It starts with a book. A beloved teacher gives Nanette his copy of an out-of-print novel called The Bubblegum Reaper, about a Holden Caulfield-type boy who falls in love with a girl who shares her secrets with a turtle. As Nanette reads and rereads the novel, she becomes impassioned. She reaches out to the author and discovers another boy who loves the book, and in him, a potential soulmate. But when his vigilante attitude takes him too far, Nanette must learn find the courage to be herself despite the expectations of others on her own.
Eighteen year-old Leonard Peacock has had enough. A loner by choice, he’s lived out each school day under the dark cloud of a secret. On his birthday (a day which no one remembers) he sets out to reward the people he loves with gifts and the ones he hates with a bullet: first bully Asher Beal and then himself.
As Leonard delivers the presents, it’s clear there are people who care for him and who suspect that Leonard has chartered a short, one-way … Continue reading →