Friday I’m in Love

It’s too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if Mahalia had a coming-out party? A love letter to romantic comedies, sweet sixteen blowouts, Black joy, and queer pride.

Mahalia Harris wants.

She wants a big Sweet Sixteen like her best friend, Naomi.
She wants the super-cute new girl Siobhan to like her back.
She wants a break from worrying–about money, snide remarks from white classmates, pitying looks from church ladies . . . all of it.

Then inspiration strikes: It’s too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if she had a coming-out party? A singing, dancing, rainbow-cake-eating celebration of queerness on her own terms.

The idea lights a fire beneath her, and soon Mahalia is scrimping and saving, taking on extra hours at her afterschool job, trying on dresses, and awkwardly flirting with Siobhan, all in preparation for the coming out of her dreams. But it’s not long before she’s buried in a mountain of bills, unfinished schoolwork, and enough drama to make her English lit teacher blush. With all the responsibility on her shoulders, will Mahalia’s party be over before it’s even begun?

A novel about finding yourself, falling in love, and celebrating what makes youyou.

Camryn Garrett grew up in New York and began her writing career at thirteen, when she was selected as aTIME for Kidsreporter, interviewing celebrities like Warren Buffett and Kristen Bell. Since then, her writing has appeared on MTV and inHuffPostandRookiemagazine, and she was recently selected as one ofTeen Vogue’s “21 Under 21: Girls Who Are Changing the World.” When she’s not writing, she studies film at NYU, and she’s a proud advocate for diverse stories and storytellers in any medium. Her first two novels,Full DisclosureandOff the Record, received rave reviews from outlets such asEW, Glamour,andSLJ, which said, in its starred review, “Readers will fall in love.”Friday I’m in Loveis her third novel andfirstrom-com.

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (January 10, 2023)
• Language: English
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• ISBN-10: 0593435109
• ISBN-13: 9780593435106
• Reading age: 12 – 17 years
• Grade level: 7 – 9
• Item Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Dimensions: 6.25 x 0.99 x 8.5 inches