Continue below to read the synopsis of the book and be sure to follow this link - [TOUR SCHEDULE] to check out the rest of the stops on the 'RIDE OR DIE' book tour brought to you by TOPPLING STACKS TOURS, RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN'S / DELACORTE PRESS, and DELILAH S. DAWSON!
Ride or Die
Delilah S. Dawson Publisher: Delacorte Press / Random House Children's Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025 Genre: Middle Grade Horror Synopsis: A sleepover at an amusement park turns into a night of terror in this scary middle school read from the New York Times bestselling author of 'Mine' and 'Camp Scare.' 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 parkwith 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.
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'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. 
About the Author:
Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times bestselling writer of Star Wars: Phasma, Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, The Secrets of Long Snoot, The Perfect Weapon, and Scorched; Disney Mirrorverse: Pure of Heart, It Will Only Hurt for a Moment, Guillotine, Midnight at the Houdini, Bloom, The Violence, the Blud series, Servants of the Storm, the HIT series, Wake of Vultures and the Shadow series (as Lila Bowen), and a variety of short stories in anthologies such as Death & Honey, Robots vs. Fairies, Hellboy: an Assortment of Horrors, Violent Ends, Carniepunk, Three Slices, and Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life. With Kevin Hearne, she is the co-writer of the Tales of Pell series. Her middle grade works include Mine, Camp Scare, and the Minecraft Mob Squad series.
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