How Maya Got Fierce

She may be a farm girl, but seventeen-year-old Maya’s vision board is all about fashion and Fierce—the women’s magazine she’s been reading since she was ten. As the daughter of Punjabi garlic farmers, it's off to cow camp for the summer. But when she gets to the east coast, she learns that her cousin’s girlfriend works at Fierce—and realizes that her wildest dreams might just be in reach.

She's up for an internship, but taking it would mean leaving her parents’ plans behind. One other (major) glitch: her bosses at Fierce think she’s 26, and hire her as the assistant editor, not an intern. Maya is so close to making her dreams come true, and when she suggests the perfect candidate for a big story—and manages to get the scoop—all eyes are on her.

How long can she keep her real age from her boss—and her real life from her parents?

About the Author

Sona Charaipotra has worked as a celebrity reporter at People and TeenPeople and contributed to publications ranging from the New York Times to TeenVogue. She uses her master's in screenwriting from NYU and her MFA in creative writing from the New School to poke plot holes in her favorite teen TV shows—for work, of course. She is the cofounder of CAKE Literary, a boutique book packaging company with a decidedly diverse bent, the coauthor of the YA dance dramas Tiny Pretty Things and Shiny Broken Pieces, as well as the psychological thriller The Rumor Game, and the author of Symptoms of a Heartbreak. She is a proud We Need Diverse Books team member.