Like Water - Hardcover

Podos, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062373374 ISBN 13: 9780062373373

Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 2017

Synopsis

~Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for the best LGBT YA novel of 2017~

An unforgettable story of two girls navigating the unknowable waters of identity, millennial anxiety, and first love, from the acclaimed author of The Mystery of Hollow Places.

In Savannah Espinoza’s small New Mexico hometown, kids either flee after graduation or they’re trapped there forever. Vanni never planned to get stuck—but that was before her father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, leaving her and her mother to care for him.

Now she doesn’t have much of a plan at all: living at home, working as a performing mermaid at a second-rate water park, distracting herself with one boy after another.

That changes the day she meets Leigh. Disillusioned with small-town life and looking for something greater, Leigh is not a “nice girl.” She is unlike anyone Vanni has met, and a friend when Vanni desperately needs one. Soon enough, Leigh is much more than a friend.

But caring about another person threatens the walls Vanni has carefully constructed to protect herself and brings up the big questions she’s hidden from for so long.

About this title

About the Author

Rebecca Podos is the author of Like Water, winner of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult fiction, The Mystery of Hollow Places, named one of the best books of 2016 by Barnes & Noble and MPR, and The Wise and the Wicked. A graduate of the writing, literature, and publishing program at Emerson College and the creative writing program at College of Santa Fe, Rebecca lives in Connecticut with her husband and children. You can visit her online at www.rebeccapodos.com.

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—Vanni is stuck in small-town New Mexico, dreams of college dashed by her father's diagnosis of a chronic condition that will soon render him unable to care for himself. Loyal to her parents and their hard-earned family business (and fearful of whether this genetic condition has been passed down to her), she has resigned herself to a life of restaurant-work drudgery, flings with local boys, and watching her friends go out into the world without her. When she meets Leigh and Lucas, twins who have recently relocated from the northeast, things shift for Vanni in ways she never expected. Initially drawn to Lucas, she soon realizes that Leigh fascinates her more than any boy she's ever met. The two young women soon fall deeply in love, leading Vanni question her sexual identity. Leigh is mischievous and daring, pushing Vanni out of her comfort zone (and sometimes into trouble, like getting fired from the local water park where she played a mermaid). She is also critical of Vanni's resignation and insists that she, Leigh, will be leaving New Mexico the moment she turns 18. Their relationship is passionate and rocky, but ultimately life-changing for Vanni. A strong coming-of-age story, if at times just slightly predictable for sophisticated readers, this book should have wide appeal for teens who feel trapped by their circumstances and family obligations. VERDICT A good selection for most YA shelves.—Nora G. Murphy, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, CA

About this edition

• Publisher: Balzer + Bray
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0062373374
• ISBN 13: 9780062373373
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320