CharlesbridgeTeen

"This book is an absolutely perfect laugh-out-loud, cry-in-bed, best-friends-to-lovers queer romance that you absolutely need to pick up. Rhiannon Wilde's debut is stunning and I can't wait to share it with everyone I know."

—Kassie King, bookseller at The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO

I NEVER MEANT TO WANT YOU.

Henry Hamlet doesn't know what he wants to do with his life. It's senior year, and everyone seems to have a clue except him. All he knows is that he can make any situation awkward. It's a gift. Or a curse.

Fortunately, he always has his best friend Len to hide behind. Until Henry falls in love. Head over heels. In a way he never imagined possible.

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"[A] moving story depicting the dreams of escapees fighting for their lives"

—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO FOR FREEDOM?

Hanna and Andreas have got to get out of East Germany. Stuck in dead-end factory jobs after being expelled from school for "agitating against the state," they've got no guarantee of safety and no chance at a better future.

The teens hatch a daring plan: swim over forty miles across the Baltic Sea from their hometown of Rostock to the West German town of Fehmarn. Their grueling twenty-five hour journey is unspeakably dangerous. Hypothermia, exhaustion, jellyfish, a violent summer storm, and the constant threat of being caught by Soviet patrols. Will they find the freedom they so desperately seek, or will the weight of their past drag them under?

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