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.
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.
Touches of everyday magic throughout this inspiring story. FREE for limited time 4-8 March on Amazon. Find out why readers of all ages can't get enough of the Maryland Equestrian series.
Book Excerpt
False Gods: The Show Jumper's Challenge
The mare was taller than most of the others, with a much larger build. She wasn’t especially attractive, since it looked like she had been partially clipped for the winter and her coat was a strange mousy gray. Her tail was completely covered in mud, hanging in stringy clumps, and her mane was matted, uneven, and rubbed out in some sections. She had nicks and cuts on her legs, her hooves were overly long and cracked, and there were two open sores on either side of her withers. Her black eyes, though, watched everything around her. Her head was large but not unattractive, except for her enormous ears, and it was perched on the end of a long, arched neck. The others in the pen kept a watchful eye on this mare. When she turned sideways, Cory noticed the marker on her hip. All the horses wore an oval sticker with a number on their flanks. Cory brushed the mud off the mare’s sticker and felt a little jolt when she read 537. It was the number of the house she grew up in back in Massachusetts.
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