A Sun Drenched Elsewhere

Yura's total existence has had a rough start. His mother's breakdown, his brother's chronic illness and his father's physical abuse have turned his 24/7 into a quest for healing on every level imaginable – mental, emotional, spiritual.

But where will the healing come from? Choi Jeans, the tattooed CrossFit Goth who believes his destiny lies in the zodiac? Zoryana, the six-two goddess and jazz dancer who thinks her love and a condo in Europe should do the trick? Or what about his Uncle Nazar, who detests assimilation, and crams Yura's Eastern European bloodlines into him over beer, homemade dill pickles and Russian Orthodox icons?

Miraculously, it all begins to come together with Zoryana. Until a family secret and a revolution in the streets of Kiev threaten to break Yura's beautiful new world into bright shiny pieces and make life more impossible than it has ever been before.

Or, depending on the constellations and the summer equinox and an offbeat eternal point of view, offer more of life, love, romance and a star-spangled universe than he's ever dreamed possible.