Thief of Happy Endings

by Kristen Chandler

Overview

Sarah Dessen meets the Wild West in this tale of wild mustangs, irresistible wranglers, and the first rule of horses: if you get bucked off, you have to get back on.

Cassidy Carrigan wasn’t planning to ever get on a horse again. She wasn’t even planning on going to back to school after her dad moved out, her best friend ditched her, and her anxiety took over. But then she wasn’t planning on being shipped off to a ranch in the mountains of Wyoming as a charity case either. Or falling for a cowboy with a broken nose and an even more broken soul. But sometimes you just have to do a stupid, dangerous thing to have the time of your life.

Set in the wild, beautiful west, here is a story about fear and failure and falling in love when the odds are against you. Alternatingly heart-stopping and heart-breaking, The Thief of Happy Endings is a story that will stay with you, like a summer you’ll never forget.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425290477
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/19/2018
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Kristen Chandler is the author of the award-winning Girls Don’t Fly and Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me. Kristen became a writer after being paid in cookies to tell stories to a crying toddler. The crying toddler liked Kristen’s stories enough to stop crying, and Kristen liked cookies enough to keep telling stories. Kristen has also been a ranch hand, waitress, salesperson, ice cream store manager, secretary, freelance journalist, and college writing instructor. She lives in Utah.

Editorial Reviews

04/30/2018
When she was seven, Cassidy showed great promise as a horseback rider, but then she was violently bucked and stopped riding. Now, as a teenager, she’s deathly afraid of getting on a horse, yet she’s spending the summer in Wyoming on her grandfather’s former ranch, where herds of wild mustangs run free. Despite being surrounded by unkind fellow workers who don’t think she can live up to her grandfather’s legacy, Cassidy slowly works her way up to riding again. Her love and knowledge of horses is evident, as is her expertise about living and working on a horse ranch, including her awareness of animal rights issues. Through Cassidy, Chandler showcases the upside of ranch living (being among beautiful horses), but she also isn’t shy about its downsides (hard work, scarce showers, cleaning outhouses). Cassidy’s life is multilayered, as she navigates new friendships and family difficulties, and finds romance with another rancher, but the real romance is between Cassidy and the horses as she learns to overcome her fears. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for THIEF OF HAPPY ENDINGS:
 
“Cassidy’s life is multilayered, as she navigates new friendships and family difficulties, and finds romance with another rancher, but the real romance is between Cassidy and the horses as she learns to overcome her fears.” – Publishers Weekly
 
“Chandler finds authentic emotion […] in Thief of Happy Endings.” – Salt Lake City Weekly
 
“Contemplative and observant.” – Booklist
 
“A complex story that unfolds slowly, with no startling transformations or revelations, just a real-life sense of growth, accomplishment, and purpose.” – Kirkus Reviews
 
“Bittersweet… An overall heartfelt story for contemporary YA readers.” – Wishful Endings blog
 
“If you like horses, some romance, and a good amount of deep emotion, this is a book to look out for.” – Cover2Cover blog

From the Publisher

06/01/2018
Gr 7 Up—Cassidy used to be a natural rider, but a nasty fall, the death of her grandfather, and her parents' crumbling marriage made getting back on a horse all but impossible. Years later, she is being dropped off at a ranch in the middle of Wyoming. The thought of riding makes her toes curl up in her cowboy boots, but she's expected to help show off the mustangs at a local auction in hopes that the horses will be adopted. Cassidy's insomnia leads her to make a connection with one of the wildest steeds and the mysterious cowboy willing to risk it all for the horses he loves. Chandler manages to weave a story rich with a variety of relationships, such as Cassidy dealing with her divorcing parents, navigating new friendships, and confronting a bully roommate. Finding her voice and self-confidence are her biggest hurdles, but she manages to do so with wit and a big heart. Questioning what it means to do the "right thing" even if it means breaking the rules will resonate with teens. Fans of Sarah Dessen will enjoy the complex personal dynamics, while younger readers who love horse books will latch onto the equine backdrop to this YA selection. Although the action can flatline at times, those who stick it out will be rewarded with a feel-good story of self-discovery. VERDICT For readers who crave adventure, romance, and a touch of dry humor. A good choice for YA collections.—Carrie Finberg, South Park High School, PA

School Library Journal

2018-04-03
A teen is sent to a remote Wyoming horse camp to recover from the trauma of her parents' impending divorce.Sixteen-year-old Cassidy gets to spend the summer with mostly-troubled, mostly-rich teens at Point of No Return Youth Ranch, working off part of the cost of her stay by cleaning latrines. At camp she's expected to ride the horses—despite her fear of them—and also work with yearling mustangs, accustoming them to human handling before they're auctioned at the end of the summer. Slowly, Cassidy begins to open up to a few of her fellow campers and counselors, particularly her tentmate Alice and the junior counselor, Justin, who sneaks out at night to set penned mustangs loose. Told from Cassidy's first-person point of view, it's a complex story that unfolds slowly, with no startling transformations or revelations, just a real-life sense of growth, accomplishment, and purpose. In the end, Cassidy says, "…the space between what I thought happiness looks like and all the things I didn't want to happen is the space where I found a new happiness…." A white default is assumed, with a few diverse characters present. Unfortunately, Asian-American Alice has a two-dimensional, clichéd backstory that feels inauthentic, and African-American camper, Ethan, behaves in a way that feeds negative stereotypes of black males in a tone-deaf, cringeworthy scene seemingly intended to evoke feel-good anti-racist solidarity.A thoughtful book apart from its well-intentioned blunders around diverse representations. (Fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews

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