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Summer's Chance
While spending the summer at her grandmother's horse farm, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth gains a clear sense of her own individuality as she learns more about her long-dead mother and the reasons for her grandmother's irascible behavior
150 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 14, 2018
Summers Chance
PLOT: Summer's Chance is about a 15-year-old girl by the name of Elizabeth Bates who reluctantly is encouraged by her father and step-mother to spend the summer with her Grandmother (her mother's mother) instead of going to an art program. Even though she feels like she's not very close to the grandmother and she's a bit hard to get close to because she seems like an ice wall. Elizabeth decides to make the most of the trip so she can find out more about her dead mother that she never really got a chance to know. She finds out when she gets to her Grandmother's place that she has a passion for horses and that she's been invited there because the horse (foul) from her mother's last horse is going to be displayed in a holiday parade. Slowly Elizabeth starts to open up to the horse (Chance) and she falls in love with him as she starts to care for him more, and she gets to know the people around the stalls. Which include her mother's best friend (Carrie) and her Dad (Tom) and also the vet's son (Nicky) whom she finds herself having feelings for. As Lizzie becomes more involved and mixes into her mother's old life she begins to try to find the part of herself that connects her to her mother. Things take a turn for the worse when Chance suffers an injury and can't compete in the Memorial Day Race.
MY THOUGHTS: I'm going to hit the main topics of this book.
*Elizabeth's Discovery (about her dead Mother)- Perfectly normal for a teenage girl that lost her mother to want to find out more about her. I think the emotional part of all this was that she lost her so young to an accident and had her taken away before she ever really got a chance to know her. I know from experience how painful that is. But what I think Carrie said was a good message. And that was you don't have to be someone's replica to have them be a part of you. And then let's be honest how much of this world (her mother's world) will she actually hold on two after this vacation is over. I feel like a lot of this world she "forced" on herself trying to be more like Lizzie. And then the Grandmother didn't help. Elizabeth did NOT come there to volunteer to work at the stables (tho she learned to find enjoyment in it). She came there to bond with the Grandmother and find out more about her birth mother. And then even by the end of the book, it feels like she's still forcing this world on herself because she wasn't even comfortable driving the horse in a cart. How's she gonna one day lead it on to glory in a race?
*Chance's Injury- Although I'm sorry that Chance's leg got hurt, I'm glad it didn't go how I thought it was gonna go and that was that in the middle of the Memorial Day race her leg was gonna give out and the Grandmother was going to push to have her finish the race anyway. I was just waiting for that to happen. It really didn't cause the emotion in me I thought it would. Although the description of how her leg was stuck out in a bow-shape sounded HORRIBLE and painful! Poor horse!
*Grandmother's Resentment- I've heard about this but I'm sorry because she smiles like your dead daughter is NO EXCUSE to treat your grand-daughter so cold-hearted. Or for that matter resent her. She can't help that. Nor can she help the accident that took your daughter away. It's like when mother's treat the children bad because they remind them of the father that left them for another woman. When Grandma Bates gave that lame excuse I was thinking REALLY?! Come to think of it she doesn't even apologize. She just tells her I am who I am. I mean what is that? I'm a mean *** old lady. Deal with it! Toward the end, she shows her lighter side and says Lizzie is a lot like her, but 95% of the book she ignores the girl and treats her like something dead on the bottom of her shoe.
*Linda's Resentment- She and Grandma are pretty much the same character, but I'm more inclined to understand Linda's point of view because I have such a strong mother who does so much and it's easy to feel inferior in comparison to such a strong woman like that. Especially when people won't let you forget it. BUT again Elizabeth isn't Lizzie. Is it her fault her mother was the barn's version of Wonder Woman?
*Nicky/Elizabeth- At first I was a little disturbed where this was headed but thank goodness he has the sense to say (and see) that she's a bit too young right now. Cute tho that he says he'll wait for her. BUT somehow I doubt it.
RATING: 5 I just think that overall this book was sad. It was sad that this girl loses herself in who she thinks she "should" be (a shadow of her mother) and up until halfway through the book (and this far along in her life) it seems to hurt practically everyone in this book to tell her one little thing about her mother and who she was. Not to sound heartless but how long has the mother been gone? I'm sure the pain will always be there of losing this amazing woman, but this girl DESERVES to know about her mother. I think it's sad that these people only leave her in the dark most of her life but some (her RELATIVE) resent her because of who her mother was and even that she looks like her. I think it's sad that this poor animal whose shown signs in the past of having an injury by these adults (even though the injury healed) hasn't yet been pulled from racing. Tom says he's seen it coming a long time. And he's just now doing something about it? If there's any warmth in this whole book it's the genuine love Elizabeth finds for the last little shred of her mother (in Chance) and the tenderness between them. It's decent enough for a horse story. If that's your thing. But maybe a little flat for anyone else that may be indifferent.
PLOT: Summer's Chance is about a 15-year-old girl by the name of Elizabeth Bates who reluctantly is encouraged by her father and step-mother to spend the summer with her Grandmother (her mother's mother) instead of going to an art program. Even though she feels like she's not very close to the grandmother and she's a bit hard to get close to because she seems like an ice wall. Elizabeth decides to make the most of the trip so she can find out more about her dead mother that she never really got a chance to know. She finds out when she gets to her Grandmother's place that she has a passion for horses and that she's been invited there because the horse (foul) from her mother's last horse is going to be displayed in a holiday parade. Slowly Elizabeth starts to open up to the horse (Chance) and she falls in love with him as she starts to care for him more, and she gets to know the people around the stalls. Which include her mother's best friend (Carrie) and her Dad (Tom) and also the vet's son (Nicky) whom she finds herself having feelings for. As Lizzie becomes more involved and mixes into her mother's old life she begins to try to find the part of herself that connects her to her mother. Things take a turn for the worse when Chance suffers an injury and can't compete in the Memorial Day Race.
MY THOUGHTS: I'm going to hit the main topics of this book.
*Elizabeth's Discovery (about her dead Mother)- Perfectly normal for a teenage girl that lost her mother to want to find out more about her. I think the emotional part of all this was that she lost her so young to an accident and had her taken away before she ever really got a chance to know her. I know from experience how painful that is. But what I think Carrie said was a good message. And that was you don't have to be someone's replica to have them be a part of you. And then let's be honest how much of this world (her mother's world) will she actually hold on two after this vacation is over. I feel like a lot of this world she "forced" on herself trying to be more like Lizzie. And then the Grandmother didn't help. Elizabeth did NOT come there to volunteer to work at the stables (tho she learned to find enjoyment in it). She came there to bond with the Grandmother and find out more about her birth mother. And then even by the end of the book, it feels like she's still forcing this world on herself because she wasn't even comfortable driving the horse in a cart. How's she gonna one day lead it on to glory in a race?
*Chance's Injury- Although I'm sorry that Chance's leg got hurt, I'm glad it didn't go how I thought it was gonna go and that was that in the middle of the Memorial Day race her leg was gonna give out and the Grandmother was going to push to have her finish the race anyway. I was just waiting for that to happen. It really didn't cause the emotion in me I thought it would. Although the description of how her leg was stuck out in a bow-shape sounded HORRIBLE and painful! Poor horse!
*Grandmother's Resentment- I've heard about this but I'm sorry because she smiles like your dead daughter is NO EXCUSE to treat your grand-daughter so cold-hearted. Or for that matter resent her. She can't help that. Nor can she help the accident that took your daughter away. It's like when mother's treat the children bad because they remind them of the father that left them for another woman. When Grandma Bates gave that lame excuse I was thinking REALLY?! Come to think of it she doesn't even apologize. She just tells her I am who I am. I mean what is that? I'm a mean *** old lady. Deal with it! Toward the end, she shows her lighter side and says Lizzie is a lot like her, but 95% of the book she ignores the girl and treats her like something dead on the bottom of her shoe.
*Linda's Resentment- She and Grandma are pretty much the same character, but I'm more inclined to understand Linda's point of view because I have such a strong mother who does so much and it's easy to feel inferior in comparison to such a strong woman like that. Especially when people won't let you forget it. BUT again Elizabeth isn't Lizzie. Is it her fault her mother was the barn's version of Wonder Woman?
*Nicky/Elizabeth- At first I was a little disturbed where this was headed but thank goodness he has the sense to say (and see) that she's a bit too young right now. Cute tho that he says he'll wait for her. BUT somehow I doubt it.
RATING: 5 I just think that overall this book was sad. It was sad that this girl loses herself in who she thinks she "should" be (a shadow of her mother) and up until halfway through the book (and this far along in her life) it seems to hurt practically everyone in this book to tell her one little thing about her mother and who she was. Not to sound heartless but how long has the mother been gone? I'm sure the pain will always be there of losing this amazing woman, but this girl DESERVES to know about her mother. I think it's sad that these people only leave her in the dark most of her life but some (her RELATIVE) resent her because of who her mother was and even that she looks like her. I think it's sad that this poor animal whose shown signs in the past of having an injury by these adults (even though the injury healed) hasn't yet been pulled from racing. Tom says he's seen it coming a long time. And he's just now doing something about it? If there's any warmth in this whole book it's the genuine love Elizabeth finds for the last little shred of her mother (in Chance) and the tenderness between them. It's decent enough for a horse story. If that's your thing. But maybe a little flat for anyone else that may be indifferent.
January 10, 2021
I'm most curious about the one star ratings of this book.
It is exactly what you'd expect. If you picked it up with no expectations, how? why?
It was better than some girl horse stories, because it wasn't preachy, either about friendship or horses, so, I really liked this addition to a sub-genre of a sub-genre that I already enjoy.
It is exactly what you'd expect. If you picked it up with no expectations, how? why?
It was better than some girl horse stories, because it wasn't preachy, either about friendship or horses, so, I really liked this addition to a sub-genre of a sub-genre that I already enjoy.
July 3, 2020
Sweet little coming of age story involving harness racing horses.
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September 17, 2007Easton, Patricia Harrison
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews