Intermission

Sixteen-year-old Faith Prescott eagerly awaits the day she will exchange her small Iowa hometown for the bright lights of Broadway, but her success-driven parents want her to pursue a more practical career, labeling “artsy” people—including their daughter—as foolish dreamers worthy of little more than disdain.

When Faith meets nineteen-year-old Noah Spencer, she discovers someone who understands her musical theatre dreams . . . because he shares them. But Faith’s mother despises everything about Noah—his age, his upbringing, and even his religious beliefs—and she grasps at every opportunity to belittle his plans to study theatre and pursue a stage career. When those criticisms shift further toward hostility, resulting in unjust suspicions and baseless accusations, an increasingly fearful stage is set for Faith at home, where severe restrictions and harsh penalties are put in place to remove Noah Spencer from her life.

But Faith has never connected with anyone as she has with Noah, and no matter how tight a stranglehold her mother enforces to keep them apart, Faith will not give him up. Behind the curtain, Faith’s love for Noah continues to grow . . . as does her determination to hold on to her dreams–and to Noah–no matter the cost.

Butterflies multiply in my stomach, as they always do this close to taking the stage. Right on cue, my jaw tightens and my mouth dries, but I don’t fear this particular incarnation of stage fright. I welcome it. Those butterflies are working on my behalf, condensing the magic, safeguarding it for the moment I step into the lights and they give it back to me. It’s an incomparable thrill, this pre-performance high. This. This is what I want. This is how I want to live. This is… me, being fully, unequivocally alive.

Intermission is a contemporary YA romance set against a backdrop of musical theatre and family drama. With coming-of-age themes that honestly explore the gray areas of moral dilemmas the characters face, this novel follows one talented teen girl as she crosses painful thresholds of first love, faith, and betrayal to take the necessary steps toward adulthood, independence, and the dreams that set her heart on fire.

Due to content involving instances of verbal, emotional and physical abuse perpetrated against the main character, this book is recommended for ages 14+