Blog tour: Can I Stray

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Welcome to the blog tour for Can I Stray by Jenna Adams!

More about the book…

Fourteen-year-old Brooke Tyler has spent her whole life waiting for a boy to choose her. Matt is about to go to university, scared to leave behind everything he knows. When both are cast as romantic leads in Romeo and Juliet, they fulfil the roles of forbidden lovers both on and off the stage. Brooke is sure that her fairy tale is coming true - and best of all, Matt is older.

Brooke considers secrets and lies a small price to pay for her first boyfriend, but the relationship is set to cost her the moment they have sex. When Brooke learns that Matt’s actions that night were illegal, her world shatters.

Years later, Brooke and Matt reunite as adults. Matt wants to undo all the damage he caused, but Brooke makes a choice which forces them both to question their relationship.

Told in three acts, this heart-wrenching debut reveals a young woman’s journey for independence as she strays away from everything she has ever known to navigate her traumatic past.

More about the author…

Jenna Adams lives in London and writes from her third-floor flat which is covered in plants. She is a regular contributor at The Book Network and Can I Stray is her first novel. Jenna is passionate about exploring mental health, consent, and codependency in her writing. You can find out more about her work on her website, www.jennaadamswriter.com.

My impressions…

Wow, what a debut! I suspected from the synopsis that this would be an impressive but also difficult story to read, and I found this to be the case. Difficult only inasmuch as the theme of consent is not a light-hearted stroll in the park. Even such a ‘loaded’ subject, however, was executed with elegance as I took in both Brooke’s and Matt’s points of view. Beautifully written, truly.

Three words to describe it. Powerful. Emotional. Thought-provoking.

Do I like the cover? Yes, it’s elegantly simple.

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, this is her first novel.

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