This Must Be the Place

By: Kelly Quindlen

Published by Roaring Brook Press, 2026-06-09

Inheriting a gay bar from your secretive great-uncle? Awkward. Trying to save it while catching feelings for the wrong girl? Complicated. From the author of She Drives Me Crazy comes an exuberant YA novel about queer joy, found family, and standing your ground.

When eighteen-year-old Louisa Wade inherits a gay bar from her late great-uncle, she figures there’s been some kind of mistake. There’s no way Uncle George—football legend and hometown hero of Rustin, Alabama—could have secretly owned a queer bar... right?

But The Frisky Cricket is real, and so is the messy legacy Uncle George left behind—including his grumpy ex-partner, Hatch, who wants nothing more than to sell the bar. Louisa may have zero business experience, but she’s determined to keep it open for the vibrant queer community that calls it home.

As the summer heats up, Louisa’s crusade puts her on a collision course with Aubrey Calhoun: the pretty, popular, and sharp-tongued daughter of Rustin University’s newly crowned football coach. The girls start off on the wrong foot, but a tentative truce leads to late nights, shared secrets, and a growing spark.

But things threaten to sputter out when Coach Calhoun sets his sights on The Frisky Cricket, scheming to replace it with a new athletic facility—celebrating Uncle George’s football career while erasing his queerness. Now Louisa must decide if she can fight for Uncle George’s legacy without losing sight of herself in the process.