Thirsty: A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From Jas Hammonds, award-winning author of We Deserve Monuments, comes a gripping read about a queer teen risking it all to pledge an underground sorority with her best friends the summer before college—perfect for fans of Euphoria and Girl in Pieces.
It’s the summer before college and eighteen-year-old Blake Brenner and her girlfriend, Ella, have one goal: join the mysterious and exclusive Serena Society. The sorority promises status and lifelong connections to a network of powerful, trailblazing women of color. Ella’s acceptance is a sure thing—she’s the daughter of a Serena alum. Blake, however, has a lot more to prove.
As a former loner from a working-class background, Blake lacks Ella’s pedigree and confidence. Luckily, she finds courage at the bottom of a liquor bottle. When she drinks, she’s bold, funny, and unstoppable—and the Serenas love it. But as pledging intensifies, so does Blake’s drinking, until it’s seeping into every corner of her life. Ella assures Blake that she’s fine; partying hard is what it takes to make the cut . . .
But success has never felt so much like drowning. With her future hanging in the balance and her past dragging her down, Blake must decide how far she’s willing to go to achieve her glittering dreams of success—and how much of herself she’s willing to lose in the process.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eighteen-year-old biracial (Black and white) Blake Brenner is excited to spend the summer before her freshman year of college at prestigious Jameswell University working at the local yacht club and partying until dawn with her long-term girlfriend Ella and best friend Annetta. Blake is also hoping to gain entrance to the secret Serena Society, an exclusive Jameswell club of powerful women of color. When the three girls are invited to pledge—a task made easier for affluent legacy recruits Annetta and Ella—they know they'll have to impress the current members with their tenacity and determination, as well as with their ability to withstand an intense partying culture in which getting blackout drunk is the norm. As they get swept up in the parties and myriad pledge tasks, Annetta worries about Blake's heavy drinking, but Blake is more preoccupied with maintaining her status within the Serena Society and navigating her increasingly toxic relationship with Ella. Hammonds (We Deserve Monuments) expertly weaves explorations of class, family, queer identity, race, and substance reliance into a glittering, harrowing narrative that is compulsively readable, gorgeously written, and intricately crafted. Ages 14–up.