The Romantic Agenda

February 7, 2022
Kann (The Marvelous) steps out of the YA sphere with this glamorous contemporary romance, featuring another unforgettable Black asexual protagonist. Joy loves fashion, puns, her cat, and most of all, Malcolm, her boss and best friend since college. She’s sure there will never be anyone else for her—but he has his eye on Summer, and has planned an elaborate weekend getaway to impress her. There’s only one problem: Summer is bringing along her friend, and ex-boyfriend, Fox, so Malcolm asks Joy to come along too, to meet Summer and to keep Fox company. Joy is crushed but finds an ally in Fox, who doesn’t think Summer and Malcolm should be together either, and agrees that he will help Joy show Malcolm what he’s missing. But as putting on a show with Fox turns into something deeper, Joy starts to see what she’s been missing as well. Joy’s relationship with Fox is (perhaps necessarily) less intense than her devotion to Malcolm, which somewhat dulls the happy ending, but it still leaves everyone moving toward better things. The heroine is, well, a joy, and Kann admirably portrays a distinctively asexual experience of attraction, dating, and romance on a deep level. This is a love story of a different and important type. Agent: Carrie Pestritto, Laura Dail Literary.

September 1, 2022

Veteran YA author Kann (The Marvelous) makes her fiction debut for adults with this effervescent yet complex romance. Joy has been in unspoken love with Malcolm for a decade. When Malcolm invites Joy on a camping trip to meet his new love interest, she's torn between maintaining her best-friend role and an overwhelming desire to finally confess her feelings. Instead of doing either, she teams up with Malcolm's best friend Fox to make Malcolm jealous. Narrator Adrienne Walker could easily have been crushed by the weight of a love quadrangle, but she creates a delightfully unique voice for Joy that keeps every element of the story in perfect balance. Joy is by turns charming and acerbic, fond of a sarcastic quip to avoid putting any hint of vulnerability on display. Listeners will sympathize with her sensitive interior monologue and forthright discussions of dating while asexual and living with an anxiety disorder. Walker's narrations for the novel's other main characters, including bubbly Summer and grumpy Fox, are spot-on and will have listeners laughing and nodding along. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Talia Hibbert and Jasmine Guillory.--Natalie Marshall

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