Calling Me Home

by Laurin Becker Macios

A beautifully crafted YA novel in verse that follows a 17-year-old girl's backpacking trip across Europe—filled with awe, danger, friendships, and something like love.

Jenny Campbell, recent high school graduate, has spent her unrooted childhood planning for a future she can control: NYU, marketing major, big-city life. But first, a carefully mapped solo backpacking trip through Europe.

Only, the trip doesn’t stay on the map. As she travels between countries and memories, Jenny begins to loosen her grip on the life she’s scripted. She works at a bookshop in Greece, treks through the Balkans on overnight trains, falls in something-like-love in Rome.

At summer’s end, Jenny returns to the States ready to launch her New York City future. And then, she learns she’s pregnant. Choosing to end her pregnancy, Jenny tries to keep her plans—but finds she may no longer be the person meant to live them.

Calling Me Home is part classic travel bildungsroman (you can almost taste the ouzo in Greece and feel the wind of Ireland) and part meditation on how abortion is just one piece of a person's story.

Genres: Young Adult, Poetry, Fiction, Mental Health, Contemporary, Audiobook, LGBT

208 pages, Hardcover

Published May 19, 2026

About the author

Laurin Becker Macios is the author of Calling Me Home, a Young Adult verse novel forthcoming from Holiday House in 2026; Somewhere to Go, winner of the 19th annual poetry award from Elixir Press; and I Almost Was Animal, winner of the 2018 Writer’s Relief WaterSedge Poetry Chapbook Contest. Her work has appeared in Gulf Stream Magazine, [PANK], and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in The Ekphrastic Review. The former Executive Director of Mass Poetry and former Program Director of the Poetry Society of America, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of New Hampshire, where she taught on fellowship. She lives in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny is fresh out of high school and off to Europe for the summer. It's not her first time in Europe, but it is her first time traveling alone, on her own terms, on her own schedule. It's not quite what she expected...and then she changes the parameters, and the parameters change themselves, and suddenly her expectations of her future change.

I had nowhere else to go, just a goal / of communing with the caryatids, of letting / my eyes wander among the milk-white stones / that dotted the wild grass—lime-green, overgrown, / sun-yellow blooms holding their own against / the Mediterranean breeze. (53*)

Verse made this a very quick read—I probably should have spread it out over two days, but I was invested enough to read straight through. Jenny is a compelling character, and seeing her grow is great. Initially she thinks her summer story is going to be defined by going off plan and doing her backpacking with a little more spontaneity than she'd expected, but eventually she has much bigger decisions to make and bigger shifts in her understanding of herself.

Perhaps my favorite thing: There's quite a lot of backstory (Jenny's nomadic childhood, previous relationships), but it's slipped in quietly; although any of those things could be a story in themselves, here they're used to flesh out the story and make more sense of Jenny's actions and reactions.

I hope this one makes it into a lot of high school libraries.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher for promotional purposes.

This was an emotional novel in verse!

I always enjoy novels in verse because poetry is inherently so deep and says a lot while saying very little.

The best part of the book was its portrayal of Jenny’s experiences. Her travels across Europe were well documented and beautifully described. Abortion is a large part of the story and I loved how it was presented in a realistic and humanizing way. I liked the emphasis on Jenny’s emotions afterwards. I also enjoyed the portrayal of Jenny’s queerness. It was a part of the story, but didn’t try to be a competing storyline. Sometimes stories try to shoehorn too many ideas into the plot, so I’m glad this one did not do that.

However, the book didn’t quite hit all the way for me which is why I settled on 4 stars. I felt like something was missing but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps the ending could have been fleshed out more. The book is only around 200 pages so it could have been expanded easily.

Overall, this book did an amazing job capturing the complex feelings of a 17 year old girl. If you enjoy novels in verse, be sure to check this one out!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a novel written in verse and this one was so well done. I really enjoyed reading about all the different places Jenny travels as she backpacks through Europe.

This book does tackle some heavier topics like mental health and abortion. I think the author does a great job. This section as our mc arrives at the clinic kind of stuck with me.

"It would be a lie to say
it was easy to walk by them,
their words like lead.
the truth I felt
in what they said.
But I felt my own truth,
too, one not negating
the other.
Inside I cradled
those truths in my arms,
neither simple, neither right
but one feeling more
like it belonged."

We really see Jenny's emotions and thoughts. How choices and experiences can change you and change what you once wanted. And that it's okay to change your plans as you grow.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick a punch packed into a short verse novel. A girl spending a summer traveling abroad, experiencing culture, food, but also fear as she's cornered more times than she'd like as a vulnerable girl traveling alone. But that doesn't stop her from extending the trip briefly and ending up, upon her return to the United States to start college, realizing she is pregnant by a boy she met.

The story features an abortion, a topic not often discussed in much detail in YA literature, with a specific focus on the fact that her mother goes with her and supports her decision. While it does happen, it does leave her rudderless in college while she has to figure out how to carry on after the international travel and abortion.

It moves through the story in a methodical way for being so short that provides a reflection for any reader on the characters experiences.

[Neha Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calling Me Home by Laurin Becker Macios is a heartfelt and emotional story about family, belonging, and the connections that shape our lives. The author does a wonderful job of creating relatable characters whose struggles and triumphs feel genuine and meaningful.

What stood out most to me was the book's focus on finding where you truly belong. The relationships were thoughtfully developed, and the emotional moments felt authentic rather than forced. While the story moves at a gentle pace, it gives readers time to connect with the characters and become invested in their journeys.

This is not a book filled with constant action or dramatic twists, but rather a touching and reflective read that explores love, loss, and the importance of home in all its forms. If you enjoy character-driven stories with plenty of heart, Calling Me Home is well worth picking up.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenny takes off to Europe for her post-high school graduation solo trip of a lifetime. She spends time in many places, including Italy and Greece, but falls in love with a boy from Ireland. Past events are woven in with present day seamlessly, as she navigates sexual assault, harrassment and an unwanted pregnancy resulting in an abortion. At first glance, this story in verse is a quick read, something that draws a lot of people to these types of books, but readers who go slow and absorb the writing will get more out of it than those who fly through. Although it is set in 2007-2008, it could easily be set in 2026. 3.5 stars

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important, moving and achingly tender YA novel in verse that follows one high school grad's solo backpacking trek across Europe the summer before she starts college in NYC only to find herself dealing with an accidental pregnancy and later abortion. I loved all the travel descriptions in this book - they made me want to get on a plane straight away. The portrayal of sexual assault, abortion and depression is sensitively written and an urgent call for why young women need access to safe abortions in America - not something everyone in the States has. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful writing, but I think the language got in the way of the story. Jenny's time in Europe after high school graduation, her return to the States to find out she's pregnant, and the decisions she makes are going to be hard for some readers to follow-- her story moves along more as a collection of impressions than as a chronological flow. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it's evident that the author's background is poetry for adults.
Also-- there's a certain amount of entitlement in where Jenny ends up. Jenny's journey would have been much more compelling if it had gone beyond surface-level impressions with more reflection on family background.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This YA novel in verse contains mature subject matter, but it is not graphic and is mostly eluded to in the story. It makes me wish I had taken a gap year and backpacked across Europe in my younger days.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reminder that this choice is ALWAYS a difficult one.

[Rachel Donnald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite YA novel ever !!!

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this NIV, Jenny travels to Europe before starting at NYU. She meets Colin and they travel together. When she gets back to NY she finds out she’s pregnant. What happens?