Dark Horses

by Cecily von Ziegesar Narrated by Luis Moreno, Sandy Rustin

Overview

From the internationally bestselling author of Gossip Girl comes a dark, psychologically complex update of Black Beauty replete with jealousy, romance, mystery, and redemption. Merritt Wenner has been self-destructing ever since the tragic deaths of her grandmother and her horse, and after an epic all-night bender she walks out of the SAT and disappears. Her parents, looking for a quick fix, ship her off to a residential equine therapy program. At Good Fences, Merritt meets Red-a failed racehorse and a terror in the barn. Red has never bonded with anyone, but Merritt is not afraid of him, which makes all the difference. Soon they're sneaking rides after curfew, which catches the attention of Red's owner. Recognizing their potential, he funds their launch into the competitive hunter/jumper circuit. Against the cutthroat backdrop of competitive riding, Merritt and their groom, Beatrice, develop an attraction. Merritt also finds herself drawn to Carvin, a rival rider. But in Red's mind, Merritt belongs to him alone. Anyone else poses a threat. And Merritt can't foresee what he'll do to keep her to himself.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

07/04/2016
Gossip Girl author Von Ziegesar turns her attention to the competitive horse show circuit. Seventeen-year-old loner Merritt Wenner, still mourning her grandmother’s unexpected death a year ago, resorts to destructive behavior that gets her self-absorbed parents to seek help for her at an equine therapy program in Connecticut. There Merritt meets Red, an unruly former racehorse. Riding together cements their bond and leads Merritt to train and compete with Red alongside an attractive Californian named Carvin, with Beatrice, an unstable teen, as Red’s groom. Alternating narratives switch between the viewpoints of Merritt and Red, the latter an unusual choice that doesn’t entirely pay off: while it foreshadows the dangerous extent of Red’s intense feelings for Merritt, his frequent invoking of misheard song lyrics (“We were an island in the stream. Sweet dreams were made of bliss”) and other anthropomorphized commentary tends to grate as the plot intensifies. Still, Von Ziegesar’s knowledge of equestrian competition and the compelling pairing of a troubled horse with an equally scarred teenager make this an engaging, if somewhat predictable read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Eric Brown, Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Praise for Dark Horses

"A compelling story of love and fixation . . . The twisted tale of Merritt and Red has the power and mystery of myth."
—Eliot Schrefer, New York Times bestselling author and two-time National Book Award finalist

“Move over, Black Beauty. Cecily von Ziegesar has brought the classic horse novel into the twenty-first century with an alluring, heart-wrenching, and nail-biting look at an elite and tumultuous world. The relationship between Merritt and Red is haunting and powerful. I devoured this book to its very end.”
—Sara Shepard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars

“Told in dual perspectives of a troubled teen and the difficult horse she’s paired with, Dark Horses is an exciting new addition to YA you will not want to miss! Von Ziegesar has created a world so utterly unique, compelling, and at times heartwrenching, it stayed with me long after I turned the last page.”
—Alyson Noël, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortals series and Unrivaled

"Dark Horses is a slightly bizarre spin on Black Beauty, about characters who go to desperate lengths to find control, purpose and love in their lives. In an unusual viewpoint, Red shines as a tragic victim of human whim."
—Chico Enterprise-Register

"This page-turner will draw in a whole new audience with just the right blend of glamor, scandal, and horses."
—School Library Journal

"The competitive riding world is always a draw, and this is an intriguing look into its dark side. If that weren't enough, von Ziegesar's (the Gossip Girl series) name alone will spur readers."
—Booklist

"Von Ziegesar, known for her Gossip Girl series, nails teen dialogue and horse-show society."
—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Cecily von Ziegesar

“The heartlessness of youth is von Ziegesar’s double-edged theme . . . Her designated reader is an adolescent girl, but the reader she seems to have firmly in mind as she writes is a literate, even literary, adult.”
—The New Yorker

“Sophisticated. Von Ziegesar takes seriously the inner lives of characters who in any other teen narrative would be stock villains.”
—New York Magazine

School Library Journal

07/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—Von Ziegesar, best known for the "Gossip Girl" series, makes a solid return to the world of privileged and troubled teens. Merritt Wenner has been struggling with just about everything since the death of her beloved grandmother and her grandmother's horse. When she crosses the line, her parents send her to Good Fences, an equine therapy program for troubled girls. Merritt strikes an unusual connection with Red, a wild and aggressive horse whom nobody else can control. Their bond makes Merritt a standout rider, and she and Red soon find themselves stars of the competition circuit. As she builds relationships with her groom and another rider, Merritt begins to heal, but the horse becomes increasingly possessive and jealous, with disastrous results. This work alternates points of view between Merritt and Red. This is as effective as it is entertaining. Red makes a complex and somewhat unpredictable antagonist, and once a radio is placed in his stall, his sections are peppered with song lyrics, which provide much-needed levity as his possessiveness turns threatening. Other than Merritt, the human characters are a fairly stock combination of the rich and the miserable, but it's unlikely teens will pay them much mind as they read on to see what Red will do next. VERDICT While Von Ziegesar's original fans have long since moved on to adulthood, this page-turner will draw in a whole new audience, with just the right blend of glamor, scandal, and horses. Recommended for public and high school libraries.—Elizabeth Saxton, Tiffin, OH

Kirkus Reviews

2016-06-01
A troubled teen finds her temporary soul mate in a troubled horse. At Red's only race, the 3-year-old thoroughbred jumps the track rails and causes a terrific accident. Mr. de Rothschild, a wealthy white man (everyone seems to be white in this book except Luis, a Latino groom), buys him for his troubled 18-year-old daughter, Beatrice, but when, unsurprisingly, she can't handle him, he donates the horse to a therapeutic equine center he has founded. Merritt, 17, arrives there after going on the lam from her private Manhattan school's SAT. Although the patients don't actually ride the horses, Merritt rides Red, and the two form an immediate, unrealistic bond. Without any training the young horse and occasional pleasure rider are suddenly capable of tackling a course of fences. De Rothschild sees dollar signs and shoves the pair into the high-end show circuit, with Beatrice along as groom. Merritt flirts with Beatrice but falls for a dishy boy rider; Red becomes jealous; trouble ensues. The narration alternates in chapters between Merritt and Red, who comes off as an equine version of an abusive boyfriend. Von Ziegesar, known for her Gossip Girls series, nails teen dialogue and horse-show society, but her side characters are all cardboard cutouts, and her plot is a hopeless, melodramatic morass; the horse-as-thwarted-lover aspect feels icky in the extreme. A soap-operatic blend of Romeo and Juliet and My Friend Flicka. Yikes. (Fiction. 12-16)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171170752
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/13/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Prologue
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Dark Horses"
by .
Copyright © 2016 Cecily von Ziegesar.
Excerpted by permission of Soho Press.
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