WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION
In 1955, mixed-race Ethan Harper leaves his progressive hometown for a summer in Alabama where he's not welcome, except by resident free spirit, Juniper Jones.
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After getting himself into a bout of trouble, 16-year-old Ethan Harper's parents send him to Ellison, Alabama, to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. But the year is 1955, and Alabama is a far cry from his beloved home of Arcadia, Washington. As much as it's hotter in temperature, it's colder in every other way, and Ethan learns the hard way that people see his mere existence as a threat. Amidst all the mayhem, a fiery, free-spirited, oddball walks into Ethan's life. Her name is Juniper Jones. She is the first person in Ellison who seems unfazed by their racial differences, and she promises to give Ethan a summer he will always remember, filled with endless adventure and discovery. With Juniper, Ethan can breathe, he can be, despite the incessant attention and bullying their newly formed friendship attracts. Can the two survive the summer, run in the light and block out the noise of the outside world?
[Published version comes out June 16, 2020 with Wattpad Books!]
[[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]
2023 WATTY'S SHORTLIST
When Finley Bowers decided to study abroad in England, he wasn't expecting to fall in love. But when Harlyn Evans shows up in his life, he brings a whole lot of goodness - and chaos - with him.
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Finley Bowers has always done what everyone expects of him. But the last few years have been rough, and he's decided to make his own decisions instead of what everyone else wants him to do. The first step is to get out of his tiny town and study in England for the semester with his best friend, Max. Little did he know three short months would change his whole life.
Harlyn Evans is really good at taking care of everyone else. He's not as good at taking care of himself. And after a long semester of too many work hours, piles of schoolwork, and his family's host student freezing him out, he's wary when the new host student, Max, moves in for the term. But Max and his best friend draw him in in ways he never expected.
As Finley and Harlyn get closer and try to figure out their feelings for each other, the end of the semester and Finley's return to the states looms in the distance. What will their future hold?
COMPLETED: June 14, 2023
SMALL EDITS MADE: July 6, 2023