Such a Bad Influence: A Novel

In rural Ohio, the last connections lonesome Felicity Lavigne has to her late mom are the blueberry farm she inherited and her mom’s old phone number—which Felicity still calls every day. Until she gets a call back. It’s the number’s new owner, Alex Norse, a surly, homeless teenager who has aged out of the foster care system with no one to turn to except the stranger who’s been leaving rambling voicemails for a dead woman.

Felicity takes Alex in on one condition: She has to help scare off some kids vandalizing the fields. Not only does it work, but news spreads, and soon locals are lining up to solicit justice for their own grievances. Best of all, an unexpected friendship blooms for the two young women, who have found in each other the family they’ve been yearning for.

But revenge has a funny way of getting out of hand, and when things go a bit too far, Felicity and trouble-prone Alex must stick together to confront the heartbreak of their pasts and whatever new calamities may lie ahead.