Joya Goffney grew up in New Waverly, a small town in East Texas. In high school, she challenged herself with to-do lists full of risk-taking items like 'hug a random boy' and 'eat a cricket,' which inspired her debut novel, Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry. With a passion for Black social psychology, she moved out of the countryside to attend the University of Texas in Austin, where she still resides.
Now to the YA section of the list! This book has everything; a messy, lovable and relatable main character who's finding herself, a loyal, powerful, takes-no-shit best friend and a sexy, complicated love interest who puts in the work to be worthy of his crush. It has pace, it has drama, it has meaningful glances between its main characters. . .I could not put it down. -- Bad Form Review * Bad From Review *