Taking Back August

A contemporary YA novel about identity, family secrets, and the courage it takes to leave a life built on lies.

LB has built a life small enough to survive: his room, his games, and his online friends on DisHarmonia. Inside, everything makes sense. Outside is where people disappoint you, secrets hide in plain sight, and change waits to ruin everything.

Then Cat Jones crawls through his bedroom window.

Bold, fearless, and impossible to ignore, Cat pulls LB offline and into the real world. With her help, he begins taking chances, questioning what he has been told, and standing up to the mother who has shaped every corner of his life.

But Cat knows more than she's saying.

When her secret is finally revealed, LB's world cracks open. The truth about Cat leads to the truth about his mother, his family, and himself-and once he knows, there is no going back.

Suspenseful, emotional, and sharply contemporary, TAKING BACK AUGUST explores what happens when the truth costs you the only home you've ever known.