Two years after the boy he loved disappeared during their trip to Joshua Tree, 17-year-old Kam returns to Joshua Tree to find closure but instead finds himself in danger of facing a similar fate, forcing him to reckon with the truth of his past relationship. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)

From Abdi Nazemian, the award-winning author of Like a Love Story and Only This Beautiful Moment, comes a suspenseful contemporary YA novel about loss and love.

Fifteen-year-old Kam is head over heels for Ash, the boy who swept him off his feet. But his family and best friend, Bodie, are worried. Something seems off about Ash. He also has a habit of disappearing, at times for days. When Ash asks Kam to join him on a trip to Joshua Tree, the two of them walk off into the sunset . . . but only Kam returns.

Two years later, Kam is still left with a hole in his heart and too many unanswered questions. So it feels like fate when a school trip takes him back to Joshua Tree. On the trip, Kam wants to find closure about what happened to Ash but instead finds himself in danger of facing a similar fate. In the desert, Kam must reckon with the truth of his past relationship—and the possibility of opening himself up to love once again.

Desert Echoes is a propulsive, moving story about human resilience and connection.

He went to the desert for closure, but what happens when the truth is more dangerous than not knowing?

• A Heart-Pounding Mystery: Kam was the last person to see Ash alive before he vanished in Joshua Tree. Two years later, a school trip back to the same desert puts Kam in danger of facing the same fate.
• Grief and First Love: A moving exploration of loving someone who is gone, reckoning with the truth of a complicated relationship, and finding the courage to open your heart again.
• Secrets and Lies: Something was always off about Ash, but Kam was too in love to see it. Now, he must confront the secrets Ash kept—and the ones in his own family.
• An Atmospheric Desert Setting: The stark, beautiful, and treacherous landscape of Joshua Tree becomes a character in itself, holding the key to Kam's past and his future.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Protagonist Kam and his best friend, Bodie, have been inseparable since they met in kindergarten. Now in high school, Bodie cheerfully declares they are gay-ass Iranians. Both boys are single—until freshman Kam meets senior Ash and falls head over heels for him, to the annoyance of Bodie, who finds Ash weird and pretentious. But Kam says, "I knew instantly that, like me, he wanted life to feel like poetry. That he longed for romance." The two launch a relationship as the narrative moves backward and forward in time, from Kam's freshman year to his junior year, when we learn that Ash has vanished into the Joshua Tree desert and has been missing for two years. Kam refuses to believe that he's truly gone, not even when Ash's older sister tells Kam the bitter truth, that Ash was a drug addict. This makes Kam even more determined to go on a trip with his Gay-Straight Alliance back to Joshua Tree, where he has a life-changing epiphany, realizing that if he and Ash had told each other their secrets, things might have turned out differently. Nazemian (Only This Beautiful Moment, 2023) has written a deeply felt and memorable love story between two highly empathic teens as well as a moving exploration of Kam and Bodie's enduring friendship. Both relationships ultimately invite reflection about the nature of love. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

A teen's grief over his boyfriend's disappearance becomes all-consuming in this poignant novel from Nazemian (Only This Beautiful Moment). Iranian American Kam Khorramian started dating artsy, white-cued senior Ash Greene during the pandemic, when Kam was 15. But while on a trip the pair took to Joshua Tree National Park, Ash disappeared. Two years later, Kam has been having trouble navigating mental health-related challenges, his grades have plummeted, and he clings to the belief that Ash might still be alive despite gentle pushes from his movie-star handsome best friend Bodie—also gay and Iranian American—for Kam to move on. When it's announced that the school's annual gay-straight alliance trip is planned for Joshua Tree, Bodie, Kam's mother, and the GSA adviser worry that the trip could be triggering for him. But Kam insists on going, hopeful that returning to the park will help him understand what happened. Dual timelines detail the looming Joshua Tree trip alongside flashbacks to Kam and Ash's blazing, rocky relationship, all of which culminates in a heartfelt story about a teen struggling to accept painful realities. Ages 14–up. Agent: John Cusick, Folio Literary. (Sept.)