Salt and Stars: A Driftwood Bay Novel: In a town where the tide carries secrets, two strangers find each other-just as their worlds start to fall apar (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798298062060)

Some connections are like constellations-you only see them when the night is dark enough.

Seventeen-year-old Maya Chen hasn't been back to Driftwood Bay since she was seven, when her mother packed their lives into two suitcases and fled. Now, she's back-reluctantly-because her mother's having what the therapists politely call "an episode." The coastal Maine town is smaller than she remembers, all weathered shingles, salty air, and the kind of gossip that travels faster than the tide.

Maya's plan is simple: keep her head down, survive the summer, and get back to Portland. But then she meets Ezra Castellano.

Ezra spends his nights beneath the old boardwalk, sketching by moonlight and keeping the world at arm's length. With his father's political career in ruins and his family coming apart, he's perfected the art of disappearing. But something about Maya-her guardedness, her quiet defiance-feels familiar.

Under the boardwalk, with salt air and starlight as their only witnesses, Maya and Ezra share the truths they can't tell anyone else. But Driftwood Bay doesn't keep secrets for long. As Maya uncovers the real reason her mother left-and Ezra's family scandal explodes-they'll have to decide if what they've found together can survive the storms ahead... or if some tides can't be turned.

Perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson, Nina LaCour, and Jenny Han, Salt and Stars is a lyrical coming-of-age romance about family, forgiveness, and the unspoken magic of finding someone who sees you.