Bye Forever, I Guess

Description

Ingrid’s online persona is more popular than she is. IRL, she’s the quiet one—until a wrong-number text message offers her a chance at connection. Can this guarded gamer girl lower her shield for a new friend… or more-than-friend?

Thirteen-year-old Ingrid’s been living a double life. At school, she’s the Girl With Dead Parents, her popular friend Rachel’s charity case. In her online fandoms, she can be her own person: one who’s constantly talking to her long-distance BFF Lorren, crushing it at her favorite MMORPG, and geeking out over her favorite book series. But when Ingrid stands up to Rachel and “starts drama” at school, it suddenly feels like she has no life at all (and nowhere to sit at lunch).

Until she gets a wrong-number text from another gamer. . . and everything starts to go right.

Guarded, prickly Ingrid isn’t quick to trust, but spending time together playing Ancient Tomes Online as “Stitches” and “Traveler” makes Ingrid feel like she can lay down her sword of standoffishness. But when she starts to suspect that Traveler may be a student at her school, she faces a difficult choice. Can she open up when getting close to people has hurt her before? Or is making friends only fantasy after all?

A fresh, funny, and vibrant middle-grade debut from NYT bestselling author Jodi Meadows, Bye Forever, I Guess speaks to the complexity of middle-school friendships (and friend breakups) and the sense of belonging that comes from finding your people. Warm, witty, and endearingly messy, Ingrid’s quest to be herself is sure to resonate in this love letter to geek culture and the healing power of fantasy.”I wanted to climb inside this book and live there. Can these characters be my friends, please? Full of heart and completely charming, this book captured exactly how it felt to be Ingrid’s age, all wrapped up in a package of fantasy fandom and online gaming. As soon as I finished, I wanted to start it again.”—Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling author of The World Between Blinks, the Elementals series, and The Isle of the Gods
 
“This charming and often hilarious debut shines a light on the complexities of middle-school friendship, and how to follow your own true north even when everyone else is headed the other way. A warm, sparkly gem of a novel. I loved it.”—Stacey Lee, New York Times and Indie-bestselling author of The Downstairs Girl and Luck of the Titanic
 
“This book has made me a Jodi Meadows fan for life. The friendship, the gaming, the romance—I could not put down Bye Forever, I Guess.”—Susan Dennard, New York Times bestselling author of The Luminaries and Truthwitch
 
“This charming, delightful tale is equal parts middle school awkwardness, winsome love story, and unflinching exploration of friendship — the kind that hurts, and the kind that forever changes you for the better. I adored this book.” —Julie C. Dao, award-winning author of Team Chu and the Battle Of Blackwood Arena and Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
 
“Jodi Meadows effortlessly captures the pain of friendship breakups, the joy of finding your people, and the messy, chaotic, complicated process of growing up. Ingrid is all of us, just figuring it out as she goes (and fielding some wrong number texts along the way). I adored this heartwarming story about friendship, belonging, and being true to yourself.”—Erin Bowman, award-winning author of The Girl and the Witch’s GardenJodi Meadows is the author of Nightrender, Dawnbreaker, the Incarnate and Fallen Isles trilogies, and is a coauthor of New York Times bestsellers My Lady Jane and My Plain Jane. You can visit her website at JodiMeadows.com, and connect with her on Twitter @jodimeadows and on Instagram @unicornwarlord. She lives in rural Virginia.US