Leaving the Station

Jake Maia Arlow

Hardcover

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Nina LaCour meets Alyson Derrick in this cross-country journey of identity, love, and friendships as Zoe tries to figure out her life, one train stop at a time.

Zoe's life has gone off the rails.

When she left Seattle to go to college in New York, she was determined to start fresh, to figure out what being a lesbian meant to her, to experiment with clothes and presentation away from home for the first time.

Instead, she lost touch with her freshman orientation friend group, skipped classes, and failed completely at being the studious premed student her parents wanted her to be.

But the biggest derailment of all? Her newly minted ex-boyfriend--and the fact that she had a boyfriend to begin with. When she met Alden, he made her feel wanted, he made her feel free. He made her feel . . . like she could be like him, which was exciting and confusing all at once.

So, Zoe decides a second fresh start is in order: She's going to take a cross-country train from New York to Seattle for fall break. There, no one will know who she is, and she can outrun her mistakes.

Or so she thinks until she meets Oakley, who's the opposite of Zoe in so many ways: effortlessly cool and hot, smart, self-assured. But as Zoe and Oakley make their way across the country, Zoe realizes that Oakley's life has also gone off the rails--and that they might just be able to help each other along before that train finally leaves the station.

Book Details

Publisher: Storytide
Publish Date: Aug 19th, 2025
Pages: 304
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.80in - 1.10in - 0.80lb
EAN: 9780063078772
Recommended age: 14-UP
Categories: • Romance - LGBTQ+• Romance - Romantic Comedy• Holidays & Celebrations

About the Author

Arlow, Jake Maia: -

Jake Maia Arlow is a Stonewall Honor author, podcast producer, and (reluctantly) Amtrak's number one fan. They live with their girlfriend and loud cat in the Pacific Northwest.

Praise for this book

"Profound, romantic, and evocative, LEAVING THE STATION feels like talking to a friend about all of the big questions that cloud our adolescence. Reading this book will take readers on a deeply felt journey through love and identity that they'll never forget." -- Camryn Garrett NAACP nominee and author of Friday I'm In Love

"Leaving the Station captures the messy, confusing, and perfectly natural complications of trying to find a way forward in a world that doesn't always give you an easy track to take in this sweet romance layered with very believable complexities around gender, sexuality, and faith." -- Tanya Boteju, author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens and Messy Perfect.

PRAISE FOR HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART: "A tonic and a testament for the times. Warming as hot chocolate in a blizzard; a familiar favorite made fresh from scratch." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

PRAISE FOR HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART: "This dialogue-rich narrative, told from Shani's simultaneously biting and sincere first-person perspective, expertly conveys two romantically unconfident girls' hesitancy to act on their feelings despite boundless chemistry. May and Shani's clever banter, coupled with their myriad relationship ups and downs, make for a cozy and sharply funny confection." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

PRAISE FOR HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART: "A hysterically funny book. Any romance fan will immediately be charmed by Shani and May's instant chemistry, but it's Shani's witty asides that set the novel apart from even the most swoon-worthy YA romcom. Arlow's latest is bound to become a holiday classic that readers will pick up whenever they need to be reminded of the magic of a snowy day." -- Booklist

PRAISE FOR HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART: "For any readers who love to read sharp banter as much as they love to swoon." -- School Library Journal