For her consideration

Spalding makes her adult debut (after the YA No Boy Summer) with a sweet, queer contemporary that gives equal weight to familial and platonic love as to the central romance. Nina Rice works for a Hollywood talent agency through which she meets and starts to date up-and-coming queer actor Ari Fox. Despite the glossy L.A. setting, the ensuing love story feels like small-town romance because of Spalding's focus on the cozy local spots familiar to Nina's close-knit community. The warmth and comfort of familiarity pervade as the women go on dates and spend time with Nina's friends and family, especially her beloved aunt Lorna. The conflict feels similarly low-key: due to a bad past relationship, Nina fears that she is "toxic"--when really she just needs therapy, something it takes her hip 30-something friends perhaps an unbelievable amount of time to suggest. Even so, the steady support of Nina's chosen family alongside the seemingly inevitable romance with Ari make this a cozy comfort-read. Agent: Kate Testerman, KT Literary. (Mar.)

Nina Rice moved to Los Angeles to be a writer, and technically she is: she works for a talent agency, answering emails in the voices of their celebrity clients. One of those clients, Ari Fox, is positioned to be the first out queer performer to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (in a present-day world without Angelina Jolie or Ariana DeBose). Nina and Ari start spending time together so that Nina can better mimic Ari's voice, and they become fast friends. Their romance, when it takes off, is passionate, but it's only a piece of Nina's larger journey as she untangles a tough breakup from years earlier. Spalding focuses on Nina's broadly-creative friend group, rather than Ari's Hollywood scene and depicts a comfortable world. Nina's career worries are cushioned by an emotionally and financially supportive aunt, and Ari is depicted as groundbreaking in a generally heteronormative, but not overtly hostile, media landscape. VERDICT YA novelist Spalding's (We Used To Be Friends) adult debut is an optimistic, empathetic choice for readers, which highlights queer women pursuing creative careers and showcases a strong emotional growth arc.--Katelyn Browne