Acidly funny and compulsively readable, Mercedes Helnwein’s debut novel Slingshot is a story about two people finding each other and then screwing it all up. See also: soulmate, friendship, stupidity, sex, bad poetry, and all the indignities of being in love for the first time. Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt, which is out now from Wednesday Books, but first, Mercedes introduces us to the excerpt:
“Gracie doesn’t know Wade very well at this point. She saved him from being beat up by a bunch of older boys, and consequently they got into trouble and are stuck cleaning the dining hall together after dinner for a week.
She is socially pretty inept and terrified of having to interact with people. The idea that Wade and her might now be packaged off together as some kind of “unit” is definitely freaking her out. She never really even meant to save him — it was more of a gut reaction than an actual decision —but now she’s here, in the dining room, and this boy is going to talk to her, and she’s going to have to somehow survive it, and it’s probably not going to be pleasant for either of them.”
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Open in new tab SYNOPSIS
An exciting debut contemporary young adult novel perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Mary H. K. Choi.
Grace Welles had resigned herself to the particular loneliness of being fifteen and stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, when she accidentally saves the new kid in her class from being beat up. With a single aim of a slingshot, the monotonous mathematics of her life are obliterated forever…because now there is this boy she never asked for. Wade Scholfield.
With Wade, Grace discovers a new way to exist. School rules are optional, life is bizarrely perfect, and conversations about wormholes can lead to make-out sessions that disrupt any logical stream of thoughts.
So why does Grace crush Wade’s heart into a million tiny pieces? And what are her options when she finally realizes that 1. The universe doesn’t revolve around her, and 2. Wade has been hiding a dark secret. Is Grace the only person unhinged enough to save him?
