Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden

Almost from the moment they meet, there's something different and precious about the friendship between 17 year olds Liza and Annie. It's when the girls realize that perhaps it's not mere friendship - perhaps it's simply love - that things become anything but simple.

I picked up this book because the author passed away recently. In a tribute, they discussed the ground this book broke for fair and accurate representation of same-sex couples in fiction. Seemed like a good enough reason to look it up.

The book was originally published in 1982, yet it's aged incredibly well; there are very few hints in the book to place it outside our own time. My audiobook (read by Rebecca Lowman) was 2008 commemorative edition, which also included a fairly extensive interview with the author on the book's impact and legacy both in her own life and in LGBTQ history.

It's a great book (the tension that builds through the middle section was agonizing for me!) and I can understand why it's had the impact it has. Gay or straight, it's a good love story and it's also a fair look at the impulsiveness of teenagers and the implications of unthought actions.