Overview

“The queer young adult story that I’ve been desperately craving for years!” —Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, New York Times bestselling author of Ace of Spades and Where Sleeping Girls Lie

In this YA contemporary fantasy, the teen son of the local mortician accidentally reanimates the dead body of the boy he had more than friendly feelings for, but can he keep him alive for good before their time runs out? Perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys and The Taking of Jake Livingston !

When you grow up in a funeral home, death is just another part of life. But for sixteen-year-old Jaxon Santiago-Noble, it’s also part of his family’s legacy. Most dead bodies in the town of Jacob’s Barrow wind up at Jaxon’s house; his mom is the local mortician, after all. He doesn’t usually pay them much mind, but when Christian Reyes is brought in after a car accident, Jaxon’s world is turned upside down.

There are a lot of things Jaxon wishes he could have said to his once best friend and first crush. When he accidentally resurrects Christian, Jaxon might finally have that chance. But the more he learns about his newfound necromancy, the more he grasps that Christian’s running on borrowed time—and it's almost out.

As he navigates dark, mysterious magics and family secrets, Jaxon realizes that stepping into an inherited power may also mean opening up old family wounds if he wants to keep the boy he may be falling for alive for good.

“ Till The Last Beat of My Heart is the queer young adult story that I’ve been desperately craving for years!” — Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, New York Times bestselling author of Ace of Spades and Where Sleeping Girls Lie

“A beautiful necromantic love story—with heartfelt emphasis on the romantic!” — Erik J. Brown, USA Today bestselling author of All That’s Left in the World and The Only Light Left Burning

“Seamlessly combining a wholly distinct voice with a magic system as familiar as coming home, Bou-Montes breathes new life into the contemporary fantasy genre. I was obsessed before I finished the first page.” — H.E. Edgmon, author of Godly Heathens and The Witch King

“Electric enough to rouse the dead. Full of humor, heart, and horror, Bou-Montes establishes herself as one to watch for with this spellbinding debut.” — Skyla Arndt, author of Together We Rot

“Equal parts spine-tingling and heartrending, I was completely drawn in by the fantastic premise and the chilling twists!” — Linda Cheng, author of Gorgeous Gruesome Faces

"This emotional and heart-poundingly suspenseful debut intertwines romance with supernatural horror. A nuanced romantic thriller." — Kirkus Reviews

Louangie Bou-Montes was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, and grew up flitting back and forth between rural Western Mass and el campo in Guayama, Puerto Rico, surrounded by countless cousins in both locations. Thanks to those cousins, she was raised on a healthy diet of everything from The Addams Family to Silent Hill to Pet Sematary , resulting in a love of telling stories about Puerto Rican kids with morbid hobbies and senses of humor. After graduating with a BA in English from UMass Amherst, she spent nearly a decade working as a high school educator, mostly focused in special education, trauma-informed teaching, and ELL. On any given day, you can find Louangie at home playing video games or watching cooking shows and horror movies with her spouse.