K Vann O'Brien

Avalanche K Vann O'Brien

Graceful Wind is a residential therapy center for teens struggling with drug abuse. The lodge's website gushes psychobabble such as "addiction recovery" and "comprehensive distraction removal."There's just one problem: Alice isn't on drugs. But the mountainside retreat does help her escape her mother, who can't even look at her since her father left, and her friends, who glare at her from across the cafeteria, as if she's the one who betrayed them. And most of all, it helps her outrun the memory of that tragic night six months ago when everything changed. Once on the mountain, Alice has to deal with new problems, like Micah, the delinquent who studies her with swimming dark eyes, until if feels like he can see through all the secrets she's guarding. And Lily, who hasn't spoken since her mother killed herself. And Jack, who Alice feels like she can actually talk to, despite his sordid past as a priest and current position as counselor at Graceful Wind. In the middle of her struggle between protecting herself and letting go, an avalanche descends, cutting the power and contact with the outside world, and burying Lily in snow. Suddenly, Alice has to suppress the tragedy of her past and focus on the dangers facing her in the moment. If she can't find the strength to move on, she may not be able to save her new friends - or herself - from real disaster.