RIDE OF YOUR LIFE tells the story of Tracy Miller, a 17-year-old girl who finds the love of her life . . . 30 years after her own death.

The story takes place in a theme park, and it was inspired by the 1984 Great Adventure Haunted Castle fire, which killed eight teenagers. Three years before the fire, when I was 16, my family had a season’s pass to Great Adventure. We visited the park so often that I got to know it quite well. Although I didn’t know any of the employees by name, I did enjoy chatting with them.

One day when I was in the park, I had a strange feeling. It was as if something was telling me that I should pay attention to this exact place at this exact time, because it would someday be important to me. A few years later when I heard about the fire, it took me back to that experience. In my mind I wanted to give the tragedy a happy ending, and RIDE OF YOUR LIFE—this story of undying love—was the result.   

RIDE OF YOUR LIFE won 3rd place in SmartWriter’s W.I.N. contest in 2006 in the YA category, which was judged by Alex Flinn, author of Beastly (soon to be a major motion picture) as well as other books for teens.