As Many Nows as I Can Get

For fans of All the Bright Places and I’ll Give You the Sun, this is the acclaimed story of two teens who’ve known each other all their lives, only to truly find each other just in time to change the course of their futures forever.

For Scarlett, David is another mountain in the background of her small Colorado town, until one day, he’s suddenly so much more than just part of the scenery. Magnetic, spontaneous, David is a gravitational force. And Scarlett, pragmatic, wry, eye on the future, welcomes the pull he has on her. Bantering, bridge-diving, night-swimming, road-tripping--this is how the two fall recklessly together that last month of summer, before ambition and expectation whisk them off to separate colleges, before their entwined lives unravel. Sometimes, it’s easy to see only the parts of people you want to see. Sometimes, it’s easy to see only those parts of yourself. But as Scarlett looks deeper, as she’s forced to widen her world and weave it back together, David’s comes further undone.

Moving between the past and the present, this is the story of a seemingly grounded girl who’s pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath. Smart, bold, and emotionally rich, Shana Youngdahl’s debut explores grief, guilt, and reconciling who you think you need to be with the person you’ve been all along.

Shana Youngdahl is a poet and author who teaches writing at the University of Maine at Farmington and directs the Longfellow Young Writers’ Workshop. One of her greatest joys is helping people embrace the stories they need to tell. Shana lives with her husband, two daughters, and two cats in Maine. As Many Nows as I Can Get is her debut novel.