Entertainment Weekly’s Must Read LGBTQ YA Book to Read this Winter

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends comes an emotional and timely story of incarcerated teens fighting to stay alive amidst a deadly pandemic

The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named. No one has hope for the teenagers who have been exiled there; the world barely acknowledges that they exist.

Then the guards at Hope start acting strange. And one day…they don’t show up. At first, the teens are thrilled. But when they band together to make a break from the facility, they encounter soldiers outside the gates. There’s a rapidly spreading infectious disease outside, and no one can leave their houses or travel without a permit. Which means that they’re stuck at Hope for good. And this time, no one is watching out for them at all.

As supplies quickly dwindle and the plague passes through their ranks, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust and figure out how they can survive in a world that has never seemed to want them.

‘The beautifully written, lyrical prose enhances this riveting, fast-paced thriller that may hit very close to home for readers struggling through the Covid-19 pandemic. The alternating first-person narratives and interspersed phone call transcripts keep readers close to the action and occasionally will bring them close to tears.’ - Kirkus Reviews

‘Thrilling, raw, and unforgettable. A story about humanity, resilience, and hope. I couldn’t put this book down. The story felt so real! Nijkamp at their best!’ - Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Beautiful Creatures