“I did what I was told. Now, do whatever you’re supposed to do to allow me to remember my past.” “What?” His face scrunched up. An errant bit of unruly hair fell across his forehead and tickled the point at the top of his sculpted nose. Cameras must love his symmetry and angles. “You know me, right? You know who I am? Is Nova actually my name? Have we met before? Please, I need to remember.” “I don’t know you,” he said. He didn’t know her? He had to. Her phone vibrated against her racing heart, likely another countdown warning. Task accomplished. She’d gotten him out of the subbasement. Did she need to get him out of the club for the miraculous recovery of her memories? “Why was it important I leave downstairs?” he asked. “I don’t know.” She wanted to text back “Unknown” to report her success, but, “Unknown” probably wouldn’t respond. She’d replied to the texts the moment she woke up and never got anything back. “I think we have to get out of the club. Something might be about to happen.” His head whipped to the side to search the dance floor. “I have business to attend…

Body Positive is a term I’ve been hearing a lot lately. That could be because I just wrote my first-ever #OwnVoices YA romance. It’s called CUPCAKE, and it features a teen girl named Ariel who is an amazing baker, movie addict, and a reluctant princess when she is nominated onto her high school’s Homecoming Court. She also just happens to be plus-size. That ‘just happens to be’ is actually very important to the book. When I was growing up, there weren’t a lot of stories—either in film or literature—that had characters who are plus-size, let alone ones that were happy in their own skin. Ariel (aka Cupcake) loves herself as she is. She loves her body. She’s a healthy teenager with a healthy relationship to food. That self-love, though it may waiver slightly, is the beginning and end of everything. When I sat down to write this list, I knew that there still wasn’t a lot of representation of plus-size characters—especially in YA. But I also realized that several of my favorite movies/books on this list may be body positive—but they typically feature main characters who struggle with their weight for most (if not all) of the story and are…