Starting Over (Trina Ryan #2) by Sheri S. Levy

Starting Over (Trina Ryan #2) Reviews

• 
  Peggy Shaw

  Characters, Storylines Engage Readers
  In Book Featuring Service Dogs in Training
  
  In many ways, Trina Ryan is a typical 14-year-old Carolina girl. She has a best friend, Sarah, who shares Trina’s joys, fears, and secrets, a first crush, Chase, who gave Trina her first kiss at Edisto Island, and a love of horses so strong that she spends much of her time working at the barn where she rides.
  
  But one important thing sets Trina apart from other young teens: She raises and trains service dogs to assist adults and children with disabilities.
  
  "Starting Over"—the second book in Sheri S. Levy’s Trina Ryan Novel series—tells the story of a young girl beginning her volunteer training with a black Labrador pup from PAALS (Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services). The story flows easily from Levy’s award-winning first novel, "Seven Days to Goodbye," in which Trina works with an adolescent dog named Sydney, experiencing the excitement and satisfaction of training, as well as the pain of saying goodbye to a service dog when it gets a new leash on life with a disabled owner.
  
  In "Starting Over," Trina trains a wiggly, 8-week-old pup, Colton, works at the nearby horse barn, and rides her favorite horse, Chancy, almost every day. She shares a special friendship with the popular and fashionable Sarah, and watches expectantly for phone calls and texts from Chase, who lives an hour and a half away.
  
  Levy is on sure ground in this engaging, coming-of-age novel. Readers see the world through the eyes of Trina Ryan, a special, freckle-faced, redhead who has a big heart for horses, service dogs, and people in need. And in Starting Over, Trina learns some of life’s most important lessons: that people are not always what they seem, growing up involves tough choices, and a first crush can be more exciting than she ever dreamed.
  
  “Everything around me intensified,” Levy writes, about Trina’s reaction to Chase’s first “real kiss,” as he describes it. “The green leaves shined under our blue sky. I covered my stomach with both of my hands, hoping to stop my insides from vibrating.”
  
  Such good vibrations abound in "Starting Over," but Levy conjures plenty of challenges, including an accident one stormy night that seriously threatens Trina’s work with service dogs, and the arrival of Morgan, a new girl at the barn who seems to have everything, including shiny, black equestrian boots and a handsome dressage horse named Knight, but hides a dark secret about her life outside the ring.
  
  In "Starting Over," Levy has created an enjoyable page-turner for young adults—an entertaining read and kind of primer on the importance of training service dogs for the disabled. It’s poignant, fun, and adventuresome.
  
  In fact, the best part about Starting Over, book number two in the Trina Ryan series, is that readers know they can look forward to book number three.
  
  
  
• 
  Ellyn Bache

  Adolescent girls who love puppies and horses will find lots to like in this sweet but sometimes unflinching look at the hard choices we have to make as we grow up. “Starting Over” is the second in a series of Trina Ryan novels, after “Seven Days to Goodbye,” which introduces Trina as she finishes training her first service dog and has to give him up. Now, even knowing how hard another separation will be, she’s taken on a second puppy to train – sturdy, high-spirited Colton, who learns the hard way that it’s not a good idea to chase the horses Trina helps with to earn money for her riding lessons. Trina loves the horse she’s training on, and she loves Colton, but there are endless challenges. Readers will learn a lot about the long hours and hard work involved in making an energetic puppy into a service dog. And they’ll laugh and cry along with Trina as she negotiates relationships with a difficult girl who comes to the stables, a first boyfriend who doesn’t live nearby, and her growing sense that her riding skills aren’t what they ought to be. When a single misstep results in a devastating accident that threatens to take all of it away, she is forced to look realistically at her options, and perhaps to choose a different path than the one she’s always imagined.
• 
  Gretchen

  I devoured this book, enjoying every minute I spent with the characters. It’s full of puppies and horses, best friends, and a dash of romance and jealousy, perfect ingredients for a young adult novel. All are stirred brilliantly together while main character, Trina Ryan, is Starting Over with a newly assigned service dog in training. The book so clearly explains the tremendous responsibilities and joys of turning a puppy into a working dog, I almost wanted to sign up to become a trainer, too! The friendships contained in this story flourish despite the many challenges the girls face. How they interact and overcome difficulties make this an excellent read for the teen student, and her grandma, too.
• 
  Lisa Kline

  In this second book in Sheri Levy’s Trina Ryan series, Trina takes on Colton, an adorable black lab puppy, to train as a service dog. Trina’s summer is intensely busy as she combines the responsibility of training Colton with taking riding lessons to prepare to ride on a college team. When good-hearted Trina tries to help a girl named Morgan at the barn who is having family problems, the consequences mean Trina has to be separated from Colton. And she may not even be able to complete his training at all! How do you help a friend and stay true to yourself? Trina’s struggles to cope and regroup should ring true for teens. As a reader, I identified with the way Trina takes her relationships to heart. The book’s authentic details about riding and service dog training are fascinating. Most people probably never dream so much is involved. Levy had me cheering for that smart puppy Colton’s every new learned skill! Teens who love to read about animals should truly enjoy Starting Over.
• 
  Steve Bellinger

  Starting Over is a wonderful coming of age young adult story that is appropriate for young people of any age. It is wholesome, but don’t let that fool you. There is excitement, intrigue and drama, and it’s very well written. I found it hard to put down. The pre-adolescent themes are universal, they brought back some very old memories for me. I am personally a long way from being a young adult, but I guess I am young enough at heart to really enjoy this story.
  
  I’d recommend it for animal lovers, also. Ms. Levy captures not only the personalities of her human characters, Trina, Sarah, Morgan and the others, but you really get to know Colton, the adorable and sometimes mischievous puppy, and Chancy and Knight and the other horses.
  
  Truth be told, I actually learned a lot about training service dogs and handling horses!
  
  Starting Over is a sequel, and it is quite enjoyable on its own, but you’re missing out if you don’t read Seven Days to Goodbye first.
  
• 
  Melinda Long

  Sheri Levy does it again in her sequel to SEVEN DAYS TO SAY GOODBYE. Trina is once again training a puppy to be a service dog but this time she's starting from scratch. Colt is a challenge but Trina knows she can do it. On top of that responsibility, she's also teaching her friend, Sarah to swim and doing her best to befriend Morgan who isn't that easy to like. And let's not forget Chase, the boyfriend from last summer. You'd think with all that, Trina's life would be busy enough, but then it gets complicated.
  This is a delightful young adult story especially if you're an animal lover. There are some really interesting scenes about training dogs and horseback riding as well. Definitely a fun read.
• 
  K.S.

  I love this story! The characters are so rich, and I literally cannot put this book down -- can't wait to see what happens next as each chapter closes. I am not a YA (far from it -- I'm 57! maybe I'm YAHA = young at heart adult ha ha), but I loved this book. Yes, it took less than a day to read, but I think that's what I enjoyed about it. I couldn't wait to pick it back up again throughout the day. The way the chapters ended, each one on a cliff-hanger, made me want to keep reading. I really loved the characters, and the descriptions made me feel like I was right there in the barn or on the path, or at Trina's house. And of course, any story that includes a dog gets extra points from me.
  
  (I didn't read this book twice, I don't know why that got checked off. I only read the book once.)
• 
  Sue Conklin

  Sheri has a great story telling skill and her characters are sympathetic and real.
  But I really love the way she portrays animals. This book brings together dogs and horses. Who can resist that combination.
  
  I have found her stories interesting and the young readers that I have directed toward her books have loved them as well.
  
  As a dog trainer I have often cringed at the inaccuracies in dog books about behavior or training. Sheri has done her homework. She has spent time learning about dogs and their training and has asked all the right questions. I am thrilled that she has chosen to showcase positive training methods in this captivating story.
  
  
• 
  Elaine Cantrell

  Trina Ryan is the kind of girl you'd want to be your best friend. She loves and rides horses, trains service dogs, and has an absentee boyfriend. She's also facing a summer full of challenges, including a new girl at the barn, a girl who's anything but friendly. Trina's growing up fast and making some tough choices about her future. Any YA who loves horses, dogs, or boys ought to enjoy getting to know Trina Ryan. I know I did.
• 
  Judy Sheluk

  I was sent an ARC in exchange for an honest review. In this entertaining sequel to SEVEN DAYS TO GOODBYE fourteen-year-old Trina Ryan takes on the task of training another service dog, this time a black Labrador puppy named Colton. Adding to her already busy summer is a job at the barn next door, where she works in exchange for riding lessons with the barn's schooling horse. It's not long before Trina encounters Morgan, an angry teenager with a huge chip on both shoulders who doesn't seem to appreciate owning and boarding her own horse, something Trina can only dream of. Then there's the added complication of trying to see Chase, Trina's boyfriend from last summer who lives far away, teaching her best friend, Sarah, to swim, and trying to avoid unwanted advances from a new boy in her puppy training class.
  There's a lot going on in Trina's life, but author Sheri S. Levy weaves each thread seamlessly. I especially enjoyed the detail Levy adds in how to train a service dog, as well as her experience in the barn mucking out stalls, caring for the horses, and learning to ride. A thoroughly enjoyable romp told through the eyes of a teenager taking on new responsibilities, new challenges, and in so doing, a new understanding of life. Five stars and a must-read YA novel for anyone who loves dogs and horses.
• 
  Darlene

  Starting over is a wonderful book about friendships, love, loss and letting go. Trina is a teenage girl who is training a puppy to be a service dog. She also works at a neighboring horse barn part time in exchange for horse riding lessons. In the story Trina learns she has to make some difficult choices and decisions because she is trying to do too many different things at once. I learned that there is a lot of work that goes into training a puppy to be a service dog and then how hard it is to let the puppy go when you finish the training. The book is listed as a YA book but I think anyone from teenagers to adults will enjoy reading this story!!
• 
  Kathleen Burkinshaw

  STARTING OVER
  I really enjoyed Sheri S. Levy’s first book SEVEN DAYS TO GOODBYE, so I was looking forward to book two in this series. STARTING OVER definitely has many new starts for the main character Trina. She had to give up her dog Sydney that she trained to be a service dog, she decided to take on training another service dog puppy, she and her best friend, Sara start 8th grade. In addition to juggling all this you add a boyfriend (sort of) long distance and a new, difficult girl named Morgan, who is now boarding her horse at the stable where Trina works.
  
  Trina has the regular issues of an 8th grader but she also has added responsibility with training her puppy-which is not always as smooth as she would like, and working at the stable so that she can take riding lessons. As you can imagine, Trina’s obligations pull her in too many different directions. After an incident, she is forced to think about what really matters to her. It is through her attempt at befriending Morgan that Trina discovers what she feels she is meant to do.
  Sheri Levy weaves these issues together very well.
  
  I loved the information that we learn about training service dogs, the relationship between Trina and her best friend, Sarah. Also experiencing the trials and some funny situations that Trina gets herself into while navigating her first boyfriend relationship while juggling so many responsibilities. She soon realizes that you may do many things, but it doesn’t always mean you do them all well.
  
  Taking chances and reaching out to Morgan, helped Trina to see that things are not always as we think we see them.
  Some of my favorite lines were
  “My heart thumped so fast, I had to inhale in small bursts.”
  “And of course, I pretended to be happy. I know I did, but what else could I do?” Morgan
  “…if he’d met another girl at school. I shook my head. Maybe these silly worries would sprinkle out like salt”
  “Even if you’re afraid, once you found your heart’s desire, you should never give up.”
  “Tears flooded my eyes and regret tore at my heart.”
  “A piece of my heart broke off and disappeared.”
  What was left of my heart melted into a puddle.
  
• 
  InD'tale Magazine

  If only more teenagers were like Trina!
  
  Read full review in the
  2017 October issue of InD'tale Magazine.
• 
  Carol Baldwin

  Having said goodbye to her first dog, Sydney, Trina is determined to start over with a new puppy, despite the pain she’ll feel when she must turn him over to his forever owner. Colton proves to be a handful, occasionally showing his mischievous and playful side, but he is also cuddly and smart. As Trina and Colton bond, the reader learns the patience and painstaking care involved in training a service dog.
  
  When a new girl, Morgan, comes to the barn where Trina works and takes riding lessons with Chancy, Trina is challenged by the girl’s stiff unfriendliness. In her characteristic helpful manner, she tells her friend Sarah that they can reach out to Morgan using similar tactics she's used as a puppy trainer:
  "...what if we don't react to Morgan? I tried being nice when she met us in the woods. She got flustered. My other friends at school last year mentioned the same problems with their brothers or sisters. They say that refusing to respond makes them change their behavior or go away. It's kind of like how I train Colton." (p. 45)
  
  Trina teaches Morgan how to make friends with Knight, Morgan’s beautiful yet stubborn horse, and in the process gives Morgan some insights into friendship. When Knight refuses to let Morgan put the bit into his mouth, Trina advises: "Well, I don't think he knows what you expect, yet. Just like you don't know what to expect from him. It takes time to know each other." (p. 61)
  
  Trina’s acceptance, Knight's warming up to Morgan, plus Colton’s playfulness, pay off and eventually Morgan's tough exterior crumbles. She shares the problems she has with her parents and Trina lends a kind, empathetic ear.
  
  An untimely accident leaves Trina on crutches. Forced to give up her dream of training Chancy to be a show horse, Trina has to re-evaluate her goals. Slowly, it dawns on her what she was meant to do. Her decision is one that provides a great ending to this book and nicely paves the way for the next book, For Keeps.
• 
  Sheri S.

  BOOK REVIEW by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite.
  Sheri S. Levy’s young adult coming of age novel, Starting Over: A Trina Ryan Novel, Volume 2, gives the reader a privileged look at the world of guide dog training and those who put heart and soul into their work with those dogs. I loved watching as Trina teaches Colton how to become a working partner, while still allowing him to be the ebullient and eternally optimistic Labrador puppy that he was. I was also mesmerized by the parallel story about Trina’s work with horses and her interactions with the new girl, Morgan, and her horse, Knight. While this is listed as a book for young adults, I would unhesitatingly recommend it to preteens as well as any dog and horse-loving adults out there. Levy has a gift for communicating her own love of these marvelous beings to her readers, and she imparts some grand training and interaction methods to her audience while delivering a first-rate plot complete with finely drawn characters. Starting Over: A Trina Ryan Novel, Volume 2 is most highly recommended.
  
• 
  Samantha Bell

  Starting Over is the perfect story to engage young teen girls, especially girls who love horses and dogs. Those who have experience with animals will easily relate to Trina’s feelings, and those who don’t will understand what’s involved in caring for a pet.
  
  Through the novel, Trina also struggles with common challenges many teenagers face. She finds herself busy with extra activities while trying to keep up with her homework. She learns secrets that could place a friend in danger. And she has formed attachments that might not be able to last. What’s a girl to do?
  
  Starting Over takes the reader on one girl’s journey as she tries to figure it all out. And in the process, she discovers that the end result may be better than what she had originally planned. Well-written with exciting elements, this book will keep a teen’s attention. Highly recommended!