Better Than Running at Night

Having left behind the melodrama of her solitary high school days—and the beheaded martyrs in her paintings—Ellie arrives at the New England College of Art and Design. Looking forward to the opportunity to recreate herself and her art, she begins her first day by dirty dancing with the Devil. Then she makes out with him. Ellie soon learns a lot about herself in this story about independence, trust, and boys.

She begins her first day making out with a guy dressed as the Devil. What could possibly go wrong?

• Art School Fiction: Welcome to the New England College of Art and Design, where the critiques are brutal, the life models are eccentric, and the real drama happens after class.
• Complicated First Love: He’s charming, intense, and might as well be the Devil. Nate is Ellie’s first everything, but navigating a relationship with a guy who already has a girlfriend is its own complicated art form.
• A Raw Sexual Awakening: A witty, honest, and sometimes awkward exploration of losing your virginity, discovering what you want, and learning that sex is rarely like it is in the movies.
• Finding Your Voice: Leaving behind her goth-lite high school self and her paintings of beheaded martyrs, Ellie has to figure out who she is as an artist, a friend, and a young woman on her own for the first time.

"With honesty, wit, and a wild first-person narrative, this first novel breaks boundaries in YA fiction with a story about college freshman Ellie Yelinsky and her search for art, love, sex, and meaning." --Booklist, starred Booklist, ALA, Starred Review

"Readers will enjoy the presentation of a strong female who puts finding herself and moving ahead with her talent ahead of maintaining a false pretense to her boyfriend or to the professor who is unwilling to acknowledge the dedication and improvement she has shown." SLJ School Library Journal