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Back The Romantic Agenda Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Acknowledgments
  34. Readers Guide
  35. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  36. About the Author
  37. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Wait, wait.” She sniffles, wiping her tears. “I never learned how to be in a relationship with someone because I didn’t want to. And I’m scared because I want to try. I want to try so bad it almost hurts. I want to find out, and I want to find out with you.”

Fox smiles in a way that Joy has never seen before. It’s his best one yet—his biggest, his brightest, his supernova.

And it’s only for Joy.

Acknowledgments

I never thought I’d write a book like this again.

I promised myself I wouldn’t because it’s too painful, both while writing and post-publication.

But then, I got an idea and after a few false starts I found Joy. I guess it’s true what they say about promises after all.

I’d like to thank my agent, Carrie Pestritto; my editor, Kristine Swartz; the cover designer, Rita Frangie; Alex Cabal for illustrating such a wonderful cover; and the entire pub team at Berkley. I guess it’s true what they say about dreams too.

A special thank-you to Anna S. for keeping me on the up and up, and for reading my rough drafts with unparalleled speed. Same to my usual suspects—Mom, Sarah, SHINee, Issa Bebe, Jevon—and all my friends/family who let me steal their names (Nikkiee, Allie, Megan, and the Normans).

And thank you for reading.

See you in the next one,

Claire <3

Readers Guide

READERS GUIDE

The Romantic Agenda

CLAIRE KANN

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. The story begins with Joy’s best friend, Malcolm, asking her to join him on a trip. Do you think it was fair for Malcolm to invite her? What would you have said in Joy’s position?
  2. How does Malcolm and Joy’s first interaction in college shape the rest of their friendship? Do you have any friends that helped you discover a crucial part of yourself?
  3. Joy identifies as asexual. What did you know about asexuality before reading The Romantic Agenda? What did you learn from the book?
  4. If someone were to plan a weekend full of your favorite things, like Malcolm did for Summer, what would the agenda be?
  5. Joy, Fox, Malcolm, and Summer all have different ideas of what it means to be in love. Discuss how they all define romance. How does it compare to your definition?
  6. Do you think Fox or Malcolm is a better match for Joy? Why?
  7. Summer is in a difficult position throughout most of the book. If you were in her shoes, how would you have handled the events of the trip?
  8. Joy is forced to work against multiple identity-based stereotypes throughout the book. How did these impact her choices? Have stereotypes impacted your life as well?
  9. Where do you see Joy and Fox’s relationship in a year? What about Joy and Summer?

About the Author

Photo by Anrah Designs