• Age: 13 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12

Reef is back in Halifax for the funeral of Frank Colville, his former mentor. Memories of Frank compete with memories of Leeza and the terrible way their relationship ended. Mindful that the restraining order against him has been renewed by Leeza’s mother, Reef has no intention of staying in Halifax for long.

Leeza, in the meantime, is feeling stifled by her mother’s “concern.” A first-year student at Dalhousie, she is kicking herself for not attending university out of town.

Despite Reef ’s best efforts to stay away, circumstances push him and Leeza ever closer to each other. An eager political crusader wants to close Reef ’s former group home, and he will stop at nothing to get media attention, including manipulating news items. Reef is shocked to discover that he has been photographed outside Leeza’s house and, therefore, in violation of the restraining order. Finding himself at the centre of growing controversy, Reef is pushed to his limits.

Before he leaves town, Reef must face his demons and make some tough choices or else risk losing everything he has worked for, including the only girl he has ever loved.

DON AKER’S most recent novel is The Fifth Rule, a finalist for the White Pine Award. His acclaimed backlist also includes The Space Between, winner of the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Honour Book Award and also shortlisted for the White Pine Award; One On One, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Lilla Stirling Award and nominated for the Hackmatack Award and the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award; and The First Stone, winner of the Ann Connor Brimer Award and the White Pine Award. A former high school teacher, Don lives by the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

WEB: donaker.com

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