Every Shade of Us

An Unforgettable YA Novel of the Last Summer, a Long-Kept Secret, and the Goodbye That Hurt the MostBy Dorothea L. Vexley

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Length5h 43m

About this audiobook

I learned to find something sharp. A broken shell. A rough edge. Something that reminded me I was still in my own body. That's what I did the summer after my sister left. My name is June Hart, and in a town as small and circular as Spindrift, I know everyone who matters. I keep my head down. I keep my hands busy. I don't think about the empty place at the dinner table, or the way my mother's mouth got tighter and tighter until it was just a line. And then a laugh cut through the wind. Loud. Unguarded. The kind that doesn't care who hears it. A girl I'd never seen before was doubled over on the rocks, laughing at a sea lion, wearing a denim jacket and a t-shirt that said ASK ME ABOUT MY SHRUBBERY. I didn't realize I was smiling until my cheeks ached. Her name is a secret I want to keep. She paints me in colors I didn't know I was allowed to be. For one impossible summer of sandcastle promises and bonfires and tidepools that remember, she becomes the first person who refuses to look away from me — and I start to believe I might be worth looking at. But summers end. There's a bus with my future on it. A box I shouldn't open. A secret my mother can't know, in a town that watches everything. And an ultimatum that forces me to choose between the safety of hiding and the terrifying brightness of being seen. "If you can't say it out loud," she tells me, "then you're choosing them over me." I don't know how to say it out loud. I'm not even sure I know the words yet. But I know that the goodbye coming for us is the kind that leaves a mark — and that some people change the color of everything, even after they're gone. This is the story of the summer I stopped reaching for something sharp, and reached for her instead. Every Shade of Us is an unforgettable, bittersweet YA coming-out story about first love, a last summer, a long-kept secret, family silence, self-acceptance, and the goodbye that hurt the most. Perfect for readers who love queer coming-of-age stories, sapphic first love, small-town summers, emotional contemporary YA, and tender heartfelt novels about finding yourself and being truly seen.

Coming of Age Identity Forbidden Love Family Healing Rebellion First Love Found Family Grief Small Town Psychological