Covington Author Christen Randall to Release Debut LGBTQ+ Novel 'The No-Girlfriend Rule'

This story is featured in CityBeat’s Feb. 21 print edition.

Covington, Kentucky-based author Christen Randall has, in her own words, “always secretly wanted to be an author.” Now, that dream is reality; her debut young adult novel The No-Girlfriend Rule releases on March 5 through Atheneum Books, a publishing arm of Simon & Schuster.

The queer, coming-of-age romance follows Hollis, a teen girl with anxiety and a lame boyfriend — one whose friend group has imposed a “no-girlfriend rule” for Secrets & Sorcery, a tabletop roleplaying game similar to Dungeons & Dragons. That sets her off to find a group of her own: an all-girls game of S&S where Hollis finds herself…and crushes on fellow player Aini.

“It was really healing to write this loving friend group for my character,” says Randall. “And let her have that experience that I didn’t necessarily have myself. I loved writing it. 10/10 would write again.”

Randall (she/they), who also works at Kenton County Public Library, moved to the Cov from Nashville, Tennessee. Locals will recognize several spots in The No-Girlfriend Rule, including Holmes High School and Eden Park, the latter of which acts as a first-date backdrop.

“Growing up, I think most of the books that I read took place in London, New York or L.A. and that’s cool. I love all of those books! But I really like showing where people actually live,” says Randall. “I think it’s a way — Covington is rad! — to highlight the cool vibe we have going on here.”

Randall’s writing aspirations crossed continents to become a reality. Now in their 30s, Randall says they have written as a hobby since age 13 but didn’t take it seriously until 2019. She first met her agent, Becca Langton, via X, the app formerly known as Twitter. At the time, there were pitch contests on the platform where agents would connect with users.

“I was the first client that Becca signed. I was Becca’s first sale,” says Randall. “We have an internet-Twitter meet cute. It was one of these meant-to-be moments. I sent her (the book) and she read it overnight.”

Darley Anderson’s Children Book Agency.

Langton is based in London, working with Darley Anderson’s Children’s Book Agency. After Langton read the book, Randall woke up to an email asking to get on a call, which might as well be fabled in the literary world. (Randall drafted The No-Girlfriend Rule in April 2020 and accepted a book deal around July 2022.)

In the aforementioned Twitter pitch, she included Jamie Pacton’s The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly as a comp title, meaning a published book that is similar in content or audience. It also just happens to be one of Randall’s favorite books and she’s since connected with Pacton.

“Now I get to be kind-of coworkers with all of these authors I really admire and respect,” gushes Randall. “It is surreal and wonderful. And really, really cool.”

In its description, The No-Girlfriend Rule is compared to the work of fellow romance writers Julie Murphy (Dumplin’) and Casey McQuiston (Red, White & Royal Blue). Sweet and affirming, The No-Girlfriend Rule serves up friendship, nerdy banter, relatable characters and starry-eyed teenage love that’s so cute you might just kick your feet.

Along with Aini, a cast of lovable, supportive girls round out Hollis’ S&S group: Gloria, Fran, Aini, Iffy and Maggie. Hollis’ story arc shows her come into her queerness, and other characters present casually as LGBTQ+, too.

“We’re in a really wonderful age, particularly in YA, where we’re having a whole lot of representation across the board,” says Randall. “I wanted to add my voice to that. I think something that is important, too, is that Hollis is fat and queer.

“I know that is something that we don’t often see, even still, though we’ve had great strides in literature and other media for representing all kinds of queer folks. It is important to me, as a fat queer person, to put that representation out there.”

That representation, Randall explains, is for anyone like Hollis’ who might pick up The No-Girlfriend Rule and see that they can be fat, queer, loved and like their body, even if they don’t always love it.

“I wanted to have that out there to normalize and elevate fat kids loving themselves and not hating themselves,” says Randall. “It seems really simple. It seems really basic, but it still feels kind of radical to be able to do that in a fun, nerdy romance.”

The Secrets & Sorcery game itself is interwoven into this story about friendship and self-discovery. Readers will get to know the characters’ characters as the S&S game unfolds. Randall grew up in nerdy spaces like forum roleplaying. Like Hollis in Secrets & Sorcery, gaming was and still is a way for Randall to learn about herself.

As Randall played with the story’s framework, she would flesh out the plot Hollis needed and that the game needed to move forward. Randall says the plots inevitably informed one another.

“I was sitting in my bed one day and just brainstorming,” recalls Randall of when the book’s premise was first hatched. “I had an idea of, ‘What would a story look like where a girl figures out she likes other girls through roleplaying characters?’ Because I had that experience. It’s this wonderful, safe space where, like Gloria says in the book, you can take parts of your identity that you’re not fully comfortable embodying yet and explore them in a safe way with people, ideally, who really care about you.”

A turning point in Randall’s planning came in the form of a post-it note, where she wrote I’m just like other girls. Randall says a lot of the YA she read growing up had the opposite sentiment.

“That’s really isolating,” says Randall. “And being exactly like other girls is really rad. That blew open plotting for me in terms of how the games work and how they talk to each other and how they hang out together.”

Randall is currently working on her second book, which she describes as a “queer neurodivergent romance” set in Covington that follows a group of kids whose school literary magazine gets canceled.

Christen Randall will discuss and sign The No-Girlfriend Rule at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (2692 Madison Road, Rookwood) on March 5 at 7 p.m. Info: bychristenrandall.com.

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