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by Christen Randall
Julie Murphy meets Casey McQuiston in this unforgettable queer romance about a teen girl whose foray into fantasy tabletop roleplaying brings her new confidence, true friends, and a shot at real, swoon-worthy love.
Hollis Beckwith isn't trying to get a girl—she's just trying to get by. For a fat, broke girl with anxiety, the start of senior year brings enough to worry about. And besides, she already has a boyfriend: Chris. Their relationship isn't particularly exciting, but it's comfortable and familiar, and Hollis wants it to survive beyond senior year. To prove she's a girlfriend worth keeping, Hollis decides to learn Chris's favorite tabletop roleplaying game, Secrets & Sorcery—but his unfortunate "No Girlfriends at the Table" rule means she'll need to find her own group if she wants in.
Enter: Gloria Castañeda and her all-girls game of S&S! Crowded at the table in Gloria's cozy Ohio apartment, the six girls battle twisted magic in-game and become fast friends outside it. With her character as armor, Hollis starts to believe that maybe she can be more than just fat, anxious, and a little lost.
But then an in-game crush develops between Hollis's character and the bard played by charismatic Aini Amin-Shaw, whose wide, cocky grin makes Hollis's stomach flutter. As their gentle flirting sparks into something deeper, Hollis is no longer sure what she wants...or if she's content to just play pretend.
"This sparkling debut is a love letter to queer, fat, neurodivergent girls and to the importance of friendship, chosen family, and LGBTQ-inclusive spaces. The romance between Hollis and Aini is endearing and joyous, and it's underscored by the depth of the friendships that Hollis makes among the entire S&S crew." —Booklist (starred review)
"Fans of Dungeons & Dragons and Amy Spalding's No Boy Summer will cheer for Hollis in this joyful and inspiring coming-of-age romance." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
"In this dazzling debut, Randall navigates serious topics such as mental health and toxic masculinity alongside joyful themes surrounding self-realization and cultivating genuine camaraderie and affirming safe spaces. A fully realized cast helps to flesh out Hollis and Aini's developing connection and their individual quests for happiness against a lived-in-feeling gaming backdrop." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"What began as a desire to have something more in common with [her boyfriend] becomes an outlet through which Hollis finds valuable things she hasn't had before—confidence, artistic inspiration, and relationships that are more honest and open... Many readers will feel seen in these pages." —Kirkus Reviews
"The No-Girlfriend Rule is a magical, heartwarming story as much about finding love as it is about finding yourself and your people. A natural 20 of a book." —Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of She Gets the Girl and Five Feet Apart
"A delightful queer coming-of-age story of first love, friendship, and self-worth. This book had my heart fluttering with feels." —Ashley Herring Blake, award-winning author of Delilah Green Doesn't Care
This information about The No-Girlfriend Rule was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Christen Randall (she/they) is a queer, fat, neurodivergent author of queer, fat, neurodiverse books. When they're not writing joyful stories for the next generation of geeky gay kids, you can find them working at their local library branch or at home planning all the D&D campaigns they'll run one day, they swear. Christen lives in Covington, Kentucky. The No-Girlfriend Rule is her debut novel. Visit Christen online at ByChristenRandall.com and on social media @ByCRandall.
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