New Book Series "The A Circuit" by Georgina Bloomberg

[Event4Life]

[QUOTE=Renn/aissance;5593103]
The purpose of this book is revealed at last- to inspire this thread so that we could all learn about these books, which are clearly better in every way![/QUOTE]

They are great books, and definitely not only for kids, though I warn you they’ll make you want to be a horse crazy kid again! When I read them as a kid I wanted to move back to the UK with my pony and live in Cornwall. I didn’t appreciate how lucky I was to be living the horsey kid life in Virginia. I’d conveniently forgotten the fact we always lived in the middle of cities when I was little in the UK.

My aunt has a friend who used to live on the South Downs and would ride her pony to school every day - how cool would that be?!

[ponies123]

Everything I’ve thought has pretty much been stated, I read and cringed at the sample pages, but if I could find it cheap I’d still pick it up and read it through.

But to the person who said it sounds like Saddle Club but not in the UK…the Saddle Club took place in Virginia, right?

[Event4Life]

[QUOTE=ponies123;5593200]
Everything I’ve thought has pretty much been stated, I read and cringed at the sample pages, but if I could find it cheap I’d still pick it up and read it through.

But to the person who said it sounds like Saddle Club but not in the UK…the Saddle Club took place in Virginia, right?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, in a fictional suburb outside of DC…

The thing that bothered me most about the Saddle Club was that the kids never got older!! They went through about 3 Christmases in the series yet the kids were always 12!

[Silk]

[QUOTE=Event4Life;5593271]
Yeah, in a fictional suburb outside of DC…

The thing that bothered me most about the Saddle Club was that the kids never got older!! They went through about 3 Christmases in the series yet the kids were always 12![/QUOTE]

There is a follow-up series called Pine Hollow in which the kids are actually juniors in high school, driving cars and looking at colleges…touches on depression, illness, cheating in school, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. Its not as fun to read…I didnt find most of the books to be all that captivating.

I teach middle school, and yes, I read as much children and young adult fiction as I can, particularly horse related. However, I might skip the Bloomberg version - lol!! In some ways it saddens me that there are so many talented young writers out there without the name and pedigree that will never be published However, I do commend Georgina for her endeavors…she obviously likes to be busy and productive. I am wondering if she wrote this while recovering from her spinal fractures when she couldnt ride?

[Pirateer]

@ponies123;5593200

But to the person who said it sounds like Saddle Club but not in the UK…the Saddle Club took place in Virginia, right?

The TV show used Aussie actors, that may be what you are referring to.

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=kookicat;5592516]
I’m 99% sure that this is the bridle.[/QUOTE]

Ah, yes; that seems to be correct.
What a shame. Oh well.
Thanks a lot for tracking it down though.

[dghunter]

[QUOTE=danceronice;5592025]
FTFY.

Honestly, between Gossip Girls, its clones and the borderline-illteracy that is Twilight, it’s amazing anything halfway intelligent gets printed for the YA market. It’s out there, but you have to know where to look…[/QUOTE]

Actually they’re quite easy to find :winkgrin: You just have to google 2010 best books for young adults, which leads you here http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/bbya2010.cfm

I’m an English teacher, just graduated today actually I did my seniors honors project on young adult literature and using it in the classroom and can assure you that there is plenty of good YA lit out there. All I did was use the ALA and my local library :yes:

As for this book, I read the first page and couldn’t read anymore. I’ll probably read the book though, Gossip Girl is my favorite guilty pleasure!

[Teacup]

[QUOTE=doublesstable;5592809]
This was said in the book? I couldn’t get the link to work…[/QUOTE]
Not quite outright, some of my post was a bit sarcastic. Here are quotes of what I was referencing.

(Zara’s POV)

She perked up as she spotted a guy wandering past. He had a big nose and a smattering of zits on his chin but was otherwise passable looking, clean and preppy in full Abercrombie regalia. . .

She sidled away from her father's entourage, undoing the last button on her Ralph Lauren skinny-fit polo to reveal a little more of her two best features.  The ones her mother opening envied, often wondering aloud how her daughter had come by naturally what she'd had to pay a pricey plastic surgeon for upon first arriving in Hollywood. . .

A girlfriend, huh? She should have guessed. Not that a minor detail like that was going to stop her from getting her flirt on.

(Tommi’s POV)

Tommi unbuckled the chin strap of her GPA helmet. “Shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I knew he doesn’t like yellow flowers.”

. . .They were leaning on the rail, unbuckled Charles Owens perched atop their perfectly sculpted hair, watching her go by. Tommi didn’t remember their names, but she guessed that they probably knew hers. THat was the trouble with being in her family. Everyone knew who you were whether you liked it or not.

I left out a few parts to make it a bit shorter. Originally here: http://issuu.com/bloomsbury/docs/theacircuit

[Eye_in_the_Sky]

[QUOTE=LexInVA;5588771]
Credibility and marketing. Eventually, you’re likely to see GB listed as the only author when she has absolutely nothing do with the writing. The format for the stories is obviously cookie-cutter and cookie-cutter writing is not difficult at all to do which is why Tom Clancy has so many books with his name on them despite the fact that he has not had anything to do with the actual story development. In other words, it’s brand-name writing.[/QUOTE]

Now I’m intrigued - you mean to say that people can build a series by not actually writing them? I do not understand…help me!! It isn’t that I do not believe you - I honestly do not know what to believe - why is this even legal? If your name is on it as the author, but you do not write it, how can it be?

My brain is broken. You broke my brain, Lex!:eek:

[hj0519]

[QUOTE=Eye in the Sky;5594865]
Now I’m intrigued - you mean to say that people can build a series by not actually writing them? I do not understand…help me!! It isn’t that I do not believe you - I honestly do not know what to believe - why is this even legal? If your name is on it as the author, but you do not write it, how can it be?

My brain is broken. You broke my brain, Lex!:eek:[/QUOTE]

It’s called ghostwriting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwriter

[SweetMutt]

Did anyone else read the Thoroughbred books? I remember getting into those as a kid/young teenager and loving them. Probably not winners of any literary awards, but they were decently written and didn’t make me cringe.

[InWhyCee_Redux]

[QUOTE=Cacique;5592788]
She does hail from the land of Gossip girl and Cecily Von Zeigesar…as a New Yorker, I was always surprised that equestrian endeavors weren’t more heavily featured in those books. They are, done badly, a fixture in the real-life Upper East side scene. I feel like Blair should have donned some der daus and hit up the Classic at least once a book. Maybe Georgina was with me on that one and decided to take it upon herself to remedy that oversight![/QUOTE]

Remember that episode of “Gossip Girl” in which Blair busted Serena’s evil rival – really, was that character’s name Georgina? – for “selling her show pony to buy more coke” down in Florida? You know, the episode before the rival claimed to be pregnant by Serena’s BF what’s-his-name?

[Jumpthemoon16]

[QUOTE=Cacique;5592788]
She does hail from the land of Gossip girl and Cecily Von Zeigesar…as a New Yorker, I was always surprised that equestrian endeavors weren’t more heavily featured in those books. They are, done badly, a fixture in the real-life Upper East side scene. I feel like Blair should have donned some der daus and hit up the Classic at least once a book. Maybe Georgina was with me on that one and decided to take it upon herself to remedy that oversight![/QUOTE]

There’s a middle-school age series called The Clique (similar premise and attitude, just less drugs!) that talked about horses in a few books. It was kind of hilarious to read too, because it was kind of accurate! The rich girl shows up at the stables once a month to her expensive hunter pony, shows and pitches a fit when she doesn’t win, and then has a meltdown when Daddy threatens to sell the pony that she only sees twelve times a year. And I think Burberry coolers and saddles equipped with pop-out makeup mirrors were involved…

[HorseLuvr]

[QUOTE=SweetMutt;5594909]
Did anyone else read the Thoroughbred books? I remember getting into those as a kid/young teenager and loving them. Probably not winners of any literary awards, but they were decently written and didn’t make me cringe.[/QUOTE]

I loved the Thoroughbred books!!! Almost forgot about those! I read all of them!! So good when I was a kid/preteen.

[AffirmedHope]

Well it could be worse. One of the riders could secretly be a vegetarian vampire that can only show indoors or on cloudy days, because the sun makes their GPA helmets sparkle so brightly that it blinds everyone on the show grounds!! :eek:

[doublesstable]

[QUOTE=Teacup;5594414]
Not quite outright, some of my post was a bit sarcastic. Here are quotes of what I was referencing.

(Zara’s POV)
(Tommi’s POV)
I left out a few parts to make it a bit shorter. Originally here: http://issuu.com/bloomsbury/docs/theacircuit[/QUOTE]

No I don’t think you were sarcastic… pretty straight up - WOW to the book and I agree with your reaction…

[mroades]

gadzooks…those two little excerpts just broke my brain…ICK

[InWhyCee_Redux]

[QUOTE=chukkerchild;5593094]
There actually WAS a rider in the Gossip Girl books… Georgina Sparks, whose father was, I believe, the mayor of New York City or some other head honcho… she was a competitive rider but had to quit after she started taking horse tranquilizers as a drug. Nate meets her at rehab and they have a fling, at least to the best of my memory (probably shameful enough that I remember all that :lol:) I remember even at the time thinking that the parallels to Georgina Bloomberg were striking (not the drug part, obv.)[/QUOTE]

Yes, it was Georgina! In the TV series, she hooks up with Dan, or makes Serena thinks she hooked up with Dan… after selling her show pony to buy coke and generally being a bad, bad, bad girl.

Now, can anyone else see Blair as a Dressage Queen?

[mvp]

A half-way serious question: Why was it written with all the product placements?

Coreene is right. That will date the book badly, if it hasn’t already.

I don’t remember reading so much product placement in any YA literature I read as a kid.

[Jumpthemoon16]

[QUOTE=mvp;5597629]
A half-way serious question: Why was it written with all the product placements?

Coreene is right. That will date the book badly, if it hasn’t already.

I don’t remember reading so much product placement in any YA literature I read as a kid.[/QUOTE]

That’s kind of the YA “style” now. You see it in all of the series books, whether they involve horses or not. The authors like to throw in brand names with gusto. Gucci and Burberry there, Charles Owen and GPA over here.