A heart-wrenching coming-of-age debut novel by a stunning new voice in fiction, for readers of Barbara Kingsolver and Ann Patchett.

In the farm country outside Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan—a border town where life moves slow and dreams run fast—most kids want out. Not Everett Lindt. He’s set on staying put, rebuilding his family’s sheep farm, and carving a future from the land he loves.

Then he meets Mary, a new girl in town with restless energy and bigger plans. When their relationship reaches a crossroads, Everett sees a life together; Mary, however, is desperate to find a way out. Together, they make an impulsive choice—one that will change everything.

Tense, lyrical, and deeply felt, Sara Maurer’s unforgettable debut breathtakingly captures the ache of first love, the beauty and brutality of rural life, and how one decision can echo through generations and shape who we become.

This is one of those books where I went in expecting one thing and ended up not getting the entire package I was hoping for. That’s not always a bad thing, but I think I would have enjoyed this one more if it had delivered what I thought it would.

The story follows Everett and Mary, two teenagers living in a small farming town in Michigan near the Canadian border. Everett is one of the few kids in town who doesn’t dream of leaving. He wants to stay, rebuild his family’s sheep farm, and make a life on the land he loves. Then Mary shows up. She’s new in town, restless, and has zero interest in sticking around. They fall for each other, but they want completely different things. Everett sees a future together. Mary sees a guy to pass the time but has no intention of sticking around. And when their relationship hits a crossroads, they make an impulsive choice that changes everything.

Here’s where my expectations didn’t quite match what I got. The synopsis made me think we were going to see these characters as adults dealing with the fallout of whatever happened when they were younger. I was expecting a dual timeline. Past and present. Watching them navigate the consequences of that impulsive choice years down the line. But the book doesn’t do that. It stays in the past. We see the choice being made, but we don’t get to see where it leads them.

For me, that was a missed opportunity. I think this story would have really benefited from seeing where Everett and Mary ended up. Flashback or flash-forward chapters showing them ten or twenty years later, either reconnecting or looking back on where it all went wrong, would have deepened the emotional impact. Without that, the story felt incomplete. Like I was only getting half of what I wanted.

That said, I did like the characters. I completely understood them. Everett’s desire to stay and build something on the land makes sense. Mary’s desperation to get out and find something bigger makes sense too. Neither of them is wrong. They just want different things, and that tension is real and well done.

I also really connected with the setting. I grew up in a very small town in southeast Idaho. I’m no stranger to farm life. Raising sheep and cattle. Being in 4-H. Showing animals at the county fair. Reading those chapters took me right back. The author absolutely nailed what that life is like. The way small-town life can feel both comforting and suffocating at the same time. Maurer does a great job highlighting the beauty and the brutality of rural life. She doesn’t romanticize it, but she also doesn’t paint it as something to escape. It just is what it is. And for some people, like Everett, it’s enough. For others, like Mary, it’s not. And both of those perspectives are valid.

The writing is another highlight. Maurer has a gift for capturing small moments that feel big. The ache of first love. The weight of a choice you can’t take back. The quiet desperation of wanting something you can’t have. All of that comes through clearly.

But for me, this one was almost there. It didn’t quite hit the mark. The foundation is strong, the characters are solid and the setting is vivid. But without seeing the long-term impact of that impulsive choice, the story felt like it stopped too soon. I wanted more. I wanted to know what happened to them. I wanted to see how they changed. I wanted to see if they ever found their way back to each other or if that moment defined the rest of their lives.

If you’re someone who doesn’t need full closure or who enjoys books that end where most people think they should begin, you might love this. If you’re drawn to stories about small-town life, first love, and the tension between staying and leaving, this is worth checking out. But if you’re like me and you want to see the full arc, you might finish this one wishing there was just a little bit more.

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