YA review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Puck (Kate) Connelly and Sean Kendrick both have reasons to win the annual Scorpio Races on their remote island. For Puck, winning means being able to pay for the house that's just about in foreclosure; for Sean it means the chance to buy Corr, the legendary sea horse he loves and has ridden to four previous victories. The races are set on a remote island (I pictured something off Ireland) surrounded by the Scorpio Sea. Each fall, enormous sea horses-- the capaill uisce-- rise out of the sea. Men try to capture and train them for the race, but it is a very deadly sport. Every year at least one person dies in a brutal and bloody attack by a capaill uisce, but tourists flock to the island and spend enormous sums of money wagering on the beach/seaside race. 
The story has enough fact to make the legends and myths at its heart to seem reasonable, and enough tension and suspense to make it very difficult to put down. Stiefvater does a wonderful job making the reader feel the isolation and lonliness of the island, as well as its appeal to specific characters.  Recommended.