*warning: spoilers, and a bit of rambling-thoughts*

Sometimes when reading certain YA series, I realize just how different the characters are from how I was at that age. I like this series because it's about horses, and I've always loved horses. But Jina just turned twelve. Twelve! And she already has tons of serious riding competition wins under her belt. Private lessons every afternoon, her own show horse... Yes, that's because she's rich. But even the other girls (well, except Mary Beth) are just so experienced with horses and so... mature. It kind of makes me go "was I really *that* sheltered as a kid??"

At first I scoffed at Jina's overreaction to her mother, but when the other girls found out who Jina's mother is, everything completely changed. No wonder Jina gets upset and tense about her mother, when everyone goes so nuts about her. Add to that the way her mom acted from the start, I totally sympathized with Jina... And then when Superstar got hurt, and her mother's reaction was "I'll just get you another horse", like Superstar didn't even matter anymore? Wow. If I was Jina I think I would've screamed at her. Which is why it was so great when Jina finally stood up to her mother the night of the party. It was even better that they actually made up and her mother, for once, put Jina first.

Also, I loved what Todd did by volunteering Jina to help with that little girl's pony. It will do a lot for Jina's self esteem to help train a pony, and keep showing while Superstar is healing... And it was great that the little girl was so excited about Jina because of her skills as a rider, and not because of her mother. ( )