Camryn Garrett was born and raised in New York. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, Time, and ZORA, among other publications, and she was named one of Teen Vogue's 21 Under 21 and a Galmour College Woman of the Year. Her first novel, Full Disclosure, received rave reviews from outlets such as EW, Today, and the Guardian, which called it "warm, funny and thoughtfully sex-positive, an impressive debut from a writer still in her teens." Her second novel, Off the Record, received three starred reviews, among other honors, and was named an ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book. Friday I'm in Love is her third novel and first rom-com. You can find Camryn online at camryngarrett.com or on Instagram and Twitter.
Mahalia Harris wants. She wants a big Sweet Sixteen, like her best friend, Naomi. She wants the super-cute new girl, Siobhan, to like her back. She wants a break from worrying—about money, snide remarks from white classmates, pitying looks from church ladies . . . all of it. Then inspiration strikes: It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if she had aa coming-out party? A singing, dancing, rainbow-cake-eating celebration of queerness on her own terms. The idea lights a fire in her, and soon Mahalia is scrimping and saving, taking on extra hours at her after-school job, trying on dresses, and awkwardly flirting with Siobhan, all in preparation for the coming-out of her dreams. But it's not long before she's buried in a mountain of bills, unfinished schoolwork, and enough drama to make her English lit teacher blush. With all that responsibility on her shoulders, Mahalia wonders if her party will be over before it's even begun. A love letter to romantic comedies, Sweet Sixteen blowouts, Black joy, and queer pride, Friday I'm in Love is a novel about finding yourself, falling in love, and celebrating what makes you you.
This indeed is an ode to rom-coms, and I loved all the fun references in it (Maid in Manhattan is one of my guilty rom-com favorites, and once Garrett referenced Diana Ross's song, it was stuck in my head the whole time while reading Friday I'm in Love). Not only does Garrett reference some of rom-coms greats, but she also crafts a story that's a joy to read because of how romantic and hilarious it is. Mahalia struggles to flirt with her crush, Siobhan, going as far as buying her a coffee to make up for a previous coffee-related blunder and drafting her a playlist full of romantic songs. Garrett shows that, as a teenager, you don't have to know exactly who you are—Mahalia knows that she's queer even if she's still exploring the specific identities, she knows that she's going to college even if she's unsure of where or what she'll major in. What Mahalia does know, though, is her voice, and she uses it to tell us her story of love and joy, of wanting to come out on her own terms, in her own romantic way. The best thing about the best rom-coms is how they're always about romance between people, but also the main character falling in love with who they are, and who they have the potential to be, and Garrett nails that with Mahalia's character.
Mahalia's story of joy is balanced out by the truth of young adulthood. The first signal of this is how, at the beginning of each chapter, Mahalia takes note of how much money is in her checking account. Trying to save for an expensive party is difficult, and Mahalia dives into the finances of her family, and how difficult it is to talk about money with your friends at that age. In fact, she almost loses her best friend over it. Money is a subject people chafe against, so I like how Garrett portrayed that side of it, while also being transparent to readers about the cost of things like Sweet Sixteen parties all the way down to favors at Target. Part of young adulthood is transitioning from not really thinking about money to seeing just how much money plays into day-to-day activities and comforts, so getting to see that from Mahalia's perspective felt like a fresh add to the genre.
While Mahalia's story is romantic and challenging, there are some parts of the narrative that are just so realistic, it feels like it came straight out of my high school experience. Mahalia feels like a real teenager, because she's a good person even if she can be a bit bratty and selfish at times. Being a teenager is just like how Garrett portrays it, which I found made Mahalia a deeply relatable character. Not only that, but you can see Mahalia chafing against the high school conversations about queerness and racism. This novel is one of joy, so it doesn't dive deep into how education systems can do better to support their students of color and their queer students and everyone in between, but it does allow a looking glass into how different students experience things differently, from things like an assembly all the way up to the books we read in classrooms. Reading Friday I'm in Love felt like a day in the life of a teenager growing up in her world, and I just loved how that made me feel both seen, and that I still had a lot to learn as an adult myself.
This is the kind of book I would have loved to read in high school and that I'm so glad exists for teenagers today. I can absolutely see this in libraries and on high school English teachers' shelves, and I hope that this book reaches a wide audience of teen readers so they can celebrate what makes them who they are as well! You can find more from Camryn Garrett online at camryngarrett.com or on Instagram and Twitter.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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