First published 2013
Ryan McPhearson earns a spot on the varsity baseball team as a fifteen-year-old sophomore. The achievement throws him into the world of upperclassmen, where he meets seventeen-year-old senior Brooke Bennet. Ryan falls hard for Brooke, seeing her as everything he wants. But high school makes their two-year age gap feel like an insurmountable divide. Ryan discovers that Brooke's seemingly perfect life hides darker truths. He becomes her confidant and refuge when she needs to escape her troubles. While Ryan hopes for romance, Brooke keeps him firmly in the friend zone. Time moves forward relentlessly. Brooke graduates and leaves for college while Ryan finds his first girlfriend. He transforms from an awkward kid into a high school graduate ready for his own college experience. When Ryan encounters Brooke again, he realizes that some feelings survive any amount of change. The old obstacles that once divided them still linger, raising the question of whether high school barriers can ever truly disappear.
Genres: romance, coming-of-age, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: friends-to-lovers, second-chance
92 pages · Unknown Binding · HarperTeenImpulse