Meet the Authors: Jenny L. Howe with Crystal Maldonado and Alechia Dow

If you ask any of the booksellers at An Unlikely Story to list our favorite authors, you’re guaranteed to hear the name Jenny L. Howe. We all absolutely adore her, and we’re beyond excited to be hosting the launch party for her newest romantic comedy, On The Plus Side! What Not to Wear and Queer Eye meet All the Feels in this sparkling rom com in which the new guest on a popular plus-size makeover show has her style—and her love life—transformed. Jenny will be in conversation with fellow authors Crystal Maldonado and Alechia Dow. Join us for an incredible evening of book discussions, signings, and of course, cake! We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

Jenny L. Howe first started scribbling stories into black-and-white composition notebooks with neon pink pens when she was in junior high and never really stopped. In college, she decided to turn her love of books into a career by pursuing a Ph.D. in literature, where she spent the next few years studying bizarre and entertaining medieval romances. Now, as a professor, she teaches courses in college writing, literature, and children’s media. When she’s not writing and teaching, Jenny spends her time buried under puzzle pieces, cross-stitching her favorite characters, and taking too many pictures of her rescue dogs, Tucker and Dale. The Make-Up Test is her debut novel.

Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author with a lot of feelings. Her debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, is a New England Book Award winner, a Cosmopolitan Best New Book, and a POPSUGAR Best New YA Novel. Her next novel, No Filter and Other Lies, explores teenage life in the social media age—and the lies we tell to ourselves and others. By day, Crystal works in higher ed marketing, and by night, is a writer who loves Beyoncé, shopping, spending too much time on her phone, and being extra. Her work has also been published in Latina, BuzzFeed, and the Hartford Courant. She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog. Find her everywhere @crystalwrote or CrystalWrote.com.

Alechia Dow is a former pastry chef, librarian, and award-winning author of critically acclaimed YA scifi-fantasies: The Sound of Stars (a Junior Library Guild Selection and Hal Clement ALA notable), The Kindred (Locus & Ignyte finalist, Indie Next Kids January 2022 Pick, British Science Fiction Association’s Best Book for Younger Readers Nominee, Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Book of 2023), A Song of Salvation (Kirkus starred), several short anthology pieces, and middle grade stories Just a Pinch of Magic (Kirkus starred), The Cookie Crumbles and Their Just Desserts which she co-authored with Tracy Badua. When not writing, you can find her having epic dance parties with her family, baking, reading, taking teeny adventures, and exploring her local food scene.