Nineteen-year-old JJ Hart has spent his entire life promising himself one thing: he will never become his mother. After years of heroin addiction, failed recoveries, and broken promises, his mother returns home from rehab insisting this time will be different. JJ doesn't believe her. And yet, when another devastating relapse shatters what little hope he had left, JJ can't control the anger he's spent his life trying to contain. Watching it all happen is Alexis Morales, JJ's lifelong best friend. After growing up caring for her immigrant mother after her father abandoned them, Alexis feels like she understands the weight of JJ's burdens. Secretly in love with him, she's determined to save him from himself. But then JJ meets Carly Fitzgerald, a newcomer who begins to challenge everything JJ believes about himself. Her budding relationship with JJ forces Alexis to confront a painful question: what happens if the people we love the most are the ones we cannot rescue? "If We Survive the Summer" is an emotional, angsty coming-of-age story about addiction, abuse, poverty, trauma, and the baggage we inherit from our parents. It takes place in a small beach town in North Carolina and follows four best friends. Fans of the Boys of Tommen series and OBX will enjoy this story.