Come Home to my heart
by Riley Redgate

From the publisher

Gloria Forman and Xia Harper go to the same high school in a small South Carolina town, but they couldn’t be more different. While Gloria is part of the popular, Christian crowd, Xia sleeps through class, antagonizes anyone who dares talk to her, and buries herself in books that help her pretend she’s somewhere else—anywhere that being lesbian wouldn’t be a waking nightmare.

When the two form an accidental friendship, they begin noticing each other in ways they promised themselves they’d avoid. After all, Xia’s isolation is self-imposed for a reason, and the last thing Gloria needs is more upheaval, especially after her parents kicked her out of the house for being gay. Ever since, she has spent her nights under the stage in the school auditorium and her days terrified of being discovered.

Xia just wants to keep her head down until the end of senior year. Gloria just wants to keep her living situation quiet until her parents come around. But as their feelings for each other intensify and the truths they’ve hidden work their way to the surface, what they truly want will change forever.

My Review

Honestly and truly spectacular. I am not a crier but I felt myself welling up in parts. It’s raw and real and lived in and important and sensitive and careful around the frayed edges of these characters feelings and experiences. I just … loved it doesn’t feel like enough. This should be mandatory assigned reading. Talk about fiction as a vehicle for empathy! Woof! I am flattened – in a good way.