"Teddy Knight's band has just broken up in spectacular fashion after his longtime bandmate and-he'd thought-closest friend decides to go solo. So when he's offered a last-minute gig to fill in as an artist-in-residence at a summer arts camp-which comes with a lake cabin and lots of free time to work on a revenge album-he takes it. No matter that he knows nothing about nature, dislikes kids, and is generally a grump. Gretchen Miller is having a mid-life crisis. Luckily, her summer job as the dance teacher at Wild Arts summer camp will allow her to drop out of society for a while. Having sworn off dating, she decides she'll go into the woods and become a crone. She might skip the "luring innocent children to their death" part of cronedom, but she's all for the "curse men" aspect. Teddy and Gretchen clash from the get-go when he mistakes her for a fan, and she relegates him to the "entitled jerk" ash heap. Despite their determination to dislike each other, a wary friendship blooms as the magic of the woods starts to unwind them, and they spend long hours by the campfire talking about art, being stuck, and the idea of starting over. But woods are often filled with monsters, and Teddy and Gretchen will have to face their fears if they want to start over together"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes discussion questions.