WHO I WAS WITH HER

Rival cross-country high school athletes Corinne and Maggie are lovers but have kept their relationship a secret; when Maggie dies, Corinne is left to grieve alone.

Corinne and her parents moved to North Carolina from Colorado two and a half years before this, her senior year. It’s been a culture shift for Corinne, made more difficult by her parents’ divorce due to her mother’s alcoholism. Running has been a way for her to fit in, and she shares that love with her best friend, Julia. What she hasn’t shared with Julia—or anybody else—is her relationship with Maggie. However, Maggie’s brother, Dylan, did know and, after her death, introduces her to Elissa, an ex-girlfriend of Maggie’s. As Corinne grieves, she must also grapple with her future and whether she wants to come out. The story is told in alternating before/after timelines, so readers experience Corinne’s romance with Maggie as well as the aftermath of her death. Suspense is ramped up well as the plot develops to reveal who else knew about but kept their relationship a secret, why, and at what cost. Clever typography makes delightful small prose poems within the text. The focus on bisexuality is welcome, and asexuality is discussed. Corinne and Maggie are White; several secondary characters are brown-skinned (one is cued by name as South Asian).

Love and death, secrets and honesty: a highly readable love story of two girls.