Spectacular! One of his best yet! I absolutely LOVE how Zentner weaves in cameos from all of his previous novels, which themselves were phenomenal. This book was like a familiar friend; it could be my town, my students, just an ordinary story, but told in an extraordinary way! I’ll never pass up reading a book by Jeff Zentner because I know I’ll never fail to laugh, cry, reflect, connect, or be amazed, and this one certainly delivers! I can’t wait for the rest of the world to experience it as well! The characters in this story experience love, loss, and joy while also overcoming difficult circumstances. Do yourself a favor and READ IT!!!!

After finishing In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner I had to sit with it for days before I could start another book. Jeff Zentner again weaves a story full of realistic teenage banter and characters you not only root for, but fall in love with. In the Wild Light also illustrates the idea that family can be created from the people you choose to surround yourself with and romance can come from the likeliest of places.

In the Wild Light tells the story of best friends Delaney and Cash who met in the most unlikely of places -- Narcateen. Delaney is the misunderstood quirky and brilliant young girl that just wants to learn whereas Cash can't see himself as anyone worthy of goodness. The two embark on an adventure not anticipated in their rural area of Tennessee. Helped by a lovely cast of adult characters and surrounded by a few really good friends the story leaves the reader laughing on one page and ugly crying a few pages later. This books brings all the feels and left this reader yet again realizing that Jeff Zentner is a master storyteller. His books are my bellwether for realistic YA fiction and In the Wild Light does not disappoint.

The beloved Jeff Zentner is back with what is perhaps his best book yet. Perfectly the author’s signature mix of heartache and compassion for those living in the margins of small Southern towns, IN THE WILD LIGHT is a love letter to poetry, the loneliness of genius, and those who feel out of place in a quick moving consumer culture.

Social Justice Topics:
▪️ Mental Health
▪️Social class discrepancy

Grade Level: 7+


When Cash’s best friend Delaney find a unique strand of mold in a cave their lives are forever changed. Delaney receives a full ride to prestigious boarding school in Connecticut, and gets the same deal for Cash. And although Cash knows Delaney deserves this, he constantly lives with the doubt that he deserves the same deal. Delaney is brilliant! And Cash... does not see himself that way at all. On top of that, Cash cannot imagine leaving his Grandpa who has been the only dad he’s ever known and is dying. This is a book of self-discover, growth, and love.

There will always be a special place in my heart for Jeff Zentner’s novels. There is no author like him. With every book he writes he is able to encapsulate what it is like to be human: love, fear, despair, joy. Along with the uniqueness of each relationship we build and their importance to our own personal growth.

This book has already been preordered. There’s no way I wasn’t going to own all of Zentner’s books. There was also no way I was going to live without being able to open up to my favorite quotes—there were far too many.

Thank you @netgallery and @crownbooks for letting me read this book early—now I just have to wait until August 10th to own a copy.

Did not disappoint. Oh my heart. These characters... this story.

So many emotions in this book and an honest look at what it's like to grow up in Appalachia for many. Combating toxic masculinity and expected norms for girls, this story focuses on family, genuine friendship, and love. Zentner's best work yet.

Another beautiful book from Jeff Zentner. We need books that breed optimism in 2021, and this does that. Gorgeous imagery, flawless character work, and a story that makes you root for a couple of kids who need a break. As with all of JZ's books, I can't recommend this one strongly enough

This is now his fourth book. While they are the same, they are all different. The elements of grief and loss combine with humor and deep friendship always seem to spring up in the deep wells of Zentner's creative genius and come out on the pages of his books. This one is no different. It's the same, and it's different.

It's the friendship that Delaney and Cash formed from the connection they discovered with drug-addicted mothers, for which Cash is now motherless and Delaney's is barely holding on. And it became a relationship that was more than friendship but not quite romance. It was that they saw each other and hopefulness. Like his other books, it's that need to support and provide a path to make a dream a reality that blooms in the book where they end up not in Tennessee but in Connecticut at a boarding school where Delaney's genius can shine and they can both experience something more comfortable, if only for a little bit. And Cash still needs home because his grandparents who raised him, including his ailing grandpa Papaw, are there and remind him of the river and love.

It's the reserves that we all have within us that we don't always share with others that Zentner always mines. For any contemplative reader it's a boon. It was the perfect book to ring in 2021 with (I knew it wouldn't disappoint!)

Jeff Zentner is one of my absolute favorite writers, and this might be my favorite of his so far. Zentner's use of language to evoke emotion in the reader is unparalleled, and this book evoked such a wide range of them. I loved the theme of love of family, community, and small-town Tennessee that came through so strongly in this book. This was one of those books that just stays with you, and I felt a physical ache when I finished, I missed it so much. I couldn't recommend this book more highly -- five stars is not enough.

“I’ll tell you the truest thing I know: You are not a creature of grief. You are not a congregation of wounds. You are not the sum of your losses. Your skin is not your scars. Your life is yours, and it can be new and wondrous. Remember that.”
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Delaney is a genius. A high school Junior from Sawyer, Tennessee who finds a mold in a cave that might work better than penicillin. This earns her a free ride to private school Middleton in Connecticut. The only thing she asks for is that her best friend, Cash, gets a scholarship as well. Cash is worried about leaving his grandfather, Pep, the only father he’s ever known, who is sick with emphysema. Torn between two worlds, Cash learns to be independent, while still holding on to all the ideals his Papaw instilled in him.
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There are some authors whose work you would recognize without ever knowing they wrote it because it’s so specific to them. People like Jason Reynolds, Angie Thomas, Julie Murphy. Jeff Zentner is one of those authors for me. Every word he writes is poetry, even when this is his first book to deal with the topic itself. His love for his home state is relevant on every page. Jeff can make me cry on page 1–not many authors can do that. He has a certain way of writing that is 100% original, beautiful, intentional and important. This is my new favorite of his (if you haven’t read The Serpent King, stop what you’re doing right now and get yourself a copy.) I’m still sobbing my eyes out over this YA masterpiece so I feel like I don’t have the appropriate words to adequately express my love for it, but come August—so many people in my life are getting a copy of this book.
P.S. Fans of Zentner’s work will see previous characters and references to his other books in this novel. I love that he does that! This is an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Thanks @netgalley for an ARC.

I loved this book. I loved the characters, their plight, their struggle, and their growth. I really appreciate the grounding force that nature had on these characters and the way they both could find solace in the simple things in life - canoeing on the river, watching a bird, feeling the wind, and sitting on the porch in old rocking chairs. I really appreciate that these two teens had such a strong force in their lives with Pep and Mammaw. These two are what allowed Delaney and Cash to have hope.

The way Zentner approached addiction was great. It was like Cash and Delaney were just in the wake of their mothers' storms, doing their very best to cling to some hope.

The writing was poetry in itself. I can't wait to share this book with my students.

Jeff Zentner is a master storyteller. Wow. This book is so special and for a Northeast kid like me, an eye opener. This felt almost like a YA version of The Glass Castle, Educated, and updated Looking for Alaska with shout outs to Jeff's older work (loved seeing Lydia! :D). This is an important book, and a special book, and a brilliant book. Just wow. Looking forward to sharing with some teens who love John Green. Thank you RH for the opportunity to read it early.

Wow, this book is something special. There are so few writers daring enough to touch the topic of opioid addiction in the YA/MG sphere, yet there are so many kids who live what Cash and Delaney lived in this book. Not every kid who relates to this story will have a ticket out like they did, but hopefully they’ll be able to take away the message that joy is something worth fighting for, and that it can be won. In a season when so many of us are facing loss and uncertainty, feeling those emotions alongside Cash is cathartic and healing. I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning to finish the book, and cried through the last 25% or so at least, but not all the tears were sad. Zentner strikes a balance here between grief and hope that lets readers feel deeply but not despair.

These characters will stay with me for a long time, both Cash’s grandparents and his found family of friends. Pep reminds me of my husband’s grandfather... I think anyone who grew up in a small town knows somebody like him. In the Wild Light will serve as a mirror for people who know a version of Pep, who grew up hunting and fishing, with family members working low-wage, high-labor jobs, and will also be a window for those same folks into a world with characters like Vi, Alex, and Bree, who they might not see reflected in their every day lives. I am so glad Zentner is writing for and about these young people.

In the Wild Light is everything you hope for when you pick up a Jeff Zentner novel.

Cash and Delaney have been best friends for a long while. Long enough that they know one another's darkest moments and brightest hopes. Delaney is brilliant and the world outside of their small town is catching on after she discovers a new strain of penicillin. When she is offered a scholarship to a prestigious private school, she accepts under the condition that Cash comes as well. Cash is reticent to leave his ailing grandfather, but Papaw insists that Cash take the leap.

I always expect tears when I read Zentner's work and this was no exception. The authenticity with which he writes relationships always gets me invested in every character. I highly recommend that others pick up this book as soon as it comes out!

Wow. Perfect. I couldn't put it down and it is a tight story with beautiful writing. I teach high school English in rural/suburban Western North Carolina, and this book is for my kids. My class library is full of the latest and greatest, but southern stories that truly let my students see themselves are harder to find. Zentner does it and does it well. The prose is so beautiful, like the nature that Cash loves, the words flow like a river on its way down stream. I sat and marveled at something in every chapter. Some emotion or some feeling. Just like Cash was in awe of the poetry Dr. Adkins gave him, so am I in awe of the real, round characters Zentner presents. The dialogue is fantastic!!! I also felt inspired by Dr. Adkins. As an English teacher, the book continued to remind me how important it is for kids to have space and time to explore texts, poems, and to find their voices. This is already my favorite book of 2021 and we haven't even started the year! I WILL be getting a copy for myself and as many as possible for my class library. This is a title, like Serpent King, that I think I could teach whole class. I know my copy will be full of sticky notes and highlights. Living in the mountains, I know what it is that the book talks about...just that feeling - when you are up on mountain or you walk out and see the fields and cows and the sunlight creep into your holler...it's poetry and it surrounds us every day. I just can't say enough, and I will be raving about this book from now until August. It was just fantastic. Full of beauty and truth, "truth beauty" ...."that is all ye need to know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Jeff Zentner's writing is why I love books and reading. His books are why I tell other adults to read YA fiction and why I believe this genre is where the most authentic, soulful and true words are committed to the page. After reading Serpent King, I thought Jeff couldn't outdo himself again. Surely there was no real, lovable, rounded character that I would grow to love like Dillard Early and Lydia Blankenship. Then, I opened "In the Wild Light" and fell head over heels for Cash and Delaney. Pep broke my heart into a million tiny pieces and made me remember my own Appalachian Papaw and how much he meant to me. This book that I read in December of 2020 is now the best thing I've read all year. In 2021, I will continue to sing its praises and wait with bated breath till the day I can share it with my students, friends and family. Well done, Zentner, you've broken my heart and put it back together somehow stronger for the broken places.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a DRC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.

I've been staring at my computer screen, trying to write this review, for quite a while now. Everything I come up with to say falls so very short of what I want you to know about this book. Zentner is a master of writing. There were moments in this story where I literally had to put the book down, tears in my eyes, to appreciate not only the beauty of the writing, but the beauty of the moment in the story. This is a story of grief, of love, of life in all it's beautiful and wonderful brutality.

Cash has been living with his grandparents ever since his mother passed away from an opioid overdose. Pawpaw and Mamaw have been there for him, giving him the only safety and security he has ever known. So when Delaney, his best friend and resident genius, tells him that he can join her on scholarship at an exclusive boarding school up North, he hesitates. Pawpaw is sick and isn't getting better. Leaving him feels like an impossible choice, but Cash's family insists that he go and try school. There, he battles feelings of insecurity, convinced he isn't good enough and doesn't belong. His greatest fear is a battle between missing the end of Pawpaw's life and having the last moments of it be clouded by the disappointment he is sure his family will feel when they realize how un-extraordinary he really is.

Like I said, nothing I write about this book will ever do it justice. It was a quietly beautiful book that left me in tears. I loved it and can't wait for the rest of the world to discover it. Highly recommend. This is first purchase, pre-order multiple copies territory.

Zentner illuminates rural life brilliantly by creating complex, smart characters whose challenges mirror those in larger cities, creating a bond of understanding and uniting readers. The main character, Cash, loves fiercely and deeply and learns how to express these feelings through poetry. While this has a traditional (and beautiful) love story embedded into the plot, the love of Cash's grandparents and the sacrifices they make for him are both heartwarming and soul crushing. Zentner's poetry threads throughout the book as Cash learns to write grow progressively poignant, and his use of colloquial language ("Do what?," "Might could be.") brought me home.

Every novel by Jeff Zentner is a gift for the reader. Zentner writes from the heart. Each book he writes fills a hole the reader doesn’t even know exists. This beautiful novel, my favorite of 2020 touched me personally. I know it will also touch the lives of many of my students. There is such beauty in the story of Cash, Delaney, Papaw, and Mamaw. It is a love story for all children being raised by grandparents.

"You are not a creature of grief. You are not a congregation of wounds. You are not the sum of your losses. Your skin is not your scars. Your life is yours, and it can be new and wondrous. Remember that."

Alright I finally feel emotionally recovered enough to attempt a review.

Easy 5 stars, obviously. Probably my new favorite Zentner. Everything about this book was stunning. The characters and their journeys, the setting, the writing, the poetry...all of it. Jeff Zentner's writing is relatable, easy to grasp, yet the way he arranges his words and articulates his narrative absolutely knocks you over with its beauty. It's something that I think he does better than anybody else. He brings beauty to the mundane, he makes you feel for people you'd usually overlook... he gives dignity to unremarkable, "average" people.

I find what I love most about my favorite authors is that they tell previously overlooked, untold stories. Which is why I love all of Jeff's books. There's nothing spectacular or special about any of his main characters. They're the kids in your high school that you probably didn't know much about, the cashier at the Dairy Queen, the quirky kids with the odd hobbies, the misfits in your hometown. But he gives them dignity. He makes you look at those "average" and "unspectacular" people and see that they actually are spectacular and special, in their own ways.

"I've always loved when the light finds the broken spots in the world and makes them beautiful."

That's what Jeff does through his writing. He finds the "broken spots" and makes them beautiful. This book is special. The characters are special. And I hope you give this special book a chance. If you've never given contemporary fic a chance, I beg you to try Jeff's books. I'm not saying his books will all of a sudden make you love all contemporary, realistic fic...but I am saying that his books are remarkable and able to be loved and appreciated by every type of reader. Readers love good stories, and all of Jeff's stories are good.

"There are days when your heart is so filled with this world's beauty, it feels like holding too much of something in your hand. Days that taste like wild honey. This is one of them."

Jeff Zentner is a master with words - and this book further proves that. It's a beautiful story of family and friendship - and of loss, grief, and overcoming all of it. If you've read Jeff's other books, and love them, then this will not disappoint. I cried multiple times and loved the beauty of the words, of the writing style, of how Jeff makes you feel what these characters are feeling. I cheered for Cash throughout this entire story - it's easy to do. I can't wait to purchase this for my high school library and share this with my students.