Larkin Day is a messed up 15-year-old. She has just escaped a nasty Grade 10 year to spend summer with her grandmother in seaside Nova Scotia. It’s the perfect setting to seek healing by putting all her energies into a local cafe project. If you’re hurting, she learns, one of the best solutions is to invest yourself in something that can make you feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself. But when an arsonist attempts to destroy the project, Larkin is forced to figure out a way to expose the criminal while keeping her life from coming off the rails again.

This beautifully crafted coming-of-age story is Jean Mills’ second young adult novel with Red Deer Press. She reveals a deep understanding of young people, their strengths and the hazards they face in dealing with each other and the world.