Fresh-faced ingénue Sofia Bencivenga arrives in Los Angeles long on dreams and short on cash. Alone, friendless, and broke, Sofia has almost resigned herself to the emptiness of her days, until a chance encounter brings her into the dazzling world of a charismatic group of authors—handsome, compelling Jaxson; bitchy Judith; and aloof, mysterious Alison—and their wealthy, successful, and amoral group of friends. But underneath the glamour of the writers' lives are secrets Sofia never imagined, and when Alison ends up dead on the rocks below Jaxson’s behemoth seaside gothic mansion, Sofia realizes that the cracks beneath the glittering surface of Alison's pretty little life ran deep. And Sofia has a few secrets of her own… Equal parts love letter to Donna Tartt and Patricia Highsmith, The Darling Killers is a darkly funny, sexy, and sinister noir about the people we pretend to be around the people we want to become.
“A lush, hypnotic, savagely funny homage to L.A. noir. Delicious.” —Ripley Jones
“Like The Talented Mr. Ripley + Day of the Locust but with maximum queer girl danger” —Melissa Gira Grant
“Gossipy sharp gorgeous fun, like The Talented Mr. Ripley with an iphone. …Settle into an armchair and disappear into its sunny Californian haze” —Sarvat Hasin
“literally thee only person who has ever properly understood The Secret History” —Hannah, Goodreads
This is a story about love, but not the kind of love you think. You’ll see…
In the lush and magical Pacific Northwest live two best friends who grew up like sisters: charismatic, mercurial, and beautiful Aurora, and the devoted, watchful narrator. Each of them is incomplete without the other. But their unbreakable bond is challenged when a mysterious and gifted musician named Jack comes between them.
Suddenly, each girl must decide what matters most: friendship, or love. What both girls don’t know is that the stakes are even higher than either of them could have imagined. They're not the only ones who have noticed Jack’s gift; his music has awakened an ancient evil—and a world both above and below which may not be mythical at all.
And it’s up to the narrator to protect the people she loves—if she can.
Booklist Top 10 Romance Fiction for Youth, 2013
YALSA 2014 Outstanding Book for the College Bound, Arts & Humanities
“McCarry's beautifully rich narrative is as smooth and seductive as Aurora and Jack can be.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Hypnotic and gritty.” —Cosmopolitan
“Haunting, otherworldly and heartbreaking.” —Kirkus (starred review)
Maia is a teenage piano prodigy and dutiful daughter, imprisoned in the oppressive silence of her adoptive parents' house like a princess in an ivory tower. Cass is a street rat, witch, and runaway, scraping by with her wits and her knack for a five-fingered discount. When a chance encounter brings the two girls together, an unlikely friendship blossoms that will soon change the course of both their lives. Cass springs Maia from the jail of the only world she's ever known, and Maia's only too happy to make a break for it. But Cass didn't reckon on Jason, the hypnotic blue-eyed rocker who'd capture Maia's heart as soon as Cass set her free--and Cass isn't the only one who's noticed Maia's extraordinary gifts. Is Cass strong enough to battle the ancient evil she's unwittingly awakened--or has she walked into a trap that will destroy everything she cares about? In this time, like in any time, love is a dangerous game.
Kirkus's Best Teen Books of 2014
"I love Sarah McCarry's girls." —The Book Smugglers
"There pretty much aren't any positive messages." —Common Sense Media
"An achingly beautiful account of two seemingly mismatched friends." —The Chicago Tribune
"A bravura retelling of a classic myth." —Booklist
"A challenging, literary story about friendship that pulses with music and gorgeous prose." —Stacked
"This is the kind of fevered and subversive story that teenage girls will pass around like cigarettes. Sarah McCarry is the patron saint of girls on the edge." —Erica Lorraine Scheidt, author of Uses for Boys
"Exquisitely crafted, moving effortlessly from dizzying to heartbreaking." —Kirkus (starred review)
Eighteen-year-old Tally is absolutely sure of everything: her genius, the love of her adoptive family, the loyalty of her best friend, Shane, and her future career as a Nobel prize-winning astronomer. There's no room in her tidy world for heartbreak or uncertainty—or the charismatic, troubled mother who abandoned her soon after she was born. But when a sudden discovery upends her fiercely ordered world, Tally sets out on an unexpected quest to seek out the reclusive musician who may hold the key to her past—and instead finds Maddy, an enigmatic and beautiful girl who will unlock the door to her future. The deeper she falls in love with Maddy, the more Tally begins to realize that the universe is bigger—and more complicated—than she ever imagined. Can Tally face the truth about her family—and find her way home in time to save herself from its consequences?
2016 Lambda Award Finalist
"As a triptych, this is an immensely clever piece of art, and an immensely playful one. It plays with language, with myth, with style. It plays your bloody heartstrings with downright Orphic virtuosity." —Tor.com
"The stunning, densely packed story is full of as much intoxicating poetry as meticulous scientific explanations… This edgy, smart, and challenging title combines mythology, punk rock, science, a quest, feminism, art, dreams, and the power of stories and storytelling with unforgettable results." —SLJ (starred review)
"Breathtaking." —Kirkus (starred review)
"About A Girl follows a cool, fierce protagonist, confused and sincere, and I loved it like wanting to put ten copies in my backpack and just give them out on the bus." —Bookslut