FIND MY WAY DOWN TO YOU

A grieving teen finds love again in an unexpected place.

About two years after his boyfriend, London Sanders, died in a terrible auto accident, August Clarke feels like a shadow of his former self. Instead of going to UC Santa Barbara like he’d planned, he’s working at a pizzeria. He’s even stopped writing songs. Luckily, August’s friend and apartment-mate, Maxine Cho, is a stable anchor amid the chaos. But that stability gets turned upside down when August meets Cary, a mysterious boy who keeps showing up whenever someone dies. The big reveal: Cary is a Deathless from a realm called Aides who escorts souls to their final resting place. When August follows Cary after one fateful encounter, he accidentally winds up in Aides too. Can he find London’s soul there? And, based on the way Cary keeps looking at him, does August even want to? August’s tight first-person narration alternates between the present day and before the accident. The prologue and epilogue cleverly show London’s perspective, which allows for a satisfying sense of closure. In this fresh riff on Greek mythology, Winters draws a memorable, racially diverse cast with multiple queer characters; August is Black, and Cary has pale gold skin. The worldbuilding is comfortingly familiar without being derivative, and the storytelling is compelling. But what really shines here is Winters’ wise take on grief, which manages to feel authentically messy while hopeful.

Brooding boys worth rooting for.