Defining Riley, Jaimee Ellis

Description

Defining Riley
By Jaimee J Ellis — Paperback, November 23, 2025

Riley Johnson has spent most of his life wearing labels handed to him by everyone else. To his small Wyoming town, he is the ranch kid, the bully, the jock, the closeted bisexual, the wild one, the son of the town drunk. Each role sticks to him like a second skin—defining him, confining him, and slowly eroding his sense of who he truly is.

But when the person he loves most dies suddenly, Riley’s fragile balance shatters. Grief pulls him under in ways he never expected. Old traumas resurface. Dark thoughts creep in. And the echo of a legacy left behind by a stranger—someone whose story is intertwined with his own—may be the only thing that can keep him from slipping away completely.

As Riley’s world unravels, he is forced to confront the dangerous narratives he has internalized: the belief that he is broken, unworthy, or trapped by the town’s expectations. Torn between collapsing under the weight of those labels or fighting to rewrite them, he must decide whether to become the boy people think he is—or finally search for the young man he hopes to become.

Defining Riley follows a raw, emotional journey of identity, trauma, queer self-discovery, and the struggle to survive when life feels unbearable. It is a story about found family, the healing power of connection, and the courage it takes to define yourself on your own terms—even when the world insists on doing it for you.

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