Doranna Durgin

You would have been hard-pressed to convince me that a book about a horse who magically becomes a woman could make me suspend my disbelief long enough to read it and yet that's exactly what Doranna Durgin managed to accomplish.

And how, exactly, to you imbue a horse/woman with the manners and thoughts that a horse might have? Again, Doranna Durgin managed to do it without me disbelieving the actions and thoughts and communications of the newly created woman.

I imagine this book would delight show more any pre-teen or teen who is in love with horses and who might spend many hours at the barn working with her beloved friends. Best read while sitting on a hay bale, tucked into a corner, perhaps with a gentle rain on the barn roof, the glorious smell of warm horses in the air... or just at home, tucked into a comfy chair, imagining the smells and dimly lit aisles of the barn. It's a girl's book for sure. show less

Survival Instinct by Doranna Durgin

Survival Instinct is a tightly wound, character‑driven suspense novel that blends wilderness danger with emotional depth. Durgin excels at placing her characters in high‑stakes, high‑pressure situations where every decision matters, and this book is no exception. The pacing is brisk without feeling rushed, and the tension builds naturally as the protagonist navigates both external threats and internal conflicts.

What stands out most is Durgin’s show more ability to make the environment itself feel like an antagonist. The wilderness sequences are vivid and tactile, grounding the story in a sense of realism that heightens the suspense. The characters are layered, flawed, and resilient, making their choices feel earned rather than convenient.

If you enjoy survival thrillers with strong character arcs, a touch of mystery, and a steady undercurrent of danger, this novel delivers a satisfying and immersive experience.

Tags (alphabetical): action, adventure, danger, mystery, suspense, survival, thriller, wilderness show less

Weird. I would have sworn I'd read this before, but nothing was familiar - so I guess I merely admired the cover? I like Durgin, I've read a good many of hers, somehow I must have missed this one. A very rich story, more or less in her usual vein - magic invading a relatively normal life, with an animal (a Welsh Cardigan dog, almost well-portrayed on the cover) as the initial vector. But while the magic is the driving force, the more interesting part of the story to me is Brenna's show more philosophical insights, into the world and into herself. She's been walked all over by her family all her life - under this new impetus, she finds ways of applying her usual stubbornness and standing up for the right (mostly of animals, occasionally of herself) to her family. She's also trying to balance a Presbyterian upbringing with having apparently summoned a Roman/Celtic god...some fascinating concepts being dealt with there. Great characters - Brenna, Iban, most definitely Druid; the secondary characters, too, have depth and roundness (Emily, Elizabeth, many more). Great story, glad I read it. I'm going to check her oeuvre and make sure I haven't missed any others... Oh yay, there's a (short story) sequel! Hair of the Dog - got it in the anthology The Heart of Dog. show less

Love this as always. Reandn (I cannot pronounce that in any way that makes Dan/Danny a reasonable nickname...wish I could hear how the author thinks it goes) is fascinating, even when he's tunnel-vision obsessed with his self-assigned quest. I didn't have any trouble with the names while reading, but now can't remember any names but his - about par for the course, for me. The teenager (ah, he's Tanager) is a pain in the butt - Reandn might have come to trust Farrell, the ex-wizard, sooner if show more Tanager hadn't messed things up repeatedly. Or perhaps not - see "obsessed". As always, I have to really stretch to see Reandn's point of view here - he's going up against a wizard who already beat him completely, but he doesn't want the assistance of another wizard (or at least, someone trained as a wizard). But then, Farrell keeps presenting it as "I want to know where this power came from", and only late in the book does he even mention that the bad guy's methods are unacceptable - of course, this is partly because he doesn't learn anything about said methods until late in the book, because Reandn doesn't trust him enough to explain. Very twisty motivations...it's a misunderstanding trope with nary a romance in view! And of course, Reandn's obsession is partly because of the pain that simply having magic near him costs him. He literally can't think straight in the presence of magic, so has a reduced chance of thinking straight about magic at all. Lots of braided cords of plot here. I like the unicorns' revenge - nice and nasty. Though I don't see why they couldn't repair Reandn as well - he took damage in that final fight, and had to heal more-or-less normally. This is probably my fifth or sixth reading of the book - read it first when it was new, and have reread it periodically since. But it's been more than a decade since my last reading - I need to make it less than that to my next one. show less