TRIGGER WARNINGS include in-depth descriptions of anxiety and depression; drug abuse and overdose; sexual assault; and the deaths of close family members.

The story is gorgeous, and I was able to read it in a really difficult time in my life where I really needed this book. This story wrecked me in the best way possible, and I feel so honored to be able to live in a world where this book exist for my students to read. It is going to make a difference in the lives of so many young adults.

I was quickly engrossed in this book. Zentner's words are lyrical and captivating. Zentner grapples with the details of the hardest parts of life. The parts that are unfair, and the parts that we don't deserve. There are deep feelings of heartbreak sprinkled with hope and humor. I felt connected to Cash throughout the whole story. His struggles with his anxiety were reminiscent of some of the things that I—as a 28-year-old adult—still regularly struggle with, and I was able to find pockets of hope for myself as well.

Cash is a high schooler going into his junior year with his best friend, Delaney. Delaney is the "town genius" in their little town of Sawyer, Tennessee. Delaney discovers a new strain of penicillin that is can help tackle antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA, and she is launched into a spotlight that she never intended to be in.

Delaney is offered the opportunity to leave their small town and continue her education at an elite boarding school, Middleford Academy. She agrees to go only if she is able to take Cash with her, and he reluctantly goes despite the heartache of leaving his grandfather who is struggling with the late stages of emphysema.

Throughout this journey, Cash struggles with Imposter Syndrome because he does not believe he deserves the good fortune he has been handed. He also has to deal with making new friends, learning a new team sport, balancing this friendship with Delaney, and coping with being away from the grandparents who raise him. Along the way, he discovers poetry and is able to find some healing and stability in his new life.