Kindle Edition Amazon Jodi Auborn Books Category:  Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Create Space/Amazon KDP ISBN-10:  1073071405 Type: Fiction Pages: 201 Copyright: June 20, 2019 ISBN-13: 9781073071401 Price: $3.99 (eBook) A girl and her horse...a desperate journey...one unforgettable summer. Stormwind of the North Country: A young-adult wilderness adventure for ages 11 to 16. $8.95 plus shipping from Amazon.com. Fourteen-year-old Kat expects to spend another summer at the remote farmhouse where she lives with her widowed father and younger brother. She imagines long days riding Stormwind, her favorite horse at her neighbor's stable. But after Kat makes a shocking discovery one morning, she begins a struggle to rescue Stormwind from her abusive owner. Meanwhile, her father brings home an unwelcome visitor with a secret that could destroy the way of life that the family loves. This sends Kat running away into the Adirondack wilderness with Stormwind and her dog, Hesperus. Alone at her lakeside camp one day, Kat meets Randy, a fellow runaway with a mysterious past. As their friendship deepens, they are soon confronted with a danger that neither could have ever imagined. As Kat's, Stormwind's, and Randy's lives become intertwined, Kat knows that she must expose the secret that threatens her family's future and help Randy overcome the memories of his troubled childhood.          Excerpt Excerpt 1: I didn’t know how my father would react, but now I needed his help. “Dad!” I shouted as Stormwind raced up the long driveway, kicking up gravel behind her. “Dad!” The garage door was closed, the radio silent. I tied Stormwind to the porch railing and burst into the house. “Dad! Daddy!” I was getting hysterical. “Dad!” I found him at work redecorating the guestroom, his clothes splattered with fresh paint. “Katherine! What in the -” “Daddy! It’s Stormwind…and Lorraine, and…she’s got a gun, and…and Commodore’s dead!” I collapsed into a nearby chair and covered my face, shaking, squeezing my eyes shut against the tears that threatened to fall. He put his hands on my shoulders. “Shhh, Kat…try to calm down, and tell me what happened.” I took a deep breath and stood up. “Follow me.” He gasped at the sight of Stormwind, who stood there puffing and trembling with exhaustion, bleeding from the whip wounds across her body. “Oh, my…” He gently touched Stormwind’s sweaty neck as she snorted and danced away. Dad sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Oh, honey. You were telling me the truth. I should’ve believed you…and now, that poor animal…” He sighed again. “If only I had-” “It’s not your fault, Dad…” Suddenly he straightened up, his voice firm. “And it’s not yours, either. It’s that woman’s. You’re not going back there, Katherine… and neither is the horse. Now, we have to get her out of sight. Let’s take her in the barn. We’ve got to get her cleaned up, if she’s gonna be yours.” “Mine? But I thought you couldn’t afford a horse -” “I’ll find a way. Now, I’m going to get her some medicine, and I’ll bring the portable phone out in the barn. We’ve gotta make some calls.” Far down the road I heard a car approaching, driven at an insane speed by the madwoman we’d just escaped from. “Stillwater!” I screamed. I led Stormwind at a trot toward the barn, but we didn’t make it. Stillwater's car almost overturned when it careened into the driveway and sped toward the house. The woman burst out of the car and would have reached Stormwind and me if Dad had not turned back and stood before us. “Leave my property, you!” he shouted. “You’re not welcome here!” “Your daughter stole my horse! I’m simply here to regain my horse!” Stillwater reached over Dad's shoulder and slapped Stormwind’s muzzle. “She is mine, and you and that little criminal are not to tell me otherwise!” Stormwind lunged at Stillwater, almost knocking Dad down, and bit Stillwater’s arm. It started bleeding. “Why you…” Dad pushed her back to her car. “Looks like the horse doesn’t want to be with you,” he said. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough around here? Stormwind means the world to my daughter. She belongs to her.” “What!” “Get out of here, before I call the police!” “The police! You bet I’ll call the police! I won’t stop there! I will take you to court!” Dad laughed. “That’s just what I was planning on doing. That junkyard of yours will be condemned, and you’ll never lay your hands on another animal, again.” Stillwater gunned her engine, pulled onto the road, and tore away for home. Excerpt 2: Thunder rumbled in the distance the next morning as I ate some oatmeal and listened to the radio, static nearly drowning out the music. I wondered if Dad had called the police or forest rangers yet, and if Dave kept my plan a secret… “…And now, to local news. Police are searching for a Sprucewood girl, who has been missing from her home for two days. It is suspected that she left home under her own volition.” I frowned and turned up the volume. “Fourteen-year-old Katherine Normith is probably riding a small white horse and is accompanied by a black German shepherd dog. Anyone approaching her for questioning should use caution, since the dog may attack. Katherine is described as -” A burst of static crackled as the radio lost the weak signal. I sighed and turned it off, disappointed that I didn't hear what else they said about me. But plenty of other people did. Maybe they even showed my picture on TV! Maybe people were heading down Parson’s road this minute! I left my oatmeal and began to gather up my supplies. At the same time, though, I was pleased with what I heard. Maybe Dad was so worried about me that he’s ignoring Lavina, just as I planned. I saddled up but didn’t ride. After yesterday’s fall, Stormwind was lucky that she didn’t lose her baby. I’d walk until I got tired, ride slowly for a while, and then walk again. Taking one last look at the campsite, I led Stormwind out of the woods, back up to the trail, and down Bald Rock Mountain. By then we were on state-owned land, thousands of acres divided by roads and dotted with small towns. But there were still plenty of woods where we could hide. The distant thunder came and went as we walked down Parson's road that morning. As the miles passed, we swished our way through knee-high grass and ferns, plodded up and down rocky hills, and detoured around rotting trees and brush that had blown down in storms. Light rain dampened my clothes, falling from a gray sky that showed no promise of sun. Soon the trail stopped at a narrow river bordered by a steep, mossy bank. Bubbling white water swirled around the rocks on its way downstream. I spotted the remains of a wide wooden bridge rotting on each bank, broken in the middle, then studied the shallow spots where the rocks protruded above the water. It shouldn’t be too hard to cross, I thought. I took off my boots and socks and we waded in. The current threw me against Stormwind with greater force than I had expected. Glad that I had leashed Hesperus and tied the leash to my belt, I held Stormwind’s mane, looped my arm through the reins and moved through the icy waist-high water. I hoisted my backpack higher on my shoulders and hoped my equipment wouldn’t get wet. Although I stumbled on the small round rocks, I tried to avoid the larger ones that would cut my feet. I didn’t pay attention as the water got deeper and deeper. When it reached my chest Stormwind began swimming, and the current finally knocked me off my feet. I shrieked and got a mouthful of water as I realized that my arm was tangled in the reins and we were all being carried off! Soon I couldn’t touch bottom. The current slammed us together then yanked us apart until the reins wrenched the bit in Stormwind's mouth. The plastic sack of Stormwind's feed shifted and burst open, spilling thousands of feed pellets into the churning water. Meanwhile, I struggled to free my arm from the reins as Hesperus, wide-eyed, tried climbing on me. Foaming water broke over our heads and tumbled us on our sides. Bound to Stormwind, I couldn’t avoid her kicks as she swam desperately. I sawed at the reins with my jackknife, working underwater by feel until the old leather snapped and I was jerked free of Stormwind. Hesperus and I were battered against rocks as I helplessly watched my horse whinny in terror and flare her nostrils as she was swept away down the river. Soon her white head was lost among the foamy water and I could hear her whinnies no more. We finally made it to the opposite bank. I pulled myself up to the tree line, choking on water as Hesperus shook herself and lay down. The drizzle had become a downpour. I sat up with my arms around my legs and stared down between my knees, shivering and thinking about Stormwind. I didn’t notice as the cold rain dripped off the leaves, soaking into my sopping shirt and trickling into my eyes. Stormwind must surely be dead, and it was my fault. Did I rescue her from Stillwater, only to lose her now? If I had paid attention to my footing and ignored the sharp rocks, we wouldn’t be in this mess. My battered legs throbbed and my hand stung. I looked at my hand, horrified by the spreading bloodstain left on my faded jeans. I gasped and watched as blood trickled from my slashed palm and fingers, only to be washed away by the rain. I must have cut myself when I cut the reins, but I hadn’t felt a thing until now. I stood up, shaky and sore, and we wandered into the woods along the water. “Stormwind!” I shouted over the river and rain. If she had washed up by then, I could only hope that she was alive. But I had to find her, even though I was afraid of finding only her body. Excerpt 3: “...You ain’t goin’ anywhere!” Randy and I turned and almost bumped into Vito, who towered over us with his tattooed arms folded. He grinned. “That looks like a nice piece of horseflesh! Must be worth a lot of money. I’d say a horse like that could pay off the damages to my property! Might even have enough left over to move outa this dump.” He bent down and stuck his greasy nose in my face. “Give it to me.” “Never!” I shouted. “Give it to me and I won’t call the cops. You punks trespassed on private land, that horse trampled my garden, and it’s tearin’ up my turf. Horses are just toys for little rich girls - why don’tcha keep it where it belongs?” Vinnie, who I decided seemed half-witted, shot again and this time it wasn’t in the air. Randy and I screamed and ducked behind a car. “Vinnie, you idiot!” “But Pa, you told me to shoot…” As Vito turned and roared curses at his son, I leaped on Stormwind’s back. I barely clung on by her mane as she reared high, sending me sliding back toward her rump. I tightened my grip. The ground under me was covered with broken glass. I heard it crunch under Stormwind’s hooves. I couldn’t fall off, now. Stormwind came down in a buck that threw me onto her neck. I spun her in a circle with the lead rope and felt her body shuddering under my legs as I reached down for Randy. “Get on!” “Uh…I don’t think so…” “Come on!” Vito had stopped shouting at Vinnie and charged towards us. Randy took one look at him, grabbed my hand, and swung up behind me. Stormwind seemed surprised by the extra weight and bucked again. With luck, we stayed on. She leaped into a gallop as Vito howled at us in fury, jumped on a motorcycle and chased us out of his yard. Stormwind tore down the road out of control, and we had no way to stop her. I knew that if Randy fell off it would pull me off too, and at this speed we’d be killed. It was chaos. Stormwind carried us through town as panicked drivers veered out of our way. Buildings passed by in a blur, people running outside staring and pointing, horns honking all around. Someone yelled at us to get out of the road, but we paid no attention. I still heard Vito’s motorcycle not far behind us. We soon left town, cantering down the mountain road that passed the lake. Our shorts were already soaked with Stormwind's sweat. Randy bounced clumsily behind me and I had to hold on tight to keep us both on. But worst of all was Vito and his motorcycle, which kept pace with us even as cars passed. He shouted things over the revving engine, making menacing faces and swerving at us. Stormwind was tiring now, and this time it was me in a panic. What would he do if Stormwind stopped and we got off, or even worse, if she fell or went into labor? What if he followed us clear back to the lean-to? As Stormwind trotted over the bridge that had spooked her so badly that morning, a shrill wailing tore through the air, growing louder every second. “What is that?” I murmured. I hoped it wasn't what I thought it was. Randy's grip on my waist loosened a little as he glanced back. “The cops!” he cried. “They're coming fast. We gotta get outa here, now!” Our overgrown trail was just up ahead. With a leap that nearly sent us tumbling over her side, Stormwind jumped the ditch beside the road and turned into the woods. She seemed to remember the way back. I looked behind us and saw Vito roaring past the trail as the police car sped up behind him, lights flashing and siren shrieking. We finally dismounted when Stormwind stopped by a fallen tree, and we sat down to rest. “My legs are shaking,” Randy said. “So are mine. What’s with that guy?” Randy shrugged. “There’s some trailheads down the road. One of ’em leads to our lean-to. It’s really overgrown and there’s no sign up, or even any trail markers. I don’t think he could get that bike through there, but…” Neither of us had to speak our fear that Vito would find the lean-to. We stood up and followed the creek back home, swatting mosquitoes. Excerpt 4: As I walked back to the house, a gleaming white limousine sat in the driveway, its uniformed driver patiently reading a magazine. I groaned. Aunt Betsy! If it wasn’t one judgmental visitor, it was another. I sighed and went in the living room where I found Dad and Aunt Betsy on the couch, my aunt dabbing at her teary eyes with a handkerchief. “There she is!” she moaned as she hurried toward me. She grabbed my shoulders and gave me a sloppy peck on each cheek. “Your father just told me you came home, and I rushed up here as soon as I heard the news! You should be ashamed of yourself, young lady! Don’t you know how worried we all were?” “That was sort of the point,” I mumbled. “Do not mumble! Speak clearly!” She held me out at arms length and gasped. “Oh, my! Your hair! What did you -” “I cut it, Aunt Betsy.” “With what? A hacksaw? You had such long, beautiful hair! And…turn around, and let me get a look at you. Why, you’re so thin!” “I lost twenty pounds.” “And that was weight that you could not afford to lose. Oh well, I just wish I had your metabolism, dear. And what is that smell?” She stepped away from me, sniffing daintily. I couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. “It’s…Stormwind?” I guessed. “You mean that dirty horse of yours? That must be it. You go right upstairs and change your clothes, and remember to scrub your hands!” I sighed and headed upstairs. There was no arguing with Aunt Betsy, so I changed into a fresh pair of cut-offs and a T-shirt. Randy met me in the hallway. “Kat!” he whispered. “I’ve been stuck up here forever. There’s some frou-frou woman downstairs. What’s going on?” “Oh, that’s Aunt Betsy. The one I told you about, remember? Now, why don’t you come down and meet her?” “Um, I don’t think -” “Oh, c’mon.” I muttered something about moral support and pulled Randy down the hall. Our bare feet slapped on the worn wooden stairs as we headed for the living room, where we found Lavina charming Aunt Betsy. Lavina simpered. “It was wonderful to meet you, Mrs. -” “Betsy. Call me Betsy.” She turned to look at Randy and me. “That’s better, Katherine,” she said as she looked me up and down. “We still need to do something about your wardrobe…but at least now you don’t smell like a horse. And who is this?” Dad stood and walked over to us. “Betsy, this is Randy. He’s going to be staying with us for a while.” “Um…hi.” Randy looked at the floor. Aunt Betsy just stared at him like he was something that crawled out from under a log. Taking Randy’s big sinewy hand, I moved closer to him and smiled mischievously at my aunt. “We met in the woods this summer,” I announced. “We shared the same lean-to. We ended up sharing everything.” My smile broadened as I glanced at Randy, who just looked bewildered. Aunt Betsy gasped. “You lived in the wilds totally unsupervised… with a boy?” She sank into a chair and began fanning her face. “Now, Betsy -” “You stay out of this, Luke. Katherine and I are going to her room to have a talk.” She dragged me off, leaving Randy standing alone looking humiliated, and Lavina smirking at me with a knowing look. “Oh, what have you done?” Aunt Betsy moaned. “Why, your mother must be rolling in her grave. Cohabiting with a boy!” “We weren’t cohabiting. We were camping-” “It amounts to the same thing. You ruined your reputation, and brought shame to the family.” I snickered. “Shame?” “Don’t you laugh at me, Katherine Amanda Normith! The shenanigans you pulled with that boy are improper, and inexcusable!” “But we didn’t do anything improper -” “Nonsense. You teenagers are all alike! Boys that age have only one thing on their minds -” “But Randy’s not like that. He respects me. And he - we - both had more important things to think about. Like whether we’d have anything to eat the next day.” “Well, if you had stayed at home where you belonged, you wouldn’t have had to worry about that.” “But -” “And that is a rude young man! He addresses a lady with 'um… hi?’ What kind of a proper greeting is that?” “He’s just shy, Aunt Betsy.” “That doesn’t matter. He should learn some manners. People are judged by the company they keep, Katherine, and if your companion is an ill-mannered, pony-tailed hoodlum -” “Aunt Betsy, Randy is a very nice person. And I don’t appreciate people calling my friends names -” “And not only that, but I just learned something very interesting today: your father did not buy you that horse, as I was led to believe. Instead, come to find out, you stole it from your neighbor's farm in the middle of the night! That means that you're nothing but a burglar now, a common thief -” “But if I didn't, she'd be -” “Stop it! I don't need to hear your excuses. I obviously cannot talk any sense into you. You’re just like your father.” Aunt Betsy headed for the door, dabbing her eyes again. “Oh, Katherine,” she said with a quivering sigh. “Lavina is such a delightful girl. Why can’t you be more like her?” I could still hear my aunt weeping downstairs. “Oh, I am so embarrassed, Luke,” she whimpered. “Embarrassed and ashamed. My only niece…turned into a bad girl!” After Aunt Betsy left, I sighed and flopped facedown on my bed, idly picking at the chenille blanket. Why couldn’t people just leave me alone?

Great Get Away Read
My first review on Amazon.com: (1st Edition)
By theresa zacharenko

This book is a great read. I purchased it as a quick read (186 pages) for a week in the mountains. It was a quick read, I finished it in 48 hours. The story intrigued me with the opening chapter and kept my interest with every turn of the page. Ms Auborn's knowledge of horses and the rural living in the Adirondack Mts. could only come from real life experiences. The book closes with the heroine Kat sitting on her porch looking at the blooming Tiger Lilies. My ending was similar finishing this delightful book on my porch overlooking the Tiger lilies. A must read for ages 12-65.



Review at www.TeensReadToo.com
STORMWIND OF THE NORTH COUNTRY by Jodi Auborn (1st Edition)
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 6+
Release Date: 4/13/09
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
Rating: 4 Stars


Fourteen-year-old Kat is used to her independence. She and her younger brother have been raised by their
father. She thinks of her mother, who died when Kat was only five, as a sort of guardian angel.

Kat has always loved horses. Since they can’t afford to have one living in their own barn, she spends time at a
stables owned by Lorraine Stillwater. Stillwater doesn’t take care of her horses at all. In fact, the animals live in filth and are abused on a regular basis. When the story begins, Kat is headed to Stillwater’s stable to purchase a white horse named Stormwind. Much to her horror and disappointment, the nasty stable owner tells her $200 is no longer the price. Instead she wants $1,000 or she will be selling the horse to a slaughterhouse.

Kat is furious. She has witnessed the terrible treatment and horrible living conditions for the last time. She steals Stormwind and attempts to hide him on their property. When her father discovers the theft, he demands that she return the horse and won’t listen to Kat’s stories about neglect and abuse.

Just a few days later, Kat is passing Stillwater’s property and hears a commotion. What she sees fires her up all over again. Stillwater is beating the horse in her attempt to get it into the transport trailer headed to the
slaughterhouse. Once again, Kat steps forward and takes the horse. With the helpful distraction of the driver
from the slaughterhouse, she rides away on Stormwind. This time when her father sees the evidence of the
beating, he agrees that the horse should stay with them.

In the meantime, Kat and her brother are shocked to find out that their young father has decided to invite a
woman to their home for the summer. He met Lavina at one of the performances of his music group, and evidently he has fallen in love. Lavina is not a country girl, and she doesn’t seem interested in fitting in at all. In
fact, when Kat and her brother take the opportunity to snoop through her belongings, they believe she might
actually be a real estate agent intent on getting their father to sell her his property.

The real action begins when Kat comes up with a plan. She tells her brother that she plans to run away and
follow an old abandoned route from their home into Canada. The idea is that when her father discovers she is
missing, he will become involved in looking for her and Lavina will leave.

Kat’s journey into the wilderness riding on a pregnant Stormwind takes her into one crisis situation after another. In addition to crossing rapids, dealing with scavenging raccoons, and creating a shelter to weather storms, Kat meets Randy, another teen looking for answers in the deep woods.

STORMWIND OF THE NORTH COUNTRY is unique in that author Jodi Auborn uses a female protagonist in the role of wilderness survivor. Readers looking for a girl action figure will be satisfied with this read, despite the
sometimes unpredictable prose.



Review at www.FeatheredQuill.com
Stormwind of the North Country
(1st Edition)

By: Jodi Auborn
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Publication Date: April 2009
ISBN: 978-1607493358
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: August 25, 2010


Katherine Normith, or Kat to her friends, is one very determined fourteen-year-old. She knows what she wants, and even if the adults around her tell her it’s impossible, young Kat will find a way to make it happen. That’s just what she did to save a beloved horse, Stormwind.

Kat had been taking riding lessons at a farm down the road from her house for several years. She hated the farm, and the farm’s owner, Lorraine Stillwater, a cruel woman who abuses her horses. But if Kat didn’t come and take care of the horses (mucks stalls, brush the horses, etc.), who would? There are several neglected horses on the property, including Kat’s favorite, a pretty Arabian mare named Stormwind that only she can ride.

As the story opens, Kat is headed to Stillwater’s place to buy Stormwind. But the spiteful woman refuses to sell the mare, instead telling Kat that Stormwind is headed to the slaughterhouse. In desperation, Kat sneaks out at night and steals the horse.

When Kat’s father, Luke, finds out what his daughter has done, he’s quite upset. To make matters worse, he never gave Kat permission to buy the horse. When she had asked, he was deep in thought concentrating on his new long distance girlfriend and had mumbled a reply without realizing what his daughter was asking. Kat is forced to return Stormwind to Stillwater’s farm.

In a startling turn of events, Kat soon finds herself the owner of her beloved horse. Life should be good but then Luke’s new girlfriend, Lavina, arrives. A city woman who is very out of place in the country, Lavina has ulterior motives, which Kat soon discovers. She tries to talk to her father, but Luke is too in love to listen to his daughter. In protest, Kat runs away, taking Stormwind and her dog Hesperus for protection.

Kat heads into the deep woods of the Adirondack Mountains. Along with many thrilling, and frightening adventures, she meets a mysterious boy, Randy. Realizing they truly need each other to survive what nature, and man, throws at them, they soon become friends.

Stormwind of the North Country is an endearing story about a teen who is struggling to find herself and her place in the world. There is plenty of horse action in the first half of the story but it slowly takes a back seat to the relationship between Kat and Randy, as well as Kat, her dad, and Lavina. If you’re looking for a book that is all “horse,” this may not be the right book. But if you want a story where the protagonist is a very strong, self-assured female, take a look at this tale. Teens will likely relate to Kat and the story should draw them in to learn how Kat solves her problems.

The author has obviously spent time in the beautiful Adirondack’s as her descriptions of the scenery are spot on. You can hear the birds chirping and bugs buzzing in the background as Kat and Randy walk through a meadow. I did find some of the events strained believability (Stillwater reads a book while her stallion struggles to free himself from barbed wire, Kat takes Stormwind for a 4 hour trail ride shortly after the mare foals). There are also some scenes that might be tough for more sensitive readers, such as the death of a horse, and the revelation of the pain that Randy has endured. However, I suspect most teens won’t mind. They’ll be hoping Kat saves the horses, saves the farm, and helps Randy return to a “normal” life.

Quill says: A girl, a beautiful horse, and a journey in the woods, will draw many teens to this adventure.

For more information on Stormwind of the North Country, please visit the author's website at: JodilAuborn.webs.com

Please note that Stormwind is also available through the publisher for $9.95 plus shipping. You can learn more here.