Ethan Keller loved his books; they were his escape from reality.  At seventeen he lived a pretty sheltered life biding his time between the general store where he worked, his mother’s boarding house and the town school teacher who supplied him with the books he loved so much. Ethan’s pretty routine life was about to be shaken up when a stranger, Travis Cain, rides to town and Ethan feels a connection to him that he doesn’t understand.

Travis intrigues Ethan. He soon convinces Ethan to go on a cattle drive where Ethan finds it harder to control the growing feelings he has for Travis.  As Travis and Ethan begin to accept the love they have for each other and plan a future together outside forces threaten to tear them apart.

The Filly is nice story of first love and trusting in your heart.  The Filly was pretty much an easy going story for most of the book.  There were no real antagonists in the story until much later.  Even Ethan's brother Willie, with his bad attitude toward life showed he had a really good heart and was someone to be counted on when needed.  The person who turned out to be the villain was someone I was not expecting it to be.  The reasons behind their betrayal and the consequences of it made their actions even more despicable. I knew something big was going to destroy what Ethan and Travis found, but when it occurred I was very shocked. For a first novel Mark R Probst did very well, The Filly is a great read for anyone looking for a sweet romance story about first love.