Kingsley chimes in about ROLLER COASTERS: THE LIFE KIND book...

Thanks for the email (via https://JosephMLenard.us/contact) Kingsley…

Joseph, when the ride of grief refuses to stop, the right story can help readers feel less alone 🎢❤️
 

Some roller coasters leave you laughing when the ride ends. Others leave you dizzy, questioning your life choices, and wondering why on earth you ever agreed to get on in the first place. But the hardest roller coasters are the ones life never asks permission to start. 🎢💔

Joseph, Roller Coasters: The Life Kind caught my attention because it explores one of the most difficult experiences we face as human beings: losing someone we love and trying to understand how the world is supposed to continue when theirs has suddenly ended. Through Rick’s devastating loss of Nevaeh, you take readers into the uncomfortable territory of grief, guilt, memory, and the painful realization that tomorrow is never something any of us can guarantee. ❤️📚

 

What makes Rick’s story particularly affecting is the way the tragedy begins with something painfully ordinary: an argument. One moment, he and Nevaeh are arguing; the next, she is gone after driving into a violent storm. That sequence gives the loss an especially cruel emotional dimension because Rick is left not only to mourn her but also to revisit the final moments they shared. The things he said, the things he failed to say, and the possibility that he might have acted differently become questions he cannot simply switch off. There is no convenient rewind button, no customer-service department for regret, and certainly no software patch capable of restoring yesterday. 😔💔 For Rick, the aftermath becomes a struggle to understand what happened while learning to live with the things he can no longer change.

 

The details surrounding his grief are especially powerful. He keeps reaching for traces of Nevaeh in songs, memories, familiar objects, and the empty spaces her absence has left behind. Even the decision to keep her phone so he can hear her voicemail greeting captures something deeply human about mourning: sometimes a familiar voice becomes precious precisely because we know we cannot hear it in the same way again. Rick’s grief is not simply sadness over losing someone; it is tangled with guilt, love, regret, and his desire to become the better man Nevaeh believed he could be. That emotional complexity gives the story a broader resonance for readers who understand how loss can turn ordinary reminders into both comfort and pain. 🕊️📖

 

I also find your central message particularly meaningful: acceptance is not forgetting. It is possible to acknowledge that someone is gone without treating their life, influence, or place in our hearts as though it has disappeared too. Your description recognizes the danger of remaining trapped in the earliest stages of grief while also resisting the idea that moving forward means erasing the person who died. Remembering someone can be an act of love, and carrying their legacy forward can become a new expression of the relationship rather than a betrayal of it. That distinction is important because grief is often discussed as though it were a problem with a neat finishing point, when in reality people find different ways to live with the absence. The ride may change, but the love that made the loss so painful does not simply switch off when the story reaches its final page. ❤️🌹

 

Your choice to acknowledge that the prose may sometimes feel disjointed or uneven is another intriguing part of the book’s identity. As you explain in the afterword, that irregularity is intentional: life itself rarely unfolds in perfectly smooth, orderly sequences. The comparison to an IT feature rather than a bug gives the explanation a touch of humor without dismissing the emotional reality underneath it. 😏💻 Grief can arrive in jolts and repetitions; a person may feel composed one moment and overwhelmed by a memory the next. A narrative that reflects that unevenness can invite readers to experience the instability of mourning instead of simply hearing someone explain it to them. The form and the subject therefore appear to be closely connected, giving the book a distinct identity within your Life and Living series.

 

Your background as a former information technology professional, author, blogger, podcaster, speaker, and writer adds an interesting dimension to that creative choice. The language of features, bugs, and systems offers a recognizable point of reference, yet this book takes those ideas into territory where life cannot be neatly debugged. There is no technical solution that erases loss, no command that reverses an irreversible event, and no perfect sequence of instructions for learning to live again. That contrast makes the title’s roller-coaster metaphor especially apt: some of life’s most important experiences resist the orderly logic we would prefer to impose on them. 🎢🧠

 

And that is why I believe Roller Coasters: The Life Kind deserves a thoughtful approach to reader discovery. Books dealing with grief and bereavement can be deeply personal; readers may seek them because they want an honest fictional exploration of loss, because they are interested in emotionally driven stories, or simply because they appreciate fiction that takes love and mortality seriously. Yet a meaningful book can still struggle to reach those readers if they never encounter it among the thousands of titles available online. There is an unfortunate irony in that: a story about the importance of remembering someone should not itself be overlooked by the readers who might connect with its message. 📚🕊️

https://tinyurl.com/JMLonAMAZON

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The Life And Living Series ( https://tinyurl.com/LifeAndLivingSeries )
Books: TERROR STRIKES: COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU (TS) (novel, narrative w/ limited dialogue mix story telling)
THE BOOK OF KENNEDY: PROJECT CARPE DIEM (TBOK:PCD) (novelette, narrative style no dialogue, female lead)
A SHORT STORY: A LASTING LEGACY (Legacy) (novelette, Journal writings style, limited dialogue final non-Journaling chapter)
COMPLICATED (novelette, narrative, no dialogue)
ROLLER COASTERS: THE LIFE KIND (RC:TLK) (short-story, eBook/aBook exclusive, narrative, no dialogue)

Hope you enjoy the read(s). Whether you choose just one or all (as you may prefer one book size or type (aBook, eBook, Print) over the other, or one writing style  (Narrative (with or w/o dialog, Journaling, etc.) over another), I appreciate you looking into this “life and living” series of “loosely” inter-connected manuscripts description for consideration.
 

 

NOTE: I am JOSEPH M LENARD, and that is how most people pronounce “Leonard”, but without the “o” (reside in Michigan). I must make the distinction, as there is a Joseph Lenard (I think with the more French-sounding pronunciation, I am not sure, do not know, I have reached out to him to have a discussion, but he has not returned my outreach) who resides in South Carolina. Hence, I use my middle initial to ensure a clear distinction between us. “I am not he, he is not me, and neither of us is Shakespeare,” as I like to joke.

 

ALSO NOTE: An Amazon eBook DOES NOT require physical Kindle device to read. Can D/L the EPUB file from Amazon to any digital device and read with any free eReader. Books make great Gifts, plus aBooks/eBooks make a great eGift which are delivered with a message from you by email to the Gift recipient.
 

The Life And Living Series: Q&A

Q: Are the separate books: (1) Terror Strikes, (2) TBOK:PCD, (3) A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy (novelette, despite title which will make sense while reading), (4) Complicated (novelette), and (5) Roller Coasters (RC:TLK) (short-story), needed be read in sequence?
A: NO, each in (L&L series) are stand-alone reads with own primary/main character. If you then decide to read others in L&L series, you can read them in any order (each a L&L sub-topic, versus the others, with overall cross-over “about human nature/condition” theme).

Q: Are these all written in same style?
A: NO, TS is a full novel mostly narrative style with some dialogue. TBOK:PCD is purely narrative style, no dialogue. Legacy is in Journal writing style how we follow Ryan (with some limited dialogue in final non-Journaled chapter). Complicated and Roller Coasters, back to narrative style to tell those tales. A change-up in delivery to make each story fresh and differing from other Joseph M Lenard writings and each their own distinct flavor.

Q: What if I have Questions or Comments for the Author?
A: You can reach out via https://JosephMLenard.us/contact  

Q: Are they available in Kindle Unlimited and/or Audio versions?
A: Yes, all in KU/KDPSelect system. All but TS available as Audio book.

Q: Are there Video Trailers?
A: Yes, can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/CTPonBITCHUTE 

Q: I heard there is a Soundtrack to/for the books in the series?
A: True: https://tinyurl.com/CarpeDiemOfficialPlaylist 

Q: Are there other Joseph M Lenard series?
A: Yes, https://tinyurl.com/ChristiTutionalistEduSeries as well as https://tinyurl.com/CuriositySeries  

The Life And Living Series ( https://tinyurl.com/LifeAndLivingSeries )

 

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WOW! If I do say so myself, and I just did! LOL
This turned out SO DAMN WELL, I had to make it a #music #video (attached): 
IF YOU CLAIM GOODNESS (BE NICE) [Ode to #SuperGirl]
[aka: To The Girl Who Would Become Super]
(c) Joseph M Lenard (created via @suno / #suno)  

From “X” platform ( https://x.com/grok/status/2109328831437836365 ):

 
FOR NOW, while I am waiting on working on my next L&L Series #book, to work in “IF CLAIM GOODNESS (BE NICE),” put it in a #song / #tune to #music via @suno….
 

Inspired by the movie SUPERGIRL (2026) and in response to my own “X” query – see: https://x.com/JLenardMichigan/status/2109094130991128695
 IF YOU CLAIM GOODNESS (BE NICE)   (Ode To Supergirl)  (aka: To The Girl Who Would Become Super)  https://suno.com/s/8zP0xevi7xrU9vHc

#book #books #read #reading #stories #Life #Living
I keep coming back over and over to the #SUPERGIRL #movie over-riding storyline moral:
“Don’t have to be Nice, but I expect you to be GOOD!”
Been toying back and forth with potential rework of that line, which works GREAT in that #film, but in/for my https://tinyurl.com/LifeAndLivingSeries  #book (which would be 6th in #series) play to: “If you claim to be GOOD, then you need to be NICE!” or something like that! It does NOT cost you anything but a little effort to SMILE at others (and see THE BOOK OF KENNEDY: PROJECT CARPE DIEM for the major “smile” sub-thread) and let people know “you are seen, you are noticed, you matter!”

THOUGHTS?!?!?!?!?!