The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Dating & Sex

Planning Perfect by Haley Neil

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Planning Perfect by Haley Neil
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This sweet romcom about a girl on the asexual spectrum who tries to plan her mom’s location wedding in Vermont without spiraling out will be just what you’re looking for as a wonderful summer read. Felicity has had a rough time of it. After the incident last year, she’s trying to get back on track with a prime position at her favorite school club. But when her mom gets engaged, she throws all her energy into planning the perfect wedding. And maybe she can connect more with a friend from the summer that she may or may not have a crush on!

Planning Perfect by Haley Neil, (List Price: $19.99, Bloomsbury YA, 9781547607495, February 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

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All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
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Once you are captured into this story, you cannot help but ache for these characters. This is a beautiful story about two teens who are trying to balance the weight of the world on their shoulders, and Sabaa Tahir delivers their stories with poignance and grace once again. At this point, there is nothing she could write that I would not read. Seemingly able to traverse from fantasy into fiction, Tahir delivers a novel that is at times a stunningly accurate description of teenagers and their grief, while at others touching on relationships and the sway they hold over us. Bravo to her for being able to write such a gorgeous story.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, (List Price: $19.99, Razorbill, 9780593202340,  March 2022)

Reviewed by Hallie Smith, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen

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The Big Reveal
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Addie is a fat dancer, and proud of it–not letting her peers or anybody else allow her to feel shame or inferiority because of her body. She has a group of truly excellent friends, who throughout the book are self-affirming, endlessly supportive, and outright hilarious. I wish I’d had anything close to these friends when I was in high school. Scratch that, I wish I had these friends now. Together, they hatch a plan to financially support Addie’s potential post-graduation job with a dance company in Milan that involves an underground burlesque show, and through it, Addie discovers the self-affirming and body-positive power of burlesque, which she and her friends had previously cast aside as creative stripping. But she also has, and does, stand up to misogyny, slut-shaming, and fatphobia from her peers and superiors, and Larsen is truly excellent at illustrating exactly how internalized bigotry can hurt you even when you think you love who you are, just because we live in a world where anything that isn’t the default is constantly assumed to be aberrant. The best YA I’ve read all year!!

The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen, (List Price: $17.99, 9781250252173, December 2021)

Reviewed by Akil Guruparan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

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Pumpkin
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Waylon can’t wait to start his post-high school life. Being a fat, gay teen in a small Texas town has been tough, but he’s always had his best friend slash sister to help him through it. So when he gets dumped and also finds out that his sister is bailing on their college plans to go to a school in Georgia, he’s upset, to say the least. But after he’s disappointed with the ending of his favorite reality tv show about drag queens, when the fat queen is once again snubbed, he makes his own video to send in. But when the video gets spread around school, he thinks his life is over. Little does he know…Julie Murphy, how do you keep doing this to me? Every single book ends and I just feel uplifted and happy! Every bit of goodness in the world is packed into a Julie Murphy book and if you don’t read them, you’re missing out.

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy (List Price: $17.99, Balzer + Bray, 9780062880451, 5/25/2021)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

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Pumpkin
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Buy from your local indie.

Julie Murphy’s Pumpkin is a delight. I was so happy to return to Clover City and meet brand new characters–twins Waylon and Clementine–and see a bunch of familiar faces, including previous protagonists Willowdean and Millie. Fans of Dumplin’ and Puddin’ will not be disappointed!

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy (List Price: $17.99, Balzer + Bray, 9780062880451, 5/25/2021)

Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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