Rory Harrison
HarperTeen
April 25th, 2017
Dylan finally got the news that he wasn’t going to die from the cancer that once riddled his body, but now he’s got to figure out how to live.
When Dylan tries to register to go back to high school, he’s told that his mother needs to do it for him. His mother works days, and there’s no way she’s coming in to do it.
Angry, he drives off and decides he doesn’t want to go back. Not to school, and definitely not home at the moment. He finds himself on the road to where he knows his good friend from World of Warcraft lives. He’s never met Arden in person, but he’s taken with the idea of going on a real life quest with her–they’re looking for a fabled lost ship of pearls, but what they find is worth so much more.
Dylan is a gay teen that’s pretty disillusioned with life, and he doesn’t know what to make of his friend Arden–a teen trans girl from another city. He’s thought of himself as only liking guys, but he’s finding himself falling in love with her.
It’s a great road trip novel about teens struggling with identity and their dissatisfaction with life as they’re mired in it. The love story is sweet and the journey is a good one, it’s a book I’m glad I’ve read. A must buy for everyone, but especially for the LGBT teen in your life.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.