A blocked writer must untangle why her best friend quit speaking to her before college starts and their childhoods are done forever...
Ginny Merchant just graduated from high school. Her best friend refuses to talk to her. And her writer’s block? It’s still going strong, unless she’s writing to the one person who won’t listen.

Since her best friend left, Ginny hasn’t written a word worth keeping. When Ginny is invited to work at Storybook Land, an amusement park with a castle, a carousel, and familiar childhood characters, she takes the chance, optimistic that surrounding herself with children’s stories might help her write again.

But working at Storybook Land isn’t the fairytale Ginny hoped for. She’s still anxious about leaving home in the fall and how chasing her dreams might affect her family. Even after meeting Summer, who sees the world through her camera and lives for adventure, Ginny worries about making the wrong decision.

Then there’s Milo, who works on the park’s maintenance staff and brings Ginny strawberry slushies every day. Milo has his own past that connects with Ginny’s from before this summer. Leaving home is never as simple as it seems, especially when you grow up in a town with its own yellow brick road...

Vibes:
  • Last summer before college
  • Sleepover in a dreamy carousel
  • The girlhood we all deserve
  • Summer jobs and strawberry slushies and fireworks in the baseball diamond
  • First big love
  • MC writes notes to her ex-bff
  • Sunflower fields and tornados
  • When artists have too much time on their hands
​​
For fans of Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen, and the movie Adventureland with Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg.

available wherever you buy your books
on june 16, 2026!

Please try to support indie book stores and authors first by buying from bookshop.org.

​Preorder information coming!
Picture
Stephanie at Storybook Land, 2005.
Every story has a playlist.

EARLY READERS ARE LOVING tHE rIGHT KIND OF LIGHT

“This book understands what it feels like to outgrow someone and still love them.”

“The tension between Ginny and her ex-best friend??? Somehow hurt more than the romance. I texted my best friend as soon as I was done just to make sure we were okay lol.”

“Perfect for anyone who’s ever felt stuck between who they were and who they’re becoming.”

“I really appreciated how this explored the complexity of female friendship alongside the romance. “The writing was soft and atmospheric, and the summer setting felt incredibly vivid.”

"The letters Ginny writes Lou killed me. It's a perfect bookend (literally) to Lou's story in Not Without You where Lou's hearing Ginny's voice the whole time. It's soulmate level stuff."