2 of 3 copies available
Perfect for fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Five Feet Apart, this tender solo debut by the coauthor of New York Times bestseller She Gets the Girl is a "punch to the gut in the best way" (Booklist, starred review) about the strength of love and the power of choosing each other, against odds and obstacles, again and again.
What would you do if you forgot the love of your life ever even existed?
Stevie and Nora had a love. A secret, epic, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. They also had a plan: to leave their small, ultra-conservative town and families behind after graduation and move to California, where they could finally stop hiding that love.
But then Stevie has a terrible fall. And when she comes to, she can remember nothing of the last two years—not California, not coming to terms with her sexuality, not even Nora. Suddenly, Stevie finds herself in a life she doesn't quite understand, one where she's estranged from her parents, drifting away from her friends, lying about the hours she works, and headed towards a future that isn't at all what her fifteen-year-old self would have envisioned.
And Nora finds herself...forgotten. Can the two beat the odds a second time and find their way back together when "together" itself is just a lost memory?
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 4, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797156255
- File size: 222869 KB
- Duration: 07:44:18
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 760
- Text Difficulty: 3-4
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Reviews
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February 27, 2023
Because of pervasive racism and homophobia in their small Pennsylvania town, teenagers Stevie Green, who is Korean and assumed white, and white Nora Martin must hide their romantic relationship. The two have been saving money to attend college in California after graduation, and they are only a few months away from their goal when Stevie is involved in a devastating accident. Upon waking in the hospital, she can’t recall the last two years of her life, which includes coming to terms with her sexuality and any memories of her relationship with Nora. Now, Stevie struggles to acclimate to a life that feels wrong: When did she and her mother get so distant? Why do her father and friends parrot the community’s prejudiced rhetoric? What is her relationship to Nora? Nora, meanwhile, wrestles with figuring out how to win Stevie back and writes letters to Stevie that she doesn’t intend to send. This high-concept solo debut by Derrick (She Gets the Girl) is part simmering romance, part affecting character study; Stevie’s palpable frustrations with the people around her who keep telling her who she is and what she wants, juxtaposed with her own feelings of unease, cultivate a textured telling that eschews clichéd interpretations of the belief that love conquers all. Ages 14–up. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. -
Natalie Naudus captures Stevie's playfulness and passion toward her secret girlfriend, Nora. The pair are excited about their plan to leave their homophobic Pennsylvania community to find acceptance in California. But an accident robs Stevie of two years of memory, including her feelings for Stevie and her sexuality. Naudus embraces Stevie's confusion and desperate need to fill in the voids. She depicts Nora's constancy before the accident and afterward reads Nora's unsent letters to Stevie with sorrow. The distant tone she gives to Stevie's conservative mother reflects the mystery that Stevie can't understand. At the end, Naudus's tender narration works well as Stevie rekindles her relationship with Nora, recalls her sexual orientation, and reconciles with her parents. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
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