I Kissed Alice

by Anna Birch, Victoria Ying (Illustrator)

Overview

"Rivals-to-lovers, mistaken identity, and slow, slow burn... A loving homage to fandom and queer girls."
—Victoria Lee, author of The Fever King

For fans of Leah on the Offbeat and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Anna Birch's I Kissed Alice is a romantic comedy about enemies, lovers, and everything in between.

Rhodes and Iliana couldn't be more different, but that's not why they hate each other.

Rhodes, a gifted artist, has always excelled at Alabama’s Conservatory of the Arts (until she’s hit with a secret bout of creator’s block), while Iliana, a transfer student, tries to outshine everyone with her intense, competitive work ethic. Since only one of them can get the coveted Capstone scholarship, the competition between them is fierce.

They both escape the pressure on a fanfic site where they are unknowingly collaborating on a webcomic. And despite being worst enemies in real life, their anonymous online identities I-Kissed-Alice and Curious-in-Cheshire are starting to like each other... a lot. When the truth comes out, will they destroy each other's future?

An Imprint Book

"The swoony queer romcom of my heart... Pitch-perfect."
—Rachel Hawkins, New York Times-bestselling author of Prince Charming and Her Royal Highness

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250792068
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	05/18/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	133,420
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Anna Birch was born 'n' raised in a rural area on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. She traded thick forests and dirt roads for the heart of the city, where she lives now with her husband, three children, and dog. She loves knitting, brie, and hanging out with her family. I Kissed Alice is her debut novel.

Victoria Ying is an author and artist living in Los Angeles. She started her career in the arts by falling in love with comic books, which eventually turned into a career working in animation and graphic novels. Her film credits include Frozen, Moana, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and Paperman. She the illustrator of the DC Comics graphic novel Diana: Princess of the Amazons and the author and illustrator of her original graphic novel City of Secrets.

Editorial Reviews

06/08/2020

Through alternating chapters, the first thing readers learn about Iliana Vrionides and Rhodes Ingram is that they hate each other. Seniors at a prestigious Alabama arts high school, they have a history (Iliana blames Rhodes for the loss of Iliana’s college scholarship) and they fight over who’s closer to Sarah (Iliana’s childhood friend and Rhodes’s roommate). Both talented, they’re competing for the big Capstone Award, though Rhodes is struggling with an artistic block related to her mother’s overinvestment in her success. About the only time the two aren’t sniping is when they’re—separately—on fan fiction site Slash/Spot. Little do they know that under the cloak of usernames Curious-in-Cheshire and I-Kissed-Alice, they’re actually collaborating on a queer Alice in Wonderland comic, Hearts and Spades. As they get closer to the award announcement, things become more strained IRL, while online, Cheshire and Alice agree to meet up. Enemies-turned-lovers is a well-traveled premise, but author Birch keeps the tension high, presenting everything—love, hate, class differences, scheming mothers, backstabbing friends—at a fever pitch. Though scenes sometimes lean into melodrama, the characters’ ability to make things hard for themselves and others on the road to self-discovery makes for roller-coaster reading. Ying’s (City of Secrets) paneled illustrations of Iliana and Rhodes’s collaboration add a romantic fanfic flair. Ages 14–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Irene Goodman Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"With beauty on both a sentence and conceptual level, Birch expertly guides us through a world that makes clear the fact that we are all so much more than we present upfront." —Bitch Media

"I Kissed Alice has everything you could want in a summer YA book—romance, competition, complex friendships, discussions of class dynamics, and even beautiful illustrations" —Culturess

"The swoony queer romcom of my heart... A pitch-perfect ode to the creative process and the special magic that happens when you find someone who loves what you love. I adored it."
—Rachel Hawkins, New York Times-bestselling author of Prince Charming and Her Royal Highness

"The characters create a dynamic and compelling chemical reaction... bound to be a hit with fans of Cherie Priest's I Am Princess X and Nina LaCour’s Everything Leads to You." —Booklist, starred review

"The protagonists are alive with emotions and flaws, and their chemistry as both enemies and allies crackles off the pages... Come for the rivalry, stay for the romance." —Kirkus Reviews

"Birch keeps the tension high, presenting everything—love, hate, class differences, scheming mothers, backstabbing friends—at a fever pitch... Roller-coaster reading." —Publishers Weekly

"A delightfully fun and devastatingly romantic story with all your favorite fanfic tropes: rivals-to-lovers, mistaken identity, and slow, slow burn... A loving homage to fandom and queer girls and artistic identity."
—Victoria Lee, author of The Fever King

"Romantic and intense, I Kissed Alice explores the complicated line between love and hate and the life-altering power of changing one’s perspective. A sparkling, thought-provoking debut!"
—Ashley Herring Blake, author of Girl Made of Stars and How to Make a Wish

"If you've been on the hunt for a true enemies-to-lovers queer YA that will make your heart race and your happiness increase, then you need I Kissed Alice immediately. This book is imbued with so much to love—geeky collaboration, friendship politics, competition, secret identities—and Birch pulls it all together with a deft hand, launching herself into the YA sphere as an author to watch."
—Rachel Strolle, Teen Services Coordinator, Glenside Public Library District

From the Publisher

2020-05-16
Two art students collaborate anonymously on a queer fan comic while clashing in real life over a prestigious scholarship.

To high school senior Iliana Vrionides, the Capstone Foundation Award represents opportunities that her affluent and well-connected peers at the Alabama Conservatory of the Arts and Technology take for granted. Iliana’s determination to win the award is intensified by her desire to beat her classmate and nemesis Rhodes Ingram who, in Iliana’s eyes, exemplifies the highbrow snobbery that art competition juries favor. Iliana often vents her frustration to I-Kissed-Alice, a friend she met on fandom database Slash/Spot and with whom Iliana co-authors “Hearts and Spades,” an Alice in Wonderland fan comic. Little does she know that I-Kissed-Alice is actually Rhodes, whose struggle with depression and familial pressure to succeed has rendered her unable to create artwork for school. As the deadline for the Capstone project proposal draws near, the animosity between Iliana and Rhodes comes to a peak even as they make plans online to meet in person. With a premise based on the "secret identity" trope, this novel could have fallen into cliché. Instead, it digs into the messiness of relationships colored by personal bias and misunderstanding. The protagonists are alive with emotions and flaws, and their chemistry as both enemies and allies crackles off the pages. Iliana is white, bisexual, and fat; Rhodes is white and queer.

Come for the rivalry, stay for the romance. (Romance. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews