain Edison's trust.
Dislikes:
I only have one complaint: Their next story hasn't been written yet!
I say this jokingly because I have asked Zaborac about more books, and she told me that "Caroline and Connor definitely have more stories to tell! I have two more books outlined and waiting to be written. I am a new mom of a seven-month-old little boy and my husband and I are expecting our daughter in June. Once real life gets more of a routine to it, the fictional life of Caroline and Connor will resume!"
As anxious as I am for the next story, Zaborac's focus on her family is even more exciting! I wish her the best of luck with her young family and encourage her to enjoy her babies while they are little. Caroline and Connor will not be going anywhere.
Writing and Editing:
I also talked to Zaborac about her writing and editing process.
I asked her what scene of the book was written first, she told me, "The ending of Caroline's Purpose came to me first. I had this image in my head of Caroline sneaking through the parking lot and barn to get to Edison. The image was so strong that I couldn't write anything else until I put that scene down on paper. So, the last chapter was written first. That may sound backwards, but it really helped the story come to life. I didn't know what the beginning or middle would be until after I wrote the ending. I am a middle school and high school English teacher, and this is advice I give my students all the time- you don't have to start at the beginning."
I think this is perfect advice and some I have also used for writing projects.
As writers know, writing and editing are two very different stages. Some writers prefer writing while others prefer editing. Zaborac had this to say: "I love writing and I love getting my ideas down. I also loved the editing process, as it was great to have another set of eyes go over my book and help me make it the best it could be. More ideas came to me as the editing process went on, as well. I don't know if I can pick just one. Writing and editing are knit together; you can't have one without the other."
The editing process itself takes many stages, so I asked Zaborac which she found easiest. She answered, "Copy-editing is what I find the easiest. Once all of the ideas are developed and in place, finding misspellings and incorrect or missing punctuation is quick and puts the final polish on the story."
Sometimes the editing process can be difficult and the author must cut a part of the story they love. I asked Zaborac if she had this experience and she said, "The only thing I can think of that was edited out that I loved was my original title, which was The Lighthouse. The Lighthouse is Edison's registered name, and I had it as my title because it was meant to symbolize what Edison would become to Caroline. My editor and publisher both agreed the title would be misleading, as the book has nothing to do with boats at sea. I knew they were right, but it was still hard to let go of that title. The story started as a short story for my fiction class in my master's program, so it had had that title for a while (more than two years) before the book was published. I do think changing the title made the book stronger; it gets to the heart of my message and my own purpose in writing the novel."
I have to agree that Caroline's Purpose is a perfect title for this story. It has so much power behind it.
Thank you so much Erica for taking the time to answer some of my questions and sharing your experience of writing Caroline's Purpose with me and my readers, and of course, thank you Erica for writing Caroline's Purpose!
Find out more about author Erica Zaborac here.
Find Caroline's Purpose here.
Find more book recommendations from me here.
Find out more about writing and editing here.