Great news for BYE FOREVER, I GUESS
Only twelve days away!
We are just twelve days from the release of my very first middle grade book! And if there’s one thing about publishing, it’s that you learn to manage expectations pretty hard. But something weird is happening . . . and a lot of things are going right??
BYE FOREVER, I GUESS now has two starred reviews, from both Publishers Weekly and ALA Booklist. It also has glowing reviews from Kirkus and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. And also it’s a Kids’ Indie Next Pick, one of just ten middle grade books for the months of November and December.
This is huge in book world! And an enormous honor, because it means a ton of booksellers at independent bookshops read my book in advance, then nominated it for this list. They went out of their way to make this happen! I could not be more grateful.
So what does this mean? Booksellers will recommend it! There’s a flyer that goes out! The book could be on special displays! I’m sure a bookseller could explain it better. Suffice to say, this is the kind of thing that truly makes a difference for a book.
And those reviews?
★ “Interspersing Ingrid’s delightfully snarky narration with chat transcriptions, Meadows (the Salvation Cycle) presents an earnest and laugh-out-loud middle grade debut that’s both a winning exploration of tween friendship and a pitch-perfect paean to fan culture and the thrill of finding one’s community.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ “A hilarious enemies-to-something-more tale, told equally in prose and text messages, this book is sure to please any middle schooler in need of a sweet romance.”
— ALA Booklist (starred review)
“Charming, funny, and endearing.”
— Kirkus
“. . . a must for young rom-com fans.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
BYE FOREVER, I GUESS also has eight blurbs from other authors, including Stacey Lee, Susan Dennard, Ellen Oh, Erin Bowman, Amie Kaufman, Fran Wilde, Julie C. Dao, and Beth Revis. I mean, that is quite a list of talent! (You can read all the quotes here, as well as the full text of the trade reviews.)
The book is also getting a lot of really positive reviews from early readers. Here are a few:
“This story was so cute and wholesome!” — Ari
“A very sweet middle grade romance that indulges in nerd culture!” — Genevieve
“It is absolutely magical in its gentle truth.” — Hilda
“This book was the breath of fresh air I needed.” — Beth
“Touched my very soul with a gentle ‘hello, I see you’” — Kaeli
Want to request an early copy and add your thoughts? Here’s BYE FOREVER, I GUESS on NetGalley!
Audiobook:
Some of you have been asking, and yes, there will be an audiobook for BYE FOREVER, I GUESS! While the preorder links don’t seem to be live just yet, you can listen to an early sample here.
Upcoming events:
As I often do, I’ll be hanging out with my friends at One More Page Books for release day. But instead of doing an evening event at the store, we’re heading to the Westover Branch of the Arlington Public Library to make it easier for middle schoolers to come get books, snacks, and goodies. I’ll be sharing a little behind-the-scenes about the book, too, including some of the real text messages that inspired it!
But that’s not the only fun thing I have coming up. In addition to school visits (lmk if you want me to go to your school!), I have a handful of public events:
Queen City Word Fest in Staunton, VA - October 19, 11am - 5pm (copies will be available here, even though it’s a few days early!)
One More Page in Arlington, VA - October 22, 3pm at the Westover Library
Northside Library in Charlottesville, VA — October 26 at 2pm (copies will be available here, courtesy of New Dominion Bookshop)
Scrawl Books in Reston, VA, with Nashae Jones - November 14 at 7pm
Okay, that’s it for now! I need to grab some lunch and get back to work on, uh, secret things.
Preorder BYE FOREVER, I GUESS:
One More Page (signed and personalized Oct 22)
Scrawl Books (signed and personalized on Nov 14)
This is crazy good. Keep us updated
Bummed to have other obligations the day of the Queen City Wordiest, but YAY for all the good BFIG news!