Title: Ride of Your Life
Author: Shevi Arnold
Published: July 18th 2012
Genre: YA Paranormal
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Tracy Miller met the love of her life...thirty years after her own death.
Tracy was working at the House of Horrors at the Amazing Lands Theme Park when the fire broke out. Instead of running, she lost her life trying to save eleven-year-old Mack. Now thirty years have passed, and suddenly everything changes with the arrival of two new ghosts: a little girl named Ashley and a cute, seventeen-year-old boy named Josh. Josh would do anything for Tracy, but can he help her let go of the past?
Ride of Your Life is a bittersweet, romantic, YA ghost story that was inspired by a true event, the Great Adventure Haunted Castle fire, which killed eight teenagers in 1984, exactly thirty years ago this May 11th. It is a fantasy novel about undying love, and it won third-place in Smart Writer's Write It Now (W.I.N.) contest in the YA category, which was judged by Alex Flinn, the author of Beastly and Cloaked.
Hang on. Love can be as terrifying as a roller coaster, but it can also be the Ride of Your Life.
Additional information about the Six Flags Great Adventure Haunted Castle fire - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_Castle_(Six_Flags_Great_Adventure)
Book Links
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Ride of Your Life was a cute and fun book to read. The cover immediately caught my eye; I LOVE roller coasters, and now I'm even more excited for summer than I already am! This is a perfect time of year to read this book.
I liked Tracy even though she takes care of everyone but herself. She made the decision to stay with Mack at the Amazing Land theme park rather than go into the light. She's only going to go when Mack is able to go, and so they hang around the park. It's been thirty years since they died, and with the way he aggravates her on purpose, they seem like they were brother and sister even before the accident.
Mack wasn't a likable character for me in the beginning, but once I delved into what his life was like when he was still alive, I understood him better. Plus he died when he was only eleven years old. He had so much life ahead of him - I felt sad he died so young. I'd probably be bitter and jaded, too.
I was sad for Ashley, too, and especially her mom. Though I didn't want any characters to be dead, I think Ashley and Josh made a wonderful addition to Tracy and Mack's little family. Ashley brought out a softer side of Tracy that I really liked seeing, and I think Josh did the same for Mack. Josh's love for Tracy was unwavering no matter how many times she tried to push him away. I'd love to have Josh in my life!
Ride of Your Life is more about emotions and living and dying rather than action and adventure, which I personally appreciated. I love stories exploring what it means to really and truly live. There were times I laughed, and times I shed a few tears. I would have added a fifth star except at times Tracy and Mack teaching the rules of being a ghost to Ashley and Josh didn't quite keep my attention. The story of these four characters was beautifully told, and I believe Arnold accomplished what she set out to do when writing this novel.
My Rating:
About the Author
Shevi Arnold grew up in Philadelphia, and her family had a season pass to Great Adventure in the early 1980s. She was nineteen-years-old and studying overseas when a fellow college student asked her if she had heard about the Great Adventure Haunted Castle fire. Eight teenagers had lost their lives. Like many, Shevi was shocked by the news. In her mind, she wanted to give that tragedy a happy ending. Ride of Your Life is the result.
Shevi loves writing, illustrating, and making people laugh - and she's been doing all three since 1987 when she started working as an editorial cartoonist for a newsweekly. She's also worked as a comics magazine editor, as an arts-and-entertainment writer specializing in comedy and children's entertainment, and as a consumer columnist.
Nowadays, though, she enjoys writing (and sometimes illustrating) humorous fiction, fantasy, and science fiction for children, teens, and geeks of all ages. Her other books include Toren the Teller's Tale, Dan Quixote: Boy of Nuevo Jersey, and Why My Love Life Sucks (The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, book one). She is currently working on Why It Still Mega Bites, the second book in the Gilbert the Fixer series.
Author Links
Email - shevia {at} hotmail {dot} com
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This book sounds really fun. I have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I hope you get a chance to read it soon! :)
DeleteI haven't been on a roller coaster in more than a decade! I remember a couple friends of mine wanted to see how many times in a row we could go. Yeah, it's been since then like some bad tequila night. I like that this book explores what's really living. Josh sounds pretty amazing. Do you and the family hit the amusement parks over the summer? I hope you have a great weekend, Jennifer!!
ReplyDeleteWhen Jack was just a baby, nine or ten months old, I went with my mother-in-law and daughter to Kings Island. She wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coasters yet. My sister then took me there a few weeks later, just the two of us. She had been there so many times, she didn't care what we rode and let me pick out everything we did. It was early September when we went, and the day was perfect. Sunny but not hot.
DeleteI haven't taken Janie back yet, and Jack's never been there, so I really would like to take them this summer. We also have Cedar Point. I've only been there once in my life when I was eight. I've never ridden any of their roller coasters up there.
Do you guys go to any amusement parks? Thanks, Robyn! :)