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Survivor Mountain
Fake it 'til you make it - that's what Dani's older sister always said.
Thirteen-year-old Dani never asked to be responsible for her younger sister on the school field trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains - but no one expected a massive earthquake to strand them far from help. Now with no cell service, dwindling supplies, and dangerous terrain, Dani, her sister Lily, and Dani's secret crush, Miles, must find a way off the mountain on their own.
But nature isn't the only threat. As they navigate the rugged wilderness, they cross paths with strangers who aren't who they claim to be - and a sinister plot begins to unfold. Trapped in a high-stakes con-game, the trio's only chance of escape is to work together.
That's easier said than done. Ever since their older sister's death, Dani and Lily have barely spoken, each silently blaming the other. Now, they must learn to trust each other again if Dani's daring plan has any chance of success.
If she fails, they might never make it home. But if she succeeds, Dani won't have to fake it 'til she makes it anymore - she will prove that she is becoming the person she wants to be.
Bold. Brave. Decisive. Her older sister would be proud.
Thirteen-year-old Dani never asked to be responsible for her younger sister on the school field trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains - but no one expected a massive earthquake to strand them far from help. Now with no cell service, dwindling supplies, and dangerous terrain, Dani, her sister Lily, and Dani's secret crush, Miles, must find a way off the mountain on their own.
But nature isn't the only threat. As they navigate the rugged wilderness, they cross paths with strangers who aren't who they claim to be - and a sinister plot begins to unfold. Trapped in a high-stakes con-game, the trio's only chance of escape is to work together.
That's easier said than done. Ever since their older sister's death, Dani and Lily have barely spoken, each silently blaming the other. Now, they must learn to trust each other again if Dani's daring plan has any chance of success.
If she fails, they might never make it home. But if she succeeds, Dani won't have to fake it 'til she makes it anymore - she will prove that she is becoming the person she wants to be.
Bold. Brave. Decisive. Her older sister would be proud.
ebook
Published November 25, 2025
14 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Floyd
4 books16 followersSarah Floyd was born in Carmel Highlands, California, where she and her friends climbed trees, built forts, rode horses, and acted out adventure stories in the rugged Big Sur wilderness that surrounded their homes. When she was in fifth grade her family moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then to San Francisco. She always brought her favorite books wherever she moved, and she always made new friends who loved to read. Now she writes books for children and teens — for her, it’s the best job in the world.
Sarah is the author of the upper middle grade novel, SURVIVOR MOUTAIN (Wild Ink Publishing, 2025), BUTTERFLY GIRL (Clear Fork Publishing, 2019, re-published by Wild Ink Publishing, 2025), and the picture book, TEN CLEVER NINJAS (Clear Fork Publishing, 2019). She is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and lives in Florida with her husband and college student son.
Sarah is the author of the upper middle grade novel, SURVIVOR MOUTAIN (Wild Ink Publishing, 2025), BUTTERFLY GIRL (Clear Fork Publishing, 2019, re-published by Wild Ink Publishing, 2025), and the picture book, TEN CLEVER NINJAS (Clear Fork Publishing, 2019). She is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and lives in Florida with her husband and college student son.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 23, 2026
After reading author Sarah Floyd’s debut novel, BUTTERFLY GIRL, I couldn’t wait to read SURVIVOR MOUNTAIN. Well, the wait was worth it! This Young Adult book packs in great teen characters, high stakes, and lots of adventure.
Dani, 13, thinks she’s stuck babysitting her younger sister, Lily, on the school field trip hiking in the mountains. She’d rather spend time with classmate and friend Miles, whom she’s crushing on, but doesn’t have the nerve to tell him.
However, when an earthquake cuts Dani, Lily, and Miles off from the rest of the group, things get serious. Can they find their way out of the mountains and back to safety on their own?
Things take a turn for the worse when the kids run across two other campers in the dense wilderness. These two are up to something bad—and Dani, Lily, and Miles find themselves in the middle of a deadly scheme!
This book is a pulse-pounding adventure—the kind I would’ve loved as a middle school/high school reader, adn the type I still like today. Floyd’s storytelling is clear, straightforward, and immersive. When I say SURVIVOR MOUNTAIN is a “quick read,” I mean that I didn’t want to put it down!
I would highly recommend this book for teens, or for anyone who enjoys an adventure story with teen characters.
Dani, 13, thinks she’s stuck babysitting her younger sister, Lily, on the school field trip hiking in the mountains. She’d rather spend time with classmate and friend Miles, whom she’s crushing on, but doesn’t have the nerve to tell him.
However, when an earthquake cuts Dani, Lily, and Miles off from the rest of the group, things get serious. Can they find their way out of the mountains and back to safety on their own?
Things take a turn for the worse when the kids run across two other campers in the dense wilderness. These two are up to something bad—and Dani, Lily, and Miles find themselves in the middle of a deadly scheme!
This book is a pulse-pounding adventure—the kind I would’ve loved as a middle school/high school reader, adn the type I still like today. Floyd’s storytelling is clear, straightforward, and immersive. When I say SURVIVOR MOUNTAIN is a “quick read,” I mean that I didn’t want to put it down!
I would highly recommend this book for teens, or for anyone who enjoys an adventure story with teen characters.
November 10, 2025
The eighth grade leadership hike turns more dangerous than expected when an earthquake destroys the usual trails. Separated from the group and without cell service, Dani, her sister, and their friends must find a way safely off the mountain. The twists continue as Dani has to navigate her way out of increasingly challenging situations. Floyd's newest novel is a page-turning adventure with plenty of heart pounding moments.
January 1, 2026
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Dani is apprehensive about going on a school hiking trip with the Excellence in Leadership group, but she’s glad to be with her friend Gemma, Aunt Zoe (who is her history teacher), and the very cute Miles. She’s not as wild about having her younger sister Lily there, but since their older sister Rachel was killed in an accidental fall and their father has recently been injured in a robbery at the bank where he is a manager, she knows it’s important for Lily to have a change of scenery and to hang out with her. Dani often feels stressed, and tries to use the coping strategies that her therapist has recommended. Once the group gets to the start of the trail in the mountains, there is a brief tremor, but the teachers decide that it should be fine for the kids to do their hike. They are split into six groups of four, and Dani is in a group with Gemma, Miles, Miles’ friend A.J., and Lily, who doesn’t want to go with their aunt. The group makes good time, and even manages to traverse the difficult Devil’s Slide, which Miles and Dani plan to do a school project about. When there is another tremor, Gemma cuts her leg, and has some trouble walking. The group plans to meet a teacher at the summit, which is only a mile and a half away. The tremors have caused some difficulty on the path, and while the kids are trying to find a way around some obstacles, they come across two campers with a fire. They feel uneasy about Jackie and Rob, with good reason. Lily bungles into their tent and tells the others that they have guns and orange bags that look like they came from a bank. Rob doesn’t appreciate being found out, especially since there is a $50,000 reward for the capture of the two. Miles, Dani, and Lily are taken hostage, but AJ and Gemma are let go, with a warning not to tell their teachers too much. Lily pretends to have to go to the bathroom, and Miles and Dani escape, but Dani goes back to get her sister. Having seen an EpiPen in Rob’s things, Dani finds a way to put Rob in the path of some bees that she’s discovered near a cave where the group is sheltering. This turns out to be a good plan to disable Rob, but Dani doesn’t want to be responsible for his death and helps Jackie revive him. Luckily, at a critical juncture, the police and Dani’s father arrive to save the day. Back at school, Miles is in a play, and the group announces that they are using the reward money to donate a new stage to the school, named after Rachel. Dani and Miles share a sweet kiss after the performance.
Survival books are always popular with my students, and I love that there is an age appropriate romance added to the story. The cover reminds me a bit of the Boxcar Children illustrations, and led me to believe that this was more of an outdoor adventure survival story; what an interesting surprise that it was more of a kidnapping tale! There haven’t been as many of those lately, and readers who enjoyed kidnapping stories like Paulsen’s Captive! Or Kehret’s Abduction will be glad to read this, as will fans of Behrens’ Alone in the Woods or Brorsen’s March 2026 Wilderness Hacks.
Because of the presence of the robbers (who have an intriguing tie to the girls), this story avoids some of the typical survival tropes. There’s no bear attack, no one falls into a river, and there’s not a lot of mention about having to find food or shelter because Rob and Jackie are well supplied.
There is a lot of discussion about Dani’s PTSD over Rachel’s death, and as the story unfolds, she does process some of her emotions about it, and makes peace with Lily, whom she had blamed a bit for the circumstances surrounding Rachel’s fall. An author’s note at the end talks about the importance of mental health issues, and gives some resources as well.
This did have one error– the phrase “hair die” is used when “hair dye” is meant, and since this is only available in paperback or e book, I won’t be buying it for my school library. While it was nice that the kids used the reward money for apprehending the bank robbers to donate a stage to the school in the sister’s memory, I’m never a fan of books about grieving, so I personally could have done without this story line. My readers would probably prefer more time spent on the romance.
Dani is apprehensive about going on a school hiking trip with the Excellence in Leadership group, but she’s glad to be with her friend Gemma, Aunt Zoe (who is her history teacher), and the very cute Miles. She’s not as wild about having her younger sister Lily there, but since their older sister Rachel was killed in an accidental fall and their father has recently been injured in a robbery at the bank where he is a manager, she knows it’s important for Lily to have a change of scenery and to hang out with her. Dani often feels stressed, and tries to use the coping strategies that her therapist has recommended. Once the group gets to the start of the trail in the mountains, there is a brief tremor, but the teachers decide that it should be fine for the kids to do their hike. They are split into six groups of four, and Dani is in a group with Gemma, Miles, Miles’ friend A.J., and Lily, who doesn’t want to go with their aunt. The group makes good time, and even manages to traverse the difficult Devil’s Slide, which Miles and Dani plan to do a school project about. When there is another tremor, Gemma cuts her leg, and has some trouble walking. The group plans to meet a teacher at the summit, which is only a mile and a half away. The tremors have caused some difficulty on the path, and while the kids are trying to find a way around some obstacles, they come across two campers with a fire. They feel uneasy about Jackie and Rob, with good reason. Lily bungles into their tent and tells the others that they have guns and orange bags that look like they came from a bank. Rob doesn’t appreciate being found out, especially since there is a $50,000 reward for the capture of the two. Miles, Dani, and Lily are taken hostage, but AJ and Gemma are let go, with a warning not to tell their teachers too much. Lily pretends to have to go to the bathroom, and Miles and Dani escape, but Dani goes back to get her sister. Having seen an EpiPen in Rob’s things, Dani finds a way to put Rob in the path of some bees that she’s discovered near a cave where the group is sheltering. This turns out to be a good plan to disable Rob, but Dani doesn’t want to be responsible for his death and helps Jackie revive him. Luckily, at a critical juncture, the police and Dani’s father arrive to save the day. Back at school, Miles is in a play, and the group announces that they are using the reward money to donate a new stage to the school, named after Rachel. Dani and Miles share a sweet kiss after the performance.
Survival books are always popular with my students, and I love that there is an age appropriate romance added to the story. The cover reminds me a bit of the Boxcar Children illustrations, and led me to believe that this was more of an outdoor adventure survival story; what an interesting surprise that it was more of a kidnapping tale! There haven’t been as many of those lately, and readers who enjoyed kidnapping stories like Paulsen’s Captive! Or Kehret’s Abduction will be glad to read this, as will fans of Behrens’ Alone in the Woods or Brorsen’s March 2026 Wilderness Hacks.
Because of the presence of the robbers (who have an intriguing tie to the girls), this story avoids some of the typical survival tropes. There’s no bear attack, no one falls into a river, and there’s not a lot of mention about having to find food or shelter because Rob and Jackie are well supplied.
There is a lot of discussion about Dani’s PTSD over Rachel’s death, and as the story unfolds, she does process some of her emotions about it, and makes peace with Lily, whom she had blamed a bit for the circumstances surrounding Rachel’s fall. An author’s note at the end talks about the importance of mental health issues, and gives some resources as well.
This did have one error– the phrase “hair die” is used when “hair dye” is meant, and since this is only available in paperback or e book, I won’t be buying it for my school library. While it was nice that the kids used the reward money for apprehending the bank robbers to donate a stage to the school in the sister’s memory, I’m never a fan of books about grieving, so I personally could have done without this story line. My readers would probably prefer more time spent on the romance.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews