ALYSON is finally coming! - December 2026

Sixteen-year-old Alyson has been watching her friends slowly slip into the same poverty-shackled lives as their parents. She asks the stars at night to help her not drift into those crevaces, but the future seems painfuly simple-- sell drugs, sell herself, or hope someone with money can save her.

Then she meets Anthony, a wealthy boy whose perfect life hides the same violence and addiction she's trying to outrun. As they fall in love, they dare to believe that they can leave their family legacies behind and build a future of their own. 

But when Anthony's brother is killed by Alyson's cousin during a drug deal gone wrong, their escape plans are shattered. Alison must decide if love really is powerful enough to save her or if it's just another temporary fix used to ease reality.

Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho and now resides in North Carolina. She has published five YA novels including her latest, Girls of War, from Owl Hollow Press. Her essays, poetry, and short stories can be found in the Remington Review, Southeast Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and several anthologies.

Leigh has an MFA in Young Adult literature from Converse College where she served as the Managing Fiction Editor at South 85 Journal for two years. She is the winner of the James Applewhite Poetry prize honorable mention and Southeast Review Narrative Nonfiction prize.

You can follow and contact her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Wattpad.