Audre & Bash Are Just Friends

by Tia Williams

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

With chemistry that seeps off the page and tangible sparks, this is an electric love connection starring two students who can't help but be more than friends.

An INSTANT New York Times Bestseller!

Scorching-hot summer. Scorching-hot chemistry. Two teens can’t forget they’re just friends in this sweet, funny, electrifying romance from New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams. Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Nicola Yoon.
 
MEET AUDRE. Junior class president. Debate team captain. Unofficial student therapist. Desperately in need of a good time.
 
MEET BASH. Mysterious new senior. Everybody’s crush. Tall, floppy, great taste in jewelry. King of having a good time.
 
It’s the last day of school at Cheshire Prep, Brooklyn’s elite academy—and Audre Mercy-Moore’s life is a mess. Her dad cancelled her annual summer visit to his Malibu beach house. Now? She’s stuck in a claustrophobic apartment with her mom, stepdad, and one-year-old sister (aka the Goblin Baby).
 
Under these conditions, she’ll never finish writing her self-help book—ie, the key to winning over Stanford’s admissions board.
 
Cut to Bash Henry! Audre hires him to be her “fun consultant.” His job? To help her complete the Experience Challenge—her list of five wild dares designed to give her juicy book material. She’ll get inspo; he’ll get paid. Everybody wins.
 
He isn’t boyfriend material. And she’s not looking for one. Can they stay professional despite their obvious connection?
 
Fun fact: Audre Mercy-Moore first appeared in the New York Times bestseller Seven Days in June and now stars in her own story!
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316511087
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tia Williams had a fifteen-year career as a beauty editor for magazines including Elle, Glamour, Teen People, and Essence. In 2004, she pioneered the beauty blog industry with her site Shake Your Beauty. She’s the author of The Accidental Diva, the It Chicks series, and The Perfect Find—now a Netflix film starring Gabrielle Union. Her novel Seven Days in June was an instant New York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick. A TV series adaptation is in development with Will Packer Productions. Her latest bestselling novel, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde, was named one of the year’s best romances by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon. Tia lives with her family in Brooklyn. She invites you to connect with her at tiawilliams.net.
 

Editorial Reviews

An INSTANT National Bestseller! 
An Indie Next Pick

“A heart-melting story of self-acceptance and self-actualization.”
 —Kirkus Reviews

“The dialogue is quick (think Gilmore Girls), the characters and setting give Gossip Girl vibes, and Audre and Bash have a delightfully epic romance.”—Booklist

“Laugh-out-loud humor sparkles throughout…A good choice for teens looking for a summer rom-com that has a bit of depth.”—School Library Journal

“A companion to Williams’ adult novel Seven Days in June, which focused on Audre’s mom’s love story, this time Audre takes the center stage [as] a charmingly relatable protagonist. The addition of Bash makes for palpable romantic tension but also adds enough character twists to prove…that nothing is what it seems.”—BCCB

"Audre and Bash are first love at its finest. I adored their love story! It’s full of butterflies, yearning, joy, angst, discovery, confusion, and sheer perfection."—Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author of Flirting Lessons

“Five stars for Audre and Bash Are Just Friends.…I loved this funny yet sweet story.”—Meg Cabot, bestselling author of The Princess Diaries series

“Blossoming love, blazing chemistry, a buzzy Brooklyn summer adventure paired with Tia Williams’ signature wit and dreamy prose make her debut YA romance your next favorite thing! Tia has done it again!”—Kennedy Ryan, New York Times bestselling author of Can’t Get Enough

“You can't help but adore Audre and Bash and the spark between them. Audre and Bash Are Just Friends was such a delightful read and you'll definitely find yourself laughing and kicking your feet as you dive into their adventure. The writing is filled with so much love and care, making it the perfect romance story. This is hands down the YA romance of the year!”—Anika Hussain, author of This is How You Fall in Love

“As the summer months heat up so does the spark between Audre & Bash, full of summer fun romp and first love. Tia fans will be cheering our anti-romantic heroine on as she finds her happily ever after in this super charming young adult romance!” —Ebony LaDelle, author of This Could Be Forever

"A giddy, warm read that's as sweet and all-consuming as your first love - I was so happy to hang out with my favourite book niece Audre again! Smart, ambitious (precocious) girls deserve that soft gooey love too, and I thank Tia Williams for reminding us of that time and time again, in her funny, romantic, swoony hands."—Bolu Babalola, author of Love in Colour

From the Publisher

05/01/2025

Gr 9 Up—Audre cannot wait for "Dadifornia," the time she spends living with her father in California every year. Dadifornia means Malibu beach, peace and quiet, and a summer internship at a therapist's office. But when her father abruptly cancels the visit, Audre finds herself stuck in Brooklyn for the summer. Desperate to find a new way to make her college application to Stanford stick out, Audre decides to write a self-help book for teens. The problem is that she's lacking in the "typical teen experiences" department, so she enlists the help of Bash, a mysterious newcomer to the Brooklyn private school scene who is reportedly down for anything. Audre is certain that Bash can help her break out of her comfort zone and live life on the wild side. But what is Bash hiding? And can the two really remain just friends? Brooklyn comes alive as Audre and Bash seek thrills throughout the city, but above all, this story is heavily character-driven. Teens will be drawn in by Audre's abundant relationship turmoil, from struggling to figure out her role in her family since the birth of her half-sister, to navigating her crush on Bash and frequent spats with her best friend, Reshma. Audre and Bash model good mental health practices as they work to overcome their respective traumas. Laugh-out-loud humor sparkles throughout the drama, keeping the overall mood bright despite its serious themes. Audre is Black, while Bash is biracial Black and white. VERDICT A good choice for teens looking for a summer rom-com that has a bit of depth.—Chelsey Masterson

School Library Journal

2025-02-15
A 16-year-old Black Type A overachiever enlists the help of a free spirit to unlock a truer version of herself.

Audre is a budding therapist who’s dreaming of escaping Brooklyn to stay in Malibu Beach with her father for the summer—Dadifornia is the highlight of her year. Her close relationship with her mother (who first appeared in Williams’ 2021 novel for adults,Seven Days in June) is unraveling, and Audre feels displaced thanks to a new baby sister and stepfather and ongoing home renovations. But her summer plans implode when her father cancels her trip to California because his wife is having pregnancy complications. Forced to re-evaluate everything, Audre decides to write a teen self-help book to help her get into Stanford. When she struggles to come up with original ideas, her best friend, Reshma, tells anxious, awkward Audre that she needs to live a bit more. Reshma creates an Experience Challenge for Audre, and the girls agree that Bash Henry would be a perfect “fun consultant.” Recent Hillcrest Prep graduate Bash is a track star from California with dysfunctional parents (a white mother and Black father), who’s intrigued by the prospect of helping Audre. The teens’ mental health awareness is realistically portrayed, and their romance provides a nice counterbalance to the narrative’s more serious themes. Readers will resonate with the well-developed relationship dynamics among the central and peripheral characters.

A heart-melting story of self-acceptance and self-actualization.(Romance. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews