The Distance from Me to You

**Praise for *The Distance from Me to You

"A wilderness adventure dashed with romance and danger . . . readers should find it easy to relate to McKenna’s desire to take risks, prove her independence, and finish the trail at all costs."--Publishers Weekly*

 "Gessner writes vividly of the trail and hiking . . . She brings McKenna and Sam to life as well-rounded characters, gradually building their relationship to a satisfying and realistic level. The star of the show here, however, is the Appalachian Trail and the adventures the teens experience on it.
Good romance, great wilderness."--***Kirkus Reviews

• "Readers will enjoy the compelling, well-paced depiction of the adventure and lore of the AT, and they will be glad to find such a tough-minded, capable heroine in a realistic novel."*--BCCB

" A great add to YA collections, especially for those with a taste for the outdoors."--SLJ

"[Gessner] has created a romance and adventure tale in one."--VOYA

"This story combines adventure and romance in a great read, especially for anyone with an interest in hiking. Readers will enjoy this page-turner.."--School Library Connection*

Auteur
Marina Gessner (www.ninadegramont.com) is the pen name of Nina de Gramont. Nina is a writer, teacher, and mom, not necessarily in that order. Her work has appeared in Redbook, Harvard Review, Nerve, and Seventeen. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and daughter. Follow her on Twitter: @NinadeGramont

Texte du rabat

Wild meets Endless Love in this multilayered story of love, survival, and self-discovery

McKenna Berney is a lucky girl. She has a loving family and has been accepted to college for the fall. But McKenna has a different goal in mind: much to the chagrin of her parents, she defers her college acceptance to hike the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia with her best friend. And when her friend backs out, McKenna is determined to go through with the dangerous trip on her own. While on the Trail, she meets Sam. Having skipped out on an abusive dad and quit school, Sam has found a brief respite on the Trail, where everyone's a drifter, at least temporarily.

Despite lives headed in opposite directions, McKenna and Sam fall in love on an emotionally charged journey of dizzying highs and devastating lows. When their punch-drunk love leads them off the trail, McKenna has to persevere in a way she never thought possible to beat the odds or risk both their lives.

Résumé
Wild meets Endless Love in this multilayered story of love, survival, and self-discovery

McKenna Berney is a lucky girl. She has a loving family and has been accepted to college for the fall. But McKenna has a different goal in mind: much to the chagrin of her parents, she defers her college acceptance to hike the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia with her best friend. And when her friend backs out, McKenna is determined to go through with the dangerous trip on her own. While on the Trail, she meets Sam. Having skipped out on an abusive dad and quit school, Sam has found a brief respite on the Trail, where everyone’s a drifter, at least temporarily.

Despite lives headed in opposite directions, McKenna and Sam fall in love on an emotionally charged journey of dizzying highs and devastating lows. When their punch-drunk love leads them off the trail, McKenna has to persevere in a way she never thought possible to beat the odds or risk both their lives.

Échantillon de lecture
This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected proof

Copyright  © 2015 Marina Gessner

McKenna couldn’t believe it. Maybe her ears were malfunctioning. Or her brain was playing tricks on her. Either option—deafness or  insanity—seemed better  than  believing the words coming out of her best friend’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Courtney said. She started to cry and put her head down on the table.

McKenna knew this was the moment to reach over and pat Courtney’s head, say something comforting. But she couldn’t. Not yet. Because not only was Courtney getting back together with Jay, she was also backing out of their trip.

McKenna and  Courtney  had  been planning this trip for over a year—a two-thousand-mile hike down the Appalachian Trail—and they were supposed to leave in less than  a week. They’d deferred their college acceptances. They’d spent their life savings on camping gear and trail guides—McKenna had, anyway; Courtney’s father had footed the bill for hers. Hardest of all, they’d talked their parents into agreeing to the plan: two girls hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, from Maine to Georgia.

And now Courtney was changing her mind. For the lamest possible reason: a guy. And not just any guy, but a guy they’d spent the last four months ripping to shreds. Honestly, Mc- Kenna was so sick of talking about him, she could barely get his name out.

All around  them,  the Whitworth  College Student  Union buzzed with conversations and clanking silverware. McKenna’s parents were both professors here, and she had been eating lunch in this cafeteria since before she could remember, the surrounding tables as familiar as her own living room. It was a bright day in early June, sunlight pouring in through  the atrium windows, and McKenna knew that Courtney must feel the same urge she did, to get away from the places they’d seen a million times, to go out in the world and live under that sun. “But Courtney,” McKenna said, keeping both hands firmly

in her lap. “Jay?”

“I know,” Courtney mumbled, her face still buried in her arms.

This trip, this plan, had been McKenna’s dream for as long as she could remember. And now, so close to when they should have been leaving, Courtney  was bringing the  whole thing crashing down.

“Courtney,”  McKenna said again. Even if it  weren’t for the hike, this would be terrible news. She couldn’t stand the thought of Jay breaking her friend’s heart. Again.

“Don’t say it,” Courtney said, finally sitting up. “I know, I

know all of it. And I forgive him. I love him, McKenna.”

What could McKenna say to that?

“I’m sorry,” Courtney said again, her voice calmer after the declaration of love. “I know how much you wanted to do this.”

“I thought you wanted to do it, too.”

“I do. I mean I did. But it’s just too long to be away from him right now. You know?”

McKenna didn’t know, not at all. Even with her eyes red and her face puffy, Courtney looked beautiful. She was the last person who needed to change her life for a guy, let alone Jay. Courtney had shiny blond hair that McKenna—being the only brunette  in her family—envied. Both girls were on the track team, but Courtney was the star, running the mile in under six minutes. Both girls took riding lessons, but Courtney was the one who usually won ribbons when they showed. Most import- ant, Courtney was a loyal friend. In other words, she was worth a thousand Jays, ten thousand Jays, a million.

“Courtney,” McKenna said, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Jay will still be here when we get back. You can text or call him from the trail, send him postcards. It’s only a few months.”

“Not a few. Five months, maybe even six. Things are frag- ile right now, McKenna, we’re only just back together. I can’t march off into the woods and leave him. Not right now.” She sounded like she’d practiced …