From the moment Carli and Rex first locked eyes on the basketball court, they both knew it was destiny. But can you truly love someone else if you don’t love yourself? Acclaimed author Liara Tamani’s luminous second novel explores first love, family, heartbreak, and self-reliance in gorgeous prose that reads like poetry. For fans of Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also a Star and Jacqueline Woodson’s If You Come Softly.
A glance was all it took. That kind of connection, the immediate understanding of another person, just doesn’t come along very often. And as rising stars on their Texas high schools’ respective basketball teams, destined for futures in professional leagues, it seems like a match made in heaven. But Carli and Rex both have secrets.

Carli hates basketball and, in the wake of her parents’ crumbling marriage, uses Rex as a crutch—someone to cling to while her life falls apart.

Rex comes home to an empty house and an absent father. He’s hardened himself against the lack of affection, but now he has Carli. But how much love can you give another person when you don’t love yourself?

Liara Tamani’s sophomore novel follows two Black teenagers as they discover how first love, heartbreak, betrayal, and family can shape you. Literary and commercial, this is for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Jacqueline Woodson, and Jenny Han.