Hometown - Martinette Williams

When fourteen-year-old Lainey meets nineteen-year-old Jannes in their quiet hometown at the top of New Zealand, she isn't expecting anything more than a new friendship. But Jannes, who is on the cusp of leaving, awakens something in Lainey she can't name, or forget about. Told across fourteen years, Hometown traces the tender, complicated connection between two people as they drift apart and find their way back to each other. Through missed chances, unspoken feelings, and the quiet intimacy of shared moments, Lainey and Jannes circle one another as they grow into adulthood, each shaping lives that never quite leave room for what might have been. Bittersweet and emotionally resonant, Hometown is a slow-burn love story about self-discovery and the pull of a person who has always felt like home.