Seventeen-year-old Birdie lives for danger—from rooftopping abandoned hotels to chasing the perfect shot for her Instagram alter ego, Bad Altitude. Her dying Florida beach town may be crumbling, but her follower count is rising fast. She’s one viral post away from escaping the Space Coast for good. Then she meets Micah, a daredevil TikTok star with a taste for high-stakes stunts and even higher risks. At first, Birdie thinks she’s found a kindred spirit. But Micah is secretly playing a deadly game online—and after he falls to his death, Birdie is left with more questions than answers. Determined to uncover the truth, she retraces his final stunts, getting dangerously close to his brother, Jayce. Can she trust him, or is he hiding something too? Now someone’s watching Birdie—both online and off—and she’s forced to keep playing. Because in this game, there’s only one rule: if you quit, you die.
Praise for Never Leave Me Alone
“In this fast-paced rollercoaster of a novel, fearless daredevil Riley-Jane must decide how much she’ll risk to uncover the truth behind another thrill-seeker’s death.”
—Yvonne Ventresca, award-winning author of Pandemic
“Crissa-Jean Chappell’s stunningly vivid, emotionally wrenching YA thriller, focused on a teen girl in peril, raises important questions about social media addiction and the true human impacts of economic disparity. At a relentlessly suspenseful pace, Never Leave Me Alone exquisitely renders the stark contrast between Florida’s glittering Space Coast wealth and decaying fringes, where creative, traumatized Riley-Jane struggles to survive. It’s a land where rockets pop off like corks, while on the ground, the air is thick with fried Twinkies and bull-riding pens. As Riley-Jane notes while sneaking into an opulent hotel where a disco ball spins beneath the palm trees, ‘We were invisible. That was our superpower.’ Viral images on social media seem to promise a ticket to financial freedom. Chappell masterfully serves up a mysterious roller coaster ride full of twists and turns that will keep readers eager to learn what happened, ‘who done it,’ and whether her irresistible young protagonist will be able to overcome adversity. Every sentence is a heartbreaking, vivid jewel, thanks to the author’s astonishingly precise descriptive powers.”
—Ginger Pinholster, author of The Train to Santa Fe, Snakes of St. Augustine, and City in a Forest
“A beautifully observed story about the undertow of grief and guilt in the life of an anonymous Instagram star, Never Leave Me Alone is both ominous and glitteringly alive. Riley is the coolest of protagonists, a perfect guide to bring us through the perilous worlds of urbex adventures and social media fame.”
—Greg Takoudes, author of Shout at the Thunder
