When Amy's father gives her a thoroughbred jumper, she decides to begin showing again. She meets Daniel at a local event and becomes interested in helping him treat his horse, Amber.
When Amy meets Daniel, she is stunned by his defensive nature. She can't figure out how someone with so much love for his horse could be so cold to everyone else. But as Amy gets to know Daniel, she begins to understand him. She respects that he won't give in to the pageantry of the elite show circuit - and that he doesn't care what others say about his horse. Daniel rides Amber like it's the two of them against the world. And Amy wants to do everything she can to help them conquer it.
Lauren Brooke grew up in a ranch in Virginia and now lives in Leicestershire, England. Her husband is a veterinarian who specializes in horses. Her books have been published by Scholastic since Mid-2000, starting with the first book of the Heartland book series. The first book of her popular Chestnut Hill series was published in 2005.
According to an interview on scholastics' website, Lauren Brooke has been riding since before she could walk. She also said she competes in a few local-level horse shows and events.
There may be some other people in books and movies named Lauren Brooke: Amazon lists the author of "Book of spiritual regeneration" (1995) as Lauren Brooke. IMDB.com has a record for an Actress named Lauren Brooke. Her only movie is "Wiseguys vs. Zombies" (2003) as Goat Man's Wife.
Another great and relaxing read! I am going to miss these books when I finish them. 😥
Amy’s father has gifted her and Lou (Amy’s older sister) a beautiful horse named Storm, born with the gift and love for jumping. With Storms arrival Amy’s love for the competing world has reignited and she decides to start showing again. At the competitions, Amy meets a new friend, Daniel, and his beloved horse Amber. As Daniel struggles with Amber's unwillingness to train for the show ring, Amy decides to help him as much as she can so he can reach the top. But when tragedy strikes will Amy really be able to help??
*Feel free to check out my overview for the Heartland series over on my Substack blog:
This one was so good but as sad as sad can be. Amber getting hurt at the show and later being put down was heartbreaking. Loved the way Amy and the family took Daniel end and helped him as they did.
The series is written for a younger audience but I really like to read them as an adult because I am a huge fan of the tv show. This book made me cry a lot because it deals with grief and letting beloved ones go.
Amy visits a local horse show just as a spectator, because her pony Sundance is lame. There she gets to know Daniel and his horse Amber. Daniel is a young and ambitious show-jumper and Amber is a quiet talented mare, but she doesn't seems like that from her outer, bulky appearance. Back home at Heartland there is a big surprise waiting for Amy: Her father bought her a show-jumping horse named Monsun (in the german novel), which is related to the beloved but deceased horse Pegasus from Amys Dad. From now on Amy has to work very hard on the ranch to have free time to train with Monsun and attend at all the upcoming show-jumping events in this season.
In this book, Amy meets a boy, Daniel, at a horse show. Daniel's horse is not what you would imagine when you imagine a show jumping star. Daniel is not sure about Amy and feels like she is putting him and his horse down, like most other snobs he meets on the show grounds. Amy really just wants to help Daniel and his horse, Amber. Of course, Ty gets pretty jealous because Amy is spending time with another boy. This book took a tragic turn though, and was pretty sad. I love this series, and I cannot wait to get these books for my daughter.
I really like that this one doesn't work out as perfectly as the others. I like the addition of Daniel and Amber in this one and how it starts with a revisit of Spartan. I like how this one reflects on the year since Amy's mom passed. I didn't love the initial conflict in the beginning with the arrival of Storm and the conflict between Amy and Ty regarding Heartland vs. shows. Having read part of the series before I know it kind of sets things up for future books, but the drama between Amy and Ty doesn't seem as genuine as it could be.
Another heartwarming book in the series. This one had a lot of sadness in it. Between the Daniel and Amber storyline (so tragic!) and it being the one year anniversary of Marion’s death there was a lot of grief in this one. It wasn’t all sad and had some happy moments, but I had a hard time getting over what happened to Amber! It was nice to see the family come together in hard times and be there to support each other.
Depuis que son poney s'est déchiré un tendon, Laura ne peut plus participer aux compétitions. Alors quand son père, Tim, lui fait cadeau d'un cheval, elle va enfin pouvoir participer à nouveau aux concours équestres. Et Laura rencontre Daniel... un merveilleux cavalier.
Encore une très bonne suite des aventures de Laura !
i really enjoyed this one! i almost cried during one of the last chapters as the lesson of “sometimes things are out of our control and there’s nothing we can do” is put on display. honestly, these books while they miss other key writing points, the story and the powerful lessons make up for it and it just makes me so excited to finish each book and start the next!
Continuing with the re-reads. I still mostly like book number 10, and a few minor things happen here that continue through the next several books and become more important.
January 2003 I never read any of the other books in this series before this one landed in my hands, but I didn't feel like I missed much. The struggle of the poor kid at the rich kids' horse shows was something I had felt myself, and I felt like it was well done, considering this is one of those horse series. This is one series that seems to have some substance to it.
December 13-14 re-read Previously I had read this book without the background of any of the other Heartland books, and a couple of years ago I decided to read this whole series in order, at least until book 10 (this book).
Amy meets Daniel at a horse show, where he is rude to her because he thinks she's like Ashley, a spoiled rich rider who sneers at him for having patched up show clothes and a horse that doesn't look like a Thoroughbred jumper. But Daniel and his horse Amber are really talented, and Amy stretches her already limited time to try to help him out. Meanwhile she is dealing with the one-year anniversary of her mother's death, and struggling in her relationship with Ty, plus her father surprises them with a horse he bought on a whim, Storm, who could be a top-level jumper. But when Amber is injured at a show, will Amy have time for any of that?
Amy's struggle with managing her time has come up several times in the Heartland series and in this volume seems to be at a climax point. I was really hoping that she would offer Daniel a job and have him ride Storm after Amber dies, but perhaps that will come up in later books. This book seemed to focus on processing grief and taking time for it, even though time might not be available. I liked Daniel as a character and I hope he does return later in the series.
I know that I said I was taking a break from reading these books but I was stuck at my parents with nothing to do, so read a couple. They’re definitely good for passing the time and not taking too long to read. Again I enjoyed this book and this will be a similar review as to the others I’ve done on this series.
So I have to admit it, the book made me cry (I was a bit down so it wouldn’t take much). But I did like that Daniel didn’t let his dreams be shattered by the death of his horse and kept going. Of course he mourned his loss but carried on.
My thoughts on Amy’s new horse. I think the reason she was so quick to accept it and try to make it work was because of her desire to be more like her mum and to be closer to her dad. She knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea, so did everyone else but she tried to make it work and the others tried to help her, showing that they all had a good community going on at Heartland. Will it last though? I know the answer to this as I’ve read the series before but anyway…
So I enjoyed this book and it enabled me to not be bored out of my mind while I was staring at my parents. But there was still some time left so I read another one.
Vraiment il faut arrêter avec les livres tristes. Encore une fois, Lauren Brooke nous brise le cœur. On fait ici la rencontre de Daniel compétiteur en CSO avec sa jument Ambre. Laura dans le même temps se met elle aussi au concours avec Summer Storm. Elle doit donc concilier travail au ranch et entrainement pour les prochaines compétitions. Laura tente donc de tout mener de front mais cela reste compliqué autant pour elle que pour ses proches. Encore une fois Lauren Brooke dépeint avec précision les sentiments adolescents, l'envie de tout mener de front et le sentiment de pouvoir tout faire. Ca rend Laura légèrement agaçante mais d'autant plus réaliste.
Another quick read in this series, I found this book amusing and fun. While it did not end the way I had half-way expected it, I think I might be able to predict what might happen with Daniel and Storm, when Amy realizes there isn't enough hours in the day and has to decide between jumping and Heartland, and will chose Heartland and since Storm is a jumping horse, gee, who do we know who horse jumping and recently lost their beloved horse? Overall, another interesting addition to this series. Now it's probably time for me to take a break from the kid's reads!
I love this series and this author. Some of these books make me cry because they are so tuching. This is what I would like to do when I grow up. I love the idea of helping horses and helping them to trust again.
This book revolves more around showing and the competitive side of horses. It shows the best and the worst of the horse world and is a really emotional book with a sad but gentle ending. Really exciting book!!