The Last Summer Before Everything

Molly knows where everything is.

Every dough ball weighed to the gram.
Every tomato crate stacked with the labels facing out.
Her little brother Finn's meds, due in forty-seven minutes.
The foreclosure letters she hides before Nonna Rosa can find them.

One degree of separation. That's how you keep a kitchen running when everything else is falling apart.

Then Leo Roman walks into The Last Slice with a guitar pick in his back pocket and a grin that says he's never been late for anything that mattered.

He thinks recipes are suggestions.
He thinks the dough should breathe.
He thinks Molly is running this whole place, and somehow he sees the thing she's never told anyone she wants.

Because Molly has a secret folded under all that control.
A talent she buried the day she decided her family needed her more than she needed a future of her own.

The pizzeria is drowning.
Aunt Clara is unreliable. Finn is getting sicker. The auction notice is coming.
And the only plan Molly has left is the lie she's been telling everyone, including herself.

Then Leo says the thing nobody else will.
"You don't have to hold all of it. You're allowed to want something for you."

Lake Carmine has always been the whole world to Molly.
The mural on the back wall. The smell of oregano and lake-damp. The orthopedic shuffle of Nonna's sneakers across the tile.
Losing it would mean losing the only home she has left.

One summer to save it.
One summer to decide whether keeping everyone else afloat is worth letting her own dream sink.

This is the last summer before everything changes.
And Molly is about to learn that the bravest thing she can do is let go of the brakes.

The Last Summer Before Everything is an achingly real YA coming-of-age love story about a hidden talent, first love, family duty, found hope, financial struggle, and learning to choose yourself.

Perfect for readers who love summer romance, slow-burn first love, complicated families, small-town settings, and tender coming-of-age stories. A standalone YA novel with a heartfelt, hopeful ending.