MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel figures everyone has a hobby, and hers is plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who constantly whisper behind her back, and a dad who's locked away for life in prison, Aysel's ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There's only one problem: she's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers the website UnsmoothTransistions and its section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution. Better yet, a teenage boy with the username FrozenRobot who's haunted by a family tragedy is looking for a partner and he lives just fifteen minutes away. Bingo. But as their suicide pact starts to become more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Maybe because she's finding herself drawn to the brief glimpses of Frozen Robot's - Roman's -- former self: his crooked half-moon smile and his boyish fondness for adventure stories, which he hides under almost insurmountable layers of guilt and grief. Ultimately, Aysel must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince. Jasmine Warga was recently awarded her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Lesley University, Massachusetts. She briefly worked as a science teacher for at-risk students. This is her first novel.