Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026

Genre: YA Romance

Publisher: River Grove Books

This debut novel told from alternating points of view offers a young adult love story that’s messy, awkward, and weirdly wonderful—just like life.

Rae struggles over masking her autism, navigating social situations and telling people exactly what she thinks—whether they like it or not. Braden acts Just Fine even as his anxiety sends him spiraling over things like quitting the basketball team and the air quality in the cafeteria. Braden and Rae don’t quite fit in, which makes it even harder to survive high school. When they meet as student aides in the Special Needs classroom, their worlds collide. Together they face down bullies, fake bomb threats and the terrifying vulnerability of first love.

For anyone who’s ever been called a freak, felt too much, or wondered if their quirks made them unlovable, this raw, funny, and fiercely compassionate neurodivergent love story champions owning your oddness, standing up when it’s easier to disappear, and finding that person who doesn’t ask you to be, or pretend to be, “normal.”

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About the Author

Cynthia Baseman writes stories that sit at the intersections of healing, humor, and humanity—in her memoir of a mother’s journey through grief, a children’s picture book, and her YA novel celebrating neurodivergent first love, she’s drawn to the moments that make us feel most alive. Again and again, her work returns to a central question: where do we find truth?

That question has also led her into library advocacy. As a library board member at University of Southern California, she champions libraries as rare public spaces where information is curated with care, context, and accountability. To her, libraries are both sanctuary and engine: places where questions are welcomed, and where communities discover not only books, but tools, resources, and one another.

An Emmy-nominated producer and a Nicholl Fellowship Finalist for screenwriting, Cynthia lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their spirited rescue dog, and four endlessly chatty cockatiels. Between her two grown sons and her vocal pets, her household is much like a good library: never entirely quiet and always full of stories.