If I Was Your Girl

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If I Was Your Girl is a wonderful coming-of-age tale about a trans girl who moves to a new school and passes as cis — burdened with the possibility that discovery will destroy her new life or her chances with the boy she likes. An accessible treatment of young love from a trans perspective that immediately asserts itself as a YA classic. Recommended By Cosima C., Powells.com

Amanda, who is attending a new school, has a secret. Then she meets Grant, with whom she cannot help but begin to fall in love. This multi-award-winning novel treats an extremely sensitive and important subject with warmth and humor. Recommended By Richard C., Powells.com

The award-winning, big-hearted novel about being seen for who you really are, and a love story you can't help but root for.

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.

But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see past it.

Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love?

Meredith Russo’s If I Was Your Girl has been named:

Stonewall Book Award Winner
Walter Dean Myers Honor Book for Outstanding Children's Literature
iBooks YA Novel of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Book of the Year
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist
A Zoella Book Club Selection
A Barnes & Noble Best YA Book of the Year
A Bustle Best YA Book of the Year
An ABA IndieNext Top 10 Pick
One of Flavorwire’s 50 Books Every Modern Teenager Should Read

“A necessary, universal story about feeling different and enduring prejudices…full of love, hope, and truth.” Kirkus (Starred Review)

"If I Was Your Girl is real and raw and layered and wonderful." Alex Gino, Stonewall Award-winning author of George

“Beautiful, smart, and so urgently needed....This book is exactly what YA is for: to break ground, to break hearts, to teach us empathy, to find the universal in the specific.” Julie Buxbaum, New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things

"If I Was Your Girl is important and necessary and brave, and deeply, electrically inspiring. Read this wonderful book. Just read it." Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places

“If I Was Your Girl will change minds and open hearts.” Nina Lacour, critically acclaimed author of Everything Leads to You

"A vivid, compassionate portrait of a teen finding her place." The Washington Post

"A beautifully rendered YA novel...the first written by a transgender woman about the transgender teen experience." San Francisco Chronicle

Meredith Russo was born, raised, and lives in Tennessee. She started living as her true self in late 2013 and never looked back. If I Was Your Girl was partially inspired by her experiences as a trans woman. Like Amanda, Meredith is a gigantic nerd who spends a lot of her time obsessing over video games and Star Wars.