THE MAIDENHEADS

Newly pregnant, stuck in a dead-end job, and haunted by what could have been with her ex-girlfriend and former band mate, Jamie Cain is given a second chance at love when she’s invited to perform with Les Somnambules—Mari’s new band.

To say that Jamie is in a rut would be an understatement. Ten years after an explosive breakup with Mari Dvali, Jamie finds herself unable to sing, working as an editor at an alt-weekly in Baltimore, consistently having pity breakup sex with her first hetero partner. To make matters infinitely more complicated for a woman who’s questioning her sexuality and still quietly pining for her ex-girlfriend, Jamie discovers she’s pregnant. When the opportunity arises to see Mari’s new band play a show in D.C., Jamie jumps at the chance and hops on a train. But what starts as a trip down memory lane—in chapters that alternate between the past and present—quickly takes a turn when Jamie reconnects with Mari after the show and is presented with the opportunity to play with her again. Unsure whether she should keep the baby, and with a rekindled romantic tension with Mari that’s impossible to ignore, Jamie must come to terms with what she wants—and with whom. Nostalgic without pandering or being overly saccharine, this novel is a love letter to the music scene of the early 2000s that fans of grunge, indie rock, and pop punk will undoubtedly love. It’s also a deeply moving and undeniably sexy take on self-discovery and reinvention, hammering home the idea that it’s never too late to start over and that coming-of-age has no age limit.

A delightful, messy, heartfelt, and punk rock queer love story.