Grades 8+
268 pages
Harper once spent every summer at her grandparents’ farm in rural Clintville, Virginia, so her mother could escape her oppressive marriage for two and a half glorious months each year… That is, until her mom realized she could just divorce the man and have freedom all year round back in Portland. Gone were Harper’s annual escapades reading fantasy novels in her Poppy’s woodshop barn, learning his trade at his side, and adventuring with her fearless best friend (and first crush), Ollie.
It's been five years since Harper’s last journey to Clintville. Nana and Poppy have passed away, her mother has inherited the farm, and she’s dragging Harper along to spend her senior year in a town she hasn’t known since she was twelve. But Harper sees this as an opportunity: not only to reconnect with her past, but to dream herself up a new future that involves less of her mother’s visions of a four-year university and a six-figure career, and more power tools and sawdust beneath her fingers.
The only thing holding her back? The question of how, in this rural Southern town, she’ll find a new Dungeons and Dragons group to play with so she can bring the barbarian warrior of her dreams, Aspen Wildeye, to life.
…And also maybe how to find a girlfriend.
Enter—or, re-enter—Olivia May. Ollie, all grown up, but still the same Ollie that Harper knew and loved way back when. Who’s apparently got a (very queer) D&D group ready and raring to start a new campaign. And is apparently, maybe, possibly, queer herself? And maybe, possibly, hopefully, has just as big a crush on Harper as Harper has on her??
Everything is falling into place. Harper commandeers Poppy’s forlorn woodshop and brings it back to life as the Gay Barn, where she and her new friends launch the campaign of a lifetime. Harper and Ollie rekindle their friendship… and maybe something more, as sparks begin to fly at the game table between Harper’s brazen barbarian, Aspen, and Ollie’s stuck-up paladin, Lyra. She’s following in Poppy’s footsteps to pursue her dream of becoming a professional woodworker, unbeknownst to her mother.
It’s a nat 20. Critical hit. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
…Right?
Check out other Teen Picks of the Month!
Every month the SCCLD Teen Librarians choose one book as a great read from the library's Teen collection. This is the list of the latest picks of the month.
