This is one of those times where I really wish Goodreads had half or quarter stars. I can't quite decide on a star rating because this wasn't quite 4 stars for me, but I couldn't give it merely 3 stars either. So, in the spirit of doing the next best thing, I'm going to give it the 4. 
 I'm a huge fan of Maggie Stiefvater's writing. I don't know what it is about it, but she always manages to draw me in, even when the subject (in this case, horses) is not something that would normally pique my interest. But as with her Wolves of Mercy Falls series (which is about werewolves--another think that doesn't normally interest me) she has snagged me again with The Scorpio Races. 
 This story is not full of action or even races, as the title and cover suggests. It's about family and home and love--though not really romantic love. There's a smidgen of romance, but this is mostly familial love--not just between human members of family, but also between humans and their horses. I've seen many reviews complaining about the fact that the actual race is only 10 pages long, etc, etc, but I think those people fail to realize what this story is really about. It didn't both me, because I got it. 
 Kate (Puck) Connelly joined the races as the first female ever to, to try to save her family from being torn apart. She wanted her brother Gabe not to leave the island, and to save her family home. She also needed the money to enable her to keep her horse, her best friend, Dove. 
 Sean Kendrick, the other narrator, was racing to buy his horse, *his* best friend, Corr, from the man who owned him. 
 The races were just a means to an end. 
 There were things about this story I felt weren't fully explained and didn't really make sense to me, but I wonder if that wasn't on purpose. The only things I really wish had been different, were that we could have learned Gabe's reason for needing to leave. We were never told and it bothered me a little not knowing. It was such a huge thing for Puck, yet we never really knew beyond: "I just can't bear it." That was unsatisfactory to me. 
 I would have also liked to see more of the friendship/romance between Sean and Puck. It was very sweet and slow developing. Just perfect. I guess I just wish we could have seen a bit more between them. 
 I really liked the ending. It was just the right amount of bittersweet to me. 
 I would recommend this book to people who love horses, first and foremost, but also to those who crave an atmosphere rich story. This isn't an action tale, it's not a romance, but there is depth to the familial bonds and the bonds to a place. All in all, even though it was a bit of a slow read, I did enjoy it.