Name: In the Wild Light
ISBN: 9781524720247

Jeff Zentner

Attending an elite prep school in Connecticut on a scholarship with his best friend (and secret love) science genius Delaney Doyle, sixteen-year-old Cash Pruitt, from a small town in East Tennessee, struggles with emotional pain and loss until his English teacher suggests writing poetry.

In the Wild Light

Melissa Palmer

Excellent

This book was amazing. Great characters dealing with real problems but helping each other survive and even thrive. I loved it.

 I could make the case that the edges are sanded off what in real life would be dingier and more desperate but I was willing to go along on this ride, always looking forward to dipping back the boarding school and small town Tennessee. 

Kyla Sweet

Heather Killeen

4.5/5 stars!

Okay wow. I loved this book so much! I almost never read contemporary but this one (and the serpent king) are truly glorious exceptions! Jeff's writing is so beautiful. I found myself marking so many passages that I loved! He has such a wonderful way of cutting through to the heart of a thing and exposing it before your eyes. He captures words for things I didn't think you could put words to. And he writes complex relationships and trauma in a completely heartbreaking and relatable way. He'll break your heart then painstakingly put it back together again!

Since that review tells you nothing about what this book is about, let me say that it has:
✨ small town -> boarding school setting
✨ an epic friendship
✨ parental trauma (childhood trauma)
✨ the sweetest and most beloved grandparents you will ever meet
✨ achingly beautiful prose and description
✨ lovely poetry and the unsteady path of a new poet!