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A Story About Her Music
Ride follows two estranged sisters who are brought back together after the death of their mother and are forced to face the past they tried to leave behind. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The biggest inspiration for this story was the music of Lana Del Rey. I have always been a huge of hers, and I wanted to write a story about her music. She had her sister in her video for Music To Watch Boys to, and I thought about having this sister relationship. They’re complete opposites of each other, and I truly believed that was what was beautiful for the both of them. I wanted them to be able to rely on each other and realize that they have faults the other one considers a strength.
What was your inspiration for the characters and their relationship?
I think a common thing lately in my novels is being able to realize that your actions can influence someone for years to come. Alayna and Morgan’s parents had caused this ripple effect in their own tragic lives that bleed into Alayna and Morgan. I wanted to show how even something so small could be so huge for someone else.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Cause and Effect was a huge one. Like I said in the characters and their relationships with others. That became a huge driving force in this novel. Plus, I wanted to talk about forgiveness. I wanted you to be able to forgive those who have destroyed you or hurt you.
What is the next book that you’re working on and when can your fans expect it out?
My next novel is Something Scandalous, Treacherous, and Black. It’s a campy, sassy wedding book. It’s going to be out at the end of March.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook
Sisters, Alayna and Morgan, are reunited through grief. When Morgan returns home to Annapolis, MD after the death of their mother. However, despite the solemn circumstances at play, the two siblings can’t avoid reopening old familial wounds. Both had dreams of fame and fortune, but each one took separate paths.
Alayna, was well on her way towards becoming a famous singer. While Morgan, spurred on by what she felt was rejection at the hands of her mother, moved to Los Angeles to make movies. Only one sister’s career would endure though. As Alayna, supposedly her mother’s favorite, had her dreams unceremoniously undercut by her mom’s vituperative ways. A cycle of abuse she had to suffer alone, when Morgan absconded to Hollywood.
Alayna feels her sister abandoned her. And even as her husband Noah routinely pushes for her to renew her musical aspirations, Alayna also doesn’t want to dash her father’s hopes for grandchildren; and starting a family. Despite the latter abandoning her, and her sister when they were just teens. Meantime, after venturing out into the world and making a name for herself. Morgan, upon returning home, struggles with the omnipresent hole in her heart over her father’s departure years ago.
A sense of loss, compounded by having lost two separate lovers to drugs, and suicide back in LA. Additionally, Morgan also clashes with her sister over having never left town. A choice Morgan feels resulted in her becoming coddled, and inhibited her personal growth. Can these two sister’s put both their past, and present pain behind them, in order to pave the way for their future as a family?
Ride
Morgan wanted out. After spending her childhood with her abusive mother, alcoholic father, and successful sister, she wanted nothing more than to carve her own path in life as a film director. Likewise, Alayna wished to have a picture-perfect family, even if it meant putting her dreams of singing behind her. Separated by the trauma of their past and brought back together by the death of their mother, these two sisters want nothing more than to move on with their lives. But that’s easier said than done, especially when home means old ghosts are lurking around every corner.
Inspired by the music of Lana Del Rey, author Zachary Ryan tells the compelling story of two sisters trapped by circumstance and family ties as they try to right the wrongs of the past in his newest novel, Ride. The story itself is a beautifully written tale of trauma and healing. As the chapters flip between Alayna’s and Morgan’s perspectives, the reader is welcomed to the full scope of the story and both sides of the sister’s harsh upbringing. In this gripping book, Ryan doesn’t stray away from difficult topics such as suicide and drug abuse but accepts them as a brutal part of life. His willingness to discuss both the good and the bad brings the story to life.
Zachary Ryan tells a narrative that makes it hard not to feel genuine sympathy as you watch the sisters work their way through old ghosts and drudge up long-buried trauma. He writes the story in a way that allows you to bury yourself under the words. With the exception of a few jarring jumps between past and present, this book was a captivating and smooth read, and I found it hard not to put it down.
Ride is a compelling women’s fiction novel about the strained relationship between sisters and the struggle to work through past trauma. Readers will be taken on a journey of self-discovery and reflection as the sisters heal from their upbringing and find a way to move forward in life.
Pages: 341 | ASIN: B0BKYHV2PT
LITERARY TITAN 