Love at Full Tilt

This joyful celebration of fandoms, theme parks, whirlwind romance, and plus-size girls follows eighteen-year-old Lia, who''s determined to win an epic scavenger hunt at a world-renowned theme park--until rival contestant Mason upends her plans and sends her heart careening off the tracks. Most high-school seniors look forward to graduation and everything that comes after, but Lia Baker just wishes time would stand still.;In a few months, while her best friends will be heading off to college, Lia will be stuck at home, buried under the pressure of a full-time job and her mother’s anxiety--or so she thinks, until a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is suddenly within reach.; When Lia lands a highly coveted spot in an exclusive 50th-anniversary scavenger hunt at Fableland, she seizes the;chance to finally have an adventure of her own. But it''s much more than just a vacation to Lia; the contest winner will receive a cash prize, one that Lia plans to use to move out of her parents'' house, get a job at Fableland, and eventually pitch her story about a plus-size princess. It''s a golden ticket into her dream world--and a way to help create that dream for others. ; With her extensive Fableland knowledge at her fingertips, there’s no way she won’t win. Especially once she meets Mason--a cute rival contestant who wants to team up to decipher the scavenger hunt’s daily clues. But as her time at Fableland ticks away too quickly, Lia realizes that she will have to choose between the future she wants to rewrite--and a love she hadn’t planned for.

Autorentext

Jenny L. Howe

Klappentext

In this joyful celebration of fandoms, whirlwind romance, and plus-size girls, love is the ultimate roller coaster ride.

Lia Baker has spent the last few months wishing time would stand still. Soon her friends will head off to college while she’s left behind, buried under her mom’s anxiety and working a job she doesn’t want. But life throws her for a loop when she wins a spot in the fiftieth-anniversary scavenger hunt at Fableland, a legendary theme park. The contest is a golden ticket to a world where her favorite stories come to life and a chance for her to write some new ones of her own.

Everything seems perfect, especially after she teams up with Mason, a cute rival who knows as much about Fableland as she does. Together, they’re unstoppable. But as Mason’s sweet smile starts to melt her focus, Lia realizes that she may have to choose between the future she wants to rewrite—and a love she hadn’t planned for.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

June 18

Logan Airport

Boston, MA

Fableland Resort was the brainchild of Fable Industry’s CEO Sam Casterman. After years of entertaining children of all ages with his company’s animated films, Casterman wanted to create a place where they could go into the movies and be a part of the action. In his most famous interview, Casterman proclaimed, “Sometimes we need to close out the world and fall into our imaginations. Our resort will bring imagination to life.” And for the past fifty years, Fableland has been doing just that.

—­Fableland, 50th-­Anniversary Documentary

Most people love roller coasters for their beginning. That climb up, up, up as anticipation squeezes your veins and clicking tracks creep you ever closer to that first gravity-­defying, stomach-­wringing drop.

I prefer the end. When the brakes squeal and the car jerks to a stop and, for a fleeting second, silence settles over the world. It’s a moment of perfect peace. One that reminds me that, even after being twisted and turned and thrown upside down, I’m okay.

I would do just about anything—­even give up breakfast, my favorite meal, forever—­if I could be listening to the screeching melody of those brakes right now instead of my mother’s list of every possible disaster that might befall a barely eighteen-­year-­old girl in Florida without her parents.

“Don’t go out alone at night. Don’t talk to strangers.” Mom huffs a breath like she’s been running in place for the twenty minutes we’ve been standing at airport security. She lowers her head to dig through her purse. “And don’t get into cars with people you don’t know. Not even with that Dryve app all you kids are using.” Extracting a tissue, she blots her nose. Tears shine in her eyelashes.

She can’t cry in public. Not again. I run my hand over my stomach as if that will somehow unravel all its knots.

Mom squeezes the straps of her purse. “We hired you a driver to get from the airport to the hotel and back again at the end of the week. There should be no reason for you girls to leave the park.”

“But we won’t know the driver. How can we get in the car with him?” The words slip out before I can stop them. I smile to indicate it’s a joke, but my mom’s porcelain skin has found a new shade of white.

Dad frowns, the lines at the corners of his mouth so deep that I can see them beneath his dark-­brown beard. His tanned cheeks have gone red. “Amelia. You haven’t gotten on the plane yet. This trip could still be canceled.”

Crap. I better not have just torpedoed six days of parental freedom.

I grab his arm and make my blue eyes Fableland-­princess wide. “I was kidding.” You’d think they’d be used to my terribly timed sense of humor by now.

Facing my mother, I fold her into a hug. I’m barely five four, yet she makes me feel like a giant. Everything about her is so small and fragile. “I won’t leave the park. I swear.”

I don’t understand the things that stress her out, but she can’t help it. My grandmother says she burst from the womb anxious.

Mom tightens our hug. “Look out for each other, okay? And check in all the time.”

I nod against her shoulder.

“No boys,” Dad growls.

I salute him. “You got it.”

It’s an easy promise to make. My two best friends and I aren’t heading to Fableland—­the best amusement park in the world—­for some vacation fling. I have a contest to win and a huge cash prize to secure.

I slip my hand into my pocket, my fingers curling around the pointed end of a folded sheet of paper. The first clue for Fableland’s 50th-­anniversary Superfan Scavenger Hunt popped into my email last night, one minute after midnight. Instead of sleeping, I spent the next few hours poring over the notebooks I’d organized for the trip, ensuring they were as thorough as possible. Every piece of information I could glean from the Fabler Fanatics’ Forums (F3 to its members) is sketched between the college-­ruled blue lines in my neatest handwriting.

It doesn’t matter that I’ve never set foot in any of Fableland’s parks before. I know each one, inside and out. I can recite every Fable Industry movie by heart. I’ve read Sam Casterman’s biographies so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve even dabbled in a little Sunspark fan fiction (Elorra and Oliver are OTP forever).

With Tess and Issy at my side, there’s no way I won’t win. Getting into this contest is fate, a tiny slice of Fableland magic that came bursting into my life at the moment I needed it most.

My fingers itch to glance at the clue again. Just to assure myself it’s real. But my phone chirps with a text message from Tess before I can get the paper out of my pocket.

Tess

WE’VE GOT DUNKS AND DONUT HOLES. WHERE ARE YOU??

(2:40 PM)

Issy

I made sure they didn’t put any jelly…