MIDNIGHTS WITH YOU

While a Massachusetts teen navigates a budding relationship, family issues threaten everything she longs for.

Ever since her white American father died, Lourdes “Deedee” Walters has lived with her controlling Filipino immigrant mom, who seems to hate her and never talks about the Philippines. Deedee yearns for an escape. While out walking restlessly around the neighborhood one night, she meets Jay Hayes, her mysterious new white and Vietnamese American neighbor. They strike a deal: Deedee will tutor him, and Jay will give her driving lessons. Their secret midnight drives blossom into something more, but the closer they get, the more life tears them apart. As Jay helps Deedee uncover her mother’s past, and Jay reveals more about his own history, the family traumas they’re each dealing with may prove too significant to overcome. As they navigate their painful inheritances, Jay and Deedee must decide what’s best for them, both individually and together. Romance grows within a story that’s heavily rooted in the family issues that affect both teens’ thoughts, emotions, and actions. The central theme of love is depicted and explored through the lenses of suffering, sacrifice, money, friendship, and efforts to fix others. Deedee’s mother’s verbal abuse, often repeated in Deedee’s own self-hating thoughts, weighs heavily. Racism, microaggressions, and internalized racism are prevalent throughout; the teens live in a predominately white town and have family histories of war and immigration.

A romance steeped in an emotionally gut-wrenching tale of trauma.