No Perfect Places

by Steven Salvatore

Overview

From lauded author Steven Salvatore comes a moving YA novel about twins whose incarcerated father dies and leaves behind a life-changing secret, perfect for fans of I'll Give You the Sun and Euphoria.

When their father went to prison last year for embezzlement, twins Alex and Olly Brucke lost everything: their house, their college funds, most of their friends, and even their mother, who's so focused on making ends meet that she's never around anymore. The only thing they can count on lately is each other.

But after their father dies unexpectedly in prison, the twins start to fracture. Alex is spiraling, skipping classes to spend all of her time drunk or high. And Olly is struggling with a secret his dad ordered him to keep: they have a secret half-brother named Tyler.

When Tyler shows up in their lakeside town for the summer, hoping to get to know his siblings, Olly hides the truth from Alex. But as Alex and Tyler start to form a friendship, the lies become harder to juggle. If they can't confront their father's past and fix their relationship, Olly and Alex each risk losing two siblings forever.

No Perfect Places is a thought-provoking novel about grief, family secrets, and figuring out how to belong against the odds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547611072
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	219,815
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Steven Salvatore is a gay, genderqueer author, writing professor, Mariah Carey lamb, and Star Wars fanatic with an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. They are the founder and CEO of Queerative Writers, a virtual creative workshop series for LGBTQ+ aspiring writers. They are the author of AND THEY LIVED…, CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY, and NO PERFECT PLACES: A Novel, and are represented by Jess Regel of Helm Literary Agency. As a native New Yorker, their heart belongs to the Adirondacks.
stevensalvatore.com | Twitter: @StevenSSWrites | Instagram: @StevenSalvatoreBooks

Editorial Reviews

03/13/2023

Via immersive prose, Salvatore (And They Lived...) renders two teens’ fraught summer in Lake George, N.Y., for an atmospheric and intricate telling of grief, family secrets, and siblinghood. What used to be a relatively comfortable life for white teenage twins Alex and Olly Brucke has been upended by new financial stressors ever since their father was imprisoned for embezzlement 18 months ago. Things grow more complicated when Olly, who is nonbinary, receives a letter containing a paternity test meant for Dad from a teenager named Tyler Dell, who Olly learns is the twins’ half brother. Olly’s parents urge them to drop the matter and keep it secret from Alex, but Olly instead strikes up a clandestine email friendship with Tyler. After their father dies in prison, however, the narrative jumps to the following summer, in which grief-stricken Alex escapes her sorrows through illicit substances, and Olly spends time with their boyfriend, until the siblings’ lives are turned upside down once again when Tyler suddenly arrives in Lake George from Pennsylvania. Alex and Olly’s distinct alternating perspectives add depth and intimacy, cultivating a kaleidoscopic narrative that shines brightest when focused on the twins’ complex—and clearly loving—relationship. Ages 12–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

07/01/2023

Gr 10 Up—Twins Olly and Alex Brucke's lives were turned upside down when their father was arrested on white-collar criminal charges. Serving time in federal prison, their dad has convinced Alex of his innocence, but not Olly (who unlike Alex uses he/they pronouns). Then, their dad dies of a heart attack in prison. What Olly knows, and fears Alex can't handle knowing, is that their dad fathered a secret child before their birth, and that their half-brother (Tyler) has been emailing Olly. Paralyzed by grief, Alex sleepwalks through her senior year of high school and gives up her aspirations of becoming a chef, spiraling into drug and alcohol use and a relationship with an abusive drug dealer. Meanwhile, Tyler shows up unannounced for a summer job working with Olly at the Lonely Bear Resort in Lake George, NY, forcing Olly to keep Tyler's identity concealed from Alex while simultaneously filming a documentary about their family. Something of a mash-up between The Parent Trap and I'll Give You the Sun, this novel will appeal to readers who enjoy issue-heavy stories, although the narrative strains under the weight of many intense conflicts. Drug use, including an overdose death, and explicit sexual situations make this better suited for upper high school readers. Olly, Alex, and Tyler are white; Olly's boyfriend Khal is Lebanese; and Javy, a Black and Latinx friend of Alex's from a support group, open's Alex's eyes to the racial inequities of the incarceration system. VERDICT A secondary purchase.—Elizabeth Giles

School Library Journal

2023-02-25
Twin siblings Olly and Alex Brucke face personal demons when their incarcerated father passes away.

The summer before their senior year of high school, Olly and Alex’s well-known tech CEO father dies from a heart attack while still in prison. But before he dies, he tells Olly not to tell his sister about their secret half brother. Tyler Dell, who is two years older than the twins, sent a letter that Olly intercepted and kept from his sister. A year later, Alex is mired in an abusive relationship with a rich-boy drug dealer, and while Olly is coping, he’s still tangled in his father’s lies. The narrative, which alternates between the two siblings, tackles big themes, mostly with a light hand. The twins must wrestle with the injustice of the prison system while also confronting their father’s guilt and their family’s White privilege. They also have to reconcile loving their father with the fact that he committed fraud, evaded taxes, and embezzled funds and was emotionally abusive toward their mother. Olly’s gender identity and sexuality are included seamlessly, not the focus of the story but making a genuine impact. However, the intimate details of Olly and his boyfriend Khalid Zaid’s sex life shift the tone and feel like they were dropped in from another book. This intense, dramatic novel that explores complicated relationships, coping with adversity, and the fallout of keeping secrets will appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven stories.

An emotional story of familial ties. (map) (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

With NO PERFECT PLACES, Steven Salvatore has gifted us a unique and deeply personal book that beautifully explores the different forms grief can take, the subtle ways secrets can pull us apart, and the unexpected joys that await us when we embrace imperfection.” —Abdi Nazemian, author of Stonewall Honor book Like a Love Story

“Steven Salvatore's NO PERFECT PLACES asks complex questions about family, grief, and identity. Intimate, vibrant, and emotional, this story is proof that we are more than the decisions of our parents, and more than the places we're from. A thoughtful exploration of spinning pain into something positive, confronting the darkness that exists within us, and making peace with the past as we forge our own future.” —Daniel Aleman, author of Indivisible and Brighter Than the Sun

“Salvatore's contemporary YA deals sensitively with heavy themes of grief, addiction, and mental health. This book will appeal to lovers of realistic contemporary fiction and will connect with any reader who has lost someone.” —Booklist

“Alex and Olly's distinct alternating perspectives add depth and intimacy, cultivating a kaleidoscopic narrative that shines brightest when focused on the twins' complex—and clearly loving—relationship.” —Publishers Weekly

“This intense, dramatic novel that explores complicated relationships, coping with adversity, and the fallout of keeping secrets will appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven stories. An emotional story of familial ties.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The dual points of view provided by Alex and Olly create a strong connection between their experiences as their lives were destroyed by their father's poor decisions...A valuable story.” —School Library Connection

“Steven Salvatore writes complicated love stories with such sincerity, thoughtfulness, and emotional resonance. My heart didn't stand a chance-I loved it from once upon a time all the way to its joyfully complex ever after.” —New York Times bestselling author Becky Albertalli on AND THEY LIVED

“A jolt of lightning to my soul. The characters are so bright, the emotion is so vibrant, and the love is exquisitely electric.” —Jason June, author of Jay's Gay Agenda, on AND THEY LIVED

“This charming, joyful story-about self-love, fighting for what's right, and the love to be found in chosen family-will make you want to put on a pair of red heels and blast Mariah Carey.” —Booklist, starred review, on CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY

“Filled with big emotions. . . as empowering as it is entertaining, Salvatore's debut novel hits all the right notes.” —BookPage on CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY

From the Publisher