Burning Summer (The Cottonwood Chronicles)

Eleanor & Park meets The Summer I Turned Pretty meets Stand By Me.

High school friends discover growing up isn't all child's play in this coming-of-age trilogy set in 1970s small-town America.

Burning Summer: How do you hold on to love when everything around you is burning?

Cole and Tiffany are in love, but their world is unraveling—caught in the crossfire of a scandal that’s tearing their families apart.

Praise for Chris Poore's Writing:
“With prose that pops like gravel against the wheel wells of a pickup, Chris Poore harnesses nostalgia without blunting the pain of youth's abrupt end. This world feels as real as the town right outside my window.” —Chris Harding Thornton, Pickard County Atlas

“Totally raw and unfiltered, Chris Poore pulls no punches with this one!” —Amazon review

“I could not put this book down. I read it in a weekend!” —Amazon review

Back Cover Blurb:
How do you hold on to love when everything around you is burning?

It’s the summer of ’77 and everything is about to ignite. Cole Walker and Tiffany Whitford are in love, but their world is unraveling—caught in the crossfire of a scandal that’s tearing their families apart.

Tiffany’s father stands accused. Cole’s father holds the badge. And Cole and Tiffany will face a truth–and a decision–that could change both of their lives forever.

As another Fourth of July approaches in Cottonwood, Nebraska, loyalties are tested, hearts are pushed to the breaking point, and to save their love, Cole and Tiffany will have to hold on through the fire.

For fans of Eleanor & Park, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Stand by Me, Burning Summer is a haunting coming-of-age story of love and loyalty under siege—when the people you trust most have the power to break you.

Grab your copy of Burning Summer today. The fireworks are about to begin.

Burning Summer is vol 2 of The Cottonwood Chronicles series, a sweeping coming-of-age historical trilogy set in a time before cell phones, social media, and the internet—when summer meant freedom, friendship meant everything, and growing up meant learning hard lessons as childhood is swept away.

In the small town of Cottonwood, Nebraska, friends come of age over consecutive Fourth of July holidays, where fireworks in the sky echo the turmoil in their hearts. On the precipice of adulthood, they must face life-or-death decisions about who they want to be and what they’re willing to leave behind.

Poignant, nostalgic, and emotionally honest, the series captures the thrill, ache, and magic of growing up in a forgotten time.

Bicentennial Summer, vol. 1, is available now on Amazon.
Bye, Bye Summer, vol. 3, will publish late 2026.

About the Author:
Chris Poore has been telling stories in one form or another his entire life. It just took a global pandemic to finally get him to put them down on paper. A dinner conversation at the height of Covid lit the spark, and Chris quickly wrote several award-winning screenplays.

Next, he set his sights on his first novel. Bicentennial Summer, published in 2024 at age 53, is the first in The Cottonwood Chronicles trilogy.

Chris has been a journalist, entrepreneur, and a technology leader. He lives just outside of Omaha with his wife Sue, two children, and two rescue dogs.

To learn more and to sign up for Chris' newsletter, visit: https://linktr.ee/chrispoorewrites