Overview

Sunset Year

Will and Magnolia meet by chance at a quiet riverside park, each seeking solitude during one of the hardest seasons of their lives. Will is a college hockey player recovering from injury, family rejection, and severe depression. Magnolia is a music student grieving the sudden loss of her sister.

Drawn together by shared sunsets and unspoken understanding, the two form a gentle, life-saving friendship. Over the course of a single autumn week, they begin meeting regularly—talking, listening, and slowly learning how to carry their pain without being crushed by it.

As trust deepens, both must confront questions of identity, belonging, and whether healing is possible after profound loss. Their bond becomes a quiet anchor in a world that feels unstable and unforgiving.

Sunset Year is an intimate, queer coming-of-age novella about grief, mental health, chosen family, and the small moments that make survival meaningful.

Genre: LGBTQ+ Literary / Contemporary / Coming-of-Age
Tone: Tender, reflective, emotionally intense, hopeful
Format: Novella (dual POV)

This book deals directly and honestly with heavy mental health themes.

• ✔️ Suicidal ideation and depression
• ✔️ Grief after sudden sibling death

Sunset Year - C.J. Ellison

• ✔️ Transphobia and family rejection
• ✔️ Anxiety and emotional distress
• ✔️ Hospital / injury recovery
• ✔️ Religious intolerance
• ✔️ Social isolation
• ✔️ References to self-harm thoughts (non-graphic)

• ✔️ Queer and trans representation
• ✔️ Mild profanity
• ✔️ Emotional crying / breakdown scenes

• ❌ No graphic self-harm
• ❌ No sexual violence
• ❌ No explicit sexual content
• ❌ No extreme gore