Abdi Nazemian

From Abdi Nazemian, the award-winning author of Like a Love Story and Only This Beautiful Moment, comes a suspenseful contemporary YA novel about loss and love.

Fifteen-year-old Kam is head over heels for Ash, the boy who swept him off his feet. But his family and best friend, Bodie, are worried. Something seems off about Ash. He also has a habit of disappearing, at times for days. When Ash asks Kam to join him on a trip to Joshua Tree, the two of them walk off into the sunset . . . but only Kam returns.

Two years later, Kam is still left with a hole in his heart and too many unanswered questions. So it feels like fate when a school trip takes him back to Joshua Tree. On the trip, Kam wants to find closure about what happened to Ash but instead finds himself in danger of facing a similar fate. In the desert, Kam must reckon with the truth of his past relationship—and the possibility of opening himself up to love once again.

Desert Echoes is a propulsive, moving story about human resilience and connection.

Desert Echoes

Lindsay

“I want to know what it feels like to be a tree. Kam, can you imagine what this tree has seen?”

“Okay, stop filming me now. These moments belong to us, not to some tech company. Our relationship isn’t data. I mean it, Kam. Stop or I’ll say goodbye.”

“Farbod joon, why rush into sex with another boy at your age? Wait a while and see if you change your mind.”

“Straight cis people never have to wait to start their lives,” Danny mutters sadly.

“They think protecting us from STIs will turn us into shameless sluts,” Bodie says. “Like, gimme my PrEP and my HPV vaccine, you cowards!”

“Solitude is the one thing money can’t buy. To experience solitude . . . to love it even . . . to not require other people’s approval to be okay . . . it’s everything. Once you know how to be alone, no one can ever bring you down.

Does that make sense?” I’ve heard him ask that question before, like he’s used to not making sense to people. Maybe that’s why he keeps to himself so often. It’s easier than being misunderstood.

Desert Echoes quotes

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