Cryer's Cross
The community of Cryer’s Cross, Montana (population 212) is distraught when high school freshman Tiffany disappears without a trace. Already off-balance due to her OCD, 16-year-old Kendall is freaked out seeing Tiffany’s empty desk in the one-room school house, but somehow life goes on... until Kendall's boyfriend Nico also disappears, and also without a trace. Now the town is in a panic.
Alone in her depression and with her OCD at an all-time high, Kendall notices something that connects Nico and Tiffany: they both sat at the same desk. She knows it's crazy, but Kendall finds herself drawn to the desk, dreaming of Nico and wondering if maybe she, too, will disappear... and whether that would be so bad. Then she begins receiving graffiti messages on the desk from someone who can only be Nico. Can he possibly be alive somewhere? Where is he? And how can Kendall help him?
The only person who believes her is Jacian, the new guy she finds irritating... and attractive. As Kendall and Jacian grow closer, Kendall digs deeper into Nico's mysterious disappearance only to stumble upon some ugly — and deadly — local history. Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried...
Lisa McMann
Lisa McMann lives and writes in the Phoenix area. Her newest middle grade fantasy series is called The Forgotten Five. Book one, Map of Flames, was an instant NYT bestseller. It's about five supernatural kids, raised in a deserted hideout, who enter civilization for the first time to search for a hidden stash left behind by their missing, criminal parents.