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Gracie Welles is stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, where her method of survival is a strict self-imposed loneliness. And it works. Her crap attitude keeps people away because without friends, there are fewer to lose.
But when she accidentally saves the new kid, Wade Scholfield, from being beaten up, everything about her precariously balanced loner world collapses and, in order to find her footing again, she has no choice but to discover a completely new way to exist.
Because with Wade around, school rules are optional, weird is okay, and conversations about wormholes can lead to make-out sessions that disrupt any logical stream of thought. Nothing’s perfect, but that’s not the point. When they're together everything seems uncomplicated in a way that Gracie knows is not possible.
Except it is.
So why does Gracie crush Wade’s heart into a million pieces?
Acidly funny and compulsive readable, this debut is a story about two people finding each other and then screwing it all up. See also: soulmate, stupidity, sex, friendship, bad poetry, very bad decisions and all the indignities of being in love for the first time.
Published by Wednesday Books / St. Martin’s Press
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“Gracie’s a powerhouse: incredibly acerbic, prone to lashing out, and painfully relatable. She and Wade are magnetic together, but it’s Gracie’s carefully drawn growth that buoys her story into one that is truly memorable.
Wildly real and bursting with all the romance and pain of coming into oneself.”
—Kirkus, Starred Review
“Helnwein debuts in striking fashion…the writing, especially the dialogue, is magnetic, honest, and brimming with caustic wit…[an] enrapturing take on the intense highs and lows of teenage love.”
— Booklist, Starred Review
“Helnwein frankly conveys the joy, fear, and awkwardness of an all-consuming first love, poignantly depicting Gracie’s growth: particularly the hard-won knowledge that she can exist 'just by the sheer force of herself,' and the grace she learns to show herself and others.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Irreverent and rip-off-the-bandage honest, this book is the coming-of-age story of the moment. It’s uncomfortable, messy, and everything a book about two teenagers falling in love for the first time should be. And it’s all that while being a beautifully singular reminder of how letting people into your life can heal you, break you, but also reveal you. This book made me frustrated, swoony, nostalgic, and reflective. I’ll have Grace Welles in my head for a lifetime.”
— Selected for the 2021 Kids’ Indie Next List by Claire Phelan,
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA
"All the terror and wonder of that first true love, masterfully detailed with true emotional rigor and blinding wit."
— David Yoon, New York Times Bestselling author of Frankly in Love
"Glittering and irreverent, Helnwein has crafted an iconic character for the ages in sharp-tongued iconoclast, Gracie Welles. Beautiful prose, characters that breathe, and a voice so thick you could swim in it.”
— David Arnold, Bestselling author of The Strange Fascination of Noah Hypnotik