Ride of Her Life (Lake Manawa Summers #3) - Lorna Seilstad

After reading Making Waves and A Great Catch, I was excited to end the series with Ride of Her Life.  It popped up for less than $5 and I snatched it up.

This summer, we are following Lilly, who used to be a servant in Marguerite's home.  Marguerite had always considered Lilly to be more of a friend, but not everyone feels that you can rise above your station in life.

Lilly's husband, Ben, died a few years ago and left her with her small son, Levi.  Ben's parents feel that Lilly isn't really taking advantage of their generous offer to send Levi away to boarding school, so Lilly leaves their home and takes a job as a cook down at the Lake Manawa resort.  It's here that she meets Nick, the handsome designer and builder of the resort's new roller coaster.  Feeling like she is betraying Ben, Lilly tries to keep her and her son from becoming too attached to the man who will probably leave at the end of the summer never to be seen again.

Nick has had a rough life and is finally doing something that he's proud of.  This is his first coaster that he has designed himself, and he is determined to make sure that it gets put up safely and that people will enjoy it.  He falls for Lilly pretty fast, but she is very slow to convince.  Every time he thinks that she's starting to let him in, she builds the walls back up, making Nick become somewhat frustrated.

I did end up enjoying this book.  I didn't like that some of the characters were up to no good, including Marguerite's own brother!  The only other complaint I have about the book is that the end didn't have any type of epilogue to tell me what happened.  One of the main issues between Nick and Lilly was the fact that she didn't want to move around, which is something that Nick would have to do to create roller coasters, but Nick was willing to give it all up.  In the end, Lilly was willing to give up her control as well, but I wish I would have known one way or the other.  The addition of a deceased spouse didn't bother me as much as it usually does, which is saying something.

The series itself was fun and reading about an old-time amusement/resort in Iowa was interesting as well.  It makes me wish that the resort were still there, but according to the author's note, there is a park there now.  The historical research was very well done and inserted seamlessly into the story.  I highly recommend this series for a light, fun read.  Good book!