BookPage: Sensual feasts abound…as Barrett masterfully portrays the sensation of infatuation growing into true love.
Jul 272022
Jul 262022
June Chu is the “just good enough” girl. Good enough to line the shelves with a slew of third-place trophies and steal secret kisses from her AP Bio partner, Rhys. But not good enough to meet literally any of her Taiwanese mother’s unrelenting expectations or to get Rhys to commit to anything beyond a well-timed joke.
While June’s mother insists she follow in her (perfect) sister’s footsteps and get a (full-ride) violin scholarship to Northwestern (to study pre-med), June doesn’t see the point in trying too hard if she’s destined to fall short anyway. Instead, she focuses her efforts on making her relationship with Rhys “official.” But after her methodically planned, tipsily executed scheme explodes on the level of a nuclear disaster, she flings herself into a new relationship with a guy who’s not allergic to the word girlfriend.
But as the line between sex and love blurs, and pressure to map out her entire future threatens to burst, June will have to decide on whose terms she’s going to live her life—even if it means fraying her relationship with her mother beyond repair.
A modern Judy Blume meets Jenny Han, Boys I Know is a raw and realistic look into the lives of teen girls. June Chu is an authentic if imperfect protagonist, and her journey of self discovery is as uncomfortable as it is cathartic.
Jul 122022
A fiery restaurant owner falls for her enigmatic head chef in this charming, emotional romance
Amy Chambers: restaurant owner, micromanager, control freak.
Amy will do anything to revive her ailing restaurant, including hiring a former reality-show finalist with good connections and a lot to prove. But her hopes that Sophie’s skills and celebrity status would bring her restaurant back from the brink of failure are beginning to wane…
Sophie Brunet: grump in the kitchen/sunshine in the streets, took thirty years to figure out she was queer.
Sophie just wants to cook. She doesn’t want to constantly post on social media for her dead-in-the-water reality TV career, she doesn’t want to deal with Amy’s take-charge personality and she doesn’t want to think about what her attraction to her boss might mean…
Then, an opportunity: a new foodie TV show might provide the exposure they need. An uneasy truce is fine for starters, but making their dreams come true means making some personal and painful sacrifices and soon, there’s more than just the restaurant at stake.
Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.
Jul 122022
Publishers Weekly: Gracia employs a whirlwind pace that complements June’s myriad triumphs and failures; a large, vibrant cast; and a true-to-life teen voice to explore societal gender roles, racism, and sexuality while artfully depicting one teenager’s search for herself amid cultural and familial pressures.
Jun 232022
Photo credit to Anna
Garcia
The MTV Beach House series will have all the elements that make for a perfect summer beach read: friends, parties, romance, sex, and drama. In the first book, THE BREAK-UP VACATION, Grace plans a girls’ trip to Cancun with her two best friends. What her friends don’t know is that her ex-boyfriend is also there, and Grace will do whatever it takes to get him back. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and The Sex Lives of College Girls, THE BREAK-UP VACATION also thoughtfully explores what it means to date while biracial. Author Anna Gracia makes her adult fiction debut with the novel.
May 032022
Kirkus: June is a winning protagonist with a lively, appealing voice that renders the repartee between her and her flinty, anxious mother simultaneously infuriating, hilarious, and poignant.
Apr 012022
Photo credit to Anna
Garcia
Author of the forthcoming BOYS I KNOW Anna Gracia’s MISDIRECTION OF FAULT LINES, pitched as a tennis version of Center Stage, following three Asian American teen girls—the underdog, the social media darling, and the defiant ex-friend—from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds who compete against each other at an elite tennis summer camp and discover they’re not so different after all, to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Kiana Nguyen.
Jun 162021
Ruby Barrett returns to the universe of HOT COPY in WHILE IT’S HOT, in which restaurant owner Amy Chambers hires a former fan favorite reality TV chef to save her struggling kitchen, only to discover that the talented, yet enigmatic woman seems determined to undermine her authority at every turn—but when fire spreads from the kitchen to the bedroom they’re forced to reckon with their growing attraction before they lose everything, world English rights to Stephanie Doig at Carina Adores, by Kiana Nguyen.
Jun 022021
Photo credit to Anna Gracia
Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen has acquired Boys I Know by debut author Anna Gracia. This coming-of-age story follows a “year in the life” of high school senior June Chu as she navigates sex, love, and Planned Parenthood in her small Midwestern town, while clashing with her Taiwanese mother’s expectation that she will follow her older sister to Northwestern on a music scholarship. Publication is scheduled for summer 2022; Kiana Nguyen brokered the deal for world rights.
Apr 132021
A meet-cute gone wrong is the start of a surprising courtship in this fresh, modern take on the workplace romance from debut author Ruby Barrett
Corrine Blunt knows what people think of her—she’s an icy, unapproachable executive. It’s the price she’s had to pay to get to the top. But there’s knowing you have a reputation in the office, and there’s hearing your new intern laugh when someone calls you “Blunt the C*nt” in the elevator on his first day.
She’d hoped to finally find an ally in Wesley Chambers, but she’s not about to let him off the hook for joining the office boys’ club. Taking refuge in the professional boundaries between them, she relegates Wes to assistant work—which would do the trick, if he weren’t so eager to prove he’s a decent human being.
Wes is sincerely apologetic, insisting it was a misunderstanding, and to her surprise, Corrine believes him. Being forced to work together was one thing, but long hours at the office with what turns out to be a kind, thoughtful man soon has their business relationship turning personal, and things get complicated—fast. Could this be something more serious than either of them dared to hope for? Or is their relationship just playing into the harmful power dynamics Corrine’s had to endure her entire career?