New Releases by Carolyn Mackler

Because every wife deserves a happy ending. Three best friends decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process. Lauren, mother of twins, wakes up one morning to her Wife Alarm Bells sounding. She sleuths on her husband’s phone and stumbles on a dirty secret that explodes her marriage. Madeline has it all—a penthouse apartment, a perfect daughter, and no-strings-attached romps with handsome men. When she learns that she might lose her child to her ex in England, it stirs up a decades-old personal tragedy. Sophie, with too much FOMO and never enough money, obsesses over her ex-husband’s Family 2.0—all while keeping her true desires hidden, even from herself. It starts as a joke during a tipsy night out, as Lauren, Madeline, and Sophie rail against everything wives do for free. Let’s build an app that monetizes the mental load. And maybe get revenge on our exes in the process? Soon, the Wife App is born, and before long, it’s the fastest growing start-up in New York City. But then life intervenes. Love intervenes. Ex-husbands intervene. And the consequences are bigger than anything Lauren, Madeline, or Sophie could have expected. Carolyn Mackler marks her debut into adult fiction with a hilarious rollercoaster ride of revenge and redemption that is at once a send-up of modern marriage and a celebration of female friendship and love in all forms.

From award-winning Carolyn Mackler, the story of Willa, who has been living with Sensory Processing Disorder but is thrown for a BIG loop when her dad announces he''s dating Willa''s best friend''s mom. Willa likes certain things to be certain ways. Her socks have to be soft . . . and definitely can''t have irritating tags on the inside. She loves the crunch of popcorn and nachos . . . but is grossed out by the crunch of a baby carrot. And slimy foods? Those are the worst.Willa can manage all these things -- but there are some things she can''t deal with, like her father''s big news. He''s been keeping a big secret from her . . . that he''s been dating the mom of Willa''s best friend Ruby. Willa does NOT like the idea of them being together. And she does NOT like the idea of combining families. And she does NOT like the idea of her best friend becoming her sister overnight. Will she go along with all of these changes? NOT if she can help it!

"[Mackler''s] teens feel lived in to me--smart, observant, but realistic in terms of their insecurities and limitations. I particularly appreciate the candid and non-judgmental way she depicts teen sensuality and female desire . . . Much to discuss here in the age of #metoo." --Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author From Carolyn Mackler, author of the Printz Honor-winning The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, comes a story of what happens when the "happily ever after" turns out to be less than perfect. It''s been five months since sixteen-year-old Virginia Shreves thought her life was finally back on course: she has come to terms with who she is both inside and out, and she''s even started to rebuild her relationship with her older brother Byron, whose date-rape charge completely shattered everything. But just as she''s getting used to the new normal, Virginia''s world turns upside down again. Sparks with boyfriend Froggy Welsh the Fourth fade, her best friend Shannon bombshells bad news, and then the police arrest Byron. As Virginia struggles to cope, she meets Sebastian, an artist with his own baggage. The pair make a pact not to share their personal dramas. But secrets have a way of coming out, and theirs have the potential to ruin everything. In this follow-up to the acclaimed The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, Carolyn Mackler brings Virginia''s story satisfyingly full circle in a hope-filled tale of forgiveness, love, friendship, and the beauty in life''s imperfections.

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults * A YALSA Teens'' Top Ten Book * An NYPL Book for the Teen Age Carolyn Mackler''s Printz Honor book--starring the unforgettably funny, body-conscious Virginia Shreves--returns in this 15th anniversary edition featuring text updates and never-before-seen material from the author. Fifteen-year-old Virginia feels like a plus-sized black sheep in her family, especially next to her perfect big brother Byron. Not to mention her best friend has moved, leaving Virginia to navigate an awkward relationship with a boy alone. He might like her now . . . but she has her doubts about how he''ll react if he ever looks under all her layers of clothes. In order to survive, Virginia decides to follow a “Fat Girl Code of Conduct,” which works, until the unthinkable causes her family''s façade to crumble. As her world spins out of orbit, she realizes that being true to herself might be the only way back. Told in a perfect blend of humor and heart, this acclaimed Printz Honor winner resonates as much today as it did when it first published, and now features a new author foreword, text updates, and other bonus content.

The Breakfast Club meets Boyhood in this striking young adult novel from Printz Honor author Carolyn Mackler, which chronicles the lives of five teenagers through the thrills, heartbreaks, and joys of their four years in high school. "Characters live, grow, and ultimately come of age in a beautifully constructed world,” raved Kirkus in a starred review. Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney meet at freshman orientation. At the end of that first day, they make a promise to reunite after graduation. But so much can happen in those in-between years. . . . Zoe fears she will always be in her famous mother’s shadow. Jake struggles to find the right connections in friendship and in love. Mia keeps trying on new identities, looking for one that actually fits. Gregor thought he wanted to be more than just a band geek. And Whitney seems to have it all, until it’s all falling apart around her. Carolyn Mackler skillfully brings the stories of these five disparate teens together to create a distinct and cohesive whole—a novel about how we can all affect one another’s lives in the most unexpected and amazing ways. Infinite in Between received four starred reviews, was listed on several best books of the year lists, and is perfect for fans of books by Jandy Nelson, Sara Zarr, and E. Lockhart.

Printz Honor and bestselling author Carolyn Mackler brings honesty and charm to this story of a friendship between two girls. Meet Hannah. Her name is a palindrome. Her birthday is on New Year''s. She wishes she had a cat. She''s medium height and a little awkward. Her life has NOT been fun lately -- her dad and stepmom are having a baby and, worst of all, her best friend next door just moved away. Now a new girl is here, taking over her best friend''s bedroom . . . and her own identity.Meet Emme. Her name is a palindrome. Her birthday is on New Year''s. She loves her enormous orange cat. She''s so short that last week she was mistaken for a kindergartner. She''s found moving hard . . . but at least there''s the girl next door, Hannah. Maybe they''ll become friends?While Hannah and Emme are alike in so many ways, they''re also different in some wrong ways, too. Is this the perfect friendship . . . or a recipe for disaster?From award-winning writer Carolyn Mackler comes a funny, smart story about finding out who your best friends are, in good times and bad.

“A literary super-duo.”—Los Angeles Times “A clever, timely story that will attract any teen with a Facebook account.”—Booklist, starred review Josh and Emma are about to discover themselves—fifteen years in the future. It''s 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They''ve been best friends almost as long—at least, up until last November, when everything changed. Things have been awkward ever since, but when Josh''s family gets a free AOL CD-ROM in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they''re automatically logged onto Facebook . . . but Facebook hasn''t been invented yet. Josh and Emma are looking at themselves fifteen years in the future. Their spouses, careers, homes, and status updates—it''s all there. And every time they refresh their pages, their futures change. As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their lives hold, they''re forced to confront what they''re doing right—and wrong—in the present.

"Mackler’s unsentimental feel for how kids think and talk, and how they go about entering the grown-up world, makes V’s journey engrossing." -- THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOKS REVIEW Ever since V’s mom dumped her with her grandparents, she’s bounced from guy to guy. That is, until a fateful hockey puck lands her in the lap of Sam Almond, who is different from the start. But V makes an irreversible mistake at her graduation party and risks losing Sam forever, spurring her on a crosscountry road trip to visit her mom in hopes of putting two thousand miles between herself, Sam, and the wreckage of that night. With humor and compassion, Carolyn Mackler takes readers on an unforgettable ride of missed exits, misadventures, and the kind of epiphanies that come only when you’re on a route you’ve never taken before.

"Don’t miss this." –TEEN PEOPLE Mara Valentine is in control. She’s a straight-A senior, a vegan, and her parents’ pride and joy. She’s neck-and-neck with her womanizing ex-boyfriend for number-one class ranking and plans to kick his salutatorian butt on her way out the door to Yale. Mara has her remaining months in Brockport all planned out, but the plan does not include having V, her slutty, pot-smoking, sixteen-year-old niece – yes, niece – come to live with her family. Nor does it involve lusting after her boss or dreaming about grilled cheese sandwiches every night. What does a control freak like Mara do when things start spinning wildly out of control? With insight, authenticity, and a healthy dose of humor, Carolyn Mackler creates an evolving Type A heroine that every reader will recognize – and root for.

Paradise wasn''t supposed to suck. Not the state of being, but a resort in the Caribbean. Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen are all there for different reasons, but at Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Paradise will change them all. It will change Jena, whose first brush with romance takes her that much closer to having a life, and not just reading about those infinitely cooler and more exciting. It will change Dakota, who needs the devastating truth about his past to make him realize that he doesn''t have to be a jerk just because people think he''s one. It will change Skye, a heartbreakingly beautiful actress, who must come to terms with the fact that for once she has to stop playing a role or face the consequences. And it will change Owen, who has never risked anything before and who will take the leap from his online life to a real one all because of a girl he met at Paradise. . . . From confused to confident and back again, one thing''s certain: Four months after it all begins, none of them will ever be the same.

With her parents splitting up, 16-year-old Sammie Davis may not want to feel a thing, but feelings happen. For starters, she’s plenty angry. Her dad’s leaving their upstate New York home and moving clear across the country. Her mother—well, she’s packing up and relocating to New York City with Sammie, who has no say about any of it. Overnight Sammie is forced to deal with change. And one change spawns another: Roles get reversed, old and new friendships tested, and sexual feelings awakened. It’s a scary time. But as Sammie realizes that things can’t stay the same forever, that even the people she loves and trusts the most can disappoint her, she begins to accept that change isn’t always bad. It’s how you cope, jumbled feelings and all, that counts. And as she copes, Sammie’s sense of self emerges proud and strong.