After the sudden death of her parents Cameron Posts life is shaken to its very core. One thing she doesn’t expect to feel is relief, her parents will never find out that she kissed her best friend the very same night they died. Left with her elderly grandmother and religious aunt Cameron has to navigate her sexuality in secret in her small town.

This novel was promoted quite a lot at YALC in the summer, I didn’t know that it was about to become a film. So, of course, I put in a request on Netgalley to see what the fuss was all about. I’m glad that I did. It was an interesting read that I’m not sure I would have picked up otherwise.

There are some tough topics dealt with within the novel. Of course, there is the pressure of a small town in the mid-nineties that Cameron faces isn’t comfortable to read. More so, the fact that ‘conversion therapy’ plays a big part in the second half of the novel can be tough to get through. That said, while you would imagine this to be totally horrific Danforth managed to spread a message of hope throughout Cameron’s forced stay.

What I will say about this novel is that the number of girls that Cameron finds that are Lesbian or Bisexual seemed a little unrealistic to me. She seemed to get a fair amount of experience in what was meant to be a small, very religious town. It’s the only thing that didn’t quite sit right with me.

I gave this novel 4 stars, I think it took quite a while for the pace to pick up and feel a lot of people would possibly put it down. Don’t! There is a beauty and connection in the second half of the novel that truly makes it worth it. Would I recommend this read? Yes, I would. It’s definitely an intriguing novel – that said I won’t be watching the film.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.