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WORK TITLE: Love, Off the Record
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WEBSITE: https://samanthamarkum.com/
CITY: St. Louis
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COUNTRY: United States
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PERSONAL
Born ca. 1981, in St. Louis, MO.
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Writer.
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SIDELIGHTS
[open new]A tried-and-true fiction writer from St. Louis, Samantha Markum aims to entertain and inspire teen readers with compelling characters and swoonworthy romance. Markum’s evolution as a writer began with a VHS tape. Enraptured with the 1992 musical Newsies, about paperboys’ struggles in fin de siècle New York City, she started writing fan fiction at the age of eleven. After several years of infatuation with that film, she found herself inspired to write fan fiction for a variety of narratives, from the obscure to cult classics to the latest hits. She told Canvas Rebel, “If there was a couple who didn’t get together, an ending I didn’t like, or, most often, a background character who wasn’t explored, I was opening a new Word doc and clacking away.” She added, “I think that’s where I really grew my writer muscles, exploring these characters who essentially barely existed, and fleshing them out into real people.” Attending high school in Florida, Markum first read a novel by Sarah Dessen, who is known for intense romantic dramas, at age fifteen and at once dreamed of writing such stories herself. By her late twenties, her original efforts had culminated in her first novel crafted and perfected from scratch, This May End Badly. After living in Los Angeles for a spell, Markum returned to her hometown of St. Louis.
This May End Badly finds Dorothy “Doe” Saltpeter ready to enliven senior year alongside her friends at the all-girls Weston School by pulling pranks on their rival, the all-boys Winfield Academy. Doe’s personal antagonist is Nathaniel Wellborn III, called Three, and the stakes are unexpectedly raised when their schools announce a crowd-displeasing merger. Teaming up with Three’s stoical cousin Gabriel to fake a relationship, Doe aims to get the upper hand, but confusion and conflict lead to revelations about little-known troubles at Weston.
BookPage reviewer Tami Orendain enjoyed Markum’s debut, appreciating how the novel “thoughtfully explores serious issues … including harmful family dynamics, childhood trauma and sexual harassment.” A Kirkus Reviews writer hailed the inclusion of characters with diverse sexual orientations as well as a reckoning with the “archaic structure” of single-gender schools. Declaring that Doe’s mutable relationships “read realistically, and the mounting tension … keeps the pages turning,” the Kirkus Reviews writer found in This May End Badly “lots of fun and romance undergirded by relevant, timely substance.” Orendain declared that the “pranks are ingenious and clever,” the leads’ relationship is “buoyant and charming,” and the novel proves both “fun and insightful.”
Markum’s second published novel—originally drafted prior to her debut—is You Wouldn’t Dare, in which Juniper Nash Abreheart has one last summer to enjoy on her home island of White Coral Key, Florida, before she and her mother move in with her mother’s boyfriend and his daughter, Tallulah. Working at a café together hardly brings the dissimilar girls closer. Meanwhile Junie must navigate a double dose of drama, with she and best friends Milo, Lucy, and Graham preparing for their community theater’s Shakespeare musical adaptation Midsummer Madness even as Junie’s recent fling-gone-wrong with Graham causes friction in their friendships. Complimenting the “well-drawn” characters and “zippy dialogue,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer summed You Wouldn’t Dare up as a “bustling, summery tale that navigates messy telationships and forgiveness.” A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that “trauma, grief, and forgiveness are balanced with witty narration and clever banter” in this “layered story of love, found family, growing up, and embracing change.”
College freshman Eowyn “Wyn” Evans intends to let nothing hold her back as she pursues a journalism career in Love, Off the Record. Also hoping to get their campus newspaper’s one open staff position is handsome rival intern Nathaniel Wellborn III, aka Three (first met in This May End Badly). When a drug scandal rocks Wyn’s dormitory, she and Three are poised to make a journalistic breakthrough together. As the situation gets heated, sparks start flying, although Wyn has been forging an intimate connection with an anonymous user on campus dating app Buckonnect—a link she fears will falter when hayes6834 discovers she is above average in size.
Speaking with Canvas Rebel, Markum explained that of all her fictional protagonists, Wyn is “probably the most similar” to herself: “She’s intense, ambitious, lonely, having a hard time finding her place, and also struggling with her body image as someone who is plus size. When I was young, there were very few books with positive fat rep, and I wanted to write a book where readers could see themselves in Wyn and could relate to the journey that she’s on. It’s a story I wish I’d had growing up, while also being a story that is a lot of fun and extremely romantic.”
A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that “comedic hijinks and campus encounters keep the romantic tension simmering” in Love, Off the Record. The reviewer noted that the “nuanced character development” achieved via dating-app messages “makes the ultimate reveal doubly rewarding.” Affirming that Markum hits “pitch-perfect … rom-com notes” in this “banter-rich love story,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded that the “sensitively balanced portrayal of Wyn’s body image elevates this journalistic-rivalry-turned-romance narrative.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
BookPage, May, 2022, Tami Orendain, review of This May End Badly, p. 28.
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2022, review of This May End Badly; December 15, 2022, review of You Wouldn’t Dare; April 15, 2024, review of Love, Off the Record.
Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2023, review of You Wouldn’t Dare, p. 71; March 18, 2024, review of Love, Off the Record, p. 80.
ONLINE
Canvas Rebel, https://canvasrebel.com/ (April 11, 2024), “Meet Samantha Markum.”
Samantha Markum website, https://samanthamarkum.com (May 2, 2024).
Stuck in Fiction, https://stuckinfiction.com/ (April 12, 2022), author interview.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Samantha Markum
Samantha Markum was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where she got her great literary start writing Newsies fan fiction in middle school.
She went to high school and college in Florida, where she mostly just collected sunburns, and eventually moved to Los Angeles so she could complain about how much she missed In-N-Out once she left.
She currently lives in her hometown of St. Louis. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing cozy video games, attempting to revive her half-dead house plants, and getting in bed before sunset. When she is writing, you can find her staring at the wall in search of inspiration.
She is the author of This May End Badly and You Wouldn’t Dare.
Follow her on Twitter for bad jokes and Instagram for bad pictures.
Meet Samantha Markum
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STORIES & INSIGHTS
APRIL 11, 2024
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We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Markum recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Samantha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I like to think all of my projects have been meaningful in one way or another, but it’s true that while I can’t pick a favorite, I do have some that have stuck with me more than others. My first two books are special to me in their own ways—my first, This May End Badly, because it was the book that launched my career and was such a joy to write, and my second, You Wouldn’t Dare, because it was the book I’d been dreaming about writing since I was about fifteen years old, when I read my first ever Sarah Dessen novel and realized this was the type of writing I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
But even though I can’t pick a favorite, the book that stuck with me the most once I got the idea and wrote the first scene was my third. My third novel is called Love, Off the Record, and it follows a college freshman named Wyn as she fights for a single reporter spot on her university newspaper, and her main competition is her nemesis and fellow intern, Three.
For Love, Off the Record, it really is the characters that feel the most special to me. Wyn is probably the most similar to me as a young adult—she’s intense, ambitious, lonely, having a hard time finding her place, and also struggling with her body image as someone who is plus size. When I was young, there were very few books with positive fat rep, and I wanted to write a book where readers could see themselves in Wyn and could relate to the journey that she’s on. It’s a story I wish I’d had growing up, while also being a story that is a lot of fun and extremely romantic. (Who doesn’t love rivals-to-lovers, right?)
Samantha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Samantha Markum, and I am a young adult romance author. I started writing at a very young age—just eleven-year-old me, my family computer, and a hyperfixation on a 90s cult classic musical about a child labor union in 1899 New York City. I was completely entranced by the movie Newsies—not even the cool Broadway version, but the original movie version with Christian Bale—and it was all I wanted to talk about, think about, or consume for about three years of my life. (My poor family. RIP movie night.)
I spent all of middle school completely fixated on writing Newsies fan fiction, but I expanded my materials pretty quickly, and I was the type of fanfic writer who would dive into any fandom, no matter how niche. If there was a couple who didn’t get together, an ending I didn’t like, or, most often, a background character who wasn’t explored, I was opening a new Word doc and clacking away at that keyboard.
I think it was those background characters who really built me into the writer I am now. Most of those were characters who weren’t given a lot of backstory or screentime, and I wanted to know everything there was to know about them. I think that’s where I really grew my writer muscles, exploring these characters who essentially barely existed, and fleshing them out into real people on the page. It definitely primed me for writing novels one day, because most of my books have started with an idea of a character, and then I build the plot around that character. (Or really, I just start writing and hope a plot forms somehow, because I am very much a pantser!)
Even though I knew early on, after reading my very first Sarah Dessen novel at about fifteen years old, that I wanted to write YA contemporary—and, of course, romance, because if there’s no kissing, I’m not interested—it took me until my mid/late twenties to really sit down and FINISH a novel. I’d had a lot of false starts before then, and I’d even finished and shelved what would end up being my second novel, but I’d never had something come together almost cosmically for me until I got the idea for This May End Badly, which ended up being the book that started my career.
I think This May End Badly set the tone for the types of books I would end up writing, because all three of my books so far are about girls who make mistakes, both big and small, and how they come back from those mistakes in the long run. I love writing about teenagers, and especially in a way that I hope makes real teens feel seen. I think it’s easy, as an adult, to fall into a lecture-y trap when it comes to writing for teens. You want to tell them how to do things, because you’ve already lived it. You want to tell them where to step, to minimize their problems in order to minimize their pain, but truthfully, we can’t save teenagers from themselves, just like we couldn’t be saved from ourselves when we were teens. When I sit down to write, I don’t think, “How can I tell a teen how to live?” I always go into it asking myself what story will make teens feel the most seen, the most heard, and also what story will be the most fun for them. And, also importantly, the most fun for me! Because at the end of the day, I have to care more than anyone where these characters are going to end up.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
There are so many resources online for writers that I did not know about before I published my first book. There are blogs, social media threads, and videos that can tell you so much about querying, the publishing industry, the craft itself, etc. But I think the most important resource is a community.
I was lucky enough to be writing in a community I built through fan fiction, so I had beta readers and friends to commiserate and celebrate with. Writing can be a very solitary experience, and one thing I always recommend is trying to build a community you can write in. When I do school visits, I usually encourage teenagers to try fan fiction because it’s a great place to learn not just about storytelling as a craft but the types of stories you want to tell as a writer, and best of all, to meet the people who love those types of stories and want to create them too.
But if you’re not into fan fiction—and that’s totally okay!—there are a lot of writers out there on social media building little pockets of community where you can meet other people in the same stage or near-stage you’re in on your journey. These people can become your beta readers and critique partners and, most importantly, your friends. Having friends in the writing world, whether you’re an unpublished author or ten books in, is so incredibly important to your journey. Publishing has incredibly high highs and even lower lows, and having people you can both explore your storytelling with and also lean on a little emotionally when things get hard and you’ve heard a lot of no’s is so crucial to the experience.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
It’s a totally cheesy answer, but the most rewarding aspect of being a writer is meeting readers. Even when I was writing fan fiction, hearing from people who loved my stories was what kept me going. Now, truthfully, I would be writing if I was the last person left on earth with one copy of the 1992 Newsies VHS on hand, but knowing that your work is going out to someone who wants to read it, and getting those squealing/gushing reactions that you have about your own favorite books is truly a next level, top tier experience unlike any other. And even better, when I get an actual teenager who loves my books, who maybe relates to my characters or their journeys, that is the best part. That’s who I write for.
Contact Info:
Website: samanthamarkum.com
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2022, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, FELICIA
This May End Badly | Author Interview
Posted on April 12, 2022 by Felicia
Happy release day to This May End Badly by Samantha Markum! I’m so excited to be able to spotlight this book today as well as share an interview with the author!
INTERVIEW
Welcome Samantha! Thank you for allowing me to interview you! Can you start off by introducing yourself?
Thanks so much for having me! My name is Samantha Markum, and my debut novel, This May End Badly, comes out April 12, 2022.
How would you describe This May End Badly in one sentence?
This is a tough one, because I am very wordy! But in just one sentence: A senior named Doe embarks on a fake dating scheme to get under her worst enemy’s skin and stop the merger of their rival boarding schools.
Can you introduce us to the main character(s) of This May End Badly?
The main character of This May End Badly is Doe Saltpeter—Weston girl, pranking mastermind, and habitual liar. She loves milkshakes, her friends, and the defeat of her enemies (Winfield Academy in general, and Three Wellborn in specifics).
Her reluctant partner-in-crime—or at least partner-in-fake-dating—is Wells. He is the rare Winfield boy with no stake in the century-long prank war between their schools, unless you count being related to the ultimate Winfield legacy, Three. He likes getting under his cousin’s skin but has always toed the line—until he gets involved with Doe and her scheming.
What representation will readers find in This May End Badly?
This May End Badly has a relatively diverse cast of characters. There are students of color and different sexual orientations at both schools, as well as parents. A large part of TMEB deals with the realities of single-gender schools in the our current world. It was really important to me to create a story where, for the most part, everyone is having fun and getting into trouble, while never sidestepping situations these characters might endure.
Do you know from the beginning how your books will end or do you let your characters decide their journey?
I almost never know the ending of a story when I start. And often if I do, it’ll end up changing along the way. This book definitely evolved as I wrote it, but I think I always knew the direction I was going—even if I didn’t entirely know the ending until I was almost to it.
Do you have a favorite scene, moment, or quote from the book?
I have so many favorite scenes and moments, it’s hard to pick just one. I have such a soft spot for Doe and her friends, every moment when the five of them are together is an immediate top moment for me. But I’m such a sucker for romance, and writing Doe and Wells was just one dreamy, swoony moment for me after the next—even when they argued, haha. So I think my favorite scene has to be Doe and Wells at the college fair.
What is something readers will find in This May End Badly that they may not realize based on the synopsis?
Most of the story is laid out pretty well in the synopsis, but I think the biggest surprise might be the complicated relationships—my favorite is between Wells and Three, but also between Doe and her friends, Doe and the other Weston girls, and even Doe and Three.
What’s something you hope readers will take away from This May End Badly?
More than anything, I hope my books make people laugh. There are a few heavy themes in This May End Badly, but more than anything, it’s about friendship, and it’s about love, and it’s about doing the right thing even when it’s hard. I hope they feel like they were there for it all, right in Delafosse—in the Kingdom, at Phoebe’s, in the armchair at Rotty’s. And at the end of it, I hope they just have a great time.
What are three books you would recommend if someone enjoyed This May End Badly?
Ah, I love recommending books! I have to always recommend my favorite, which has all the scheming and shenanigans but with the added bonus of a mystery—Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly. It’s a three book series, and it’s my all time favorite. When it comes to great friendships and swoony romance, it has to be Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills. And for the fake dating, which we all cannot get enough of, Prince Charming by Rachel Hawkins.
What’s next for you? Anything you can share?
Ah, next for me! I have another book out in 2023 called You Wouldn’t Dare. It’s about another messy girl named Juniper Nash, the boy she ruined everything with, a band of reluctant theater kids, the surly daughter of her mom’s boyfriend, and their magical little Florida island, White Coral Key.
ABOUT THE BOOK
TITLE: This May End Badly
AUTHOR: Samantha Markum
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2022
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound
Synopsis:
Pranking mastermind Doe and her motley band of Weston girls are determined to win the century-long war against Winfield Academy before the clock ticks down on their senior year. But when their headmistress announces that The Weston School will merge with its rival the following year, their longtime feud spirals into chaos.
To protect the school that has been her safe haven since her parents’ divorce, Doe puts together a plan to prove once and for all that Winfield boys and Weston girls just don’t mix, starting with a direct hit at Three, Winfield’s boy king and her nemesis. In a desperate move to win, Doe strikes a bargain with Three’s cousin, Wells: If he fake dates her to get under Three’s skin, she’ll help him get back his rightful family heirloom from Three.
As the pranks escalate, so do her feelings for her fake boyfriend, and Doe spins lie after lie to keep up her end of the deal. But when a teacher long suspected of inappropriate behavior messes with a younger Weston girl, Doe has to decide what’s more important: winning a rivalry, or joining forces to protect something far more critical than a prank war legacy.
This May End Badly is a story about friendship, falling in love, and crossing pretty much every line presented to you—and how to atone when you do.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Samantha Markum
Samantha Markum was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where she got her great literary start writing Newsies fan fiction in middle school.
She went to high school and college in Florida, where she mostly just collected sunburns, and eventually moved to Los Angeles so she could complain about how much she missed In-N-Out once she left.
She currently lives in her hometown of St. Louis. When she’s not writing, she can be found begging her dog for attention, buying too many candles, and ignoring the dust bunnies gathering in her house. When she is writing, you can find her staring at the wall in search of inspiration.
She is the author of This May End Badly and You Wouldn’t Dare.
Follow her on Twitter for bad jokes and Instagram for bad pictures.
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Markum, Samantha THIS MAY END BADLY Wednesday Books (Teen None) $18.99 4, 12 ISBN: 978-1-250-79918-0
Senior year at two rival boarding schools finds Doe doing everything she can to protect her school's legacy, even if it means enlisting a fake boyfriend to help.
Dorothy "Doe" Saltpeter and her closest friends are shocked when all-girls Weston School announces a merger with their archrivals, the all-boys Winfield Academy. Their traditional prank war against the boys feels heightened amid the news, in particular increasing the stakes for Doe's personal feud with Winfield's wealthy all-star Nathaniel Emeric Wellborn III, aka Three. His cousin Gabriel "Wells" Wellborn shares Doe's disdain, and together they hatch a plan that involves pretending to be in a relationship and recovering from Three a family heirloom that holds sentimental value for Wells. What starts as a prank spirals into an uncontrollable swirl of emotions, strained friendships, and a struggle for inclusivity inside an elite sisterhood. Markum addresses the characters' sexuality, including Doe's bisexual father and her close friend Gemma, who recently came out to her family as lesbian. In addition, there's a frank conversation about gender identity and the archaic structure of single-gender schools. The main characters are presumed White; the racialized experiences of supporting characters who bring ethnic diversity are developed to some degree. Doe's evolving relationships with Wells, her friends, her parents, and even herself read realistically, and the mounting tension--both sexual and in the collision of her different worlds--keeps the pages turning.
Lots of fun and romance undergirded by relevant, timely substance. (Romance. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Markum, Samantha: THIS MAY END BADLY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A693214592/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ed19f7d6. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Dorothy "Doe" Saltpeter and her friends are ready to make their senior year at the Weston School for girls their best yet, which means pulling outrageous pranks on Winfield Academy, the rival boys' school. But when the schools announce a shocking merger, Doe is forced to interact with Winfield students, including smug, wealthy Three, her sworn enemy.
To aggravate Three, Doe proposes a fake relationship with his cousin, Wells. As their lies begin to unravel, Doe uncovers a dark secret plaguing the Weston School, which forces her to rethink her commitment to pranks and rivalries and decide where her priorities truly lie.
This May End Badly (Wednesday, $18.99, 9781250799180) is fun and insightful. Doe and her prankster girlfriends are easy to root for, their pranks are ingenious and clever, and her relationship with Wells is buoyant and charming. For all the levity offered by dueling schools and prank wars, the novel thoughtfully explores serious issues as well, including harmful family dynamics, childhood trauma and sexual harassment. Doe must take responsibility for her actions and use her voice, even when that means partnering with people she once considered enemies.
Author Samantha Markum captures the transitions many teens experience during their final year of high school. Doe finds it difficult to say goodbye to adolescence, which is compounded by the changes her friends and school are undergoing. At first, Doe is willing to go to great lengths to keep everything in her life exactly the same. But as her friends choose colleges, the Weston School enters a new era and her love life blooms, Doe acknowledges that it's time to grow up. Along the way, she discovers that becoming an adult isn't so bad--especially when it means growing with the people you love.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 BookPage
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Orendain, Tami. "This May End Badly By Samantha Markum." BookPage, May 2022, p. 28. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A702426191/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b537649d. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Markum, Samantha YOU WOULDN'T DARE Wednesday Books (Teen None) $18.99 3, 28 ISBN: 978-1-250-84678-5
Juniper Nash Abreheart has just one summer to mend her past and protect her future.
Her charmingly eccentric Florida town on the island of White Coral Key means everything to Junie, and she desperately needs her last summer there to be perfect before she and her mother move in with her mom's boyfriend, Paul, and his daughter, Tallulah. The two White girls don't get along--and now they'll be sharing a room in Paul's house in an upscale, uptight neighboring town. Junie needs her three best friends to help her with their community theater's rendition of Midsummer Madness. Junie and Colombian American Milo, bisexual Haitian American Lucy, and Filipino and White Graham have been close since they were little, but things have been shaky in their friend group since Junie's secret fling with Graham last summer ended badly. Junie's changing relationship with Graham, one that offers a chance of real love, is heartfelt and believable, and the various side plots are equally engaging. The portrayal of Junie's relationship with her single mother is touching. The large cast of characters can at times be difficult to track, but the primary characters are well developed. Themes of trauma, grief, and forgiveness are balanced with witty narration and clever banter in a way that shows that Markum respects teens' ability to engage with complexity.
A layered story of love, found family, growing up, and embracing change. (Fiction. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Markum, Samantha: YOU WOULDN'T DARE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A729727298/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4f7277d5. Accessed 2 May 2024.
You Wouldn't Dare
Samantha Markum. Wednesday, $18.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-250-84678-5
When Juniper Nash Abreheart's mother informs her that they'll be leaving White Coral Key, Fla., to move in with her boyfriend Paul and his mercurial daughter Tallulah on the South Shore, Junie struggles to accept that she's about to leave behind everything she's ever known. Though Junie and Tallulah's parents hope that the teens will bond while wotking at the Abreheart's cafe over the summer, the pair is hesitant to get to know each other. Junie's life is further complicated by increasingly tense dynamics among her friend group caused by a secret dalliance gone awry. Knowing her time in White Coral Key is almost up, Junie endeavors to repair her broken relationships and prepare for her future. Script excerpts from Shakespearean musical Midsummer Madness, the production that Junie is helping to stage at her community theater, begin each chaptet. Markum (This May End Badly) crafts well-drawn, mostly white protagonists via zippy dialogue and employs an unconventional locale peopled by a tight-knit community of intersectionally diverse year-round denizens and lively toutists, to deliver a busrling, summery tale that navigates messy telationships and forgiveness. Ages 13-up. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Triada US. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 PWxyz, LLC
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"You Wouldn't Dare." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 5, 30 Jan. 2023, p. 71. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A737039809/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fd02942c. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Love, Off the Record
Samantha Markum. McElderry, $19.99 (416p) ISBN 978-1-6659-5572-0
College freshman Eowyn Evans needs to secure the only vacant reporter position at the campus newspaper to make her journalism school application stand out. Unfortunately, so does fellow intern and "suck-up of the highest order" Nathanial "Three" Wellborn III, escalating their usual verbal sparring into vicious competition. After Three scoops her story on new campus dating app Buckonnect, Wyn embraces the "harmless, fun distraction" of anonymous online interaction, opening up to user hayes6834, with whom she forms a close connection. But when Wyn and Three team up on an investigative story about a campus drug ring that could make their college journalism careers, proximity and danger spark mutual attraction, making Wyn feel disloyal to hayes6834, even as she worries that her online crush might ghost her when he finds our that she's "plus-size." Hitting pitch-perfect if predictable rom-com notes, Markum (You Wouldn't Dare) caters to die-hard genre readers in this banter-rich love story that probes online honesty and internalized anti-fatness. Parental pressures and friendship drama add classic teen vibes while a sensitively balanced portrayal of Wyn's body image elevates this journalistic-rivalry-turnedromance narrative. Main characters cue as white. Ages 14-up. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Folio Literary. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"Love, Off the Record." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 11, 18 Mar. 2024, pp. 80+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A788623139/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=850087e3. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Markum, Samantha LOVE, OFF THE RECORD McElderry (Teen None) $19.99 6, 11 ISBN: 9781665955720
A collegiate newsroom rivalry leads to romance.
Headstrong Ãowyn "Wyn" Evans is set on landing a staff position on her college newspaper, a step toward one day winning a Pulitzer Prize. Her nemesis and fellow freshman intern, the handsome, privileged, frat pledge Nathaniel "Three" Wellborn III, is equally determined to get the reporter role. (Readers met Three in Markum's 2022 novel, This May End Badly, but this work stands alone.) The race is on--and Wyn won't let classes or a miserable campus job stand in the way. When a drug scandal rocks Wyn's dorm, she pivots from breaking news to human interest with help from her supportive suitemates, Dara and Madison, and the anonymous guy she chats with on a campus dating app. Even as they acquire more bylines, the fiery chemistry between the two intrepid journalists grows. Wyn's first-person narration refreshingly navigates body positivity and the mental health challenges many young people experience. Other topical subjects, such as dating, drugs, race, and class, are thoughtfully navigated if not wholly explored. The zippy momentum of the narrative occasionally renders callbacks to subplots and minor characters difficult to follow, although some supporting characters, such as Wyn's lovably cringe parents, are well developed. Comedic hijinks and campus encounters keep the romantic tension simmering throughout, and message exchanges via the dating app provide nuanced character development that makes the ultimate reveal doubly rewarding. Main characters are cued white.
A headline-worthy romance that addresses topical subjects with gravity and gaiety. (author's note) (Romance. 14-18)
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"Markum, Samantha: LOVE, OFF THE RECORD." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789814713/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3ee6cfcc. Accessed 2 May 2024.