School is out for the summer, but not for eighteen-year-old Michael and seventeen-year-old Shelly. The pair of them meet while serving court-ordered community service, and both are driven by secrets and lies. Only Michael's family members know he lives in his car and he wants to keep it that way; he's worried his mother's hoarding could cause his sister to end up in foster care. Shelly soon discovers Michael's living arrangement, but she protects his secret and doesn't judge him. Michael chooses to defy his mother's wishes to leave the past alone and goes digging for information on his father's identity, and Michael learns much more than what he bargained for. In this Coming of Age novel, Michael and Shelly discover a shared passion for Pablo Neruda's poetry and gradually become more than friends.
Breakfast With Neruda was a finalist in the 2018 Washington Book Awards.