Dating Down

At Café Hex, Samantha Henderson can imagine being the person she really wants to be. It’s her place to daydream about going to art school and getting away from her politician father. It’s her place to imagine opening herself up to a new kind of connection, away from her family and the drama of high school.

Enter X—the boy she refuses to name. He’s older, edgy, bohemian . . . in short, everything she thinks she needs. Her family and friends try to warn her that there may be more to him than she sees, but still she stays with X, even as his chaos threatens to consume them both.

Told in waves of poetry—whispering, crashing—Dating Down is a portrait of exhilaration and pain and the kind of desire that drives a girl to risk everything.

Praise: “Gritty, lyrical, often heart-stopping verse . . . a breathless stay-up-all-night read.”—Stasia Ward Kehoe, author of The Sound of Letting Go and Audition

“Stefanie Lyons perfectly captures the sizzle and pop poetry of an electric first love.”—Kirsten Smith, author of Trinkets and screenwriter for Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You

“A fast, freefalling read that’s difficult to put down.”—Jessica Machado, associate editor of Rolling Stone

"Told in musical, poignant verse, Sam's story is lyrical and heartwrenching."—Booklist