ROOM TO BREATHE

A teen’s world turns upside down when her father is accused of fraud.

Prior to the investigation into her lawyer father, Indy Blair began a normal junior year of high school with loving parents and a tight-knit group of friends—Ava, Caroline, and Beau. Indy is especially close to Beau, the boy with the crooked smile that causes her heart to flutter. She performs well in school and works at a tutoring center. But the accusations against her father strain her home life, especially when Indy begins to doubt his innocence. Her grades slip; she dyes a strip of her brown hair black, quits her job, starts hanging out with a rebellious skater boy, and makes poor decisions that drive her friends away. Just as life feels completely overwhelming, Indy and Beau accidentally get locked in a school bathroom, forcing them to confront past mistakes—and their deeper feelings for each other. Moving back and forth in time, the novel unfolds through “Then” chapters, chronicling the months before Indy’s father’s investigation, and “Now” chapters, revealing the consequences in the present. The split timeline mirrors Indy’s own fractured identity, which is shaped by the events surrounding her father. The deepening connection between Indy and Beau, which follows classic romance novel beats, has charm. Most of the leads are white, and Ava is Asian American.

A graceful weaving of first love and the quiet strength found in growing beyond our missteps.