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Thief of Happy Endings Kindle Edition

by Kristen Chandler (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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Sarah Dessen meets the Wild West in this tale of wild mustangs, irresistible wranglers, and the first rule of horses: if you get bucked off, you have to get back on.

Cassidy Carrigan wasn’t planning to ever get on a horse again. She wasn’t even planning on going to back to school after her dad moved out, her best friend ditched her, and her anxiety took over. But then she wasn’t planning on being shipped off to a ranch in the mountains of Wyoming as a charity case either. Or falling for a cowboy with a broken nose and an even more broken soul. But sometimes you just have to do a stupid, dangerous thing to have the time of your life.

Set in the wild, beautiful west, here is a story about fear and failure and falling in love when the odds are against you. Alternatingly heart-stopping and heart-breaking, The Thief of Happy Endings is a story that will stay with you, like a summer you’ll never forget.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Viking Books for Young Readers
  5. Publication date
    June 19, 2018
  6. Reading age
    14 years and up
  7. Grade level
    9 - 12
  8. File size
    2328 KB
  9. Page Flip
    Enabled
  10. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  11. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

 Praise for THIEF OF HAPPY ENDINGS:
 
“Cassidy’s life is multilayered, as she navigates new friendships and family difficulties, and finds romance with another rancher, but the real romance is between Cassidy and the horses as she learns to overcome her fears.” –Publishers Weekly
 
“Chandler finds authentic emotion […] in Thief of Happy Endings.” – Salt Lake City Weekly
 
“Contemplative and observant.” –Booklist
 
“A complex story that unfolds slowly, with no startling transformations or revelations, just a real-life sense of growth, accomplishment, and purpose.” –Kirkus Reviews
 
“Bittersweet… An overall heartfelt story for contemporary YA readers.” – Wishful Endings blog
 
“If you like horses, some romance, and a good amount of deep emotion, this is a book to look out for.” – Cover2Cover blog

About the Author

Kristen Chandler is the author of the award-winning Girls Don’t Fly and Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me. Kristen became a writer after being paid in cookies to tell stories to a crying toddler. The crying toddler liked Kristen’s stories enough to stop crying, and Kristen liked cookies enough to keep telling stories. Kristen has also been a ranch hand, waitress, salesperson, ice cream store manager, secretary, freelance journalist, and college writing instructor. She lives in Utah.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B075WD2TWD
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers (June 19, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 19, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2328 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0425290476
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

About the author

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Kristen Chandler

Kristen Chandler

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Kristen Chandler (kristenchandlerbook.com) is a writer and a college writing instructor. She lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and their large, chaotic family. She is also a riding instructor for at-risk youth.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Karen@thebookreturnblog
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book about horses and young love.
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2018
Verified Purchase
' Thief of Happy Endings' is a young adult contemporary with a huge twist. The story centers around, Cassidy. Cassidy is sent to a youth mustang training camp in Wyoming . Cassidy is there because she is having a difficult time with her parents' recent separation. The catch is that she hasn't ridden a horse since she was bucked off as a child. Things get more complicated when she meets junior wrangler, Justin.

I loved ' Thief of Happy Endings'. Not only is it a huge departure from most young adult romances, but it also takes on the plight of the mustang in the west. The story also demonstrates how the Bureau of Land Management really has a hard time figuring out what to do with the mustangs.

Loss of freedom is a main theme in ToHE. While the loss freedom of the mustangs is the main loss , this loss is also felt with the teenagers. The teenagers have lost many of their own freedoms and independence being sent to this camp.

Cassidy and Jason were some of my favorite characters of all time. Jason really personified a young troubled cowboy. Cassidy is your typical good girl with troubles at home. Their slow burn romance really seemed genuine and sweet. I also liked the character of Alice. She is the perfect friend that Cassidy needs at the time. The character of Banner is the perfect mean girl to Cassidy's good girl character. Even though the rest of the secondary characters were a little weak for me, I did like Kaya and Coulter.

The thing that really made this novel stand out for me is the setting. You don't see too many books, especially young adult, that take place in Wyoming. The descriptions of the setting is just amazing and worth a read for that alone.

'The Thief of Happy Endings' is one of my favorite YA's for the year. I really have heard nothing about it in other review sites or on YouTube. That is so unfortunate as I found it utterly amazing and well worth a read.
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Greg
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable contemporary YA novel
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2020
Verified Purchase
Thief of Happy Endings” is usually not the genre of book I go for. I don’t know anything about horses or Wyoming. When I started the book, I was pleasantly surprised by the language. Chandler is able to capture that teenage angst through Cassidy’s inner thoughts and especially dialogue. I found myself relating to Cassidy more than I anticipated, which made the reading more immersive. Some of her lines even made me laugh out loud. I loved seeing her growth throughout the story as her judgemental layers were peeled back and she learned to fight her fears.

I learned a lot about horses, which I wasn’t expecting. I learned about the issues with wild mustangs in America that I had never even heard before. There were some phrases that I had to look up, because they were horse related words that appeared without being described, so I wasn’t sure what it was. That’s okay, though, it’s rare I understand every single word in a novel.

I enjoyed the characters but wish some of them had been given more depth, like Alice. I feel I didn’t really get to know any of the characters besides Cassidy and Justin. I found Justin obnoxious at first, which had me hoping Cassidy wouldn’t fall for him. As she gets to know him, though, he is a sweet, loyal guy, and I actually enjoyed the romance he and Cassidy form. I think they helped each other become better people.

One thing I wish is that the book didn’t start slowly. I wasn’t able to really get into it until a few chapters in. However, once it picked up, I enjoyed it a lot. This is a feel-good YA novel that is fun to read, especially for those who don’t know much about horses. It’s nice to be exposed to a new contemporary topic.
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6crazykids
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read!
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2020
Verified Purchase
Loved this book! Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. I’m a sucker for horse stories so I may be a little biased, but I really did enjoy it. I don’t want to say too much about it just so I don’t give away the ending, but I really appreciated how real everything was. This was a real girl, who was going through real, unfortunately, common problems that a lot of young people need to go through. I felt that she was raw and real. The romance plot was awesome! I loved that it truly did feel like she was a teenager girl experiencing her first moments with love. All the falling, uncertainty, giddiness, and pain that comes with your first love was captured so beautifully in this book. It also was a beautiful coming of age story. I personally was going through similar feelings of frustration and anxiety that Cass was going through, and reading this book gave me hope that I too could become stronger through this experience and that I don’t have to get over it to still have experiences, relationships, and meaningful connections with others. Besides the phenomenal storyline, Kristen Chandler's use of language was beautiful. I felt like I could imagine the ranch, the rodeo, the tents, or any place the characters were. Her use of concrete language made it, so each scene and character had a specific picture in my mind. I really did enjoy this book. It showed me that beautiful things can come from broken things.
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