Mabel Flanigan is certain of three things: she is in love with Bonnie, she must escape Pleasant Meadows Mental Hospital before her scheduled brain operation, and when she escapes her father will stop at nothing to have her recommitted or worse. Sixteen year old Mabel has always felt different from the other girls in Wheatonville. She is determined to go to college and study astronomy, but when seventeen year old Bonnie moves to the sleepy midwestern town, Mabel realizes that there is more to life than celestial bodies. With an acceptance letter to University of California-Berkley, Mabel finally sees an opportunity to escape her abusive father and make a life with Bonnie. But when Bonnie refuses Mabels pleas to join her in California, an argument ensues that changes the course of their lives forever. A Scent of Lilac is a young adult LGBTQ romance novel about a tale of strength, determination, and tenderness as two young women fight their way back to each other in a world that has branded their love as an impossibility.