6 Times We Almost Kissed (and One Time We Did)

Thanks to their mothers’ decades-long friendship, 17-year-olds Tate and Penny have known each other their whole lives. Despite the teens’ myriad similarities, including the fact that they both like girls, they’ve always been at odds with one another. When Tate’s mother is diagnosed with Alpha-1 liver disease and Penny’s mother agrees to be an organ donor, the four move into the same house following the procedure to facilitate a smooth recovery. Their proximity forcibly intertwines Penny and Tate’s lives even further and, together, the girls face financial precarity, worries surrounding their academic futures, and their mothers’ health complications. As they grow closer, the pair reckon with their previously obstinate relationship and their mutual and unignorable attraction. Via Penny and Tate’s alternating, distinctly rendered perspectives, which oscillate between six moments in their past and the present, Sharpe (The Girls I’ve Been) smartly navigates familiar romance tropes, such as friends-to-lovers, to craft a refreshing and gratifying dynamic. The girls’ individual challenges and their shared conflicts are believably woven together, and their intense chemistry conjures a savvy, slow-burn romance. Major characters read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Jan.)