Absorbed

"In Townzen's smart yet splashy women's fiction debut, Stacey Chapman's soul-searching journey during the mid-1990s is as turbulent as the summer sun is relentless." --BookLife, Editor's Pick, Publisher's Weekly

Lifeguard Stacey Chapman is dreaming of love, and drowning in bad decisions.

It's 1996, the summer before senior year, and Stacey attempts MTV cool-girl confidence while flirting with Jessie, a sexy skateboarder she's ogled all year. When Jessie pressures her into sex, Stacey's unprepared and afraid to say no. Too ashamed to confide in her mom or her best friend, Gabe, she conspires with another lifeguard to destroy Jessie's reputation, and in the process they obliterate Stacey's good-girl image. Finding refuge in her art teacher's watercolor workshop, Stacey finally begins to untangle who she has become from the art and music career she really wants. But before summer is over, a botched pool rescue snaps Jessie's spinal cord, and Stacey has to answer for her part in the tragedy.

✔GET IT
“Relationships memorably ebb and flow over hot summer days in a Southern California town. Stacey’s teenage angst is universal and will resonate with young readers of any era; altogether, this is an absorbing read.” —Kirkus Reviews

Loved it! 😍

"Absorbed is a great reminder of how difficult it can be navigating the teenage years, but also how those experiences can shape who we become." –Jessica Snoke, Reedsy Discovery

RECOMMENDED

“What at first seems like a teenage beach read turns into a tribute to art’s place in a young woman’s life. What she learns and applies in her life about perspective, expression, and letting go inspires the book’s audience, too.” —Mari Carlson, US Review of Books

“A thoroughly engrossing story, full of book club discussion material about coming of age, growth and transformation…encourage readers to draw better connections between thought, direction, and the consequences of infatuation.” —Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

For fans of Jenny Han’s Summer I Turned Pretty series, Jessica Anya Blau’s Mary Jane, The Falconer by Dana Czapnik and Allison Larkin’s The People We Keep.