Don't Let It Break Your Heart

Perfect for fans of The Half of It, Maggie Horne's debut YA contemporary novel is an ode to lifelong friendships and discovering queer community. You only get one soulmate, and I'm not throwing mine away. Alana and Gray have been the perfect couple ever since they got together before high school – and neither of them thinks that should have to change just because Alana came out as a lesbian. Sure, things are a little different now: their romantic relationship is over, but their best-friends-since-forever relationship is stronger than ever. And yeah, Alana sees how her other friends now exclude her in tiny, almost unnoticeable ways, but she still has Gray, and that’s all that’s ever mattered to her. Really, the only difference is that instead of kissing Gray herself, Alana sets him up with other girls to do that. But when the new girl Tal arrives, she stops both Alana and Gray in their tracks. Suddenly, Gray’s all-in on his plan to get Tal to fall in love with him, and, for the first time, Alana’s reluctant to help. As Alana and Tal grow closer, and Alana begins to think Tal might share her feelings, she has to decide whether to embrace her queerness and risk losing the life she thought she was building, or continue hiding parts of herself and maintain the status quo. Don’t Let it Break Your Heart is a tender and romantic exploration of identity, love, and friendship that turns the friends to lovers romance trope on its head.