False Gods: The Show Jumper's Challenge

Teens

synopsis

Synopsis

Cory Iverson's junior year is off to a lousy start. Publicly humiliated by the school's hottest guy and terrorized by a bullying band director, Cory flees sports try-outs and just about everything else she begins, earning a reputation as a loser as well as a quitter. But when her wandering dog leads her to the barn of a former Grand Prix rider, she finds a welcome refuge in the familiar world of horses. It's not too long before she starts dreaming of showing in one of the country's most prestigious shows--a totally unrealistic hope--until she rescues a mysterious horse with some unusual talents. But her road to success is littered with roadblocks as events spin out of control: prescription painkillers appear in her mother's purse; her ballerina sister wastes away before her eyes; her boyfriend is keeping secrets; and her normally opinionated trainer becomes strangely evasive. Worst of all, the horse show world is not what she imagined. It isn't long before Cory's winning spree attracts the attention of a brutal trainer with a string of unexplained horse deaths in her wake. When Cory lands in the crosshairs, she has to decide if she'll once again back down and flee or stand up for herself, her horse, and her dreams.

bio

Author Biography

Inspired by everyday miracles, L.R. Trovillion weaves magical stories of hurting people who find hope through horses in her Maryland Equestrian Novel series. Although she earned a degree in Russian and spent a career in government service, her real love has been caring for and working with horses. That love shines through in her series, focusing on the healing power of horses in the lives of teens facing complex and sometimes dangerous family situations. Believing there is more to this world than meets the eye, she adds a dash of the supernatural to each story. L. R. Trovillion lives on a small horse farm in Maryland with her husband, daughter, and several animals that really run the place. Her other works have appeared in Baltimore magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and various poetry anthologies.

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Author Insight

Scent and Memory: What Makes You Happy?

Scent triggers memories. This has been a known fact for some time. Some scents stir up powerful, long forgotten memories the brain has kept hidden. For example, while cleaning up after a home improvement project, I opened a can of turpentine and immediately saw an image of my mother when she was young woman. The smell brought me back to early childhood, watching her oil painting, enveloped in the smell of linseed oil, paint, and mineral spirits. It is a vague memory, but conjures up a sense of contentment. In my writing, I refer to scent, odor, smells both good and bad because they are such strong triggers to memory and therefore emotions. What are some of your favorites?

Book Excerpt

False Gods: The Show Jumper's Challenge

“So what was your heart’s desire, Mom?” Her tone sounded challenging. She tried to soften it. “Was there ever something that really got you excited . . . like something you had to have or do?”

“There was.” Roni nodded.

“Art school?” Cory asked, remembering rooms full of stretched canvases in the old house in Massachusetts and the comforting smell of linseed oil when she came home from school. That would mean her mom was upstairs in the sunniest room of the house happily painting.

“No, I loved art, but that wasn’t it.”

Cory thought she would tell her, but instead, she looked down and again fussed with her ratty old robe, pulling off cotton pills.

“Then what?”

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L R Trovillion

False Gods: The Show Jumper's Challenge

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

Scent and Memory: What Makes You Happy?

Book Excerpt

False Gods: The Show Jumper's Challenge

Comment on this Bubble