You’ve Goth My Heart

Rosen combines frothy romance with a missing-teen mystery in this uneven but introspective offering. The summer before his junior year in Sleepy Hollow, Gray answers a text from an unknown number and quickly builds a rapport with the anonymous correspondent, who claims to be a gay teen dreading his family’s move to a small town. Gray’s goth friends worry he’s being catfished, especially as an increasing number of queer boys in the area have gone missing, but Gray suspects the texter of being his closeted ex-boyfriend Steve trying to win Gray back. When Gray rebuffs transfer student Malcolm’s overtures of friendship, Malcolm—who performs online in drag under the name Amanda Lash—seeks to assert himself by winning Sleepy Hollow’s upcoming Halloween decorating contest, which Gray and his friends have won multiple times. Having developed romantic feelings for each other, Gray and his unknown suitor plan to communicate face-to-face on Halloween; meanwhile, Gray contends with increasingly hot and cold dynamics with Malcolm and Steve. The missing teens subplot falls somewhat flat across a heartening interpretation of believable characters grappling with insecurity and messy relationships. The protagonists read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Joy Tutela, David Black Literary. (Sept.)