A sleepover at an amusement park takes a chilling turn in this pulse-pounding horror from the New York Times bestselling author of Mine and Camp Scare.
Turning fun into fear. . . .
Tonight is Brie’s chance to finally be accepted by the Ems—the most popular girls at school. If she can just keep one potentially reputation-ending secret under wraps, she’ll have the best night of her life, screaming on scary rides and running the Wildwoods amusement park with her new friends.
But when the Ems take a game of truth or dare too far, Brie ends up alone in a creepy abandoned section of the park. There, she meets a group of cool older teens that invite her to join them. They seem friendly enough.
Little does Brie know she’s about to come face to face with a reawakened evil that wants to take her on the ride of her life...make that her death.
Very fun, creepy read with great characters!
"Ride or Die' by Delilah S. Dawson is a fun middle grade horror read, set in an amusement park with a secret, dark history. . during a sleepover for a birthday party. The story follows Brie, who's hiding a secret of her own that caused her to flee her old school, looking to start over. Hoping to be accepted into what she sees as the safety of the most popular group at her new school, she's willing to do just about anything to make that happen. When the girls. . collectively known as 'the Ems'. . coerce her into an abandoned section of the park, she ends up meeting a group of cool older kids that seem to be much nicer. Unfortunately, there's a malignant force present as well, that's going to make surviving the night a bit more of a challenge. I don't normally read middle grade stories. I'm far from the target audience in most cases and I find even a lot of young adult authors have a tendency to feel like they're talking down to the reader, dumbing down the writing, or just plain weak at it. . which makes me hesitant. None of that happens in 'Ride or Die. ' Sometime back, I read another of Dawson's novels. . called 'Midnight at the Houdini. ' I had absolutely fallen in love with her characters and her world building, the way she crafted her settings in visual emotions. And it was absolutely the same here with this little horror story. Did I have to suspend disbelief a bit? Yes. Even as a kid, I know one hint of the first odd situation would have been plenty to send me looking for the way out. For it to go on as long as it did, while necessary for the story, it was a bit of a stretch. All that aside, Dawson is great at capturing the personalities of her characters and really understanding who they are through and through. They're well-developed and distinctive. Charming even. It was creepy and fun. A great read for middle graders and adults, alike. I loved it and can't wait to read some more titles from this author. (I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely expressed. )"
