Ella Ramsey is a first year student at a private college in Ohio, a state that doesn't let you change your gender marker, so while the school puts her in the women's dorm, they make her live alone. Some nasty girls have found out that there's a trans woman on campus and talk loudly about "him" in the student union, provoking Tucker, a cis lesbian, to claim that she's the transwoman. She just wants to shut them up. That doesn't work out so well for anyone. Tucker's roommate flips, so she ends up in the empty single in Ella's suite. Ella doesn't know at first why Tucker is taking heat; she just wants a suite mate.
This is a 100% compelling and inspiring story, if a hair didactic. There's a lot of trans and intersectional queer feminism 101 involved, but I think that's just fine and even necessary (unfortunately). I was sucked in from start to finish and am looking forward to reading the in-the-same-universe precursor Being Emily and Gold's most recent book My Year Zero.
I appreciate that the copyright page lists the book editor, designer, and cover photographers. Don't you wish all books did that? Kudos to Bella Books!