She’s smart, talented, and remarkably beautiful…but utterly alone.

Charlie Kane desperately wants to leave her turbulent home. An intellectual outcast, her only outlet is creating illegal street art, when she’s not busy cleaning up her drunken mother’s messes. With dreams of freedom, and painting, she’s tough, but wants to feel safe, to belong, and maybe even loved. But hope is a dangerous thing.

Jack Connors left a dead-end job working for a tabloid magazine in Los Angeles. While house-sitting in Northern California, he’s deciding on his next career move, dreaming of writing. Before taking a short-term job, Jack is acquainting himself with the small town, and meets a beautiful girl on the coastal streets.

When Charlie and Jack meet, they have instant chemistry, but Charlie is spooked by how much she likes him, and bolts before they exchange names. When they later discover a disheartening truth— that she’s a high school senior, and he’s her substitute teacher— they are crushed. They can’t be together. Forging through heartbreaks, loneliness, and her mother’s bad choices, Charlie struggles to find her worth. And through years of bad timing, career aspirations, and geographical distance, Charlie and Jack share a powerful, but often strenuous relationship.

In this coming-of-age story, about mothers and daughters, about addiction and redemption, and forbidden love and romance, is the evolution of a girl blossoming into a woman, who will stop at nothing to build a better life.

Laura Botten