blurb
Gabrielle “Gabby” Dy has grown up fine, all things considered. With a mom who parcels love in lump sums, and a half-brother, whose communication with her comes and goes at the discretion of his dad—the same man who raised Gabby until he learned she wasn't his—Gabby only knows of impermanence and detachment as her default setting. So, when Gabby and her best friend, Ali, witnessed a botched confession to the very guy Ali was supposed to confess to, learning of his aversion towards dating strangers, Gabby had no qualms catalyzing a half-baked plan to date Leiv, the guy’s best friend, thereby engineering a platform for an organic meet-cute between Ali and her staunchly anti-stranger crush.Unbeknownst to Gabby, Leiv is playing on the same soccer team as her half-brother, while her ex-dad is their coach—both seemingly healed by time and yearning for a reconciliation. With Leiv’s uncomplicated sincerity unsettling the detachment Gabby relies on, and the pressure of reconciliation feeling like an erasure of the years she endured, Gabby’s defense mechanisms are being tested on all fronts. Ultimately, Gabby is forced to acknowledge the anger & loneliness she buried to survive, and decide whether to dig an even deeper hole to bury her hurt in, or finally cut the dead limb she reluctantly carries.
comps & tropes
Emergency Contact x
We Are Okay x
I'll Give You The Sun
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fake dating / family drama / romance subplot / neurodivergent-coded fmc / athlete mmc / female friendships / sibling relationship / divorced parents / psychological realism / realistic fiction / reverse grumpy x sunshine / green flag mmc