Sometimes in life you have to take chances. Growing up on a tough estate has taught fifteen-year-old Amber Evans not to trust anyone or anything. She's learned to put her own hopes aside and, unable to afford riding lessons, Amber knows her love of horses can never be more than a dream. But when her mother's admitted to hospital, Amber's life turns upside down. Placed with a foster family in the countryside, she's determined to be sent home until an unexpected meeting with Drake Owen, the gorgeous eventing star, and the arrival of a spirited Arab horse change everything...
About the Author: Ruth Saberton is the bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Katy Carter Wants a Hero championed by TV Book Club's Richard and Judy and shortlisted for the RNA's ROMANTIC COMEDY OF THE YEAR award, Escape for the Summer which reached Amazon UK's overall top ten bestselling novels and CHANCES Ruth's new Young Adult novel which is currently #1 in three UK categories. Ruth writes under her own name, but also has several pen names which include Jessica Fox, Georgie Carter, Holly Cavendish and Lucy Hepburn and is published by Orion, Pan Macmillan, Harper Collins and Notting Hill Press. Born in London, Ruth now lives in beautiful Cornwall. As a child she always dreamed of being an author and spent a huge amount of time reading and writing pony stories in her school exercise books - which didn't make her teachers very happy! Horses are a huge passion and it's always been Ruth's cherished dream to write a pony book. Like Amber in CHANCES, Ruth grew up dreaming about having a horse of her own and lived for riding lessons or time spent at the stables. That's where any similarities end. The heroine of CHANCES has a life which certainly contains a great more obstacles than Ruth's own. Before writing full time Ruth was an English teacher, a Head of Pastoral Care and also worked as part of the Child Protection and Safeguarding Team in a big secondary school. She draws upon her experiences of working with young people for CHANCES and, although the novel is 100% fiction and very much in the pony story genre, she hopes there's truth here for readers of all ages, backgrounds and interests. Themes such as isolation, illness, misunderstandings, bullying, friendship, parents and children, being a young carer, responsibility and belonging run through the book alongside those of hope, trust and dreams coming true. CHANCES is a novel which means a great deal to Ruth. As a teacher and a Year Head she has experienced first hand the challenges that many young people have to overcome before the school day even begins. Students like often Amber find in horses a level of acceptance and understanding they often don't encounter anywhere else and the difference this makes to their lives is immeasurable. Ruth is aiming to donate a percentage of any profits CHANCES makes to equine charities that work with young people x Ruth x