Like Water

~Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for the best LGBT YA novel of 2017~

An unforgettable story of two girls navigating the unknowable waters of identity, millennial anxiety, and first love, from the acclaimed author of The Mystery of Hollow Places.

In Savannah Espinoza’s small New Mexico hometown, kids either flee after graduation or they’re trapped there forever. Vanni never planned to get stuck—but that was before her father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, leaving her and her mother to care for him.

Now she doesn’t have much of a plan at all: living at home, working as a performing mermaid at a second-rate water park, distracting herself with one boy after another.

That changes the day she meets Leigh. Disillusioned with small-town life and looking for something greater, Leigh is not a “nice girl.” She is unlike anyone Vanni has met, and a friend when Vanni desperately needs one. Soon enough, Leigh is much more than a friend.

But caring about another person threatens the walls Vanni has carefully constructed to protect herself and brings up the big questions she’s hidden from for so long.

Coming of Age Story: Vanni thought she had a plan to escape her hometown, but a devastating diagnosis forces her to grow up fast and decide what she truly wants. Bisexual Romance: After a string of boyfriends that mean nothing, Vanni is thrown by her intense connection to Leigh, a bold new girl who challenges everything. Small Town Setting: In a place everyone calls "The Trap," Vanni feels her future shrinking—until a new relationship shows her that love can bloom even in the dust of New Mexico. Books for Teens About Serious Topics: A Lambda Literary Award winner, this novel tackles the realities of a hereditary illness like Huntington’s disease with honesty, heart, and hope.