Meet Me at the Creek

by Alexander M. Rigby

In a small town where silence feels safer than truth, two teen boys share a friendship charged with a magnetic attraction neither knows how to name. As shame and age shape who they are becoming, their bond asks an unspoken is it enough, or will it pull them apart forever?

Mark and Brett have been inseparable since they were five, running wildly along the meandering creek that cuts through their neighborhood in the Pennsylvania countryside. Their friendship is riddled with intense closeness and complication, a dynamic that is confusing to Mark and exhilarating to the seemingly older, more sure-of-himself Brett.

Together, they spend their high school years dealing with childhood bullies, overbearing siblings, and parents, whose own lives and struggles remain a mystery until the boys are old enough to understand them.

As teenagers, Mark struggles with his attraction to other boys, while Brett thrives in his heterosexuality, or so he claims. As high school nears its end, a reckoning bubbles to the surface—one that forces the boys to confront their true feelings for one another, or go their separate ways and leave the creek and the wooded pathways they know so well behind.

Genres: Young Adult, Gay, LGBT, Queer, Contemporary

352 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 1, 2027

Reviews

[Alexander Rigby]

Dear Reader,

As a gay man, I have read a great deal of queer fiction over the years. I often find the narratives that focus on queer boys to be overly dark and depressing, showcasing stories of abuse, homophobia, and self-doubt. With Meet Me at the Creek, I really wanted to write a gay millennial coming-of-age novel that would be more reflective of others’ lived experiences, where happiness, joy, and acceptance are woven into the difficulties and uncertainties we deal with when discovering our identities. Mark, the protagonist, certainly faces challenges as he grows up in rural Pennsylvania and comes to terms with his queerness, but he is surrounded by a loving, (mostly) supportive family that allows him to forge a strong sense of self-worth.

Like Mark, I grew up in rural northwest Pennsylvania in the late 1990s and early 2000s and regularly found myself escaping into the woods with my best friend. We ran across trails and played near the creek, but we also entertained ourselves on our family computers, the internet opening up our eyes to new possibilities beyond the reaches of our small town.

As a lifelong nature lover, bringing the Pennsylvania woods to life in this novel was incredibly important to me, with many of the most significant scenes between Mark and Brett taking place alongside Keystone Creek, which flows through their neighborhood. In so many ways, nature is queer, and I tried to lean into this idea by pairing the oddities of adolescence with a story that is told largely outside. I want this book to feel weird at times, because in my experience, weirdness often equates to realness. I never shied away from the grittiness of Mark’s coming of age, going through puberty, having his first gay experiences, and learning what kind of man he wants to become. I am immensely proud of this novel, and I truly believe many people will relate to it. I am so excited to share Mark’s story with you. I hope you enjoy it.

Alexander M. Rigby

[Colby]

MEET ME AT THE CREEK is a messy, honest, beautiful coming of-age story about being gay in a small conservative town, being in love with your childhood best friend, and forging your path in the world, no matter how hard the decisions may be. this book is going to help so many people, and i can't wait for it to land in the hands of those who need it.

[Daniel]

There's a pretty profound disconnect between the description of this book and what we actually get, in a way that leads to serious disappointment, at least for me. The book is billed as an almost-romance between the protagonist, Mark, and his seemingly straight best friend since early childhood, Brett. Both are given equal pride of place in the description, and we’re set up to watch their love story (or at least some kind of romance-adjacent storyline) unfold.

However, in execution, we get essentially a Bildungsroman or, less charitably, an autofictive memoir of sorts that traces Mark's growth from five years old to eighteen, with vignettes of Mark’s family, his struggles with his sexuality, his experiences at school and in his small town, and his pining over Brett, who ends up not well fleshed out and essentially serves as a side character until the dramatic end of the story. The book felt less like a novel and more like a private journal replete with scattered thoughts, disconnected episodes, and occasionally indulgent prose, and while the description sets us up to expect a plot, we don’t really get any kind of driving throughline or narrative motivation other than the passage of time.

Even as far as Bildungsromane go, some details and scenes, like the puppet scene, felt gratuitous or like they exist for shock value (or to remind the reader unnecessarily that teenage boys are gross). It actually stuns me that the book is being marketed as YA, with a lot of physical descriptions and even explicit sex scenes that seem inappropriate for a younger audience. For what it's worth, I am also baffled by the "mystery & thrillers" label for this book on Netgalley.

In addition, threads are occasionally laid down never to be picked up again, frustratingly. Mark ominously ponders losing his beloved babysitter Valerie, and yet she is happy and hale by the end. After Mark wins a wrestling scrimmage against Brett, Brett glares angrily at Mark and his wrestling mentor / crush Justin as if he’s jealous, but nothing ever explicitly comes of that jealousy, even when Mark and Brett are getting everything out into the open before they leave their hometown after graduation.

I really wanted to like this book, but I feel like I was set up for disappointment by the misleading description, and even once I shifted my mindset to evaluate what the book actually is rather than what I expected it to be, it was difficult to stay motivated to read and finish it without that sense of narrative movement carrying me along. The ending was captivating and heartbreaking, but it didn’t feel particularly earned.

[Alice Clark]

"Growing up is hard, no matter what."

I really loved the description and the cover. I was looking forward to getting to know this story. But unfortunately, my expectations and reality didn't match. This is more of Mark's coming-of-age story than a tender story of growing closer and falling in love. For some reason, the description gave me the impression that a poignant romantic story would unfold here, but in reality, I never established a connection with the main characters. I didn't connect with them emotionally, and honestly, at some point I stopped caring how their relationship would turn out. Also I really didn't like the ending. Although I'm sure that if you go into this book with the right expectations, the experience will be much better. But I'm still grateful that I was given the opportunity to meet Mark and Brett.

Thanks Netgalley, Random House and Alexander M.Rigby for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Karyta]

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!

I really wanted to like Meet Me at the Creek, but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. I did read the synopsis before requesting it, and honestly, that may have been part of the problem because it gave me a pretty different idea of what this book was going to be.

I expected Mark and Brett’s relationship to be a major part of the story, but instead this felt much more like Mark’s coming-of-age story, with Brett mostly on the sidelines. I kept waiting for their relationship to become the main focus, but I never really felt invested in them as a pair. Brett never felt developed enough for me to really understand him, and I just didn’t connect with the characters enough to stay invested in their story.

I also had a hard time with the writing style. There was a lot of telling rather than showing, and so much of the earlier part of the book felt like being given information about their childhood rather than actually getting to experience those years with them. Starting when they’re five and following them through high school felt like a lot, especially when so much of that time seemed to be spent giving us background information.

The whole “small town where silence feels safer than truth” aspect of the synopsis also didn’t really come across that way to me. There are some boys at school who are awful to Mark, but I never felt like the small-town/conservative setting created the level of conflict I was expecting from the description.

The one thing I really did enjoy was the 90s/00s nostalgia, since I grew up during the same era. All of those little references and details were easily my favorite part of the book and were the moments I enjoyed the most.

Ultimately, I think this was just a case of the story not matching what I was expecting from the description. I was looking forward to a book centered on Mark and Brett, but instead I got a long coming-of-age story mostly focused on Mark, and unfortunately I found his story pretty boring. On top of that, the writing style really didn’t work for me. There was so much telling rather than showing that the story often felt more like a summary of Mark’s life than something I was actually experiencing with him.

The nostalgia was great. The actual story just wasn’t for me.

⚠️ SPOILERS BELOW

I was especially surprised by Mark’s family situation. His parents are extremely religious and conservative, yet they are ultimately accepting of him being gay. His neighbor is also gay. So while there are definitely some kids at school who are homophobic toward him, I never really got the sense that Mark was living in the kind of environment where being gay was this huge secret or where the whole community was against him. That made the “small town where silence feels safer than truth” framing feel pretty exaggerated to me.

[Lyn]

I'd like to start off thanking NetGalley and Random House for the chance to read this early as an ARC for an honest review.

I'm trying to collect my thoughts about this one because I feel like what was used to describe this book was misleading and not at all what I expected. Reading the description felt like I was going to be heading into something of a romance novel and perhaps some coming of age moments. Instead, it was more of a journal type read and so very little about Brett, who I would have thought would have also been something of a main character.

We follow Mark through his life and only see his growth throughout the book. You could take Brett out of the book and it would have still read the same in my opinion considering nothing really happened between the two through out the book for me to even care about him. He was a side character and was only made to be a main part with Mark deciding that he'd grown tired of waiting for his best friend to understand he liked him. Honestly, I felt a little bad for Brett in the end and he wasn't a likeable or dislikeable character.

Warning, this next part has some spoiler type information and could maybe be something triggering for people, but I feel like it might make or break someone wanting to read it.
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With that being said, there was a few things in here that turned me off and often gave me the ick. First, there is talk of minors pleasing themselves, others (if I remember correctly the ages), and even the use of a ventriloquist dummy that was used in the acts of a boy getting off. Really feel like this borders a line that shouldn't be there, especially considering his age at the time would have been 13 to 14 if I'm not mistaken. Felt like this should have been aged up because of how much sexual content was there. Again, it was made very awkward due to most of it being done by adolescents.

It was not what I expected, not something I would have read if I'd known then what I know now, and while I did finish the book it is not something I'd ever pick up again. It was okay, but I do feel like it should come with a warning because of the underaged sex themes placed within the book.

[Roger Kentley]

This book is like if nostalgia, repression, sweat, and longing all got trapped in a humid Pennsylvania summer and just…never left. It’s dirt-under-your-fingernails, creek-water-in-your-shoes, butterflies-in-your-heart energy. You’re not reading it so much as wading through it, slowly realizing how intensely you’re feeling over two boys growing up together in the backwoods—and how deeply the book wants you to feel it.

Mark and Brett have that kind of friendship that feels normal until you realize it is so much more than just your average friendship. Every look lasts too long, every touch feels like it might combust, and the entire book hums with this quiet, unbearable tension like a thunderstorm that refuses to break. You keep thinking, “okay, something is going to happen,” and then instead it’s just more almosts, more silences, more moments that feel like they should mean everything but no one will say it out loud. This restraint is exactly what makes the book so powerful.

In the town of Sparrowbrook as Mark grows up and becomes a man, time stretches, years pass, bodies change, expectations close in, and the creek just sits there like this constant, knowing witness to everything the boys can’t articulate. There’s wrestling, there’s masculinity, there’s that specific small-town pressure that makes you want to both disappear and be seen so badly it physically hurts. This story understands how to mine that ache on a really profound level that I thought worked super well.

And the whole time the book is basically whispering: what if this doesn’t resolve cleanly between Mark and Brett? What if their love isn’t loud or triumphant but quiet and missed and buried under the layers of who they're supposed to be?

Meet Me at the Creek will leave you feeling like you almost understood something important and then lost it again—like you were trying to hold onto water, or a memory, or a version of yourself that never quite got to exist. The book is fantastic. It may be an acquired taste, as I do think people may either love or hate this book, but I found it to be so wonderful and alive, and I will be recommending it especially to every queer man and young man I know.

[Eduardo Martinez]

This book had me in shambles in the best way possible, and as I read, I kept thinking "If only this book existed and I could have read it when I was a queer kid." It is so real and relatable that I think many queer teens will see themselves in Mark and understand all of the complicated emotions he has to deal with as he comes to terms with his sexuality.

The utter authenticity of the story, the voice, the emotions, the characters, the settings. Everything was believable and compelling. The novel takes the reader from 1995 all the way to 2008 which I really enjoyed, as we got to see best friends Mark and Brett grow up together and their relationship change and develop over time.

The novel does not shy away from VERY REAL things like how it feels to be a young boy going through puberty and dealing with all of the strange things that happen to your body as you become a teenager, and then a man. It covers taboo topics like ejaculating for the first time, watching online porn, and Mark's first sexual experiences. This was so refreshing to see on the page in a novel for young adults, because these things are real and young teens are dealing with this same kind of stuff in real life! Bravo to Rigby and his publisher for not dumbing this stuff down or cutting it. I'm sure politicians in Florida will try to ban this book if they can, but that's only because it will help affirm teens who are questioning their sexuality and what it's like to be going through the chaos of teenagehood.

The setting of Pennsylvania in the 90s/00s and all the nostalgia was so fun, with so many pop culture anecdotes. I also loved the scenery and the way Rigby writes about nature. The ending was bittersweet and not what I expected at all, but it also felt right for Mark's journey across the entire novel. I cried! I really loved this book and am going to be recommending it to all my queer friends, especially millennials who grew up and came out during this time period. I feel very lucky that I got to read it early.

[Gabrielle]

This is a very honest coming of age novel and like growing up really is, it was sometimes a little gross and weird. Being honest, there were a couple moments where if this wasn’t an ARC, I would have DNFed (I will never look at a ventriloquist puppet the same ever again, iykyk). But I’m really glad I saw it through because it ended up being a really sweet and meaningful story. I was crying at the end! I think this story would be really powerful and validating for a queer person, especially a millennial, who grew up in a conservative area.

My birth year is really close the main character’s and I loved how this book was a treasure trove of early 2000s references. Lemony Snicket! Tegan and Sarah! She’s the Man! AOL! I loved the nostalgia!

Another big highlight for me was Mark’s relationship with his mom and siblings. Mark overall was such a sweetie. He loved his mom and siblings and would always be there for his family. It was so cute how they would have “kids night” and hang out with her. When drama went down in the parents relationship, the kids were so fiercely loyal to her and I understand why. His mom’s character growth throughout the book was amazing to see. She went from someone who judged the neighbor for being gay to accepting her own son (and I think she was the one who helped his dad accept it too.)

Now I need to talk about Brett. He is a complicated character and I found myself getting mad at him so many times. However, I do think he is an honest portrayal of how a boy might act in that situation where he knows admitting his sexuality even to himself would cause a lot of issues for him. This is a character who many people might see themselves in if they struggled with their sexuality.

[Sal Randall]

I didn’t just read Meet Me at the Creek, I kind of lived in it.

What stayed with me most is how real it feels. It’s raw and honest without trying too hard, and being inside Mark’s head is the whole draw. I was completely pulled into how he thinks and feels. As a queer man who grew up in a small town in the late 90s and early 2000s, I saw so much of myself in him, which doesnt happen that often.

At times it reads like a memoir, but one that feels alive. The scenes are vivid and grounded in nature. You can almost hear the creek running in the background the whole time, which I loved.

Even though it’s Mark’s story, the heart of the book is his relationship with Brett. That friendship, and everything tangled up in it, carries the entire novel. It’s messy and confusing and intense in a way that feels very true, sometimes uncomforable in a good way. I also loved the world around them. Mark’s family is complicated in a way that adds real weight, and characters like Valerie and Kermie feel fully lived in. They stick with you after.

The nostalgia is fun too, but it never feels gimmicky. It just makes the setting feel specific and real. Honestly, I could see this as a really great limited series, like easily. The writing is simple but evocative, and it lets the emotions land. I laughed, I cringed, I got a little grossed out, and I cried. More than anything, I felt like I was right there with Mark the whole time.

This book feels different. I think people will either love it or not connect with it at all.
I loved it. I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time, esppecially the image of the boys together, running wildly alongside the babbling creek.

[Cayden Thompson]

**4.75 Stars**

First, I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Mark Anderson and Brett Allen became best friends at the young age of 5 in conservative Pennsylvania. As they grow older and face the ugly truths of love, sexuality, friendship, and society, their relationship grows and changes in ways they never would've guessed. This book will change your view on young queer love in small town America.
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This book was beautiful and really expanded mu nuance for the LGBTQ+ community. I feel like the author did such an amazing job writing the nuances of being a teenager. When we're hurt, we hurt others. We're hyperconcious of ourselves and how others perceive us. He also do a wonderful job writing the painful dynamic of loving someone who is discovering their identity and sexuality while struggling with your own.
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When I first started this book, I did not expect me, a straight guy, to be crying over a fictional gay couple, but I have a big heart, and that's exactly what happened. This is Alexander Rigby's debut novel, and I just know this is going to be a bestseller. He perfectly wrote, 'right person wrong time'. Be forewarned that this book can be very painful and takes a mature mind to read and love. I hope this book finds someone who is maybe going through or has been through a similar situation. I might have been able to do without the comments about Brett's brother Eric, but other than that, amazing book.

[Fran Phillips]

Thank you to Knopf for offering me a chance to read this novel early on NetGalley.

Meet Me at the Creek is a deeply relatable, raw, and beautifully honest queer coming-of-age story. Alexander M. Rigby captures the confusion, intensity, and vulnerability of growing up queer with such authenticity that I think so many queer teenagers will see themselves in Mark’s journey.

Mark and Brett are wonderfully complicated and lovable characters, and their friendship feels incredibly real in all its closeness, tension, and uncertainty. I especially loved Valerie and Kermie, Mark’s nanny and neighbor, who become a beautiful example of found family. The novel is filled with memorable supporting characters who make the world feel lived-in and genuine.

The descriptions of nature, particularly the woods surrounding the creek, were gorgeous. The creek feels like more than a setting—it becomes a place of escape and discovery for the boys.

Tender, nostalgic, messy, and heartfelt, Meet Me at the Creek is the kind of queer coming-of-age story readers will carry with them for years to come. I loved spending time with Mark and Brett and can’t wait to see what Alexander M. Rigby writes next.

[Steph1216]

This is a coming of age novel that centers around Mark and Brett, childhood friends that meet at the age of five and experience everything adolescence brings. The two stay close in their younger years and early teens, even as Brett seems to mature at a faster rate than Mark. Mark notices the changes and wishes and prays he becomes what Brett is; athletic, masculine and admired. As the two enter high school, they drift, with Mark often the target of homophobic slurs as he’s perceived as different than the other boys. It takes time for Mark to admit his feelings to himself- he’s attracted to men, including Brett. As he grapples with his attraction he also experiences how he physically changes, his questions surrounding faith and his family dynamics. This is a very real, authentic work of fiction that feels like you’re reading a memoir. All of the feelings many experience in their youth, dealing with constant change within and around yourself, are written in a relatable way throughout. I received an ARC copy of this book and am leaving a review voluntarily.

[Anders Solberg]

Meet Me at the Creek just felt different to me. It’s messy and kind of weird and not always easy to sit with, but that’s what makes it work. It feels real in a way a lot of queer coming of age books don’t. The characters are a little rough around the edges, the relationships are confusing, and nothing really gets cleaned up for you or dumbed-down like a lot of young adult novels.

I also loved the nostalgia. It really puts you in that time and place, and you get so deep into Mark’s head that I think men and boys especially will relate to it more. Brett is also a fascinating character and the relationship between the two is very well developed. I liked how gritty and honest it was. Not perfect at all, but I loved it and it stuck with me. Definitely one of the more unique ones I’ve read.

[Carson Kenbeck]

Meet Me at the Creek is an amazing young adult novel. It's real, gritty, deeply nostalgic, heartwarming, and ultimately tear-inducing. Rigby writes with such urgency, bringing the late ’90s and early 2000s vividly to life while exploring queer identity, friendship, love, and growing up in a world that wasn’t always kind to young gay boys. I especially think this book will resonate with young queer boys, as well as gay millennial men who grew up during that era. The characters are complicated and messy, but so many of them are incredibly lovable—especially Mark and Brett, and I loved Mark's nanny, Valerie too. A beautiful, emotional coming-of-age story that I know will stay with me.

[✨ Brianna Raquel ✨]

I really thought I was going to like this book based on the description, but it was a letdown. It promises a deep dive into the complex dynamic between Mark and Brett, but the actual book delivers a one-sided story. I went in expecting to see both boys and their relationship develop, but instead, it just Mark. It’s hard to get invested in their bond when you're stuck in one character's head. Brett could've been taken out of the book completely at that point.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Carlyn Morenus]

I rarely abandon a book without completing it, but this one just fell completely flat for me. It read like a self-published memoir, with excruciating details about minutiae and very little plot or action. I was very much interested in reading this based on the description, but it just didn't take wing.