Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Walking in Circles Kindle Edition
Emma Lee was four the first time her dad hit her, eight when he left without a word, and nine by the time she’d developed a serious case of Male Trust Issues. So, when her mom moves her from their beloved California city to a small South Carolina town, the last person she wants to get to know is her elderly male neighbor. But the man won’t stop talking to her. And it isn’t like she can avoid him. She passes his house twice a day on her walk to and from school.
Old Will knows a fractured soul when he sees one, and his young new neighbor is certainly that. Emma wears a cautious demeanor like an old sweater, and it tugs at his heartstrings. His late wife would have his hide if he didn’t welcome the girl onto their front porch and treat her like one of their own. And if his grandson Shane happened to come by and meet her…well, that wouldn’t be his fault, would it?
Shane Michaels is the school jock, prom king, all-around popular kid, and miserable. He’s already lost so much in his eighteen years, more than his classmates could ever understand. And he is lonely. So, when Emma moves into the house next to Old Will, Shane makes it his mission to meet her. He invites her on a walk. He joins her on Old Will’s front porch. He asks her to dinner and to prom and eventually spills the secret he’s been keeping for years, the secret only his parents and Old Will know about.
That is, until a tragic accident brings everything into the open and throws their newly formed bond into chaos. A bond Emma hadn’t seen coming until she’d already learned to depend on it. But isn’t that how life works?
Sometimes learning to trust people is only a matter of meeting the right ones.
- Reading age10 - 18 years
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMarch 12, 2024
Customers who bought this item also bought
Product details
- ASIN : B0CVD4C4M8
- Publisher : LongMill Press (March 12, 2024)
- Publication date : March 12, 2024
- Language : English
- File size : 521 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Print length : 364 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : B0CXML14LH
- Best Sellers Rank: #184,171 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Author Amy Matayo is an excellent speaker, mathematician, seamstress, chef...and liar. She's decent at writing books but not much else. Then again, the book thing makes her marginally cool and a whole lot intimidating.
Not really. Not even her kids are afraid of her.
She graduated with barely passing grades from John Brown University with a degree in Journalism. But she's proud of that degree and all the ways she hasn't put it to good use.
She laughs often, cries easily, feels deeply, and loves hard. She lives in Arkansas with her husband and four kids and is working on her next novel.
visit her website at http://www.amymatayo.com
You can also find Amy on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/amymatayo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amymatayo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amymatayo.author/
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers enjoyed the book's writing style and engaging romance. They found the characters dynamic and refreshing. The story was described as a sweet, contemporary YA romance.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book's writing style. They find it engaging and recommend it for young adult readers looking for fiction that explores broken relationships.
"...to her previous books: great characters in messy relationships, strong writing that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let up (well, this reader anyway)..." Read more
"How I spent my week - savoring words, ideas, feelings and dreams. It might be a YA story, but I went through those years too...." Read more
"This book was a very good read!! Amy Matayo books never disappoint!! Highly recommend!!" Read more
"Nice to read a book that is not full of cursing..." Read more
Customers enjoy the engaging love story. They describe it as a sweet, contemporary YA romance.
"I enjoyed this YA romance between a young woman from an abusive home and a football player with a different kind of suffering in his past...." Read more
"...It might be a YA story, but I went through those years too. The author never disappoints!" Read more
"Romance, sweet, contemporary, YA Emma and Shane’s story started with Emma’s move from California to a small town in South Carolina...." Read more
"Sweet story..." Read more
Customers find the characters dynamic and refreshing. They also like Shane's character traits.
"...in Circles has similarities to her previous books: great characters in messy relationships, strong writing that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let..." Read more
"The characters are dynamic and the situations they find themselves in are realistic...." Read more
"...Shane’s patient friendship, deep side characters, the secrets in both of their pasts, made for a compelling story...." Read more
Reviews with images

I rescheduled important things to read this book!
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2024High school senior Emma Lee and her mother have just moved to Pendleton, South Carolina, population 3,084. After an embarrassing and awkward first day at her new school, she makes a fool of herself (again) with neighbour and school hottie Shane Michaels.
Emma has a temper. She also comes from an abusive household—that’s why she and her mother have moved, to get away from Emma’s father. Unsurprisingly, this has also left Emma with a distrust of men. So she’s not keen on developing any kind of relationship with Shane, or with Old Will, her neighbour. But Old Will, with the benefit of age and wisdom, manages to break through her barriers.
I will admit that I didn’t really read the book description before I bought the book or before I read it. It was a new book from Amy Matayo. What else did I need to know?
Walking in Circles has similarities to her previous books: great characters in messy relationships, strong writing that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let up (well, this reader anyway), and a subtle faith arc that shows rather than tells God’s truth.
It is a novel about surviving domestic violence and physical abuse, and there are a few other triggers as well (including sibling death). But it’s also a novel about finding hope in the mess and brokenness.
Recommended for Young Adult readers looking for fiction that examines how broken people can find joy in a broken world.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2024I enjoyed this YA romance between a young woman from an abusive home and a football player with a different kind of suffering in his past. Shane is kind, patient, and the best kind of boyfriend material -- if only Emma can overcome her trust issues, particularly when it comes to men.
Includes a sweet intergenerational friendship and treats the matters of abuse, illness, and death with the proper amount of seriousness without becoming maudlin. The romance is clean but includes all the natural desire common to teens in love.
I think this was originally written in a time when technology wasn't ubiquitous, and it shows a bit. I think it would've worked as modern historical (maybe 20 years ago?). It made me a nostalgic for an era without phones ruling our lives, especially the lives of young people.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2024The characters are dynamic and the situations they find themselves in are realistic. At the beginning I wondered why a good looking jock wouldn’t have plenty of girls hanging around, but as the story unfolds, the reasons are clear. Shane’s character traits were refreshing, and I love Old Will.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024How I spent my week - savoring words, ideas, feelings and dreams. It might be a YA story, but I went through those years too. The author never disappoints!
5.0 out of 5 starsHow I spent my week - savoring words, ideas, feelings and dreams. It might be a YA story, but I went through those years too. The author never disappoints!I rescheduled important things to read this book!
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2024Romance, sweet, contemporary, YA
Emma and Shane’s story started with Emma’s move from California to a small town in South Carolina. Leaving the secrets and skeletons of the past has to be easy in a different place her senior year, or so her mom thinks as they acclimate into work and school in this small town.
Shane’s patient friendship, deep side characters, the secrets in both of their pasts, made for a compelling story.
Lovely sweet fall almost wrenched from them.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024Amy always knows how to create characters you love. This book is no different! Emma and Shane both have painful journeys, but they make each other better. Read it!
- Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2024It doesn't matter if it's YA, women's fiction or romance...
Matayo always pulls me in, and this book was no exception. Yes, read it!
- Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024This book was a very good read!! Amy Matayo books never disappoint!! Highly recommend!!