Finding Jupiter

Zusatztext Self-affirming and deeply moving . Rowe tenderly reminds us that it takes courage to love and love to heal. J. Elle, New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony " A sparkling debut ! Liara Tamani, author of All the Things We Never Knew "A relevant, heartwarming love story for a generation it will gut you and then put you back together again. Kristen R. Lee, author of Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman Informationen zum Autor KELIS ROWE lives and writes out of her home in Austin, Texas, suburbia and spends her summers traveling with her husband and son. During her past life as a market research analyst, Kelis kept her creative juices flowing after-hours as a blogger and YouTuber, which included a two-year stint as one of twenty national Clinique Beauty Brand Insiders and a brief assignment as an Austin Honeybee for Honey Magazine . Kelis grew up in Memphis, where she had her first big love as a teenager. She did not see herself or her big love reflected in the pages of a YA novel at the time and now writes contemporary YA to give Black young people more reflections of themselves and their love to enjoy. Follow her at @KelisRowe on Twitter and Instagram. Klappentext Sparks fly when Orion and Ray meet for the first time at a roller rink in Memphis. But these star-crossed souls have a past filled with secrets that threaten to tear them apart before their love story even begins. Found poetry, grief, and fate collide in this powerful debut. Ray: Just once I'd like my birthday to be about me, and not the day my father died. I want to be Ray Jr., the tall girl from Memphis with the poetry beats and the braids that stay poppin'. And when I meet Orion at the skating rink, that's exactly who I am. He pulls my hand, and instead of being defined by my past, he races me toward my future. Orion: When I dive into the pool, it's just me and my heartbeat. There's no dad, no dead sister, and no distracting noises. But I can't hold my breath forever. And since I met Ray, I don't want to. The closer we get, though, the more I see I'm not the only one caught in her wake. With a lyrical blend of found poetry and poignant prose, this stunning debut captures young Black love and a decades-old family secret that may shatter a romance that feels written in the stars. Leseprobe ONE Ray 22 DAYS I'm finding poetry in the pages of The Great Gatsby this summer. My copy from middle school has started to fall apart, so I've ripped out my favorite set of pages and have glued some of the finished pieces into my journal. Gatsby's life was utterly unfair, and it came to an end because of circumstances that were far out of his control. I can relate. For my found poetry, I'm drawn to the parts of stories where the writing is on the wall and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Gatsby's goose is cooked. He'll never get what he wants most. What do I want? Just once I'd like today to be about the day I was born, not the day my father died. Sitting in the tree house he built for me, I push away thoughts of him dying while I was entering the world. I unravel my turquoise earbuds, start my James Taylor Essentials playlist, and try to focus. A calm washes over me as I study the page that I've taped to a larger piece of white paper. On this page, Tom Buchanan is closing in on Gatsby's lie, quizzing him about his days at Oxford as Daisy interjects about a mint julep. Shit's about to hit the fan. Mr. Nobody. I write it in pencil on the side of the page. I go back to the top of the page and scan, waiting to find words about Mr. Nobody. I list them as I go. smiling, snapped, politely, content, desperately, nowhere, alone . . . I read the list over and over again, until some words fall away and others seem to float above the page. With each pass, more words ...

“Self-affirming and deeply moving. Rowe tenderly reminds us that it takes courage to love and love to heal.” –J. Elle, New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony

"A sparkling debut!” –Liara Tamani, author of *All the Things We Never Knew

"A relevant, heartwarming love story for a generation—*it will gut you and then put you back together** again.”  –Kristen R. Lee, author of Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman

Autorentext
KELIS ROWE lives and writes out of her home in Austin, Texas, suburbia and spends her summers traveling with her husband and son. During her past life as a market research analyst, Kelis kept her creative juices flowing after-hours as a blogger and YouTuber, which included a two-year stint as one of twenty national Clinique Beauty Brand Insiders and a brief assignment as an Austin Honeybee for Honey Magazine. Kelis grew up in Memphis, where she had her first big love as a teenager. She did not see herself or her big love reflected in the pages of a YA novel at the time and now writes contemporary YA to give Black young people more reflections of themselves and their love to enjoy. Follow her at @KelisRowe on Twitter and Instagram.

Klappentext

Sparks fly when Orion and Ray meet for the first time at a roller rink in Memphis. But these star-crossed souls have a past filled with secrets that threaten to tear them apart before their love story even begins. Found poetry, grief, and fate collide in this powerful debut.

Ray: Just once I'd like my birthday to be about me, and not the day my father died. I want to be Ray Jr., the tall girl from Memphis with the poetry beats and the braids that stay poppin'. And when I meet Orion at the skating rink, that's exactly who I am. He pulls my hand, and instead of being defined by my past, he races me toward my future.

Orion: When I dive into the pool, it's just me and my heartbeat. There's no dad, no dead sister, and no distracting noises. But I can't hold my breath forever. And since I met Ray, I don't want to. The closer we get, though, the more I see I'm not the only one caught in her wake.

With a lyrical blend of found poetry and poignant prose, this stunning debut captures young Black love and a decades-old family secret that may shatter a romance that feels written in the stars.

Leseprobe
ONE
Ray
22 DAYS I’m finding poetry in the pages of The Great Gatsby this summer. My copy from middle school has started to fall apart, so I’ve ripped out my favorite set of pages and have glued some of the finished pieces into my journal. Gatsby’s life was utterly unfair, and it came to an end because of circumstances that were far out of his control. I can relate. For my found poetry, I’m drawn to the parts of stories where the writing is on the wall and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Gatsby’s goose is cooked. He’ll never get what he wants most.
What do I want? Just once I’d like today to be about the day I was born, not the day my father died. 
Sitting in the tree house he built for me, I push away thoughts of him dying while I was entering the world. I unravel my turquoise earbuds, start my James Taylor Essentials playlist, and try to focus.
A calm washes over me as I study the page that I’ve taped to a larger piece of white paper. On this page, Tom Buchanan is closing in on Gatsby’s lie, quizzing him about his days at Oxford as Daisy interjects about a mint julep. Shit’s about to hit the fan.
Mr. Nobody.
I write it in pencil on the side of the page. I go back to the top of the page and scan, waiting to find words about Mr. Nobody. I list them as I go.
smiling, snapped, politely, content, desperately, nowhere, alone . . .
I read the list over and over again, until some words fall away and others seem to float above the page. With each pass, more words join in, calling out to me as the poem makes itself known. Then, finally, the found poetry has found me.
*Smiling fain…