SO THE SUN’S GONNA BURN OUT FOR A FEW DAYS. BIG DEAL.
Sweet Pea Beverly has a lot more to worry about, like the fact that she’s almost fifteen and still doesn’t have that one true friend you’re supposed to have by now. (Idolizing her big brother Gus doesn’t count.)
Probably because she’s still living in the shadows of the infamous “Covered Wagon Day” that stole her childhood, wrecked her family and made her feel like she’s constantly half-crazy. Except when she’s around this one guy who makes it go away with his biceps and dumb jokes — if only he knew that.
As a solar phenomenon threatens to plunge the world into darkness — and her world deeper into chaos — a shocking secret is brought to light, making it harder and harder to walk the straight and narrow path she’s always stuck to. Can Sweet Pea find a ray of hope in the pitch-black free-for-all that’s quickly becoming her new normal?
“What a ride this story gives! … Burns with authentic feeling.”
“Both entertaining and endearing. … An enjoyable twist-and-turn journey.”
“Highly relatable characters added to my slight obsession with wanting to know how the story was going to end.”
“The ending will have you taking a deep sigh, leaning back, and believing all is right with the world.”
“This book is like a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day.”
“The fact that my 16-year-old son (who is on summer break, loves video games and playing hockey) finished this book is testament alone that this is a good read.”
“Speaks to younger readers on their level, while adults will pick up on deeper meanings and emotional undercurrents throughout.”
“There’s a lot packed into this story, and it’s woven together skillfully.”
“Grabs you and won’t let you go. … Builds this sense of unease and anticipation.”
“Takes the reader on a family journey that will be familiar to many, even though the circumstances surrounding it are fantastical.”
“Characters were lovable and hateable and human.”
Dustin M. Hess is an accomplished Brand Manager and Marketing Copywriter in the plotless, characterless world of industrial absorbents. He has written thousands of mundane product descriptions and sleepy corporate pitches to pay the bills, but Sweet Pea and the Three Days of Darkness is his first book. It earned critical acclaim from his teenage daughter, who sent him a detailed five-page analysis and a selfie of her crying at the ending.
Dustin lives with his family in Pennsylvania, where he enjoys hiking and biking on flat, easy rail trails with his wife, and riding more treacherous terrain without her. She has never gone over the handlebars and broken her ribs.
