BACK TO YOU

First love between two unlikely teenagers comes full circle in this second-chance, friends-to-lovers debut from Glenn.

Good-natured high school freshman Lauren Monroe can’t get bad boy Michael Delaney out of her head. She’s heard all the warnings of her fellow classmates, and she’s even witnessed some of his rage in health class, where he flipped over a desk on the first day of school. But she can’t shake the feeling that there is depth and reason behind his outlandish actions, and an unlikely friendship grows. He likes that she never asks him about which rumors are true, and she likes that she gets to know him in a way that no one else has. So it’s no surprise when she slowly starts to fall in love with him. After sleeping together (her first time), Michael convinces himself that leaving town after graduation and never talking to her again is the best option for the future. Though he loves her, his past has damaged his ability to connect, and he feels he isn’t good enough for her and will only let her down. Flash forward eight years. Lauren lives in a new town, and at her first day teaching day care, Michael shows up out of the blue with his enrolled 4-year-old daughter, Erin. Reluctant to dredge up the past or confront her feelings, they fall into a professional rhythm. But though Lauren begins dating her chiropractor, she can’t forget her past with Michael. It’s as hard to write a realistic, nonschmaltzy love story as it is to tell any other kind. Glenn not only succeeds here, but flourishes at making her characters both believable and engaging. Just as Nicholas Sparks did with The Notebook, Glenn tells the story of rekindled first love with a deft touch.

Romance fans will devour this standout story.