In this book the main characters are Ada, an almost 16-year-old graffiti artist and daycare center worker living with her mother and grandmother in West Berlin, and her love, Stefan, who lives with his grandmother, studies engineering (a path chosen for him by the state), and gazes at the stars in East Berlin. (Unfortunately another ARC I was reading stalled me and this book actually came out in April, before I was able to read it.)I'm a sucker for the kinds of people Kephart writes about in Going Over-artistic, creative types, sometimes on the fringes, who face challenges, but who have close if not perfect ties to a small group of family and friends. I love Berlin, and I am a bit of a romantic at times, so when I learned about this book and saw that I might be able to get an ARC, I jumped at the chance. I received a review copy of Going Over from the publisher. Captures the beauty and desperation of 1980s Berlin with prose both gripping and graceful.” -Ruta Sepetys, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of I Must Betray You Read more “An unforgettable portrayal of life and love divided . . . “Ada and Stefan are representative of the families, friends, and lovers separated and destroyed by the wall their grandmothers serve as poignant reminders of the toll WWII took on the European population.” - Booklist (starred review) “An excellent example of historical fiction focusing on an unusual time period.” - School Library Journal (starred review) But will Stefan find the courage to leap? Or will forces beyond his control stand in his way?

Bound by love and separated by circumstance, their only chance for a life together lies in a high-risk escape. Stefan lives in East Berlin, in a faceless apartment bunker in Friedrichshain, where the population lives under the watchful eye of the secret police. Graffiti artist Ada lives among the rebels, punkers, and immigrants of Kreuzberg in West Berlin. But the city isn't the only thing that is divided. It is February 1983, and Berlin is a divided city with a miles-long barricade separating east from west. Teenagers in love are separated by the Berlin Wall in this “compelling gripping” novel by the National Book Award finalist ( Kirkus Reviews).

Going over by beth kephart