Just as you are : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Equal parts wittyand steamy, this debut rom-com brings a healthy dose of queerness and a whole lot ofspiritto a Pride and Prejudice -inspired enemies-to-lovers romance.

"Brims with heart, spice, and humor."-Ashley Herring Blake,author of Delilah Green Doesn't Care
" The L Word, but better."-TJ Alexander,author of Chef's Kiss
"A juicy sapphic romp; sweet, sexy, and tender in all the right ways."-Gabrielle Korn,author of Everybody (Else) Is Perfect

One of Library Journal 's Best Romance Books of the Year (So Far)

The only thing worse than hating your boss? Being attracted to her.

Liz Baker and her three roommates work at the Nether Fields, a queer magazine in New York that's on the verge of shutting down-until it's bought at the last minute by two wealthy lesbians. Liz knows she's lucky to still have a paycheck but it's hard to feel grateful with minority investor Daria Fitzgerald slashing budgets, cancelling bagel Fridays, and password protecting the color printer to prevent "frivolous use." When Liz overhears Daria scoffing at her listicles, she knows that it's only a matter of time before her impulsive mouth gets herself fired.

But as Liz and Daria wind up having to spend more and more time together, Liz starts to see a softer side to Daria-she's funny, thoughtful, and likes the way Liz's gender presentation varies between butch and femme. Despite the evidence that Liz can't trust her, it's hard to keep hating Daria-and even harder to resist the chemistry between them.

This page-turning, sexy, and delightfully funny rom-com celebrates queer culture, chosen family, and falling in love against your better judgment.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

1 Everyone knows that when you throw a dinner party for a bunch of lesbians, at least half of them will be vegan. Which, unfortunately, was why Liz was going to be brutally murdered by her roommate. Liz paused outside her apartment door, still panting from her sprint through Crown Heights to their third-floor walk-up. The weekend train from Manhattan had been agonizingly slow, and then she'd had to push through a million people on Franklin Avenue to get home: a crowd of parents waiting outside the karate studio, a line of couples outside the trendy pop-up restaurant, a large family barbecuing on the sidewalk, and dozens of people walking tiny, slow-moving dogs. Liz said a quick mental prayer that Jane would be in a forgiving mood. Tonight's party was going to be tense enough without them fighting, too. Then she flung open the front door as dramatically as possible. "I'm the worst," she said between breaths, bending over and grabbing her knees. "I know it. You don't have to say it. You can have my firstborn child as repayment." Jane, a dark-skinned Black woman with her hair in long, thin braids, let out a loud humph noise from the kitchen, where she was shaking a pan of what seemed to be sizzling onions. "You were supposed to be here two hours ago." Jane released the pan without looking up and yanked open the oven with a clang. "No," Liz said, unlacing her Doc Martens and leaving them in the pile of shoes by the door. "I was supposed to be here an hour ago. Not two. You look great, by the way. And wow, it smells amazing in here! Is that risotto?" "I said four." Jane pulled out a tray of mini-quiches and laid them on the stove. She still hadn't looked at Liz. "It's six." "But we all know that you said four knowing I'd be an hour late and get home at five. So, really, I'm only an hour late." Liz eased herself onto one of the stools on the other side of the breakfast bar, which was covered in a truly impressive number of onion skins. "Which would have been helpful if it had worked." Jane's voice was clipped. "Now there's not enough time to steam the beets." "Luckily I've solved that particular problem for you," Liz said, trying to sound optimistic, "by not bringing beets." She started cleaning up the onion skins so she would look helpful. Jane finally turned around. "Are you serious?" Liz did her best puppy dog eyes. "The store was closed by the time I got there." Jane clanged a lid down on a pot with more force than usual. "I'm going to tell everyone it's your fault that we don't have any vegan food." "No!" Liz abandoned the onion skins to clasp her hands together and beg. "Please. Charlotte will make me watch those videos on animal cruelty again, and I really can't take that tonight. I'm fragile, okay?" Jane glared down at the onions, now caramelized, as she transferred them to a platter. Liz studied her, worried that her roommate might actually be mad. "Look, Jane, I'm really sorry," Liz said, in a serious tone this time. "You're right. I should have been back here, I should have gotten beets, it's just--" Jane started cackling. She uncovered one of the pots in front of her and tipped it toward Liz so she could see the perfectly steamed beets inside. "Katie!" Jane yelled. "I owe you ten bucks." There was a triumphant scream from behind them. One of the doors in the living room opened and their roommate Katie popped her head out of her bedroom. "I knew it," Katie shouted, running into the kitchen wearing nothing but a lime-green towel. "Liz is the queen of five-hour dates. I knew there was no way she'd be back in time to get beets." "I am not the--" "Wait, wait," Jane interrupted. "Was it a Tinder date, a Her date, or a Lex date?" Liz froze mid-sentence and narrowed her eyes. "Why?" "No reason," Jane said innocently. Katie giggled. Liz crossed her arms and peered suspiciously between her roommates. "Her," she finally admitted. "Yes!" Jane pumped her fist. Katie booed. "Okay, okay," Katie said. "That's five bucks off your tab. But you still owe me fifteen from that night at Scissors, when you thought Liz would go home with that drag king and I bet that she'd chicken out." "Will you stop betting on my life?" Liz went back to gathering the onion skins. "Also, I did not chicken out." "You really did," Jane said, patting her shoulder. "He was so hot, and you totally blew it." "How did the date go, by the way?" Katie sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar, putting severe strain on her towel's ability to cover her body. Katie was on the curvy side, which made her the only one of the roommates whose pants Liz could borrow on a regular basis. She had warm-brown skin, and her curly hair was usually styled up to show off her undercut, when it wasn't still dripping from the shower. Liz groaned, then went to the fridge. "Terrible," she said. She got herself a pineapple White Claw, then handed a blackberry to Katie and a mango to Jane. "Why are all of the dates you go on terrible?" Jane said. "You need to be better at filtering out weirdos." "What happened?" Katie asked. Liz opened her drink and took a long sip before answering. "I thought we were getting along. Then, at the end of the date, she said she's sorry, but she just doesn't think she can date a Leo right now." Jane and Katie made identical sympathetic expressions, which only confirmed the suspicion that had crept into Liz's brain about halfway through her subway ride home: Her date had just been letting her down easy. "Well, personally, I think you're dodging a bullet." Jane turned off the burners on the stove and joined them at the breakfast bar. "Astrology people are always weird. Remember that girl who told you that your souls had connected in a past life?" Liz made a face. "True. That was creepy." "Aww," Katie said. "I thought that was kind of romantic." "Why? Do you feel like your soul and Lydia's connected in a former life?" Katie looked down, twisting the pull tab off her can, and didn't reply. Liz wished she hadn't said anything--teasing Katie about her unrequited love for Lydia, their fourth roommate, felt too mean. "Sorry, Katie," Liz said. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm just in a bad mood because I've been on, like, forty failed dates this year. Forgive me?" "It's okay," Katie said. "At least you've been on dates. I haven't redownloaded Tinder since that guy told me Dominican girls 'just taste better.' " She rolled her eyes and then laughed. Liz laughed along, grateful for her friend's easy forgiveness. She promised herself for the hundredth time that she was going to think before speaking from now on. "How bad do you think this party is going to be tonight?" Liz said. "I mean, the food's going to be fantastic," Jane gestured over her shoulder toward the stove. "But everyone's going to be depressed and sulky during the first half, then get wildly drunk and self-destructive in the second." "I guess there's not really any other way for a 'you're all going to be unemployed next week' party to go," Liz said. All four roommates worked at the Nether Fields, a magazine for queer women, nonbinary people, and trans people. Living with three of her coworkers had originally sounded like fun, but now that they were all losing their salaries at the same time, Liz had to admit there were some flaws in the plan. Jane sighed. "I just can't believe the magazine is really closing," she said, shaking her head. "I wanted to stay there forever. I mean, focusing specifically on trans issues at an all-queer magazine run by a woman of color? It's the literal dream." "You're an incredible journalist, Jane," Katie said. " BuzzFeed or Autostraddle or somewhere will snatch you up, and you'll be totally fine." "Yeah, but it won't be the same." Jane looked like she might cry. Excerpted from Just As You Are: A Novel by Camille Kellogg All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Pride and Prejudice meets the New York City queer publishing scene in Kellogg's debut. Liz Baker is a sex and relationships writer at the struggling queer online magazine The Nether Fields, but writing quizzes and sex toy reviews is no longer as interesting to her as it used to be. Plus she hasn't had a successful date in a year. When The Nether Fields is saved from closure by last-minute buyers, Bailey Cox and Daria Fitzgerald, Liz clashes immediately with the surly, suited Daria, who thinks Liz is nothing but a frivolous fluff writer and that the magazine is doomed to failure. Despite their conflict, however, Daria and Liz soon discover that they have more chemistry (and more in common) than they ever expected. Kellogg has written a sincere, funny book that successfully uses Jane Austen's characters and plot as a means to explore queer identity, gender expression, and the intersection of admiration and attraction. VERDICT Will charm readers looking for a queer spin on Pride and Prejudice and relatable stories about finding one's place in the world.--Sierra Wilson

Publishers Weekly Review

Kellogg debuts with a cute but somewhat gimmicky lesbian retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day New York City. Liz Baker and her three roommates all work for The Nether Fields, a queer magazine on the verge of shutting down--until it's bought by two wealthy Smith College graduates, Bailey Cox and Daria Fitzgerald. From there, Kellogg sticks to Austen's script to the letter: Liz and Daria loathe each other until they gradually prove each other's initial assumptions wrong and fall in love almost without noticing. It can be frustrating to watch the characters follow their predetermined paths, especially when the plot demands that the updated characters make choices that feel unmotivated in order to fit the beats of the original. But Kellogg anticipates her own detractors: Liz, who dreams of writing a novel, makes an argument for the existence of this book in a conversation with her best friend, Jane, in which they decide that writing "fluff" can be a worthy pursuit. That's all this sweet romance wants to be, and as pure fluff it works just fine. Agent: Jessica Alvarez, BookEnds. (Apr.)

Booklist Review

Liz and her three roommates, Jane, Lydia, and Katie, all work at Nether Fields, a magazine for queer women, nonbinary people, and trans people, and each roommate has their own responsibilities and varying degrees of success. When new owners acquire the financially struggling magazine, Liz regrets her lost chance to focus on her fiction writing. When she meets one of the new owners, Daria feels like it might be the worst--or best--experience of her life. Could their spark become a flame? Debut romance novelist Kellogg cleverly and subtly mixes aspects of Pride and Prejudice and Sex in the City as she charts the bumpy path Liz and Daria find themselves on. The result is a solid rom-com with lots of witty pop-culture references and a full cast of LGBTQ+ characters representing different identities and experiences. The Q & A with the author and reading group guide are useful additions. Kellogg's first romance seems like a natural starter for a series of novels and perhaps even a screen adaptation.

Kirkus Book Review

A queer debut rom-com in which a magazine's sex-advice columnist and the woman in charge of cutting costs frequently butt heads and fight their attraction. Liz Baker works as a relationship and sex-advice columnist for Nether Fields, "a magazine for queer women, nonbinary people, and trans people," but receives the bittersweet news that the publication is being shut down. She's sad to see Nether Fields close, though the severance money will allow her to keep writing full time. Then the magazine is saved at the eleventh hour, purchased by Manhattan real estate agent Bailey Cox and her more cutthroat business partner, Daria Fitzgerald. Though Bailey is a fan of the magazine and wants to see it succeed, Daria is more concerned with finding expenses to cut. Liz's first impression of Daria is a bad one--she overhears Daria insulting the magazine to Bailey, specifically mentioning some of Liz's articles. Things only gets worse as Daria slashes popular office perks. On the other hand, Liz is powerfully attracted to Daria, though Daria treads (and often fails to tread) the line between curt and mean. The power balance between them is also a problem, especially as Daria makes it clear that Liz will be the first to go once departments start downsizing. The romance is slow to develop, as Daria's and Liz's snap judgments about each other often stunt meaningful conversations. They eventually get there, realizing how wrong their initial assumptions were, but readers may tap out well before then. The supportive and diverse queer community that serves as the backdrop to the romance is the most compelling thing about this book. While the insertion of queer celebrities and pop culture into the narrative quickly identifies the characters as being very much plugged into online spaces and media, it winds up overloading the romance. Where the relationship falters, though, the setting of Nether Fields and its devoted staff shines. A wonderful cast is squandered by a downright antagonistic romance. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Camille Kellogg is a queer writer based in New York City, where she works as an editor for children's and young adult books. She studied English and creative writing at Middlebury College and attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference on a fiction scholarship. She's passionate about queer stories, cute dogs, and bad puns.