If You Still Recognize Me
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This heartfelt, poignant YA debut is a second-chance summer romance that will steal your heart—perfect for fans of Heartstopper, Some Girls Do, and It’s Not Like it’s a Secret.
This summer, Elsie is finally going to confess her feelings to her longtime—and long-distance—crush. Ada’s fanfics are to die for, and she just gets Elsie like no one else. That is, until Joan, Elsie’s childhood best friend, literally walks back into her life and slots in like she never left. Like she never moved away to Hong Kong and never ignored Elsie’s dozens of emails and letters.
Then Ada mentions her grandmother’s own long-lost pen pal (and maybe love?), a woman who once lived only a train ride away from Elsie’s Oxford home, and Elsie gets the idea for the perfect grand gesture. But as her plan to reunite the two older women ignites a summer of repairing broken bonds, Elsie starts to wonder if she, too, can recover the things she’s lost…
With a beautifully earnest voice and a dash of fandom, this wistful and delightful novel is a love letter to queer coming-of-age, finding community, and finding yourself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Debut author So tenderly celebrates friendship, fandom, and family in this fervent second-chance-romance. Eighteen-year-old childhood best friends Elsie Lo and Joan Tse haven't spoken to each other since Joan moved to Hong Kong seven years ago, until a serendipitous encounter reconnects them in their Oxford, England, hometown. Though she's eager to "just wave away those years" when she didn't hear from Joan, Elsie wrestles with feelings of abandonment and awkwardness as the two relearn one another. Elsie, who is only out as bisexual to close friends, has also been hyping herself up to confess her love for her longtime online pen pal Ada, a fanfic writer. Recruiting her best friend Ritika and publicly out lesbian Joan to help, Elsie embarks on a trip to perform a grand romantic gesture for Ada. Too little planning as well as tensions surrounding old hurts obstruct the teens' goals, but new perspectives and shared moments of pathos bring them together. Dialogue-heavy interactions and a leisurely buildup—crafted with depth, nuance, and care—center a memorable cast and warm depictions of connection. Main characters read as East Asian. Ages 14–up.