ONE CUP FULL OF ROMANCE
Team L&M
HarperCollins has come out with its new book Romance in My Coffee. This is the beginning of a brand-new series of themed anthologies for young adults across the world.
Love can mean more than one thing. For young adults navigating the world and attempting to understand it, love can be a tricky prospect. It can also be a minefield with all the connotations it has when it comes to friends, family and school. This book seeks to remedy this notion by presenting tales that capture the multifaceted nature of love and romance.
It contains stories from bestselling authors Jerry Pinto and Andaleeb Wajid, Meera Ganapathi and Nisha Susan, and new voices like Gankhu Sumnyan and K Vaishali besides the award-winning short story writers Riddhi Dastidar and Aravind Jayan, and the poetry of Suniti Namjoshi, the photography of Anurag Banerjee. All this makes it an unmissable anthology for every young adult.
Authorspeak
Talking about the book, Wajid says, “At 17, I was asked to draw something that represented myself. I drew a coiled mess of lines because that was how I felt. All mixed up. No idea if I was coming or going. One tug, and the mess would turn into a knot of nightmares. And everything seemed like it was the end of the world. That’s the feeling I try to convey in my YA books, and adding romance to the mix is the only thing that makes it worth going through again, even if it’s vicariously!”
Says Vaishali also shares, “In my story, I wanted to hold a mirror up to the kind of male entitlement that often masquerades as ‘romance’ today. Sometimes, the biggest tease isn’t the girl playing hard-to-get—it’s the reality check waiting for the person who thinks they already have her.
Romance in My Coffee proves that young adult love isn’t just one thing. From track-and-field crushes to non-binary love to a satisfying takedown of tired heteronormative tropes, this collection captures the full, beautiful spectrum of young adult relationships in the modern era.”
Tina Narang, Executive Publisher – HarperCollins Children’s Books India says, “The new In My Coffee anthology series was built on one simple fact—young adults love coffee. So, what if we mixed in something extra to make the coffee frothier and even more special—like romance! This first book in this exciting new series contains 10 brilliant romance-themed stories making it an invigorating brew you can’t ignore!”
Aparna Kapur, the editor of the book, adds, “Dream casting the writers and editing the stories for this anthology was such a pleasure, and I have no doubt that reading it will be equally enjoyable.
I am proud to have put together a book that respects the complex inner lives of young adults. This is a collection of stories as eclectic, honest and distinctive as its supremely talented contributors.”
