LUCK by Natalie Keller Reinert

Fourth in the Eventing series brings Jules Thornton about as low as she could go. She and her boyfriend Pete Morrison are still moving around Florida. The run of poor LUCK has seen them lose Briar Hill Farm, Pete’s family home. Can they turn their luck around, and will their relationship survive? Life is going to get worse before it improves.

Natalie Keller Reinert writes horses incredibly well. She also doesn’t hesitate to throw life challenge after disaster at her poor characters. Now, I never understood why Jules sold the small farm she bought with her college fund. Okay, the buildings were destroyed by a hurricane, but they could have kept the fields. Maybe there is some land tax law I’m ignorant of, but anyway, now the pair are reduced to renting a field. They are testing their relationship by living together in a horse trailer. This is not the kind of trailer I’m used to, as it has a little self-contained accommodation unit to help riders attend shows. Actually, it must be a massive trailer. But that doesn’t make it a house.

The ever-present social media figures again in the tale, as Jules gains a fan club of young teen riders, and she helps herself by giving riding lessons for steady income at a nearby stable, using their facilities to train her event horses. Her sponsors are silent about the move – for now – but Dynamo and Danger Mouse (known as Mickey) had better keep winning when the season opens. Other people are not so understanding. The owners of competition horses, for one thing, want prestige. Living in a field with no stabling doesn’t cut the mustard.

We see Jules growing up. From her previous declaration that she just wants to win, she has to consolidate her dreams to care for her few special horses, her boyfriend, and her beagle Marcus. She develops more ethics and empathy where younger riders are concerned. Some serious events occur, which show us that you can’t trust people to do anything but look out for their personal interests. The horse world has always been an expensive one, and it seems that there is either too much money or none. I also noticed that most of Jules’s interactions are with women and most of Pete’s interactions are with men. Maybe women are equal opportunity employers – or prefer women around their kids – but men hire men.

LUCK can be tough going at times, but it’s quite addictive if only to see how they get out of this one. Come on, Jules, we’re cheering for you.

The fourth book in Natalie Keller Reinert’s beloved Eventing Series, set in the high-stakes world of three-day eventing, now reimagined and repackaged!

Jules and Pete have hit rock bottom. They are living in a tiny horse trailer, their horses are in temporary stalls, and they have to rely on nearby farms to train. Yet somehow, Jules has never been happier: for perhaps the first time ever, she feels free. But Pete doesn’t see it that way. Still reeling from the loss of his beloved Briar Hill Farm, Pete struggles to adapt. And when word of their new circumstances gets out, the owners Jules and Pete depend on begin to question whether or not they can trust them.

Desperate to shore up their reputation, Jules finds herself teaching students, something she had long ago sworn off. But to her surprise, she actually likes teaching—even the snarky, pink-haired student who is more like Jules than she realizes. As Jules imagines a different kind of life, Pete schemes to get back to the top of the equestrian scene. When he resorts to questionable tactics to secure a new horse, Jules realizes how lost he is. Jules has never considered herself to be lucky, but maybe she’s had it wrong all along. Can she convince Pete that the only luck they need is their horses, and each other?

In Natalie Keller Reinert’s beloved eight-book Eventing Series, we follow Jules and her friends through the joys and heartbreaks of the competitive eventing circuit, as they work their way into elite echelons—and into one another’s lives and hearts. Utterly immersive and propulsive, this series is an unforgettable journey for anyone who has ever fallen in love with horses, or humans.