What You Left Behind (27 page)

The Summer I Wasn't Me

Jessica Verdi

Lexi has a secret.

She never meant for her mom to find out. And now she's afraid that what's left of her family is going to fall apart for good.

Lexi knows she can fix everything. She can change. She can learn to like boys. New Horizons summer camp has promised to transform her life, and there's nothing she wants more than to start over. But sometimes love has its own path…

Praise for
The Summer I Wasn't Me
:

“A powerful indictment of reparative therapy—a sweet love story—and an unforgettable main character!”

—Nancy Garden, author of
Annie on My Mind

“Verdi has offered an uncomfortable, but realistic, journey into conversion (or reparative) therapy programs. This title is recommended as a quality piece of fiction in a teen collection, and especially as part of an LGBTQ collection.”

—
VOYA

My Life After Now

Jessica Verdi

What now?

Lucy just had the worst week ever. And suddenly, it's all too much—she wants out. Out of her house, out of her head, out of her life. She wants to be a whole new Lucy. So she does something the old Lucy would never dream of.

And now her life will never be the same. Now, how will she be able to have a boyfriend? What will she tell her friends? How will she face her family? Now, every moment is a precious gift. She never thought being positive could be so negative. But now, everything's different…because now she's living with HIV.

Praise for
My Life After Now
:

“Debut author Verdi paints Lucy's devastation and her tangled emotions with honestly and compassion…telling Lucy's story with realism and hope.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Verdi forces her readers to face Lucy's dilemma with unflinching honestly and unfaltering compassion. A gem of a novel.”

—
RT Book Reviews
, 4½ Stars, Top Pick of the Month

Jessica Verdi lives in Brooklyn, New York, and received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. She seeks out good stories and finds inspiration from the people she meets and her travels around the world. Jessica is also the author of
My Life After Now
and
The Summer I Wasn't Me
. Visit her at
jessicaverdi.com
and follow her on Twitter
@jessverdi
.