The Fall of Whit Rivera
Could you plan the senior Fall Formal with your (hot) nemesis?
Whit Rivera’s about to find out.
Frenemies Whit and Zay have been at odds for years (ever since he broke up with her freshman year in, like, the most embarrassing way imaginable), but when they're forced to organize their high school's Fall Formal together, everything changes.
Has their friction been a big misunderstanding all along?
Blisteringly funny and profoundly well-observed, The Fall of Whit Rivera is a snug and cozy autumn romcom that also touches on weighty issues like PCOS, grief, Dis/ability, sexuality, and class.
Funny, honest, insightful, romantic, and poignant, it is Classic Crystal Maldonado—and it will have readers absolutely swooning. This is the book equivalent of a hot mug of cinnamon tea, a soft red scarf, and a fresh apple-cider muffin. Pumpkin spice lattes for everybody!
Praise for The Fall of Whit Rivera
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
★ "Meaningful. . . Multidimensional. . . An important addition to YA literature."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A celebration of love in all its forms—family, friends, romance, and (especially!) self. Whit Rivera's wry, optimistic voice will linger happily in your mind long after you turn the last page."—Monica Gomez-Hira, author of Once Upon a Quinceañera
"Satisfying and delightful... Maldonado shines!"—Kelly Jensen, editor and author of (Don't) Call Me Crazy, Body Talk, and Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World
"A pumpkin-spice-latte-flavored treat. . . ."—PEOPLE Magazine
"Maldonado wraps this sweet romance in a satisfying story of self-acceptance, surrounding Whit with a fully realized cast of family and friends. Readers will swoon as they watch Whit and Zay fall for each other, but they'll love watching Whit fall in love with herself even more."—Booklist
"Vivid prose by Maldonado (No Filter and Other Lies), paired with ample romantic and lighthearted antics, aids in levying serious interrogations of anti-fatness, chronic illness, and medical gaslighting, making for a compassionate and cozy read."—Publishers Weekly
Camp Sylvania: Moon Madness
From Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’, and acclaimed coauthor Crystal Maldonado comes the sequel to the hilarious and creepy middle grade summer-camp story—this time featuring werewolves!
Last year, Maggie and Nora didn’t exactly get the summer of their dreams. Instead, they had to survive a camp run by a covert clan of vampires. But this year, Camp Sylvania is back and under new management—gentle, hippie-dippie Luna Lupowski. So the girls are convinced to give camp another try.
All Nora wants is an unforgettable experience with her best friend. But it’s hard to have fun with Maggie fixated on all things otherworldly—and spending time with Logan, the boy she met at camp last year.
When creepy things start happening, Maggie insists on investigating. But Nora has found an interest of her own—the strange effects of Luna’s homemade “moon water.” It removes zits, adds lustrous shine to hair, and even seems to straighten teeth! No braces? No problem!
It isn’t long before the girls are caught up in another supernatural adventure. But when their friends find themselves in danger, can Maggie and Nora put their differences aside to save them? Is it possible to just have one normal summer, please?
No Filter and Other Lies
You should know, right now, that I’m a liar.
They’re usually little lies. Tiny lies. Baby lies. Not so much lies as lie adjacent.
But they’re still lies.
Twenty-one-year-old Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and a glittering life filled with adventure. With tons of followers on Instagram, her picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.
Except it’s all fake.
Max is actually 17-year-old Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic teenager living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous in her existence - just sprawl, bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of dealing with her best friend Hari’s unrequited love. But while Kat’s life is far from perfect, she thrives as Max: doling out advice, sharing beautiful photos, networking with famous influencers, even making a real friend in a follower named Elena. The closer Elena and “Max” get - texting, Snapping, and even calling - the more Kat feels she has to keep up the façade.
But when one of Max’s posts goes ultra-viral and gets back to the very person she’s been stealing photos from, her entire world - real and fake - comes crashing down around her. She has to figure out a way to get herself out of the huge web of lies she’s created without hurting the people she loves.
But it might already be too late.
Praise for No Filter and Other Lies
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Seventeen Magazine Best Young Adult Book Arriving in 2022
A POPSUGAR Best New YA Novel of 2022
A Nerdist Most Anticipated Book of 2022
★ “Maldonado (Fat Chance, Charlie Vega) once again displays her gift for portraying complex family dynamics and layered interiority in this bighearted sophomore novel. . . . Maldonado’s writing has a warm and relatable feel, full of insight regarding societal expectations, accountability, and the need to belong within one’s own family and the wider world. An ultrasmart contemporary that fully understands what teens face in today’s social media–obsessed landscape.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Maldonado’s willingness to let Kat be unlikable at times and to embrace a bittersweet and complicated ending highlights the need for nuance and grace in the stories we tell about ourselves and others. … As with social media, the real story here requires digging beneath the surface, and it richly rewards the effort.”—Kirkus Reviews
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.
Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.
Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.
People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.
But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing—he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?
Because it's time people did.
A sensitive, funny, and painfully honest coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.
“A sweet and cheerful debut, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega moves with rom-com energy and a whole lot of awkward, goofy, chubby-girl-with-a-crush-on-a-boy vibes.” — Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath and Marvel’s America
Praise for Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
2021 New England Book Award Winner
Kirkus Reviews Best YA Book of 2021
NPR Best Book of 2021
Latinxs in Publishing Best Books of 2021
Business Insider Best Young Adult Romance Book to Read in 2021
An Amazon Best Children’s Books of 2021 So Far
A POPSUGAR Best New YA Novel of 2021
A 2022 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
A Cosmopolitan Best New Book of Winter 2020
★ "Charlie's struggles are authentic and raw while Maldonado's bright prose makes for a page-turner. . . . An overdue and welcome ingénue."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"Charlie's emotional arc hits all the right notes, resulting in a warm and insightful coming-of-age tale."—Publishers Weekly
"Sweet and sincere, Charlie Vega's journey is a delight."—School Library Journal
"Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is an accomplished debut, and its nuanced depictions of first love, a complex mother-daughter relationship and fat acceptance make it stand out." —BookPage
"With a memorable cast that brings fresh faces and voices to a typically homogenous genre, this title focuses on the positives of the often difficult and confusing high-school experience: genuine friendships and allies, powerful first crushes, and discovering oneself. . . . Charlie’s optimistic outlook, despite the challenges that come with her identity, will attract a widespread audience of romance lovers and expand their idea of what a romantic lead can look like." —Booklist
"We're so excited to get our hands on it."—Buzzfeed
"Readers will appreciate Charlie from the get-go and rejoice when she herself begins to see the Charlie-celebrating light."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is an utterly heartwarming story of love--of friends, of family, of romance and, most importantly, of oneself."—Shelf Awareness
"Issues of body positivity and racial and gender identity are dealt with in a light, positive, and totally engrossing manner. This novel is perfect for fans of Julie Murphy's Dumplin' (Balzer + Bray 2015) and for any reader who struggles with feeling like they are 'not enough.'"—School Library Connection
“This book feels like your best friend giving you a hug—it’s warm and sweet and healing.” — Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best and The Ghosts We Keep