Explore college, love, and identity in this collection perfect for fans of She Gets the Girl and All American(Homecoming)!
Catalyst Awards Winner for Best YA Fiction!
Welcome to UMB, where...
-Aarti attends orientation armed with a detailed four-year plan...that might not go as expected
-Fray is looking for a Jewish community on campus that they can actually feel comfortable in
-Deepika meets her cute neighbor while recovering from heartbreak over fall break
-Quinn learns to embrace their interest in makeup after meeting a new crush
-Salomé struggles with anxiety while trying to make new friends
-Arisha worries about friends, finals, and disappointing her family as the fall semester comes to an end
-Rani doesn't know how to break the news at her family's New Year's party that she's considering a career change
-Trina suddenly loses her friend group and has to find a new one
-Ruby realizes she may have a crush on her RA...who's a girl
-Sophie goes on a spring break road trip to help rescue her roommate's stuffed panda
-Emma and Valerie realize they might actually have feelings for each other...but they're about to graduate
Told over the course of one academic year, this collection features students from different cultures, genders, and interests learning more about who they are and who they want to be as they explore the ways university life can be stressful and confusing and exciting and fulfilling!
Contributors include Jake Maia Arlow, Arushi Avachat, Boon Carmen, Ananya Devarajan, Camryn Garrett, Christina Li, Racquel Marie, Oyin, Laila Sabreen, Michael Waters, and Joelle Wellington.
Jake Maia Arlow is a podcast producer, writer, and bagel connoisseur. They are the author of Almost Flying, which won the Stonewall
Honor, How to Excavate a Heart, and, most recently, The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet. They studied evolutionary biology and creative
writing (not as different as you might think) at Barnard College, and now live with their girlfriend and loud cat in the Pacific Northwest.
ARUSHI AVACHAT is a writer from the Bay Area. She studied English, Political Science, and South Asian Studies at UCLA. A 2024 Marshall Scholar, Arushi received her MSt in English and American Studies from Oxford University. Arushi loves dark chocolate, Jane Austen books, and California winters. She is the author of
Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment and
Rani Deshpande Takes the Wheel.Boon Carmen is a YA author who was born and raised in Malaysia, where she cultivated a healthy appetite for YA novels and all kinds of cuisines. She has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Nottingham Malaysia, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in psychology. When she’s not writing about chaotic girls and fantastical worlds, she can be found (or not―you need to look really hard) with her nose in a fantasy book or lurking on Instagram at @boon_carmen and on Twitter at @BoonCarmen01.
Ananya Devarajan is the author of Kismat Connection, which was released by Inkyard Press and HarperCollins Publishers. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine,
where she majored in neurobiology and behavior and minored in English, and resides as a first-year medical student at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Middletown, New York. Like many of her characters, Ananya is a second-generation Indian American young adult. You can reach her on Twitter and Instagram at @ananyad12, and on TikTok at @ananyadevarajan.
Christina Li graduated from Stanford with degrees in economics and public policy. In her spare time, she is dreaming up characters and
stories for children and young adults. She is also the author of Clues to the Universe and Ruby Lost and Found, out from HarperCollins
