---

The iconic author of Gossip Girl brings a dark and heart-wrenching addition to the girl-meets-horse canon. In the lens of addiction and the long road to recovery, this is a contemporary update to Black Beauty.

Merritt Wenner has been adrift ever since the untimely death of her grandmother. After skipping out on the SATs to go on a bender, she wakes up to discover that her absentee parents have committed her to Good Fences, a residential equine-assisted therapy program.

Red, a thoroughbred racing reject, is a terror in the barn. He´s never felt an attachment to anyone . . . until he meets Merritt. They belong together. Soon they´re sneaking off for late-night rides, which is strictly against the rules. Their talent does not go unnoticed. Sprung from Good Fences by the facility´s mysterious benefactor, Merritt and Red plunge into the competitive equestrian circuit-with all its seductive glamour and twisted jealousies. After a tragic incident, Merritt must choose between the boy she´s fallen for and the horse she loves.

---

Praise for Dark Horses

"A compelling story of love and fixation . . . The twisted tale of Merritt and Red has the power and mystery of myth."
-Eliot Schrefer, New York Times bestselling author and two-time National Book Award finalist

"Move over, Black Beauty. Cecily von Ziegesar has brought the classic horse novel into the twenty-first century with an alluring, heart-wrenching, and nail-biting look at an elite and tumultuous world. The relationship between Merritt and Red is haunting and powerful. I devoured this book to its very end."
-Sara Shepard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars

"Told in dual perspectives of a troubled teen and the difficult horse she´s paired with, Dark Horses is an exciting new addition to YA you will not want to miss! Von Ziegesar has created a world so utterly unique, compelling, and at times heartwrenching, it stayed with me long after I turned the last page."
-Alyson No‰l, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortals series and Unrivaled

"Dark Horses is a slightly bizarre spin on Black Beauty, about characters who go to desperate lengths to find control, purpose and love in their lives. In an unusual viewpoint, Red shines as a tragic victim of human whim."
-Chico Enterprise-Register

"This page-turner will draw in a whole new audience with just the right blend of glamor, scandal, and horses."
-School Library Journal

"The competitive riding world is always a draw, and this is an intriguing look into its dark side. If that weren´t enough, von Ziegesar´s (the Gossip Girl series) name alone will spur readers."
-Booklist

"Von Ziegesar, known for her Gossip Girl series, nails teen dialogue and horse-show society."
-Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Cecily von Ziegesar

"The heartlessness of youth is von Ziegesar´s double-edged theme . . . Her designated reader is an adolescent girl, but the reader she seems to have firmly in mind as she writes is a literate, even literary, adult."
-The New Yorker

"Sophisticated. Von Ziegesar takes seriously the inner lives of characters who in any other teen narrative would be stock villains."
-New York Magazine

---