Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from My Roman Summer by Bruna De Luca, which releases on June 2nd 2026.

Sixteen-year-old Scottish-Italian Livia feels like an outsider, working in her ailing grandmother’s bar in Rome. Smug local boy, Guilio, works there too, and quickly becomes Livia’s nemesis. She is not going to be the cliché foreign girl who has a summer romance. But as Livia navigates family drama, newfound friendships and… Giulio, she starts to see the city (and herself) in a new light.

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Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Shadow Reaper, which releases on June 2nd 2026.

The city of Aravell is in peril, plagued by a deadly blackmist and reapers who roam the streets, stealing magic from innocent children in their thirst for power. Seventeen-year-old Viridia Solace has trained for years to hunt these reapers, but their ranks keep growing, led by the man who murdered her parents: the Reaper Priest.

When the Priest’s most loyal follower, Reeve Ashton, is captured, he offers Viri a chance to avenge her parents . . . for a price. She knows better than to bargain with a reaper, let alone this reaper, but his offer is too good to resist.

Soon she’s breaking him out of prison, colluding with his crew of magic thieves, and following him deep into the blackmist forest in search of an ancient legend, all so they can stop the Reaper Priest’s plot to doom the city. Viri is staking her life on Reeve’s plan, but how can she trust a silver-tongued criminal to keep his word? And how can she trust her own heart when a buried secret could shatter everything?

Full of relentless twists, enemies-to-lovers romance, found family, and high-stakes action, Shadow Reaper is the start of a breathtaking new duology from international bestselling author Lynette Noni.

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Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from How to Lose Yourself Completely by Peter Bognanni, which releases on June 2nd 2026.

Ever since Sean’s death, Case’s anxiety has been spiraling. Sean wasn’t just his older brother—he was also Case’s best friend. The only person who really got him.

When his parents suggest “adventure therapy,” Case is desperate enough to agree. Maybe roughing it in the woods with a group of anxious strangers will help him find a way forward. After he boards the bus, he sees the one person he’s been trying to avoid: Diana. Sean’s girlfriend.

Once they set off, there is the expected cringey singing and forced sharing. But when their counselor mysteriously disappears, the trip suddenly turns into a journey of survival. This group of kids, with nothing in common but their prescriptions and lack of social skills, will have to band together to make it back home. In the process, they will change each other’s lives forever.

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Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from The Chismosas Only Book Club by Laekan Zea Kemp, which releases on May 26th 2026.

Cat, Sofia, Ana, and Mari are best friends. Nothing, nada, can break their bond. When Cat’s mom scolds them for their loud cackling at the bookstore, calling them a bunch of chismosas, the name sticks. Cat creates the The Chismosas Only Book Club, giving the girls a way to stay connected as they begin high school.

But ninth grade is hard, and it seems like no amount of conchas y libros y risas at Milagro’s Books, founded generations ago by Cat’s great-great-great-grandmother, can repair the ever-growing cracks in their friendship. But maybe the spirit of Milagro herself can . . .

Brimming with whimsy and heart, and woven with black-and-white graphic novel chapters, this enchanting book celebrates the magic of friendship, the embrace of ancestors, and the power of stories to hold us together.

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About Under a Carnivore Sky: Sixteen-year-old Lili is tasked with hunting the monster that’s slowly killing her dad—and every adult in town. Desperate, she teams up with a boy from town to uncover the secrets in the carnivorous swamp that keeps them all trapped. But what they find changes everything she thought she knew about the town, her father, the monster—and even herself.  The story takes place over the length of a hot summer and is perfect for anyone who wants to read botanical fantasy with a splash of horror. Released May 12th 2026.

Nothing says summer quite like a reading list full ghosts, monsters, and magic. My favorite fantasy and horror stories are the ones that inspire us to see the world a little differently—and novels in verse do that best. There’s something about poetry that delightfully demands a shift in perspective. Here are five speculative YA novels in verse to add a little magic and mayhem to your summer reading list.

The Leaving Room by Amber McBride

A finalist for the 2025 National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature, The Leaving Room is about young love, grief, and the stories we tell ourselves. The novel follows the story of Gospel, a Keeper of a Leaving Room, where all young people pass through when they die. Gospel’s job is to help those souls move on. But when an unexpected door opens and Melodee arrives, she starts to wonder if maybe Keepers can fall in love. Put this book on your list if you want to be swept away by gorgeous poetry—and inspiring love.

I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins

Every woman in Nell’s family has a different kind of magic. Her mom wakes up a different age every day. When her older sister bleeds, magic flows out of her body. But Nell’s magic feels more like a curse. Every time she has an intense emotion, insects appear. Imagine wasps that appear with her rage, moths with disappointment, and ladybugs with joy. As it gets harder and harder to suppress her emotions, Nell has to decide how far she’s willing to go to bury her feelings and keep the bugs at bay. Add this book to your summer reading for deep emotion and breath-taking magic.

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by RM Romero

Soon after Ilana is sent to live with her aunt in Prague, she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery—haunted by a kind ghost named Benjamin. As Ilana works to restore his gravestone, he shows her the hidden side of the city, where ghosts roam and magic lurks. But when she meets a dangerous man with no shadow, she decides to do whatever it takes to save Benjamin—who she loves—even if it means she might never see him again. The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a perfect summer read if you’re looking for rich setting, deep history, and tender-hearted ghosts.

Hekate: The Witch by Nikita Gill

Hekate: The Witch is a retelling of the Greek myth of Hekate—the goddess of witchcraft and necromancy. Fleeing danger, young Hekate is taken to the Underworld to be raised by Hades. She grows up alone in the land of the dead, searching for a place to belong. But when she finally finds her powers and becomes the Goddess of the legend, the other gods and goddesses are terrified of her. When war breaks out, threatening everything and everyone, she’s the only one who can stop it. Add this to your reading list if you love retellings and settings where things can be both terrible and beautiful.

Doe by Rebecca Barrow

Doe is a horror novel in verse that comes out in just a few weeks, on June 23^rd. The novel follows Maris, who will do anything to keep her position as captain of her high school’s cheer team. While sleeping, she encounters a terrible beast in the shape of a massive deer. Doe promises a way to beat her rival and keep her spot as captain. But for Maris to win, someone will have to die. Read Doe this summer if you love supernatural horror that will linger long after you finish the book. 

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Forced into one final journey, Ellinore teams up with her brooding rival, an ambitious barmaid, and a young bard as they face dangerous creatures, shifting loyalties, and unexpected feelings along the way. With time running out, Ellinore will have to confront both the truth about herself and the cost of saving the people she loves.

Much like the traditional hero’s journey, I experienced some ups and downs with Ellinore’s trials. Let’s get into it.

F.T. Lukens creates a magical setting that feels like you could spend an eternity in it. Some may not like it, but I actually love the mix of very modern words and slangs used in fantasy stories because they make them feel more accessible for newer and younger readers—and even as a vetted fantasy reader, I just always love the funny juxtaposition of magical creatures like dragons with the usage of expressions like “clocking someone”. Never gets old for me.

Character creation is, as always, where Lukens absolutely devours.

Ellinore, especially, is someone I immediately took a liking to. From the way she describes the pressure she feels to live up to the image this kingdom and its rulers has built up while absolutely not wanting to ever hurt someone all the way to how she has done everything in life to provide a better and safer future for her family and especially her brother Zig just had me feeling for her. Here is a girl who would sacrifice everything for her family to have a better life and yet can’t tell them the truth because it could cause them to lose everything they hold dear—and not only because Zig has a history of struggling with keeping things to himself.

Zig is a bit of a spitfire. You can tell where he gets his attitude from—always overshadowed by his sister, trying to get attention in the worst possible ways and much of their fragile relationship is due to miscommunication, which was hard to stomach. Yet Zig is also fierce in his loyalty when it comes down to it, which I appreciated.

Also, can I just say how much I love that we have a gender-nonconforming love interest? It felt so nice to see that representation in a fantastical world and while the romance isn’t very present in the novel, it still made my heart so happy! Give me queer characters in any setting, any age, any world, I am here for it! Aven is at times deadpan, at others ridiculously sassy and yet they have this energy about them that made them feel almost unreal? It’s hard to describe but at any given time I thought they could just float up into the sky and rule the entire kingdom, which I guess tracks with their lineage. The interactions between them and Ellinore also varied from outright confusion to downright sass competitions and this push-and-pull really drew me in.

We also have a variety of fantastical beings that enrich the story. Dave, in particular, a dragon Ellinore supposedly “slayed” but in reality ended up being friends with, is a fantastic addition to the story. He brings a sense of calmness to the whole situation with his sarcastic commentary, yet obviously deeply cares for Ellinore and wants to keep her and her brother safe.

And while some characters, both those that joined the journey and those that opposed it, did remain in a one-dimensional “villain” vs. “helper” role throughout the various encounters, I think it worked as a nice background to what are fully fleshed-out main characters that breathe fresh life into the narrative.

And speaking of the narrative: When it comes to the plot of The Last Best Quest Ever, you might guess that it’s a hero’s journey. We have a reluctant or, well, pretend hero who is forced to go on a seemingly impossible quest to save her loved one. Classic, right?

I guess I just expected a bit more. With a set structure as the hero’s journey, it’s really all about putting your own spin on it to make it feel new and exciting to a reader. For instance, So This Is Ever After is my favourite book by Lukens and while it also follows the hero’s journey, it adds so many spins to it that at times you forget you are reading a quest-structured book at all.

Yet The Last Best Quest Ever definitely fell into the pitfall of going through the motions a few times and it wasn’t helped by the fact that some encounters just felt exactly the same without ever heightening the stakes. Don’t get me wrong, the world building was wonderful and we meet a variety of different magical creatures and individuals that add to the tapestry of the fantastical world.

Somehow, though, Ellinore always finds a way to talk herself and her companions out of trouble with little to no resistance from the antagonists, which was frustrating. What’s more, they sometimes even help her get farther along which is great in terms of story progression but feels earned too easily considering her quest is supposed to be impossible to achieve.

I would have loved more grittiness to the journey or obstacles that truly hindered the questers. Even the “final” beats of the story fell somewhat flat because the lead-up just didn’t make me worry at all for the characters.

So in the end, despite the stakes being so high, it never felt like there was actually a moment where Zig’s life was really about to be forfeit.

Despite the structure not hitting quite right for me, I did love the underlying message pervading Ellinore’s journey about how hard it can be to find your place in the world where you are struggling to live up to other’s unrealistic expectations, especially when you have an entirely different outlook on what life is supposed to be about and what should really matter. I loved this juxtaposition of Ellinore absolutely not wanting to be a hero, yet ending up being one just by being herself and trusting her instincts.

So while The Last Best Quest Ever didn’t entirely floor me, it still has all the ingredients to be a perfect read for others (who perhaps have not spent three years dissecting Campbell’s hero’s journey for a dissertation and can quote the stages and plot points to hit by heart)!

If you’re a fan of the epic hero’s journey formula and want to dive into a new adventure with a ragtag group of questers and magical beasts to best…or befriend, then The Last Best Quest Ever might be the perfect read for you!

The Last Best Quest Ever is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 26th 2026.

Will you be picking up The Last Best Quest Ever? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

A fraudulent teen quester must team up with a brooding, royal rival on a perilous adventure to save her brother’s life in this “witty…lively, heartfelt” (School Library Journal, starred review) young adult romantasy full of mythical creatures by the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This is Ever After.

Seventeen-year-old Ellinore has the best questing record in the kingdom. Not even Aven—the infuriatingly charming royal who’s become her fiercest rival—can compete. But every one of Ellinore’s triumphs is a lie. The monsters she’s slain? Staged. The treasures she’s claimed? Planted. Tired of the charade, she shocks the realm by retiring during a royal feast.

Her hopes for a quiet life vanish when her reckless twin brother, Zig, bets his life on her ability to retrieve the horn of the mythical Elder Beast—a creature no one believes is real. To save him, Ellinore must return to the spotlight for one final quest. She’s joined by Zig, eager to prove himself; Aven, determined to finally outshine her; and a ragtag crew of unlikely questers with big dreams, questionable skills, and a knack for trouble.

As the stakes rise, Ellinore must decide who she really wants to be: the fraud the kingdom celebrates, the hero it needs, or someone entirely new.

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If you are a fan of YA thrillers and you are not already familiar with the work of Ravena Guron, you are missing out on a treasure trove of books. These stories are always so tightly plotted with great characterisation and spot-on pacing. They have hooks that make you sit up and pay attention and then the stories stack up. Your Murder Next is no exception.

Right from that opening scene, Guron has you in the palm of her hand. It is immediate and tense and pulls you in. There are tangible stakes and an intriguing mystery. From there you move between two timelines to uncover exactly what led up to this moment.  I enjoyed trying to piece together the jigsaw puzzle of Scarlett’s death with the buildup and aftermath. There are plenty of excellent surprises along the way and the twists were jaw-dropping. They felt earnt and had tangible ramifications for the characters and the wider plot. You felt their emotional ripples as they recontextualised what you may have thought you knew. 

At the centre of it all is Myra who is a great protagonist and has a distinctive voice that quickly ensnares you. She is smart, perceptive and doggedly determined to find the truth at all costs. Her desire to become a journalist naturally matches her investigative tendencies, though she has been burned in the past. There is a lot of love there for those she treasures and you get a clear sense that she would go to any lengths to protect them. Besides that, there is this achingly familiar desire to fit in and what she might sacrifice to be considered one of the ‘cool kids’. 

I really like how Guron’s work explores themes around privilege and being an outsider. Myra is brand-new to this elite school when everything starts descending into chaos. She is an outsider in this tight-knit and well-established group of friends when tragedy strikes and seems to pull them together. This is a smart choice because as readers, we empathise with her and as a narrative tool, it places her in the best position to start investigating. She is not one of them and this is made abundantly clear in the chasm between them in terms of class, money and power. Guron has this incisive social commentary about the way class quietly influences everything in British culture but goes almost unspoken. It rings true and that is devastating but may also help some readers. Through Myra’s story, Guron also explores issues around friendship and how intensely bright it can burn or how easily it can fizzle out. Myra is carrying a secret that is a heavy burden for her and the gradual unravelling of this perfectly complements her character arc. 

Guron nails the voices of teenagers, making them sound believable without dating their language. There is this sensibility that just makes them feel authentic and that is a difficult thing to pull off. You get caught up in the drama and the way that your emotions can often feel exaggerated as a teenager. Of course here those emotions may have deadly consequences. That interpersonal drama is so well-realised and seeing how those dynamics shift as the chapters flow is delicious. Everyone has something to hide. 

Your Murder Next is another excellent YA thriller from a powerhouse in the genre. Come for the killer premise, stay for the layered story filled with great characters and surprises in store. 

Your Murder Next is available from Amazon, Blackwell’s, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Your Murder Next? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of This Book Kills comes a deadly new YA thriller of murder, mystery and mind-blowing twists. Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen M. McManus.

When the most popular girl at Myra’s new school is found frozen to death in a walk-in chiller, wannabe journalist Myra is sure of two things:

1. Scarlett was murdered.
2. One of Scarlett’s friends is to blame.

So she infiltrates the popular clique’s world of envy and backstabbing to prove it. But then a strange boy holds her up at gunpoint in the woods, claiming he’s killed the killer. Who is he, who did he kill…and who will die next?

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About This Boy I Hardly Know (published on 7^th May): A coming-of-age story, filled with love, hope and rage, shining a light on our broken care system. You can read the first three chapters here.

It’s obvious to me why books are so brilliant – the list is endless. You can be racing through space one moment and swimming in the depths of the ocean the next. In the time it takes to turn a page you’ll be hiding from (and winning against) zombies, or going on a date with the person of your dreams. Books make you laugh, cry, fill you with stars, or anger. They make you step out of your own life and experience the lives of others.

Which is why books about looked-after children are so important. It makes us see beyond the labels placed on them and try to really understand the challenges they face every day, how it must feel to be moved again and again to live in strangers’ homes. These are brave, brilliant, resilient people who you’ll be lucky to know. The novels below give you an insight into their lives.

This Boy I Hardly Know by Lisa Heathfield

I loved every moment of writing this book, which was inspired by the children I met when teaching in a children’s home. Dusty adores her younger sister, holding her hand tight through every new foster placement. When they’re brutally separated, Dusty’s world shatters. It’s a boy in the residential home who helps her piece it back together. Guitar playing Cooper, with poetry written along his arms and a soul that makes her feel safe.  Together they decide to run…

Home Girl by Alex Wheatle

The world lost one of its great writers when the wonderful Alex Wheatle died in 2025. He left a legacy of incredible books and Home Girl is among them. It follows Naomi, forced to move from one foster carer to another, until Tony and Colleen open their home and hearts to her. Alex’s book brilliantly shows the fragile child behind the tough façade, the mask that so many kids in care have to wear just to survive.

How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow

This story shows how frighteningly easy it is for life to spin from your grasp. We see Tiger finding herself in the care system, after the devastating loss of her mum. We’re beside her every step as she claws back control. It’s a story of strength, of sisterhood, of friendship. Of knowing there’s darkness in every life, but always there’s light.

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt

This is a small book, but the emotional punch it throws goes way beyond its size. Fourteen-year-old Joseph lives with his brilliant foster carers and their son, Jack, but nothing can make up for the pain he feels at being separated from his baby daughter. It’s about love in so many forms. About how society fails children in need. And the kindness of strangers. This book is up there with my favourites of all time – even if it did crush my heart.

Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald

This debut won the Branford Boase Award and the Carnegie Medal. A brilliantly written coming-of-age story, with its roots in a working-class community in Scotland, it follows Finlay and Banjo navigating their lives beyond the care system. We get glimpses of their past together in a children’s home – and we’re willing them to find each other again.

Being Billy by Phil Earle

This book brilliantly shows us that challenging behaviour in teens doesn’t come out of thin air. Billy has been in care for eight years and the reader really gets to understand why he acts out the way he does. Billy is funny, angry, wise and determined to keep his siblings together in this vital book that builds empathy by the bucketload. It reminds us that there are children like Billy in every school in the country, crying out for love and safety.

The post Six YA Books Exploring Looked-After Children appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from An Expanse of Blue by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams, which is out now.

Aouli Elizabeth Smith is adrift: unheard at home and an unbeliever at church, fighting her sister and losing her best friend. Overflowing with feeling, she pours her secrets and herself into her song journal when the world threatens to sweep her away. The one place she feels tied down to earth is at her Aunty Ehu’s house. Those joyous Saturdays with her extended Native Hawaiian community living in Western Washington are precious to her. Under the maple trees, the fragments of her life fit together, if only for an afternoon.

Then, an unspeakable truth about her father shatters this one perfect corner of her life.

As Aouli’s world constricts around what others wish she could be, language fails her. But when a new boy, Nalu, turns up with eyes that seem to pierce right into her soul, maybe it’s love that can give her the words to set herself free.

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Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Rani Deshpande Takes The Wheel by Arushi Avachat, which releases on May 19th 2026.

Nineteen-year-old Rani Deshpande is on a mission to reinvent herself the summer before transferring to her new university. After a challenging freshman year, Rani can’t help but feel like she’s playing catch up. To that end, she’s crafted a packed summer to get back on track: a dream internship, adventures with her hometown best friend, and regular driving lessons so that she can finally lose her passenger princess reputation – even if it means learning from her aggravating family friend (and childhood crush), Kush Khanna.

Kush and Rani grew up together, but they couldn’t be less alike. Within their close-knit Desi community – a Jane Austen style cast of ridiculous, meddlesome families – Kush is the beloved model son; Rani is more the black sheep. Kush is pre-med; Rani plans to teach elementary school. Kush is cool and collected, bordering on reticent; Rani couldn’t keep her mouth shut if her life depended on it. So when their mothers first force the pair to drive together, the arrangement feels like a recipe for disaster. As the lessons progress, however, Rani discovers there’s more to the boy she’s known her whole life than meets the eye.

In Arushi Avachat’s Rani Deshpande Takes the Wheel, Rani must learn to course-correct, no matter how bumpy or windy the road – and even if it includes a detour right into love.

From Rani Deshpande Takes the Wheel by Arushi Avachat. Copyright © 2026 by the author, and reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

Chapter One

My grandfather’s birthday party is always a night to remember.

For the fifth year and counting, we’ve rented the event space at Taj Mahal Express, the sole Indian restaurant in our corner of Seattle suburbia. It’s not the fanciest venue, but we’ve added the Deshpande touch: gold diyas glittering from windows, marigold garlands draped through doorways, and floral centerpieces picked fresh from Baba’s garden. As the eldest grandchild, I’m tonight’s designated party planner, responsible for checking off any last tasks before guests arrive.

Micromanaging Ajoba, of course, is at the top of my list, and admittedly, one of my favorite parts of being home for the summer. I find my grandfather at the open bar, already two mocktails deep.

“Look alive, Ajoba,” I say. He’s dapper in a silver sherwani, and his white hair is cleanly parted at the center, but by his grim expression, you’d never know we were preparing for his own celebration. “We need people to think you want to be here.”

“How will I ever pull off such a lie, my maharani?”

I smile at the nickname. My name is Rani, Marathi for queen, but since I was a girl, Ajoba has affectionately called me his maharani, or his great queen. It’s safe to say my grandfather is who I turn to whenever I need a confidence boost.

“I’m hoping it won’t be a lie.” My voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. “Shilpa Aunty has generously offered to perform a solo dance during tonight’s program.” I pause for effect. “And I have agreed to the plan.”

My grandfather meets my gaze for the first time, eyes twinkling with stunned amusement. “Your mother knows?”

I shake my head. “Not yet.” Aai will kill me once she learns, but I want to bring Ajoba some enjoyment where I can tonight.

It’s tradition at these gatherings for a few songs and dances to be performed for the guest of honor. Performers are usually children, but Shilpa Aunty is by far the most attention seeking of the ladies in our family friend circle. She’s been taking Bollywood dance lessons in preparation for her son’s upcoming wedding, and no opportunity to be in the spotlight can possibly be passed up. My grandfather derives most of his entertainment at our functions from Shilpa Aunty’s nonsense.

Ajoba sighs in contentment. “I don’t know how I’ve done without you this last year,” he says, and I laugh, something squeezing in my chest. I don’t know how I’ve done without him, either.

My phone lights up now with a video call from my best friend. “I’m going to take this,” I say, because I’ve been waiting to talk to Simran all day. “You’ll be okay on your own for a bit?” My parents have been absorbed with the caterers, but they’re bound to start pestering Ajoba at any minute.

“Go,” he says. “One day I will finally gather the courage to tell your mother I vastly prefer to celebrate my birthday at the Cheesecake Factory,” he murmurs as I leave.

Aai would have an aneurysm if he ever suggested so, but I don’t have the heart to tell him.

Simran’s calling me back from the airport. She stayed an extra week at Dartmouth after finishing up her finals, so she can’t make tonight’s festivities.

“My flight got pushed two hours,” she says in explanation for missing my morning call. “Never fly Spirit.”

I wrinkle my nose. “I was never planning to.”

She rolls her eyes. “Well, I’m just devastated to miss the party,” she says, lips pulling into an exaggerated pout through the screen. She’s wearing the chunky pink headphones I got her for Christmas a couple years back and a gray matching set, the picture of travel comfort.

“I’m sure,” I say, and Simran giggles. She hates these events almost as much as Ajoba. Simran was raised by Cool Brown Parents, second-generation Indian moms who own an art gallery in downtown Seattle. While I spent my childhood being dragged from one family friend’s house to another, Simran attended poetry readings, restaurant openings, the goddamn ballet.

“Kush can keep you company in my absence, no?”

“Was that a threat, Sim?”

She giggles again. Kush Khanna, Noori Aunty’s son, is pretty much the bane of my existence. Polite, handsome, and insufferably overachieving, Kush is beloved by every elder in our community. He’s just a year older, so I’ve been compared to him my entire life, always falling short.

“Bad joke, I take it back, running on very little sleep here.”

“How was the roomie trip?” Simran’s spent the last few days in the mountains near campus with her school friends.

“Magical. You’ve got to come visit me next year. I won’t accept any excuses.”

“It’s in the calendar,” I say, but an odd feeling lurches in my chest, just like every other time Simran has told me about her college escapades. Simran Sinha is my favorite person in the world next to Ajoba, but we had very different freshman year experiences. As thrilled as I am for her, it’s hard not to feel some envy too. I clear my throat, pushing the sensation away. “When do you get home?”

“By morning, granted my flight isn’t delayed again.” She pauses here, dimples deepening. “And then we have the whole summer together. I’ve missed you immensely, Rani.”

“I’ve missed you. This summer is going to be fabulous.” I sound like a High School Musical character, but after the year I’ve had, I can’t overstate how bad I need this win. “Especially, since I have some very exciting news,” I add, finally getting to the purpose of my original call. I pause to let her anticipation swell. “I got my learner’s permit!” Simran’s mouth drops, and I continue. “It’s real, it’s happening, I will be getting my driver’s license very soon!”

“You’re joking,” she accuses.

“Cross my heart.”

It’s been a running joke between the two of us forever that I might die not knowing how to drive. But I stopped by the DOL (Department of Licensing) the day I got back from college. I want this summer to be a true fresh start, a clean slate to set me up for a strong sophomore year, and this is the first step in that direction. Simran has been my chauffeur for years now, so I know this development is a dream come true for her.

“Rani Deshpande, passenger princess no more?” Simran says, all wonderment.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I say. She laughs, and we talk through the rest of our summer plans until Aai calls me over to finish party prep.

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