• Age: 13 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12

Perfect for fans of Mason Deaver and Becky Albertalli, this tender, raucous novel follows a rule-following, perfectionist teen who starts an underground GSA club at her conservative Catholic high school, from the acclaimed author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens.

Cassie Perera is a star student in St. Luke's junior class. But the new school year brings an unwelcome surprise—the return to St. Luke's of Cassie's former friend, Ben, who left a few years ago after a homophobic bullying incident Cassie knows she didn't do enough to prevent.

Still harboring guilt from her inaction, Cassie decides, in her usual, overzealous way, to team up with the neighboring public school to found an underground Gender and Sexuality Alliance—as a complicated strategy for making things up to Ben. Secretly, Cassie is also tempted by the possibility of opening up about her own sexuality for the first time.

As Cassie’s new friends urge her out of her comfort zone, she unlocks a kind of joy and freedom she’s never felt before—even as she struggles to balance these experiences with her typical tightrope of being the perfect daughter, student, and Catholic.

Cassie’s perfectly curated life unravels into turmoil, but can she embrace the mess enough to piece together something new?

Tanya Boteju is a teacher and writer living on unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver, British Columbia). Part-time, she teaches English to clever and sassy young people. The rest of her time, she writes and procrastinates from writing. Her novel, Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens was named a Top Ten Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association, as well as selected for the American Librarian Association 2020 Rainbow List. Her work appears in the anthology Out Now and her latest young adult novel, Bruised, has been selected as a Gold Standard book by the Junior Library Guild. In both teaching and writing, she is committed to positive, diverse representation. Visit her at TanyaBoteju.com.

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“Complex, gorgeous, and true, Messy Perfect lives up to its name. I loved it.” — Elana K. Arnold, award-winning author of Damsel

A very enjoyable novel that also conveys an important message: that no young person should have to choose between different parts of themselves and that, in the words of the main character, you should be able to be religious and queer and still be happy. This moving and heartwarming book is also a love letter to GSAs, by a writer who truly sees and understands the work so many students are doing to make their schools safer and more accepting for everyone. — Robin Stevenson, award-winning author of Queer History A–Z and Pride Puppy

Messy Perfect is a recipe of all the right things—one tightly wound Catholic school student, one estranged friend she really needs to impress, an underground GSA, the cutest gang of kids you ever did meet, some delightful guerilla tactics (hint: rainbow boas on statues of saints!) a generous helping of sprinkles, sparkles and just the right amount of rom com-ness! Way more perfect than messy—only adorable bits of messiness. It’s about accepting and affirming yourself, and how amazing it feels when you find your people. Boteju is such a gentle creator. The kind of YA writer who really knows what she’s talking about and, more importantly, knows how to write it. Her stories are for young people, not to young people. They are everyday magic from start to finish. — katherena vermette, author of A Girl Called Echo