One year after a traumatic accident sends Robin Doyle into a tailspin of drunken depression and isolation, well-meaning Annalise decides it's high time she forces her best friend to confront these crippling emotions, and locks the pair alone in her house for one life-altering weekend.
From challenges of sobriety, grief, depression, and guilt to expressions of joy, hope, and love, this coming-of-age and coming-to-terms story is both brutally honest and heart-warming. Armed with nothing but devout friendship and the naive desire to do whatever it takes to drag her best friend out of the darkness, Annalise has no idea what awaits them.
LGBTQ+, Literary Fiction, Romance
Trigger Warning:
substance abuse, tragedy, grief, suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, mature language.
Phoenix LeFlore:
She is alive. Her brother is dead. People are moving forward. She is standing still. He was everything. Now she has nothing.
Aza Ainsworth:
She is a soft girl who acts tough. She is a warm girl who was treated coldly. Someone made her heart beat faster, then broke it.
Can a broken heart help a broken soul?
_____
Girl meets girl. Girl doesn't like girl. Then girl likes girl. Could she like her back?
Two girls. One story.
_____
"I like: The soft side underneath her tough side. Her mind. Her wit. Her cute awkwardness. The way she bites her nails. The way she dresses, like a 90s character, like someone in a movie. The way she smells, like mint, spicy but sweet, like her personality. Her green, serious, sexy eyes. Her laugh. Her name. Her hand in my hand. The stars on her face. The X on the back of her neck. I want to make her laugh all day, want to say her name, whisper it, scream it. Phoenix. I want to hold her hand, want to kiss all the stars on her face, and want to cherish the X on the back of her neck. I want to cherish her.
I don't like: Phoenix."