press for the girl i wanted to be:

“Touching and heartfelt.  Sarah Grace McCandless navigates the minefields of
family and adolescence with grace and skill.  She's a writer to watch.”
- Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Queen of Babble

“Sarah Grace McCandless's The Girl I Wanted To Be is a unique coming-of-age story
where not only adolescents are growing up, but beautifully flawed adults – complicated characters
whose secrets are revealed with precision and candor, with a deft eye and plenty of heart.”
- Lisa Glatt, author of A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That and The Apple’s Bruise

"Sarah Grace McCandless writes of our foolishness with great wisdom, our lies with disarming candor, and the most difficult years of our lives with remarkable ease...if her books had been around when I was a teenager, I would probably have felt substantially less alone."
- Bob Harris, author of Prisoner of Trebekistan

"Presley's voice comes through with a believable mixture of confusion, innocence, and growing wisdom.
Her story is enhanced by a narrative style that employs brief episodes and story gaps.
The resulting breaks in the book deepen its complexity, providing space for conflicting emotions
and paralleling Presley's need to deny and ignore patterns until forced to confront loss and forgiveness."
- Library Journal

"McCandless skillfully maintains an uncomfortable tension . . . [and] writes in an authentic adolescent voice.
These sharply perceptive moments showing how children navigate the puzzles of their own families
will impact readers as much as the story’s larger tragedies."
- Booklist

"(A) thoughtful novel... the delicate manner in which sophomore novelist McCandless relays...comes as a surprise."
- Publisher's Weekly

“McCandless strikes just the right tone. This book is miles ahead of most…it's McCandless' deftness that I admire.”
- Marta Salij, The Detroit Free Press

“Presley, the narrator, is a gem, and McCandless indulges her with wonderful lines and memorable epiphanies...the writing is confident and honest.”
- Steve Duin, The Oregonian

“(The Girl I Wanted to Be is) even more accomplished...before this book is over, (Presley) will learn that some losses are permanent, no matter how badly one wishes to turn back the clock…a book for young adults and adults.”
- John Mark Eberhart, The Kansas City Star

“An affectionate story...McCandless nails the pain and humor of adolescence.”
- Newcity Chicago

“On the field of young writers, Sarah Grace McCandless is one to watch.”
- DCist.com

“Blending pop culture appreciation with the voice of adolescent confusion and maturation, Sarah Grace McCandless’ books are sophisticated indulgences that explore life in the suburban teen wasteland.”
- Venus Magazine

“The Girl I Wanted to Be documents the coming-of-age of 14-year-old Presley Moran but eschews typical teen rites of passage such as periods, prom, and losing one’s virginity. McCandless focuses on fallen idols, family tragedies, and other more wrenching points of maturation.”
- Washington City Paper

coming soon
more articles, interviews, and reviews for the girl i wanted to be

press for Grosse Pointe Girl:
“Hilariously captures teen politics . . . there’s compassion beneath the dead-on details. . . a polished debut.”
 - People

“McCandless’ first novel is a hilarious, spot-on survey of the humiliations and perilous victories of a privileged adolescence…(her) wickedly funny descriptions and unerring ear for teen dialogue will appeal to any reader who remembers, or is surviving, the stomach-twisting anxiety of becoming an adult.”
- Booklist (copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.)

“McCandless writes with humor and compassion and honesty about the most embarrassing time in all our lives.”
--Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness

“Sarah Grace McCandless is a flat-out fantastic writer. Among her many gifts is an ability to combine laugh-out-loud humor with an unaffected, devastating sadness. The result is absolute magic – the strange, beautiful truth about childhood revealed.”
- Joe Weisberg, author of 10th Grade

“When dreck like Grosse Pointe Pimp can sell out in Grosse Pointe bookstores,
I can't even imagine the future for McCandless' far better debut, Grosse Pointe Girl.
Can the stores order enough? Can the printers print enough?"
- Marta Salij, The Detroit Free Press

“Grosse Pointe Girl could've easily ended up as an insipid coming-of-age tale. Instead McCandless manages to make the reader aware of how much people already understand, and willfully ignore, of the world around them in those hateful/halcyon years.”
- Willamette Week

press for Sexy Chix:

"Sarah Grace McCandless’ 'The Art Of Letting Go' not only has incredible art by newcomer Joelle Jones, but brings the heartbreak in spades."
- Movie Poop Shoot

"Sarah Grace McCandless story, 'The Art of Letting Go' is wholly relatable, and I absolutely adore Joelle Jones’ artwork."
- CHUD

"Standouts include...Sarah Grace McCandless and Joelle Jones' The Art Of Letting Go about the emptiness of recovering from a breakup..."
- Metro News

"One of the better stories is 'The Art of Letting Go' by writer Sarah Grace McCandless and Joelle Jones. Jones' finely tuned ink work complements McCandless' delicate post-breakup story to a tee."
- Honolulu Star Bulletin