ballads of the mind

Eirian Shirosawa was born on the day 170 soldiers cleared snow for Olympic snowboarders. Her grandfather was one of them. Her mother, a hero in her own right, died giving birth to her. You could say Eirian made a dramatic entrance into the world; unfortunately, it was also the last dramatic thing that ever happened to her.

Queer. Quiet. A skateboarder. A literature nerd. A coffee-fueled perfectionist. A daughter in theory, a granddaughter in reality. She lives in a town where nothing ever happens, where her greatest thrill is catching her MacBook before it slides off her oversized shorts while writing essays that make her heart race faster than any person ever has. All she does is drown in her thoughts, constantly trying to stay afloat in her mind.

And then there's Nova - golden, distant, untouchable Nova - who crashes into Eirian's grayscale world like a comet she was never meant to catch. Whether it's gravity or just the ache of being starved for light, Eirian isn't sure.

This is a tender, acerbic coming-of-age novel about grief, girlhood, and the quiet ache of being almost invisible. It's about skateparks at sunset, grandparents who don't understand but love you the best they can, and what happens when your heart wakes up for the first time in years - hungry, cautious, and tremblingly alive.

NOTE: If you're looking for a slow-burn sapphic novel, this might not be the one - but if you're into tension, flirting, fluff, and all the chemistry you could ask for, you're in the right place. Just know - it gets going fast!