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Book Details:
Best Friends: The Orion Sessions by Cheryl DaVeiga
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 9-13), 144 pages
Genre: Contemporary Middle-Grade Fiction
Publisher: Waterhole Productions LLC
Release date: April 12, 2026
Content Rating: G. Written for middle-grade audience.
Book Description:
At thirteen, Orion Casey has stopped singing—and it’s not because she stopped loving it. After the girls everyone follows start talking about her instead of to her, she’s finished performing for anyone.
Then the messages start.
Anonymous. Encouraging. A little too perfectly timed.
Someone’s been watching her—really seeing her—and part of Orion can’t help hoping it’s the one person she wishes would notice her back. The texts give Orion confidence she didn’t know she had—enough to discover songwriting and a new way back to her music.
But as friendships shift and secrets surface, Orion begins to wonder: when the way you see yourself keeps changing based on who’s looking at you, how do you figure out who you really are?
Best Friends launches The Orion Sessions, a contemporary middle-grade series about friendship, self-confidence, and learning what it means to sing—and live—for yourself.
Coming Next in the Orion Sessions Series:
Book Details:
Stolen: The Orion Sessions by Cheryl DaVeiga
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 9-13),
Genre: Contemporary Middle-Grade Fiction
Publisher: Waterhole Productions LLC
Release date: July 15, 2026
Format available for review: ebook (PDF)
Tour dates: June 22 to July 10, 2026
Content Rating: G. Written for middle-grade audience.
Book Description:
She finally found her voice. Now someone’s stolen it.
Thirteen-year-old Orion Casey arrives at songwriting camp ready to write, perform, and finally belong. Then she meets Ava Rae: TikTok-famous, confident, and exactly the kind of songwriter Orion hopes to be someday. When Ava Rae asks Orion to co-write a song for a real music producer, it feels like the universe finally has her back.
It doesn’t.
The morning after their late-night session under the stars, Orion wakes up to a post blowing up on social media. Ava Rae has uploaded their song — every chord, every lyric, every melody that was more Orion’s than hers — and claimed it as her own. Orion’s name? Nowhere. And the notebook with all the proof? Gone.
Now Orion is up against something she never saw coming. She’s been written out of her own story. And in a camp full of kids who worship Ava Rae, who’s going to believe her?
Stolen is Book 2 of The Orion Sessions — a fast-paced trilogy for music lovers and anyone who’s ever trusted the wrong person or had to fight to be believed.
- The Orion Sessions has an original soundtrack that goes along with the books. How did that come about?
I’m a songwriter myself—that’s where much of my creative life began, before I wrote books. So, when I started writing about a girl finding her voice through music, it felt natural that the songs shouldn’t just be described; they should exist. I worked with my longtime collaborator Anthony Krizan to write original songs tied to key moments in the books, and with talented 14-year-old Quinn Carson to record vocals for many of them. Each book includes QR codes that link to the songs on YouTube, and they’re also available on Spotify in The Orion Sessions Playlist. Readers can hear the music Orion creates—not just read about her finding her voice but listen to it.
Because she just becomes a songwriter in Book 1, most of the actual songwriting occurs in Books 2 and 3. More songs are coming throughout the summer.
- If a reader only takes away one thing from Best Friends, what do you hope it is?
That they’re not alone — and that who they are right now is enough. So much of middle school is spent comparing yourself to everyone else, wondering if you’re doing it “right.” If a kid closes this book feeling like it’s okay to take up space as themselves, without shrinking down or performing for anyone else, I’ll feel like it did its job.
- Friendship is at the heart of Best Friends — including its title. How does that theme play out for Orion?
It has a double meaning, which I love. Orion’s best friend, Izzy, is a steady anchor for her—the kind of loyal, long-standing friendship that helps her through so much. Then Orion meets a boy named Jesse, who introduces her to songwriting, and together they write a song called “Best Friends.” Through that process, Jesse becomes a different kind of best friend: someone who helps Orion discover a part of herself she didn’t know was there.
So “Best Friends” works on two levels: it’s about the friendships that hold us up, and it’s also the title of the song that becomes a turning point for Orion. I liked that the title could carry both meanings at once — the people in our lives and the things those people help us find in ourselves.
- You’ve talked about kids today being caught up in “following” rather than “doing.” How does Orion’s arc push back against that?
Orion starts the story very much focused on what other people think — fitting in, being accepted, not standing out in the wrong way. The shift happens when she starts creating something of her own through music, rather than just reacting to everyone around her. That’s the difference between following and doing. When you’re making something — even something small or imperfect — you start to find out who you are, instead of just managing how you’re perceived.
- You mentioned sharing the book with a middle school class. Was there a moment from that experience that stuck with you?
Yes — watching how quickly kids connected with Izzy. She’s a supporting character, not the lead, but so many of them saw themselves in her. It reminded me that readers don’t always identify with the “main” struggle — sometimes it’s the character on the edges who feels most like them. That’s stayed with me, and it’s part of why I try to make sure every character in the series feels like a real person, not just a function of the plot.
- What do you hope teachers, parents, or other adults take away from this book, even though it’s written for kids?
I hope adults remember how much weight middle schoolers are carrying — about belonging, identity, and self-worth — even when it doesn’t look that way from the outside. These books are fiction, but the feelings are very real. If reading Best Friends gives an adult a way into a conversation with a kid about what they’re going through, that’s just as valuable to me as the kid enjoying the story on its own.
Cheryl DaVeiga grew up loving music—singing, writing, and dreaming in melodies. Following that passion was never framed as a real option, so she chose a path that felt defined and practical, building a career in accounting and eventually becoming a partner at a national firm.
Years later, she found her way back to the music she had set aside, becoming an award-winning songwriter recognized by ASCAP and ultimately discovering the joy of writing children’s books. Across her seven picture books—stories infused with music, humor, and sing-along joy—her work has received award recognition from the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, Mom’s Choice Awards (Gold), Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, and Literary Titan.
But even as she wrote those playful stories, she knew there was another one waiting—one rooted in the girl she used to be and the voice she had tucked away. That story became The Orion Sessions, a middle-grade trilogy for kids growing up in the real world—with music, of course. The Orion Sessions is the series Cheryl wishes she’d had when she was twelve: full of music, friendship, mistakes, courage, and the journey of reclaiming the voice she’d hidden to fit in.
Cheryl lives in Tucson with her partner, Doug, and they spend summers in New Jersey. She still sings… like all the time.
connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ bookbub ~ goodreads
GIVEAWAY
📚 Signed copy of Best Friends
📚 Exclusive advance paperback copy of Stolen (Book Two — before its release!)
🎧 Audiobook access to Best Friends, narrated by award-winning voice actress Jesse Vilinsky
📓 Middle School Survival Kit (journal, friendship goodies, and fun surprises)✨ PLUS:
📚 10 winners will receive a signed copy of Best Friends + a bookmark
🎧 10 winners will receive audiobook access to Best Friends
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