Windy Creek Stables: Natalie and the Summer of Surprises

In Natalie and the Summer of Surprises, Natalie has to discover if she can become the horse girl her mom has always wanted her to be.

Natalie is a city kid who loves indoor activities like reading and watching movies. So spending the summer stuck at her mom's riding school in nowhere, Virginia, is the worst idea she's ever heard. But twelve-year-olds don't get to make the rules, which is why Natalie is at Windy Creek with a parent she barely knows and a bunch of horses she couldn't care less about.

Things go from bad to worse when Natalie realizes her mother actually expects her to ride. Windy Creek is full of horse-obsessed kids Natalie has nothing in common with, and her mom clearly wishes she had one of them for a daughter instead. Natalie would give anything to get out of there and go back to the city, and even more than that, she wishes her mom didn't expect her to be someone she's clearly not.

With no choice but to learn to ride, Natalie begrudgingly participates in Windy Creek's summer horse camp. Alongside her is pretty, stuck-up Harper, who is a million times better with horses than Natalie is and won't let her forget it. Then there's energetic and fun Presley, who is happy to be Natalie's friend, at least. Slowly, Natalie learns that a little perseverance and grit go a long way, and if she gives the riders (and horses) at Windy Creek a chance, they'll give her one, too.

Natalie and the Summer of Surprises is the third book in Kaitlyn Sage Patterson's engaging Windy Creek Stables series.