Struggling with his family's religious beliefs, an employer's ultimatum and his unrequited love for his ex, Adam struggles to move on with a best friend and a new relationship while trying to find the courage to stay true to himself. By the New York Times best-selling author of The Rest of Us Just Live Here and A Monster Calls. Simultaneous eBook. 100,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

Struggling with his family's religious beliefs, an employer's inappropriate advances, and his unrequited love for his ex, Adam finds his life complicated when his best friend announces she's doing her senior year abroad. - (Baker & Taylor)

Adam Thorn doesn't know it yet, but today will change his life. Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam's life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn't he?) and his best friend, Angela. But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam's life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release. Time is running out, though. Because way across town, a ghost has just risen from the lake...-- - (Baker & Taylor)

Inspired by Judy Blume's Forever and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, this novel that Andrew Smith calls 'beautiful, enchanting, [and] exquisitely written' is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance'and what happens when the walls we build start coming down. A Kirkus Best Book of 2017!

Adam Thorn doesn't know it yet, but today will change his life.

Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam's life is falling apart.  At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn't he?) and his best friend, Angela.

But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam's life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Monster Calls comes a raw, darkly funny, and deeply affecting story about the courage it takes to live your truth.

Inspired by Judy Blume’s Forever and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, this novel that Andrew Smith calls “beautiful, enchanting, [and] exquisitely written” is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance—and what happens when the walls we build start coming down. A Kirkus Best Book of 2017!

Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life.

Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart.  At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela.

But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Monster Calls comes a raw, darkly funny, and deeply affecting story about the courage it takes to live your truth.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever: strange bedfellows, yes, but nevertheless the twin inspirations for Ness' introspective latest. In past works, Ness has gone big in scope: the distant dystopian planet of Chaos Walking; the apocalypse in The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015). Unlikely, then, that this cautiously paced cross section of a life would be his most ambitious yet: it's just one ordinary day for teenager Adam Thorn. In one day, he runs, sees his boyfriend and his best friend, and works at a store. But it's also the day he deals with an inappropriate advance, goes to a farewell party for his ex, and deals with devastating news; it's the day his relationship with his religious family comes to a head. In real time and in memories, Adam fights to connect through walls and to let go of what needs to be released. Meanwhile, the ghost of a murdered girl walks his town, and in the space of one day, her life will change as surely as Adam's. Themes of grief, choice, and resurrection are all at play here, and sex is frankly depicted—sometimes as experience, sometimes as intimacy. Part character study, part reckoning, this is a painful, magical gem of a novel that, even when it perplexes, will rip the hearts right out of its readers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Ness has already collected a hefty international fan base, and a novel partially influenced by the seminal Forever is bound to break barriers for a new generation. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.