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This Must Be the Place
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Expected 26 May 26Win a free print copy of this book!
8 days and 05:19:58
50 copies available
U.S. only
This Must Be the Place
by Kelly Quindlen is a forthcoming title from Roaring Brook Press.
288 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 26, 2026
3966 people want to read
About the author
Kelly Quindlen
6 books2,708 followersKelly Quindlen is the bestselling author of the young adult novels She Drives Me Crazy (winner of the Volunteer State Book Award; Goodreads Choice Awards nominee), Late to the Party, Her Name in the Sky, and the forthcoming This Must Be the Place (May 2026). Her books have been featured in The New York Times, Business Insider, Vulture, and Paste.
Kelly enjoys speaking to high school GSAs, PFLAG groups, and all manner of LGBTQ+ organizations. She lives in Atlanta with her fiancée and their saucy cat, Peach Marie.
Kelly enjoys speaking to high school GSAs, PFLAG groups, and all manner of LGBTQ+ organizations. She lives in Atlanta with her fiancée and their saucy cat, Peach Marie.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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May 11, 2025From the rights report: "a YA novel about an 18-year-old lesbian who unexpectedly inherits a gay bar from her late, not-so-straight Uncle George. Following graduation, she spends the summer in football-obsessed Rustin, Ala., serving the bar's colorful patrons, digging up family secrets, and fanning the flames of an old spark with her childhood best friend-the closeted daughter of Rustin University's venerated head football coach.'
November 24, 2025
[4.5] it’s 2 am and it’s 2020 and i’m writing a review about a book named her name in the sky. it’s 2am and it’s 2025 and i’m writing a review about this one and i see THEE hannah and baker again…..funny how time works.
this book was so, so special. it is a book about the places that make us feel seen. the loving and supportive found family that we find as queer people. it is about the places that help you feel like you belong.
it is also a book about confusing grief. about grief that takes a shape that no one speaks about, so you don’t know how to navigate it either. i’ve experienced grief for people i didn’t know well either, so louisa’s process definitely pulled at some heart strings for me.
it felt so special and every character meant so much to me. and my absolute favorite part was seeing baker and hannah again. while not the main characters, their contribution to this book made is so special and felt so tremendously full circle.
hannah and baker have lived in my thoughts ever since i read them. there is not a single day where i don’t think of them and their coming out journey. seeing them as thirty-something year olds now, and being exactly who they needed as teenagers for louisa….i could just tell that this is exactly who they needed to meet at 18, and now they get to come full circle and be that support for more baby queers. that’s what it’s all about. that reminder that everything will work out. the universe has a plan for you.
i loved this book. i love how kelly quindlen writes. and i’m so thankful i get to tell her what her words mean to me, and that she took the time to reply and to listen. i feel less alone with her characters.
thank you to kelly quindlen for allowing me to read an advanced review copy of this.
this book was so, so special. it is a book about the places that make us feel seen. the loving and supportive found family that we find as queer people. it is about the places that help you feel like you belong.
it is also a book about confusing grief. about grief that takes a shape that no one speaks about, so you don’t know how to navigate it either. i’ve experienced grief for people i didn’t know well either, so louisa’s process definitely pulled at some heart strings for me.
it felt so special and every character meant so much to me. and my absolute favorite part was seeing baker and hannah again. while not the main characters, their contribution to this book made is so special and felt so tremendously full circle.
hannah and baker have lived in my thoughts ever since i read them. there is not a single day where i don’t think of them and their coming out journey. seeing them as thirty-something year olds now, and being exactly who they needed as teenagers for louisa….i could just tell that this is exactly who they needed to meet at 18, and now they get to come full circle and be that support for more baby queers. that’s what it’s all about. that reminder that everything will work out. the universe has a plan for you.
i loved this book. i love how kelly quindlen writes. and i’m so thankful i get to tell her what her words mean to me, and that she took the time to reply and to listen. i feel less alone with her characters.
thank you to kelly quindlen for allowing me to read an advanced review copy of this.
November 11, 2024
already know this is a five stars read
December 18, 2025
i will always appreciate a kelly quindlen original, ESPECIALLY one featuring the lomls baker and hannah. this book was such a fun read and gave such a good perspective of the small town queer experience. the dialogue’s were hilarious and it felt like i was a part of this family. it amazes me how kelly is able to write such witty lines while also have some of the most heartbreaking scenes in HNITS. she is such a talented author and i cannot wait for tmbtp and the hnits re-release to hit shelves soon so the rest of the public can fall in love. thank you to macmillan for the arcs for both
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press for providing an ARC of this title. All opinions are my own.
As far as I'm concerned, Kelly Quindlen literally NEVER misses, but even so, I was surprised at how emotionally affecting this book ended up being. What I thought I was getting into was a fun, romantic comedy of errors—the setup, wherein our eighteen-year-old protagonist, Louisa, ends up inheriting a gay bar from her recently deceased great-uncle, certainly seems fertile ground for a story like that. Instead, Quindlen weaves an emotionally resonant portrait of grief: the unexpected ways it manifests and the complicated question of who "gets" to feel it. Louisa, thanks to her parents' divorce and her subsequent move to Connecticut with her mom, didn't grow up knowing her great-uncle George very well, yet his death, and the posthumous discovery that he was gay like her, brings with it a panoply of difficult feelings—grief over not knowing him better in life, guilt over not mourning him more, a longing for a conversation with him that can now never take place—that Quindlen delivers into thoughtfully.
Louisa may also be Quindlen's most complex and at times unlikable protagonist yet—and, of course, that just made me like her all the more. At the beginning of the book, she's very myopically focused on what returning to her childhood hometown for Uncle George's funeral means for her own queerness—barely a thought for her grieving father or the loss of her great-uncle. She's recently discovered herself, and the book allows her to be messy and selfish about it—you know, just like we all were, to some extent, as eighteen-year-olds! Louisa's journey from self-absorbed, scared teen to learning, through her experiences at the gay bar, what it means to think of others and be part of a community, is extremely satisfying and realistic.
If there are any day one fans of Quindlen's debut novel ( Her Name in the Sky , an underground sapphic-YA darling in 2014 when it was indie published—and now getting trad published this year!) will be most excited to see the return of Hannah and Baker, now in their early thirties and featuring prominently as queer mentors to Louisa.
And finally, it's impossible to talk about a book about a gay bar without mentioning the many ways in which it is an ode to safe spaces, to queer community, and to the places that feel like home—which, of course, had me in tears by the final page. (Siri, play "The Lipstick Lounge" by 76th Street! Pronto!)
As far as I'm concerned, Kelly Quindlen literally NEVER misses, but even so, I was surprised at how emotionally affecting this book ended up being. What I thought I was getting into was a fun, romantic comedy of errors—the setup, wherein our eighteen-year-old protagonist, Louisa, ends up inheriting a gay bar from her recently deceased great-uncle, certainly seems fertile ground for a story like that. Instead, Quindlen weaves an emotionally resonant portrait of grief: the unexpected ways it manifests and the complicated question of who "gets" to feel it. Louisa, thanks to her parents' divorce and her subsequent move to Connecticut with her mom, didn't grow up knowing her great-uncle George very well, yet his death, and the posthumous discovery that he was gay like her, brings with it a panoply of difficult feelings—grief over not knowing him better in life, guilt over not mourning him more, a longing for a conversation with him that can now never take place—that Quindlen delivers into thoughtfully.
Louisa may also be Quindlen's most complex and at times unlikable protagonist yet—and, of course, that just made me like her all the more. At the beginning of the book, she's very myopically focused on what returning to her childhood hometown for Uncle George's funeral means for her own queerness—barely a thought for her grieving father or the loss of her great-uncle. She's recently discovered herself, and the book allows her to be messy and selfish about it—you know, just like we all were, to some extent, as eighteen-year-olds! Louisa's journey from self-absorbed, scared teen to learning, through her experiences at the gay bar, what it means to think of others and be part of a community, is extremely satisfying and realistic.
If there are any day one fans of Quindlen's debut novel ( Her Name in the Sky , an underground sapphic-YA darling in 2014 when it was indie published—and now getting trad published this year!) will be most excited to see the return of Hannah and Baker, now in their early thirties and featuring prominently as queer mentors to Louisa.
And finally, it's impossible to talk about a book about a gay bar without mentioning the many ways in which it is an ode to safe spaces, to queer community, and to the places that feel like home—which, of course, had me in tears by the final page. (Siri, play "The Lipstick Lounge" by 76th Street! Pronto!)
December 9, 2025
4.5/5⭐️ Let me start with, I love Kelly Quindlen and my favorite book ever is Her Name in the Stars so yes, I’m biased. However, this is for good reason! This book was all I could have hoped for. It was raw and honest about the experiences of being queer especially in less forgiving southern towns but also witty, funny and sarcastic at times (thanks to our lovely main character Lou). Now I can’t talk about the characters without mentioning Hannah and Baker. If you know you know. They were adorable and I really did love the cameo of sorts they made being Lou’s mentor in.. well all things gay. The romance (though not the sole purpose of the book/plot) was well written and just added on to my enjoyment. I did feel as though the book dragged at some points and sped through others a tad (also I would have loved to see Hannah and Bakers wedding but I understand that this is Lou’s book not theirs!). I definitely 100% recommend you check this book out, as well as her other books if you have not yet, especially if you’re looking for a good entertaining sapphic romance novel to sit down and enjoy. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!
December 22, 2025
I absolutely ATE this book up!!!! I fell in love with Louisa and all of her quirks.
This Must Be the Place does an incredible job capturing what it feels like to be a young adult stuck in that liminal space of your hometown, waiting to leave for college and convinced that new people and new places will finally mean acceptance. What I loved most was how the story challenged that belief. Sometimes growth doesn’t come from leaving, but from standing up for yourself and daring to be fully, unapologetically who you are right where you are.
This book reminded me of one of my favorite sayings:
“Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs. The ones who accept you for who you are.....” — Maya Angelou
The story also thoughtfully explores the confusing emotions of grief and how they affect everyone differently, shaping how we act, feel, and perceive the world after someone’s passing.
Louisa’s journey is tender and quietly powerful, and I highly recommend picking up this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This Must Be the Place does an incredible job capturing what it feels like to be a young adult stuck in that liminal space of your hometown, waiting to leave for college and convinced that new people and new places will finally mean acceptance. What I loved most was how the story challenged that belief. Sometimes growth doesn’t come from leaving, but from standing up for yourself and daring to be fully, unapologetically who you are right where you are.
This book reminded me of one of my favorite sayings:
“Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs. The ones who accept you for who you are.....” — Maya Angelou
The story also thoughtfully explores the confusing emotions of grief and how they affect everyone differently, shaping how we act, feel, and perceive the world after someone’s passing.
Louisa’s journey is tender and quietly powerful, and I highly recommend picking up this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
December 19, 2025
Tough to explain the best part of this book. Kelly Quindlen has a way of using humor and heartfelt sentiment to bring characters to life, all of whom are flawed yet loveable. Highly recommend to anyone with a heart.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews