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“Two college freshmen face the challenges of dating across many differences in background and identity. Seventeen-year-old Deja Martin wants to explore life beyond small-town North Carolina, and college is the perfect opportunity…Before fall semester starts, she visits College Park to dispel any lingering fears—and, empowered by her first taste of autonomy, she goes to get a tattoo and meets Raja Sharma. The 18-year-old Nepali American boy’s good looks are as mesmerizing as his artistic talents. Their connection is electrifying, but their delicate romance is threatened by external pressures…The pair must decide: When you’re from different worlds, is love truly enough? …Grounding her story in relatability and realism, LaDelle carefully depicts how cultures shape personal identities.”

– Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

This Could Be Forever

Written by Ebony LaDelle
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

This compelling and complex romance about love across cultures follows a Black girl and Brown boy who find themselves—and each other—while pursuing their passions the summer before college.

Deja’s got a plan. The first in her large family to go to college, she wants to study chemistry and sell natural skin care products, like the ones she already creates from plants grown on her family’s North Carolina farm. It all starts with the Onward Bound summer program at the University of Maryland, the summer before school officially starts.

Raja’s got a dream. His traditional Nepali parents want him to study engineering and settle down in an arranged marriage, but his passion is art, and he wants to open his own tattoo parlor one day. In the meantime, he’s apprenticing at a tattoo shop in College Park, Maryland.

When Deja walks into the shop where Raja’s working, they both start crushing hard—over the course of the summer, they fall more and more deeply for one another. But the closer they get and the more their lives entwine, the more they find that dating someone who doesn’t match your parents’ expectations is harder than they ever imagined.

Can they bridge the divide between the vision their families have for their futures and the lives—and love—that are starting to feel like destiny?

Primary ISBN: 9781665948678
Publication Date: May 2025
Available As: Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
Young Adult, Age 12 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (North Carolina, Maryland)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: 1st Generation

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