Sometimes I write essays and short stories!
I’m in a few anthologies. Here are a couple!
Recently announced:
Origin Story, a co-authored YA contemporary novel written with Summer Heacock, due out with Inkyard Press in 2022. More here!
All Signs Point to Yes by Candice Montgomery, cara davis-araux, and Adrianne Russell: A delightful YA anthology inspired by astrology, due out in 2022 with Inkyard Press. I wrote about being a Scorpio!
YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY
Inkyard Press / HarperCollins (November 2021)
No one ever said love would be easy…but did they mention it would be freezing?
Adam Stillwater is in over his head. At least, that’s what his best friend would say. And his mom. And the guy who runs the hardware store down the street. But this pinball arcade is the only piece of his dad that Adam has left, and he’s determined to protect it from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, who wants to turn it into another one of his cold, lifeless gaming cafés.
Whitney Mitchell doesn’t know how she got here. Her parents split up. Her boyfriend dumped her. Her friends seem to have changed overnight. And now she’s spending her senior year running social media for her dad’s chain of super successful gaming cafés—which mostly consists of trading insults with that decrepit old pinball arcade across town.
But when a huge snowstorm hits, Adam and Whitney suddenly find themselves trapped inside the arcade. Cut off from their families, their worlds, and their responsibilities, the tension between them seems to melt away, leaving something else in its place. But what happens when the storm stops?
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Candlewick (September 2021)
More retailer links coming soon!
Co-edited with Lauren Gibaldi!
Fifteen young adult authors and one real-life rock star band together for one epic—and interconnected—take on a memorable high school rite of passage.
A daughter of rock ’n’ roll royalty has a secret crush. A lonely ticket taker worries about his sister. An almost-famous songwriter nurses old wounds. A stage manager tires of being behind the scenes. A singer-songwriter struggles to untangle her feelings for her best friend and his girlfriend. In this live-out-loud anthology, the disparate protagonists of sixteen stories are thrown together for one unforgettable event: their high school’s battle of the bands. Told in a harmonic blend of first- and third-person narrative voices, roughly chronological short stories offer a kaleidoscopic view of the same transformative night. Featuring an entry from Justin Courtney Pierre, lead vocalist of Motion City Soundtrack, Battle of the Bands is a celebration of youth, music, and meeting the challenges of life head-on.
With stories by Brittany Cavallaro, Preeti Chhibber, Jay Coles, Katie Cotugno, Lauren Gibaldi, Shaun David Hutchinson, Ashley Poston, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Sarah Nicole Smetana, Eric Smith, Jenn Marie Thorne, Sarvenaz Taghavian, Jasmine Warga, Ashley Woodfolk, and Jeff Zentner, and featuring Motion City Soundtrack’s Justin Courtney Pierre.
DON’T READ THE COMMENTS
Inkyard Press / HarperCollins (January 2020) | Paperback out April 6th, 2021!
A 2021 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick
We all need a place to escape from the real world.
For Divya and Aaron, it’s the world of online gaming. While Divya trades her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay rent, Aaron plays as a way to fuel his own dreams of becoming a game developer – and as a way to disappear when his mom starts talking about medical school. After a chance online meeting, the pair decides to team up – but soon find themselves the targets of a group of internet trolls who begin launching a real-world doxxing campaign, threatening Aaron’s dream and Divya’s actual life. They think can drive her out of the game, but Divya’s whole world is on the line…
And she isn’t going down without a fight.
THE GIRL AND THE GROVE
Flux (May 2018)
Leila’s life is full of challenges. From bouncing around the foster care system to living with seasonal affective disorder, she’s never had an easy road. Leila keeps herself busy with her passion for environmental advocacy, monitoring the Urban Ecovists message board with her best friend, Sarika. And now that Leila has finally been adopted, she dares to hope her life will improve. But the voices in Leila’s head are growing louder. Something calls out to her in Fairmount Park. Is she ready to answer? More on the Flux website.
WELCOME HOME
Flux (September 2017)
All royalties from this book go towards helping youth centers that work with foster teens and adoptees stock their libraries. Email me for more info.
A collection of short stories from over two dozen authors, centering on stories of foster homes and adoption, spanning fantasy, sci-fi, and contemporary tales. Featuring shorts from NYT bestsellers Nic Stone, C.J. Redwine, William Ritter, and more. Further details on Flux’s website, here.
THE INKED DUOLOGY
A digital exclusive YA series with Bloomsbury’s Spark line! Available wherever eBooks are sold.
Also available as an audiobook!
Tattoos once were an act of rebellion. Now they decide your destiny the moment the magical Ink settles under your skin.
And in a world where Ink controls your fate, Caenum can't escape soon enough. He is ready to run from his family, and his best friend Dreya, and the home he has known, just to have a chance at a choice.
More on Inked and Branded on Bloomsbury’s official website, here.
THE GEEK’S GUIDE TO DATING
Quirk Books (December, 2013)
An IndieBound bestseller! A non-fiction pop culture fueled guide to love and relationships, using video games, comics, and movies as a way to talk about dating.
The Geek’s Guide to Dating has sold into several territories and languages, including Chinese, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish, and German.