After graduating high school, all Ari wants is to leave his small, coastal hometown and head to Baltimore with his bandmates so that they can pursue a career in music. But Ari’s family’s Greek bakery is struggling, and his strict but loving dad insists Ari stay to help. Angry but undaunted, Ari begins searching for his replacement. They hire Hector, a young Samoan American who is spending the summer in town to deal with his recently deceased grandmother’s belongings. Hector is easygoing, friendly, and passionate about baking. Needing little instruction, he quickly makes himself right at home in the bakery, although he struggles to fit in with Ari’s group of friends. Initially self-absorbed and sullen, Ari slowly gains perspective throughout the summer as he works hard in the bakery, gains new respect for his parents, learns to distance himself from a toxic person in his life, and spends time with Hector. A sweet love story between the two unfolds in a graphic novel that provides a realistic portrayal of working teens. (Ages 13 and older)

Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.

Writer Kevin Panetta and artist Savanna Ganucheau concoct a delicious recipe of intricately illustrated baking scenes and blushing young love, in which the choices we make can have terrible consequences, but the people who love us can help us grow.