Awake in the World

As the sun sets off the coast of the small California town of Orilla del Cielo, you can see the silhouettes of the oil rigs. Their shadows look jarring against the serene backdrop, their sharpness a reminder of unfulfilled promises. To Zach, they are a reminder of loss - his father, an oil worker who drowned years before. With a poor family struggling to make ends meet, Zach's future feels equally bleak. Until he meets Vanessa, an optimistic girl whose sights are literally set on the stars. Inspired by her idol, Carl Sagan, she plans to study astronomy at Cornell. But as oil prospectors in search of black gold know, the future is uncertain - and fortunes can always be flipped.

Jason Gurley delivers a gorgeous debut young adult novel about dreams and believing in love - and yourself - to reach them.