Book excerpt: For a life to come together, sometimes it first has to fall completely apart. Isabel is a regular seventeen-year-old girl, still reeling from the pain of her boyfriend's tragic death exactly one year ago. Carlos is a regular seventeen-year-old guy, loves red licorice and his friends, and works at a fancy art museum for some extra cash. The two have no connection until they both meet Vanessa, an intriguing new transfer student with a mysterious past. While Vanessa is the link that brings these two very different lives together, will she be the one that can also tear them apart? In his stunningly beautiful second novel, David Hernandez gives his readers a poetic and profound story that tells of two completely different teenagers and how through everyday life and monumental tragedy lies endless possibility.