In small, conservative Fisherton, South Carolina, high school seniors Gloria (white) and Xia (Chinese American/white) have little in common. Gloria is a devout Baptist who tries to control her same-sex attraction by limiting herself to five minutes per day on her blog, where she adds photos of girls and then scrupulously clears her browser history, knowing her dad will check it later. A social outcast and closeted lesbian, Xia is simply hanging on until she can escape her parents and small-town life for the more diverse, queer, and intellectual crowds in college. When Gloria neglects to clear her browser history one day, her parents discover her blog and promptly kick her out. She begins sleeping in the unused orchestra pit at school, meticulously saving food from her school lunches and stretching her cash out to pay for meager meals. While doing homework at the bookstore, she crosses paths with Xia, who works there, and the two strike up an unexpected friendship that turns into romance. But Gloria keeps her living situation a secret, writing letters to her parents and biding her time, even as her situation becomes more and more desperate. Realistic in its depiction of religious homophobia and LGBTQ teen homelessness, this novel makes space for complexity: Gloria finds a new church but has no desire to abandon Christianity. Neither does she dislike her small town, where queer people—like Xia’s boss, Mr. Avery, who offers much-needed support—do live and thrive. (Age 14 and older)

Gorgeous in its sincerity and its precision—in its raw, honest depiction of what it feels like to be a gay teen in a world that says that you don’t deserve a home.

Gloria Forman and Xia Harper go to the same high school in a small South Carolina town, but they couldn’t be more different. While Gloria is part of the popular, Christian crowd, Xia sleeps through class, antagonizes anyone who dares talk to her, and buries herself in books that help her pretend she’s somewhere else—anywhere that being lesbian wouldn’t be a waking nightmare.

When the two form an accidental friendship, they begin noticing each other in ways they promised themselves they'd avoid. After all, Xia’s isolation is self-imposed for a reason, and the last thing Gloria needs is more upheaval, especially after her parents kicked her out of the house for being gay. Ever since, she has spent her nights under the stage in the school auditorium and her days terrified of being discovered.

Xia just wants to keep her head down until the end of senior year. Gloria just wants to keep her living situation quiet until her parents come around. But as their feelings for each other intensify and the truths they've hidden work their way to the surface, what they truly want will change forever.