All things How You Get the Girl

Pre-orders, events, and a playlist

Hi friends! We are officially inside of February, which means How You Get the Girl releases so very soon. (The 13th, to be exact!)

If you’re interested in a signed copy, you can pre-order from Vintage Books or Annie Bloom’s (those links should take you directly to the order page—make sure you leave any personalization requests in the comments!)

(And while I know this graphic says 1/31 deadline for Annie’s, their website says 2/7, so I’d still go for it!)

I also had a couple goodies made for this one: the East High Bobcats sticker as seen above, designed by the fantastic Kelsey Bowman (and yes, apparently I did create a fictional high school both a) remarkably similar to the high school from High School Musical and b) real life high schools in Nashville, neither of which I knew as I was drafting lol) and a bookmark that features illustrations of the two pets in the novel, Snoozles the cat and Schnitzel the one-eyed dog.

These were done by Aishwarya Tandon, which was a bit special for me as Aishwarya also did the first book art I ever commissioned, for my first full-length novel, Love & Other Disasters. We love a full-circle moment!

Both the sticker and bookmark will automatically come with any book pre-ordered from Vintage or Annie Bloom’s. If you’ve pre-ordered the book from elsewhere, or requested it at your local library, I am also happy to mail them to you (including internationally), as long as my supplies last!

If that applies to you, just fill out this form. Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy Julie & Elle’s (& Vanessa’s) story. <3

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I should note that February 13th is also the release date for the UK edition, published once again by Headline Eternal!

The real question is, is the ball in Elle’s court or Julie’s? Guess what, neither of them really know! lol

I am also very excited to listen to the audiobook (also available February 13th!), which is my first full-length novel to feature dual narration! Lindsey Dorcus, who narrated Love & Other Disasters, is reading for Julie, while Gail Shalan is reading for Elle. Both of their voices just felt *perfect* for their respective characters, so I can’t wait to hear the final product.

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Some upcoming appearances

While I don’t have any immediate in-person appearances scheduled, I’ll be chatting with Christy, bookseller at Vintage Books, on release night via YouTube at 7:00 PST. Feel free to tune in live or watch later at their channel!

I also had the delight of recording a Zoom with a bunch of other authors I admire who all have books releasing in February (or just released in January). Like, LOOK at this list of authors.

We played some romance-themed games and called it Romancelandia TV, an idea I would be MORE than happy to keep going!! And we’ll launch it on YouTube on February 18th at 2PM EST. Most of us will be there in the comments to chat, do some giveaways, etc. I did, as with any single event I ever do, regret most of the things I said afterwards, but you should definitely tune in for everyone else.

I am also extremely excited to attend the Tucson Festival of Books in early March! You can view the full festival schedule here, but so far, my own schedule is thus:

• Saturday, March 9th, 10:00 - 11:00 AM: Signing at the Steamy Lit booth

• Saturday, March 9th, 4:00 PM: It’s Academic panel with Alicia Thompson, J. Vanessa Lyon, and Jo Segura

• Sunday, March 10th, 2:30 PM: Sapphic, Sapphic, Sapphic panel with J. Vanessa Lyon and Amy Spalding

• Sunday, March 10th, 4:00 PM: AMA Romance Authors panel during which I might possibly be sharing a stage with a truly incredible lineup of people

A few weeks after THAT, I will be in Nashville! And doing an event for How You Get the Girl at Parnassus Books.

Nashville has been the heart of this entire series (and How You Get the Girl takes place entirely there), so it will be really special to me to get to say goodbye to this world in the land of the Parkers and Caravalhos and Cochranes. <3

This event is free to attend but space is limited, so registration is required.

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And a playlist, before I go

It feels like the right time to share Julie & Elle’s playlist. This is a funny one, that shifted a LOT as I worked on this book. I basically needed the type of jams that would get one PUMPED UP on a basketball court while also needing the regular type of Big Feels Anita Jams to get me in romance writing mode. Which is why it includes, say, Sean Paul next to The Cranberries, or DMX alongside The Head and the Heart. I don’t know. It’s a funny one but it does definitely bring me back to writing this book, which is always a special feeling. I know I have said “special” many times in this email. One could say that I am a writer and I should be inspired to think up better adjectives, but it’s a Friday and I’m tired, and anyway, releasing a whole ding dang book series IS pretty special.

Hope you all have been taking care of yourselves however you can. My actual hope for this book release is that there’s a ceasefire before then. I don’t know if that’s a realistic hope, but hope continues to be the most revolutionary thing one can possess.

Much love,

anita