Chase Connor

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Physical Assault, Sexual Assault, Drug Use, Mental Health Issues, SuicideAll stories start with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after." Except for Tom's. Tom's story ends with "happily never after."But a life is full of "once upon a times" because a life is full of stories. Everything in between the "once upon a times" is just details.Two boys met on a bus. Two boys went to summer camp. Two boys walked into the woods together. Two boys swam in the lake. One boy was assaulted. One boy was frozen with fear.One boy became overwhelmed by everything. One boy was dragged down by the gravity of nothing.This is a story of two boys. They met. They became best friends. And now one of them is dead.Over the course of this book, Tom tells a story to the other people in his therapy group. But, whose story is he telling?

Jacob Michaels...er, Robert Wagner...is tired. Hollywood has been kind. But it's also left him skinny, exhausted, unsure of who he is, whom he wants to be...and without love. A decade earlier, he ran away from home to pursue fame. Unlike many before him, he actually succeeded. Now he's back in his hometown of Point Worth, trying to make amends with his grandmother, trying to regain his health, trying to not be recognized, and trying to figure out who he really is. Maybe he'll find love along the way...if people and things weren't so...weird.

"He's a psycho." That's what Mike is told when he asks who the kid is with the dark swoop of hair and eyes that look like icebergs floating in milk. From that moment, it becomes Mike's mission to find out everything about this kid. The kid who can fight better than anyone, but doesn't want to. The kid who is the greatest artist Mike's ever met. The kid who only wants to be his friend during the lightest days of summer. The kid who tells him that being his friend at school will only ruin Mike's reputation. Regardless of what the kid tells Mike, he doesn't realize that summer is the best time--it has the most light--and it makes it easier for Mike to see who he truly is. And there's no way Mike will back off once he sees this kid for who he truly is.

Noah is normal. He's full of normal. His older brother Will tells everyone all of the time. Even if they don't believe him. Noah doesn't understand why kids in school call him a "retard." He's not intellectually disabled. In fact, he's very smart. But a lot of people call Will a fag-so maybe it's kind of like that. Neurotypical people don't always make sense. Noah doesn't understand love in the same way that his brother Will does. But maybe that's because neurotypical people don't understand love as deeply as Noah does? Noah is full of understanding. And so is Will. Noah wants a girlfriend. His brother Will may never be able to have a boyfriend. Maybe they need to redefine normal?