Teenager Leila’s life is full of challenges. From bouncing around the foster care system to living with seasonal affective disorder, she’s never had an easy road. Leila keeps herself busy with her passion for environmental advocacy, monitoring the Urban Ecovists message board and joining a local environmental club with her best friend Sarika. And now that Leila has finally been adopted, she dares to hope her life will improve. But the voices in Leila’s head are growing louder by the day. Ignoring them isn’t working anymore. Something calls out to her from the grove at Fairmount Park.
Author
Eric Smith is a Young Adult author and literary agent living in Philadelphia. His next book, Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, a collaboration with Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, will be published with Abrams in April 2022. It’s an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award winning musical. His latest books include You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press) and the acclaimed anthology Battle of the Bands (Candlewick), co-edited with award-winning author Lauren Gibaldi. It’s currently being adapted for film by Playground Entertainment. His novel Don’t Read the Comments was a YALSA 2021 Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. The paperback is out now. He has short stories and essays in the anthologies Color Outside the Lines by Sangu Mandanna (Soho Teen), Body Talk by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin), Allies by Dana Alison Levy and Shakirah Bourne (DK), All Signs Point to Yes by Candice Montgomery, cara davis-araux, and Adrianne Russell (Inkyard), and Adoptee to Adoptee by Nicole Chung and Shannon Gibney (Harper). His other books include the IndieBound bestseller The Geek’s Guide to Dating (Quirk), Inked (Bloomsbury), the anthology Welcome Home (Flux), and contemporary fantasy novel The Girl and the Grove (Flux).
