When the boy you love asks you to keep his greatest secret, do you? A thought-provoking, achingly complex novel about prejudice and the many meanings of love from Nina de Gramont, author of Meet Me at the River, which Kirkus Reviews calls a āmust-read.ā
Fifteen-year-old Wren has been content to stay in her best friend Allieās shadow. It doesnāt bother her that Ally gets the cutest guys, the cutest clothes, and even a modeling gigāWren is happy hanging with the horses on her familyās farm and avoiding the jealousy of other girls. But when Tim, the most intriguing guy in school, starts hanging out with Allie and Wren, jealousy is unavoidable, but not the kind Wren expects. Because even though Allie is wayyy into him and Wren hasnāt flirted, not one little bit, it becomes increasingly clear that Tim prefers Wrenās company above anyone elseās.
Timās unexpected devotion comes at the exact time Wrenās home life is about to be turned upside down. Her parents have just found out that the family horse farm is on land that was once a slave plantation and are struggling with whether to sell it. Wren aches at the thought of losing her horses and leaving town, but at least there is Tim...always a gentleman on their dates. Such a gentleman. Too much of a gentleman, even, and Wren begins to wish heād be a wee bit less gentlemanly. And as Timās church becomes actively homophobic, his pressuring parents donāt understand why he wonāt help āspread the word,ā and heās now a wreck. Then he tells Wren something heās never told a soul, and Wren must decide what sheāll really do for love.