The Eventing series

Jules Thornton didn’t come to Florida horse country to make friends. With her beloved horse Dynamo and her ruthless ambition, she is intent on becoming a world-class rider and trainer. Chasing dreams this big doesn’t leave much time for things like friends or vacations or properly cooked meals. And she certainly doesn’t have time for Pete Morrison, the handsome heir to one of Ocala’s grandest horse farms who keeps beating her at events and, for some reason, asking her out to dinner. But even Jules has to admit that she is hanging on by a thread.

It took a hurricane for her to admit it, but Jules Thornton is finally in love. After losing her farm and nearly her life last year, Jules is back on her feet, living with her sweet, handsome boyfriend, Pete Morrison, at his idyllic Briar Hill Farm. True, she is more dependent on Pete than she might have liked, but he is constantly reassuring her that they are a team, that she will always have a home at Briar Hill. And when Pete is offered a dream sponsorship and a trip to England to hone his cross-country skills, he promises that Jules will be getting her own offer.

Jules Thornton isn’t afraid of anything―except, maybe, riding racehorses. So she never imagined she would find herself at a racetrack at dawn. But Briar Hill Farm is in trouble, and she and her boyfriend, Pete Morrison, are willing to do just about anything to save their home. Jules’ easygoing new boss, Alex, couldn’t be more different than her, but they share a passion for their horses and a fierce ambition. And Jules really needs a friend right now, because Pete has been more distant than ever.

Jules and Pete have hit rock bottom. They are living in the middle of nowhere in a tiny horse trailer, their horses are in temporary stalls, and they are dependent on nearby farms for training facilities. Yet somehow, despite all of that, Jules has never been happier. She has her horses and her boyfriend and her loyal beagle, and, for perhaps the first time ever, she feels free. But Pete doesn’t see things the way she does. Still reeling from the loss of Briar Hill, the beautiful farm he was supposed to inherit, Pete struggles to adapt to their new life.

If Jules was sure about one thing, it was that she would never become a riding instructor. But suddenly she is the lead instructor at the Alachua Eventing Co-Op, and though Jules never thought she’d be so sentimental, she loves training up a new generation of riders. Her own riding has never been better, and Jules will be able to afford a promising new horse if she and Dynamo can win at the Central Park Horse Show in the fall.

This time, Jules might finally be in over her head. Pete is away in California, and Jules’ promising new horse, Confident Liar, is proving to be a tough ride. Not to mention, her employers are putting the pressure on, expecting more from Jules than she can possibly provide. And Evan Folkes is dangling a shot at international competition that Jules is hard-pressed to resist. She has the support of her old friends and her beloved students, but she’s being pulled in a million different directions.

Though Jules has spent her adult life bouncing from one farm to another, it never mattered: home was always where her horses were. But now, newly engaged and pregnant, she is yearning for a place she can truly call home. Alachua Eventing Co-Op once felt like that, but the co-op board is making Jules’ life difficult again, and her good friend (and professional rival) Kit seems destined to take Jules’ spot as head instructor. When Jules’ doctor forbids her from getting into the saddle until the baby comes, Jules has a full-blown existential crisis. Who is she if she’s not on horseback?

Ten months after giving birth to her son, Jules is back on top. Or, she’s ready to be. She and Pete have traveled to Maryland in prep for the Chesapeake Three-Day Event, one of America’s toughest events, for the first time. A big win could be the perfect cap to her comeback season. Jules is where she belongs competition-wise, but there’s one problem: she’s in the wrong state. Because the fact is, Jules just hates Maryland.