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COMING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025
Reasons to Hate Me
“Susan Metallo has the best YA voice I’ve read in years—sharp, hilarious, and heartbreakingly honest. I couldn’t put this book down.”
— Rachael Allen, A Taxonomy of Love and Harley Quinn: Redemption
“Hilariously relatable … An unflinchingly honest, uproarious, and sometimes gut-wrenching fictional account of surviving high school rumor mills and learning to trust yourself.”
— Lauren Pronger, Chapterhouse Books, Amarillo, TX
“A masterclass in wholly authentic character development, sharp, revealing dialogue, and pitch-perfect voice-driven storytelling.”
— Book Pipeline
“Smart, neurodivergent and so so funny.”
— Mara Luther, Chapter One Books Store, Hamilton, MT
A hilarious and heartfelt novel about a neurodivergent theater nerd that tackles slut-shaming, what it means to be a friend, and the power of forgiving others—and yourself.
There are countless good reasons to hate 17-year-old Jess Lanza, Stone Bridge High’s premier autistic theater nerd and Champion of Questionable Life-Choices. Unfortunately, the cyberbullies that hounded her all summer are stuck on last year’s life-ruining mistake—the one that earned Jess the title “Boyfriend-Stealing Slutbag.”
To relieve the bullies of their stale content, Jess vows to dazzle them with online posts about her own ridiculous fails and embarrassing character traits. But somehow, all of Jess’s posts circle back to her friendship with Chloe—the friendship her alleged sluttiness pulverized—and the gaping hole she left in Jess’s life. As Jess chases Chloe’s forgiveness, she must confront some of her darkest weaknesses—and darker still, the truth of what happened with Chloe’s boyfriend, a story neither of them wants to hear.
Told through a series of blog posts and short scripts, this cleverly staged and structured debut novel crackles with spot-on dialog, features a range of fully developed neurodiverse characters, and sharply evokes high school in all its hilarious and agonizing complexity.