Be Dazzled

Project Runway goes to Comic Con in an epic, queer love story about creativity, creation, and finding the courage to be your most authentic self.

Raffy has a passion for bedazzling. Not just bedazzling, but sewing, stitching, draping, pattern making -- for creation. He's always chosen his art over everything and everyone else, and now he's determined to make his mark at this year's biggest cosplay competition. If he can wow there, it could lead to sponsorship,...
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Project Runway goes to Comic Con in an epic, queer love story about creativity, creation, and finding the courage to be your most authentic self.

Raffy has a passion for bedazzling. Not just bedazzling, but sewing, stitching, draping, pattern making -- for creation. He's always chosen his art over everything and everyone else, and now he's determined to make his mark at this year's biggest cosplay competition. If he can wow there, it could lead to sponsorship, then art school, and finally earning real respect for his work. There's only one small problem...Raffy's ex-boyfriend, Luca, is his main competition.

Raffy tried to make it work with Luca. They almost made the perfect team last year after serendipitously meeting in the rhinestone aisle at the local craft store -- or at least Raffy thought they did. But Luca's insecurities and Raffy's insistence on crafting perfection caused their relationship to crash and burn. Now, Raffy is after the perfect comeback, one that Luca can't ruin.

But when Raffy is forced to partner with Luca on his most ambitious build yet, he'll have to juggle unresolved feelings for the boy who broke his heart, and his own intense self-doubt, to get everything he's ever wanted: choosing his art, his way.

'A sequin-filled romance that's also a love letter to the craft and creativity of cosplay.' -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

'Teen readers active in the con and cosplay scene will love seeing themselves depicted with the gentle humour of an in-group character. A crafty queer romance about self-acceptance, and a delightful addition to YA collections.' -- School Library Journal

'Heartfelt and hilarious, Be Dazzled is an artfully crafted ode to teen ambition and first love. From the book's charming cast to Raffy's quick-witted voice, La Sala's contemporary debut simply dazzles.' -- Phil Stamper, bestselling author of The Gravity of Us

'La Sala (Reverie, 2019) crafts a fabulously gay story of hope,friendship, and love worth fighting for. Queer nerds, rejoice!' -- Booklist