Introducing the sequel to the award-winning ‘The Deepest Breath.’ Written as a verse novel with dual narrators, readers will love this sensitive exploration of LGBTQ+ relationships and starting high school.

Meg has also written a special piece for this blog reflecting on her journey from starting ‘The Deepest Breath’ to finishing ‘The Brightest Star’ and what her characters have taught her.

“Stevie is about to start junior high. She often feels anxious, but feels much better having her two best friends, Chloe and Andrew, by her side.Their new school is filled with excitement, like the LGBTQIA+ club, but also challenges, such as math class. The biggest challenge of all though comes when Andrew suddenly becomes distant. Andrew isn’t quite sure who he is yet. This didn’t matter much before, especially when he was hanging out with Stevie and Chloe. Now it seems to matter very much indeed, but he doesn’t know how to begin talking about it with his friends, who seem to be much clearer about who they are.”

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Going Back Without Moving Back

by Meg Grehan.

Writing The Deepest Breath was a transformative experience for me. When I first started putting the story to paper I was so sad, I was reaching a hopeless place and I was doubting my writing capabilities so intensely. Stevie helped. She showed me how to be brave, she showed me the importance of curiosity and she showed me that there is always hope. I wrote a large portion of The Deepest Breath in one night. I stayed up all night writing, I baked cookies and drank endless cups of tea. I was alone and it was dark and cold and cosy and I was ready to finish the story, to find out how Stevie’s story would end. I finished the book, submitted it, got it published, watched it do wonderful things and thought that was that. But Stevie’s story hadn’t ended. Years later I began writing the follow up, The Brightest Star. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t a little scared to go back. Stevie had taught me so much and I was in a much better space, but I remembered the version of me who wrote the first book and I didn’t want to meet her again. 

I started typing anyway, there’s that bravery, thank you Stevie. I found I enjoyed catching up with my characters, I found the writing came more easily than I expected it too, I found the story building itself like a path ahead of me but still I was anxious and still I kept going, moving, typing, thinking, telling. Soon I felt a familiar urge. I was ready to finish the book. I don’t quite know how to explain this feeling, I don’t really understand it, I just wake and know that today is the day. It happens with all of my books and I never doubt it, I think it’s the story telling me it’s ready to leave me and see the world. It makes me proud. 

So, just like the first time, I wrote a huge chunk of The Brightest Star that day. I sat at my desk and this time there was only one cup of tea and not a single baking break. I sat and I wrote and I wrote and I wrote and it felt glorious. I finished the book that day and then I sat back and looked at it and at myself and I realised that I had gone back without getting stuck. I realised that my little characters are always moving forward. That they are courageous young people who move forward with curiosity and optimism, that they face their fears and that I could do the same. That I had done the same. I am not the person who wrote The Deepest Breath. I am no longer even the person who wrote The Brightest Star. But I am grateful for them both.

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I think, as readers, that we take something from every story that we have ever read – whether consciously or not. Some of the very best stories change us irreversibly. It was interesting to read that Meg drew strength and courage from the wonderful Stevie as she told Stevie’s stories.

This book perfectly taps into the confusing mix emotions felt when moving up to secondary school, navigating friendships, and starting to work out who you are. Many readers will identify with Stevie’s struggles with anxiety whilst she tries to keep up with her schoolwork and changes in the dynamic of her friendship with Andrew.

The LGBTQ+ theme which runs throughout the book is sensitively handled as Stevie explores her own feelings towards best friend Chloe, and finds support and acceptance at her new school’s Rainbow Club.

The free verse format and dual narrative format makes for a quick and engaging read that gets straight down to the business of telling Stevie’s story.

Jo.

*Many thanks to Little Island Books for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour*