What Daybreak Gives Us

What Daybreak Gives Us is a young adult coming of age queer romance novel that explores letting go of lost childhood and accepting yourself for who you are - all through the life of nineteen-year-old thief Arlo Chester and the loss and love that he experiences whilst trying to get by.


Arlo Chester had never had it easy. The village was small enough that he hadn't ever had a life outside of this. Being nineteen and a full-time thief, breadwinner, and carer for his bedridden mother wasn’t easy, but he got on with it just as he had for the last seven years since his father’s death.

Or, he did, until his life became intertwined with that of a young man who owned a fruit shop that Arlo frequently stole from. There was just something about Finn Baker, something that he couldn’t place. And he didn’t have the time to place it anyway, not with so much going on.

But Arlo can’t ignore his feelings for very long when Finn becomes directly involved in the backstreet happenings of Arlo’s life. Between secrets from his childhood, long-held grudges, an internal battle about his sexuality, and trying to source where his next meal will come from, there’s far too much for him to deal with alone.

In an attempt to learn how to let go of the childhood that he never got, Arlo navigates loss, love, and life through the circumstances of his upbringing. And through it all, whether or not he makes time for the young man stealing his heart is up to him. A lot of things are, at the end of the day.


Releases in Paperback and on Kindle July 1st 2024


Available to Pre-Order on Kindle


Contains explicit language and mature themes of extreme violence, death, drug and alcohol references, homophobia, misuse of alcohol, self-harm, sexism, and sexual themes.

Recommended for readers aged 14+