Be My Light

Reavis tackles family dysfunction, abuse, and more in a no-holds-barred debut that’s a little bit romance, a little bit bildungsroman. Seventeen-year-old Ebony Sealy is a serious student, and even more serious outside the classroom. She ignores fashion for black sweatpants and tunes out the world with ever-present earbuds; her primary interests are binge sleeping and self-inflicted pain. The only thing that keeps her alive is a commitment to protect her younger siblings from their neglectful, abusive mother, who failed to interfere when Ebony’s predatory uncle molested her. Then, as if by magic, a too-good-to-be-true classmate named Marcus shows up on Ebony’s porch, sits next to her on the bus, gets her to share her ear buds, and draws her into a relationship. Both teens and adults willing to read intense, explicit scenes of abuse in a tender romance novel will find Ebony’s story moving and worth their time. (BookLife)