Live, Laugh, Kidnap - by Gabby Noone (Hardcover)

About the Book

Three teen girls get caught up in a real estate battle between a commune and an exploitative megachurch in their small Montana town, and they devise a plot to exact revenge and make a profit by kidnapping the pastor's son and demanding ransom money.

Book Synopsis

From the author of Layoverland comes another bitingly clever, laugh-out-loud funny novel, about a group of teen girls going up against an exploitative megachurch in their small Montana town.

The only thing Genesis, Holly and Zoe seem to have in common is being stuck in Violet, Montana. Well, that and the fact that Hope Harvest Ministries is trying to ruin their lives.

Genesis lives on a commune that is now an echo of the New Age cult it once was. She's witnessed power couple Pastor Jay and Ree Reaps transform their sleepy small town into a haven for online Influencers, who flock to Violet, Bible in one hand and Ree's bestselling ACT LIKE A LADY, PRAY LIKE A BOSS in the other. Now, the Reaps have decided it's God's Will(TM) that they take over Gen's ranch.

Holly is a begrudging tourist, forced to spend the summer with her estranged father as punishment for her unsavory behavior back in LA. To Holly, Hope Harvest is nothing but a gimmicky marketing ploy, but it's threatening to put her father's diner out of business and, for some reason, Holly cares.

All Zoe wants is to leave Violet, working thankless shifts at the diner to scrape together enough cash to start a new life with her girlfriend. But Zoe's mother has lost everything to the church's multilevel marketing schemes so the little money that Zoe manages to make goes right to debt collectors.

The only solution to their problems is to scam the scammers and protect what's theirs. It shouldn't take much - the Reaps' golden son, an accidental kidnapping, some light blackmail - and the Reaps' fortune will be in the girls' much more deserving hands. As long as everything goes according to plan...

Review Quotes

★"[A] laugh-out-loud novel...This riotous caper, and its similarly hilarious cast, is a joy."- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Read, hoot, cherish this satirical romp." -Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Layoverland
Indies Introduce Selection
Junior Library Guild Selection

★ "Plenty of laughs here, mixed deftly with meditations on what it means to be alive." --Booklist, starred review

"Bea is a terrific antihero, as if the naysaying comic relief in a teen movie got the spotlight instead of the pretty ingenue." --Kirkus Reviews

"A lighthearted book about finding oneself and personal redemption." --School Library Journal

"Layoverland is perfectly Gabby Noone--hilarious, sharp, and smart, with a gooey warmth hiding inside. It's a delightful book, and the brilliant beginning to what is sure to be an illustrious career." --Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of Modern Lovers and The Vacationers

"A cheeky take on the afterlife brimming with sass, angst, and heart." --Christine Riccio, New York Times bestselling author of Again, but Better.

"Clever, charming, and unputdownable. A modern romantic comedy that's both timely and timeless." --Robyn Schneider, bestselling author of The Beginning of Everything

"It's a testament to Noone's skills that a story that's sad and heartbreaking and all about death is also funny and inventive and wonderfully alive. Bea is the kind of smart and flawed character that you just want to hug, even if she's a bit prickly around the edges. I loved her colorful Tim Burton-esque world." --Goldy Moldavsky, New York Times bestselling author of Kill the Boy Band and No Good Deed

About the Author

Gabby Noone is the author of the indie bestseller Layoverland. She grew up in Abington, PA and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @twelveoclocke.