10% off all books and free delivery over £50
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

This Is Me Trying

"This honest, authentic, thought-provoking YA page-turner tackles weighty issues around consent and co-dependency with enormous empathy."

View All Editions (1)

£9.99 £8.99

This title will be released on 17/07/2025. Pre-order now.

Add To Wishlist
Write A Review Read An Extract

LoveReading4Kids Says

LoveReading4Kids Says

July 2025 Book of the Month

Previously published as Can I Stray, Jenna Adams’ This is Me Trying packs an immensely thought-provoking punch as it explores big issues around consent, the age of consent, what it means to make informed sexual choices, and the emotional imbalance of age gaps. In fact, a second reading revealed exactly why this was a LoveReading Debut of the Month, and much-deserving of Star Book status — it’s powerfully authentic, honest and nuanced, inviting consideration of questions around culpability and the impact of co-dependency across a page-turning tale of first love, first sex, and coming-of-age through low self-esteem, depression and self-harm to find one’s place in the world.  

Told in three acts, across three periods, the stage is set on the literal stage of a school production of Romeo and Juliet, when 14-year-old Brooke and 18-year-old Matt are cast in the lead roles. Naïve, hopelessly romantic and emotionally immature (she is, after all, only 14), Brooke falls for Matt big time, and though he initially cools things down, they wind up having a secret relationship, and sex.   

While they try to maintain their relationship when Matt moves away to uni, an excruciating sequence of events spirals out of control, until — with support from good people — Brooke finds a healing way through past traumas.

Balancing hard-hitting impact with emotional sensitivity — a tightrope that’s no easy feat to tread — This is Me Trying is a tremendously powerful novel.

Joanne Owen

Books of the Month
Debuts of the Month
Star Books

Find This Book In

Suitable For:
Other Genres:
Recommendations:

About

Author

You Might Also Like...

YA readers

We Were Liars

E. Lockhart

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

YA readers

While We're Young

K.L Walther

Paperback

In Stock

£8.99 £9.99

YA readers

Homebody

Theo Parish

Paperback

In Stock

£13.49 £14.99

YA readers

Darkhearts

James L. Sutter

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

YA readers

You're the One that I Want

Simon James Green

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

YA readers

The Outrage

William Hussey

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99