Chasing Windmills was published in hardcover in the Spring of 2008 by Doubleday/Flying Dolphin Press, and in paperback in the Spring of 2009 by Vintage. The UK edition was published soon after by Transworld/Black Swan.

In my own words: 

Chasing Windmills is the first time I've ever really taken on a love story. Most of my "love stories" are between siblings, friends or surrogate parents and children oddly thrown together.

Sebastian lives under his father's rule. He has four more months to go before turning 18. In the meantime he's home schooled, and only allowed out for one daily run.

Maria is a 22-year-old woman living with her two children and an abusive live-in boyfriend.

They fall in love on a subway train in the middle of the night, and make a plan to run away together to the Mojave Desert. But there are issues. Maria doesn't know Sebastian is not 18. And Sebastian doesn't know Maria has two children.

She meets him with a duffle bag and a big surprise—one child. Her girl. But can she really leave her little boy behind?

For a readers group guide to this book, click here.

What the Reviewers had to say:

Publisher's Weekly said, "Simple and captivating. It is [Sebastian and Maria's] voices—at once utterly credible and heartbreakingly naive—that make the book, and while this is being billed as an adult novel, its closest stylistic relative is S.E. Hinton's YA classic The Outsiders."

School Library Journal said, "Hyde writes evocatively of the visceral nature of first love. Her characters are well developed, and she describes settings economically but effectively. The ending is realistic and satisfying. Short chapters make for a page-turning read, and the distinct voices are sweet, soul-baring and honest."

And Kirkus Reviews called it, "A gentle tale centering on how people come to grips with their pasts."