SOLVED. Daughter of alcoholic father befriends ghost of boy killed in accident

[Jenelle]

UPDATE: somehow I remembered that I found this book at a scholastic book fair as a kid, so I googled it and I FINALLY found it! It's called Sky Rider by Nancy Springer.
"News that her beloved horse, Tazz, must be put down has made the constant pain of Dusty's old back injury doubly sharp. But the night before the vet comes for Tazz, a mysterious teenager, the ghost of a young man who died a strange and violent death on her family's property, appears to Dusty and offers to take Tazz away with him. Away where? Dusty wonders, but Tazz trusts the boy. Dusty's beloved horse seems healed, willing to leap right over the sun, and so she lets him go with the stranger. It isn't long however, before the boy returns, and Dusty realizes she must help him find peace--or become entangled with his vengeful spirit for eternity."

At first the description didn't fully convince me, but luckily I found this in another user's review:
"14-year-old Dusty's life can't seem to get much worse: she suffers from chronic back pain, the result of a driving accident that her drunk of a father was responsible for. She misses her deceased mother terribly, and the horse she loves is about to euthanized. Then a handsome and angry boy the color of moonlight appears and leads her suffering horse away to a pain free place. Dusty realizes the mysterious stranger is Skye Ryder, the boy who was killed in a bizarre accident on her father's property - and he wants revenge. Can she help Skye turn to healing instead of hating and hurting and thus save his soul?"

Over 10 years of wondering what this book was called and finally I know.




I'm trying to find the name and author of a book (kid/teen) that probably came out around 2002. I thought it was called 'Ghost Ryder', "Ryder" being one of the character's last name.
All I remember is the main character has an alcoholic father and she goes out one night into the woods(?) and meets a ghost of a boy who was killed in a either a motorcycle/dirt bike or horse accident I believe. I feel like he was riding a motorcycle or a horse and ran right through some sort of wire that decapitated him but I could be totally wrong. (Yeah, this was a book aimed at kids, real pleasant, huh?) I think the girl may have a crush on him. I can't seem to find a book called 'Ghost Ryder' for the life of me. I know it sounds like a strange book, but it's driving me nuts lol

[Kym]

Maybe Dream Date by Sinclair Smith ?

Amazon review -

about a girl named Katie who has a sleeping disorder and can't sleep that much. In this book she moves into a new house. Her first night at the new house she dreams of a wonderful guy named Heath Granger. When Katie first meets Heath he is really nice, but as time passes he turns mean and selfish. Katie later learns that Heath died on his favorite motorcycle by hitting a tree with his motorcycle -

[Jenelle]

Kym wrote: "Maybe Dream Date by Sinclair Smith ?

Amazon review -

about a girl named Katie who has a sleeping disorder and can't sleep that much. In this book she moves into a n..."

Kym,
Thanks for your reply and trying to help. Unfortunately Dream Date does not appear to be the one I'm taking about. I appreciate it though!

[Rainbowheart]

Glad you found it!

I noticed you edited your first post with the title. Sky Rider for the link.