Author Lauren Myracle’s next YA novel This Boy doesn’t hit bookstores until next year, but we have an exclusive look at the book’s charming cover as well as an inviting excerpt.

This Boy is Lauren Myracle’s first story from a teen male’s perspective and it’s all about the high school experience. Whether you’re currently in high school, left it behind long ago, or fall somewhere in the middle, there’s something for everyone to relate to in this new YA novel. Tackling topics like addiction, divorce, and just what it means to “be a man,” this title is sure to make waves next spring.

But why wait until then to fall in love with it? Take one look at the cover (as well as the excerpt we have for you below) and you won’t be able to stop yourself from putting it at the top of your to-read list for next year!

Here’s your first glimpse at the lush yet simple cover for ‘This Boy’ by Lauren Myracle

Just look at that beautiful peach-colored cover. It’s warm and inviting without feeling too presumptuous. Also, while there isn’t much going on design-wise, that’s the point. The cover very clearly indicates that the story is about one boy and one boy alone. And yet, there’s something so inviting about the design and the boy on the cover that it’s easy to tell that it’s going to be a universal and heartfelt story.

We can’t wait to crack open a copy once it hits bookshelves next year.

Eager to dive into Lauren Myracle’s ‘This Boy’? Here’s an exclusive excerpt!

Freshman Year

Chapter One

My friendship with Roby Smalls began in the men’s room, the two of us pissing side by side into our respective urinals. We were fourteen. We’d seen the same movie at the Co-Ed Cinema, though we hadn’t seen it together, by which I mean we hadn’t bought our tickets together or sat together. Yes, our eyeballs processed the images at the same time in the dark theater, but it wasn’t until the movie ended and we both went on our own to the restroom with its sticky floor and flickering light and overflowing trash can that we had, you know, our special moment.

Not like that. I’m only about the ladies. Plus, homophobia is so last century.

Roby sniffled first. Then I sniffled. Piss against porcelain, the buzzing of the fluorescent tube, and the two of us sniffling back and forth, struggling not to cry because of how damn sad the movie had been.

It’s not important which movie it was. It could have been any movie, any of a dozen movies that summer that were devastating and real and happened to be way better than I’d expected when Mom threw out the idea and I said sure, because, as she pointed out, it was a good way to escape North Carolina’s sweaty August heat. Plus, popcorn.

It was A Star Is Born, all right?

After the third or so back-and-forth urinal sniffle, I glanced at Roby. I gave him a quick nod, which he returned. And then we shook our dicks and washed our hands, and that was that.

It was the most authentic man-to-man conversation I’d ever had.

Two weeks later, high school started. Roby turned up in my freshman year seminar, and I recognized him straightaway. But I didn’t blurt out, “Whoa, you’re the dude from the men’s room. We both sniffled and tried not to cry, remember?”

He recognized me, though. I know because he gave me the same nod in class that he’d given me in the restroom. He looked sheepish, but also amused, by which I mean that he owned it. Like, Yeah, you caught me out, but I caught you, too. Anyway — admit it — don’t you think it’s kind of funny?

About ‘This Boy’ by Lauren Myracle

Lauren Myracle brings her signature frank, funny, and insightful writing to this novel of a teenage boy’s coming-of-age.

Paul Walden is not an alpha lobster, the king lobster who intimidates the other male lobsters, gets all the lady lobsters, and wins at life. At least not according to anyone in his freshman seminar. But Paul has found a funny, faithful friend in Roby Smalls and, just maybe, caught the interest of smart, beautiful Natalia Guitierrez. Life as a sharply dressed beta lobster seems just fine, but in the tricky currents of high school, its pretty easy to get pulled too deep.

With perfect frankness, Lauren Myracle explores the point of view of a middle-class white kid as he navigates friendship, love, loss, addiction, and recovery. It’s life at its most ordinary and most unforgettable.

This Boy by Lauren Myracle will be available March 10, 2020, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore. Also, don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “to read” list!