Pride, the second book in The Eventing Series by Natalie Keller Reinert, is an impeccably written glimpse into the world of competitive eventing. Jules finally admits that she is in love with Pete (what isn't to love about Pete), but their idyllic summer at Briar Hill doesn't quite go as planned. Pete is offered a sponsorship and a summer in England riding cross country, while Jules is sent to Orlando to improve her dressage in order to receive a sponsorship. And perhaps, work on her people skills while there. While Jules and Pete are away, with an ocean between them, Lacey and Becky have to hold things together at Briar Hill. Jules struggles to put her "pride" aside and learn from Grace, who is her boss for the summer. Jules learns some hard truths about horses, riding, building a relationship with a horse, and interpersonal skills. This book ends on a mild cliffhanger and has me hungry for the next book and beyond.

As a reader, I was continually rooting for Jules even when she couldn't seem to get out of her own way. And Pete, oh goodness, I only want the best for "sweet" Pete.

As a lifelong equestrian, I cannot stress enough how incredibly accurate Natalie Keller Reinert's representation of life with horses is. It is fantastic to read an author get it so right and have beautiful prose to describe the horse-centric lifestyle.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and and Natalie Keller Reinert for an ARC of Pride, The Eventing Series #2 in exchange for an honest review.

Natalie Keller Reinert’s Eventing series is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I loved Ambition and got the chance to read Pride before its rebranded pub date. I enjoyed every moment!

Jules and Pete are desperately clinging to Briar Hill Farm despite financial and professional challenges. Pete is off to the UK for a summer training program and Jules is miffed to learn a condition of her pending sponsorship is a summer spent doing… ugh, dressage. Jules packs up Mickey and Dynamo and heads to Sea Breeze Farm to be an “apprentice,” and she learns pretty quickly she needs to swallow her pride in order to make this work.

I think of Jules as the embodiment of “scrappy.” She’s not very refined, but she gets things done. No one can say she doesn’t work hard or doesn’t have ambition. But her attitude got her into plenty of trouble, and I found myself growing frustrated with her short fuse and overt cynicism. She ended up figuring it out by the end of the book but I was nervous that she was going to cost herself quite a bit for the sake of her pride.

I love Natalie’s writing style and the way she so perfectly captures the horse world and particularly the eventing atmosphere. I would recommend this series to anyone who loves horses - because it is abundantly clear that the author does.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’ll forever champion Jules for the incredibly REAL character that she is! I’m obsessed with how incredibly flawed she is (and yet so very endearing) and the author does such a wonderful job at taking the audience alongside this journey that grew Jules exponentially.

I love how this novel wasn’t JUSt about Jules growing as an equestrian— but as a human being who is learning to swallow her pride and accept she doesn’t know everything (in love, life, and horses). It’s masterful work as we get to be voyeurs into Jules’ slow realization that she must make changes to herself in order to further her career.

The Eventing Series is a must-read for any person who has ever fallen in love with horses!

You’ll feel like you’re the one actually in the saddle (I swear I felt the ache in my hips and calves as Jules kept trying to lengthen her leg) and chasing Grand Prix dreams! It’s absolutely un-putdownable and the ending leaves you aching for answers (no seriously, what’s going to happen?!?!?!).

'Pride' is one of my favorite entries in the Eventing series - we get to see a lot of growth from Jules and I so enjoy the crossover with Grace and the Sea Breeze crew from the Show Barn Blues series - and this new edition only serves to strengthen this already fantastic story!

Once again, all the plot points remain - Jules's underwear showing through her breeches, Ivor's colic, the Eventing Chicks blog drama, etc. And everything reads well. Grace is more enigmatic in this (you'll have to read Show Barn Blues to get the full story she alludes to about the crazy client mom trying to burn her barn down), but her tough love makes sense. I enjoy seeing Jules learn this hard lesson, because the reader can so easily see things from Jules's perspective and her against-the-world, chip on shoulder attitude is all too relatable. And with the clientele Grace has to put up with, it's easy to see things from Jules's point of view. In that way, we come to learn the same lessons she begrudgingly takes from Grace over the course of the book. And we can see, all too easily, how pride can stand in the way of our success and happiness.

The ending, of course, leaves me dying to dive in to the next updated entry in the series. Jules's life got turned upside-down in Ambition, and is about to get a lot rockier, but the interlude Pride creates for some much-needed character development is quite refreshing. Jules is a bit wiser now going into her next round of troubles!

Plus, who doesn't like a book where the focus is on dressage?

Pride continues our storyline with our two main characters from ambition (which is book one.) this book felt like more of a continuation for individual characters, rather than their romance. Which is fine. however, we all are here for the romance ;). For reasons I will not say, our characters are in different places. And both are FMC and MMC take positions that force them to step out of their comfort zone (and for someone to take a step in the wrong direction in their career). As a horse person I found this book enjoyable, even with their being little to no romance.

As a fellow equestrian (the fancy word for horse girl for those who do not know), I appreciate this series (and sequel) so much!

I know I said this about the last book, but I need to say it again and truly cannot express this enough: this is such an accurate portrayal of horses and how to interact with them and how to ride them. This is one of the two series I have read that have actually made me think "oh wow, this author has met a horse before." It is crazy rare to find this accurate and relatable of an experience.

The characters in these books do the sport of eventing (three days, three ways AKA three different sports of riding within one sport) but this book seems to focus more so on dressage. For those who don't know what dressage is, it's the horse dancing that Snoop Dogg is obsessed with. So I would definitely recommend that the dressage girlies give this one a read!

The way I speed through these books because I don't have to worry about the confusion of what things mean when written by someone who doesn't know much about horses. That is not a problem here, this author knows her stuff!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

The romance and personal growth in this book are handled with finesse, offering a compelling mix of passion, resilience, and the harsh realities of pursuing one’s dreams. This instalment not only continues to captivate with its horse-centric drama but also enriches the series with its exploration of love and self-discovery.