No Place to Fall

by Jaye Robin Brown

  To the students and colleagues (Angie!) who suffered through endless conversations about the birth of this book, thanks for pretending to listen and making me feel famous. (Jake!) And Zach—Devon is not you, though his love of Gaga is all your fault.

  Finally I thank my family. My parents, Lynn and Robbie, who taught me that books make excellent home decor, the library is better than Six Flags, and summer reading lists mean trips to the bookstore. Thank you for raising a challenging, creative kid and for teaching me to love the written word. To my brother, Ken, and his wife, Lorraine, and to my awesome-sauce nephew and nieces, Jack, Kathleen, and Susan, you are the coolest. You can show your friends at school I said so.

  To Emily and Abel—the bravest people I know. I love you more than anything.

  And to R. for the magic carpet ride. It’s all because of you. Let’s keep flying over the horizon, letting the music play loud, catching our dreams.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JAYE ROBIN BROWN lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and teaches art at a public high school. This is her first novel. You can visit her online at www.jayerobinbrown.com.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  CREDITS

  Cover art © 2014 by Christine Blackburne/ MergeLeft Reps Inc

  Cover design by Alison Klapthor

  BACK AD

  DISCOVER

  your next favorite read

  MEET

  new authors to love

  WIN

  free books

  WATCH

  the latest videos

  SHARE

  infographics, lists, quizzes

  SIGN UP

  for bookish fun & news

  * * *

  epicreads.com

  COPYRIGHT

  NO PLACE TO FALL. Copyright © 2014 by J. K. Robinson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www.harpercollinschildrens.com

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Brown, Jaye Robin.

  No place to fall / by Jaye Robin Brown. — First edition.

  pagescm

  Summary: Sixteen-year-old Amber Vaughn dreams of attending the North Carolina School of the Arts to gain confidence in using her amazing singing voice, but her family is falling apart and she is torn between two boys.

  ISBN 978-0-06-227099-3 (hardcover)

  EPUB Edition © October 2014 ISBN 9780062270979

  [1. Singers—Fiction. 2. Family problems—Fiction. 3. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 4. High schools—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. 6. North Carolina—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.B814197No 2014

  2013051284

  [Fic]—dc23

  CIP

  AC

  * * *

  14 15 16 17 18 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FIRST EDITION

  ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

  Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  www.harpercollins.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

  Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada

  www.harpercollins.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

  Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

  Rosedale 0632

  Auckland, New Zealand

  www.harpercollins.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London W6 8JB, UK

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  195 Broadway

  New York, NY 10007

  www.harpercollins.com