Ash Parsons Books in Order

For a gritty, realistic thriller: Still Waters
For fame, mystery, and emotional fallout: The Falling Between Us → Holding On to You
For zombie comedy and close friendship: Girls Save the World in This One
For a funny locked-room mystery: You're So Dead
For Victorian ghost-story chills: The Haunting of Beatrix Greene

Ash Parsons writes young adult fiction that puts teenagers under real pressure, then gives them room to fight their way through it. Her path to writing was not exactly standard. She attended Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, along with more traditional schools.

Before publishing novels, Parsons taught English to middle and high school students. She also worked with young people through child and youth advocacy. Time in the classroom showed her how often teens are asked to handle problems that feel far bigger than they are.

That experience fed into her first novel, Still Waters, published in 2015. The book follows high school senior Jason, who is trying to survive an abusive home and get his younger sister to safety. When a popular classmate offers Jason money, what looks like a way out pulls him toward escalating danger.

It is a tough, close-to-the-bone story.

Parsons followed it with The Falling Between Us in 2018, later republished as Holding On to You. Roxanne Stewart's boyfriend, Joshua Blackbird, becomes a pop star almost overnight, and their small-town life is swallowed by touring, managers, fans, and the nonstop demands of celebrity. When Joshua vanishes, Roxanne has to look past the public story and face what fame has done to someone she loves.

In Girls Save the World in This One, Parsons shifts into horror comedy. June Blue and her friends arrive at ZombieCon ready for panels, costumes, and a final big outing before college changes everything. Then the pretend apocalypse turns real. The book makes room for jokes, fandom, friendship, anxiety about growing up, and a lot of zombies.

You're So Dead brings the humor into a locked-room-style mystery. Plum Winter sneaks into a luxury festival meant for influencers with her best friends, only to find an eerie island, a fake event, and a killer targeting the guests. It is a sharp, playful story about online fame, friendship, and figuring out who can be trusted.

Parsons also co-wrote the Victorian supernatural thriller The Haunting of Beatrix Greene with Rachel Hawkins and Vicky Alvear Shecter.

Her work often starts with a high-concept situation, but the emotional center stays close to the characters. Teenagers deal with family strain, friendship shifts, grief, public attention, fear, and the uncomfortable gap between what people see and what is really happening.

Parsons received the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship and an Alabama State Council on the Arts literary arts fellowship for fiction. She lives in Alabama with her family, and her books keep returning to young people who are frightened, funny, loyal, and more capable than they first believe.