Overview

Sam Payton is a high school senior with a bit of an identity crisis. Raised in a well-to-do family, she dutifully plays the role of Samantha Rose Payton, the wealthy debutante. Now, almost one full year into her life-changing relationship with Lisa Brown, Sam is hit with many life-challenging events. Her best friend, Susie Torres, struggles with alcohol addiction and a wrecked home life as her parents go through a bitter divorce, and Sam tries to help her friend keep her head above water. In another struggle, two friends cross the line between friendship and intimacy—a line that should not have been approached. Sam finds herself trying to make them see how incredibly egregious the transgressions are for all involved. And to top it all off, Sam's mother is diagnosed with a serious illness.

Through the love of her parents and her girlfriend, Sam navigates these challenges the best way she can, all while trying to fulfill everyone's varying expectations of her. Sam struggles to break free of the preconceived roles she seems to be bound by to figure out who she really is. It ultimately comes down to whether Sam can make everyone see that she is both a softball-playing ice-hockey-loving lesbian named Sam as well as a classically-music-trained debutante named Samantha Rose.

About Barbara L. Clanton

Barbara L. Clanton is a native New Yorker who left those “New York minutes” for the slower-paced palm-tree-filled life in Orlando, Florida. While still in school, she played any sport she could find: softball, volleyball, basketball, and field hockey. She could even be found in the upstairs gym playing team handball with her friends during high school. She played softball at Princeton and was the captain her senior year. She spent most of her adult years teaching mathematics at college preparatory schools and coaching softball and basketball in Florida and New York. She played softball well beyond the time anyone should have but has also picked up a new passion! “Dr. Barb” has played the bass guitar in various pop-rock bands in Central Florida. Her writing credits include the Clarksonville young adult series about four high school girls coming out as lesbians. She is also proud of her girls’ sports stories in the Bedazzled Ink’s Title IX series from their Dragonfeather Books imprint.