On Again, Awkward Again: A Novel

Ages 13 to 18

The laugh-out-loud YA romance by two award-winning and bestselling authors, Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia, that’s perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before or When Dimple Met Rishi

When Pacy Mercado and Cecil Holloway spot each other during the first week of freshman year, it’s love at first sight. Well, more like love at first fleeting, injury-riddled glance, since the moment is ruined thanks to clumsiness and a criminal case of IBS.

Despite their total lack of game, Pacy and Cecil are drawn to each other. Seven seconds of eye contact turns into days of yearning and stress as they make the mistake of following misguided advice from their friends, dysfunctional families, and strangers on the internet.

But the universe conspires to bring Pacy and Cecil together when they both end up on the WADS committee to plan the freshman dance (that’s Wakeville’s Awesome Décor Society, if you must know).

As they spend more time together, they realize that the other person might be just what they need . . . that is, if they can figure out how to be themselves and embrace the mishaps, mistakes, and hilariously awkward interactions that make up their imperfectly perfect love story.

About the Author

Erin Entrada Kelly is a New York Times bestselling author and has won a multitude of awards for her work including the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space. She is a professor of children’s literature in the graduate fiction and publishing programs at Rosemont College, where she earned her MFA, and is on the faculty at Hamline University. She lives in Philadelphia, PA. Kwame Mbalia is a husband, father, writer, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a former pharmaceutical metrologist, and the publisher of Freedom Fire—an imprint from Disney-Hyperion, featuring stories of Black resilience and joy. His debut middle grade novel, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, was a New York Times bestseller and awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor. A Howard University graduate and a Midwesterner now in North Carolina, he survives on Dad jokes and Cheezits.