Bye Forever, I Guess

As the best friend of popular, self-absorbed Rachel, Ingrid is used to feeling invisible. But the guarded Virginia eighth grader has a vibrant online life, where she's built a supportive community via the MMORPG Ancient Tomes Online and her secret blog Bye Forever, I Guess, a compilation of the wrong-number texts she frequently receives. After Rachel humiliates Ingrid in front of new kids Oliver and Alyx, Ingrid decides she's had enough and drops her. She retreats further into her online life by getting to know Traveler, the anonymous sender of a recent misdirected text. In contrast to her increasingly awkward interactions with Oliver, who has a "strange ability to notice me," Ingrid and Traveler have an easy, sweet rapport as they chat and play ATO--until she starts suspecting that he may be closer than she thought. Even worse, his initial text may have been meant for Rachel. 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. Main characters default to white. Ages 10-14. Agent: Lauren MacLeod, Aevitas Creative. (Oct.)

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Charming, funny, and endearing.

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. Hand to fans of Cory Doctorow's In Real Life (2014) and Alexis Nedd's Don't Hate the Player (2021).

A must for young rom-com fans.—The Bulletin

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

Charming and often hilarious, Bye Forever, I Guess 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

Sweet and funny and utterly adorable! Ingrid is real and lovable, and your heart will be so full. The most delightful middle-grade romcom I've ever read!—Ellen Oh, award-winning author of Finding Junie Kim

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

I wanted to climb inside this book and live there. Can these characters be my friends, please? 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

Sweeter than a heart-shaped donut, this book will charm your (hand-knit) socks off. Clear your schedule and read it all in one sitting!—Beth Revis, New York Times bestselling author of The Princess and the Scoundrel and Night of the Witch

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.—Erin Bowman, award-winning author of The Girl and the Witch's Garden

The kind of story you can't put down—it keeps dishing up the best surprises. A beautiful, cozy book.—Fran Wilde, Nebula Award-winning author of Riverland and The Ship of Stolen Words