Sophie Gonzales Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Sophia Gonzalez is a romantic comedy and young adult author who writes novels full of endless heart, biting wit and memorable characters. Gonzalez was born and grew up in Whyalla, South Australia often referred to as “Outback Meets the Sea.” While she now lives in one of the biggest cities in Australia, she does not have the outback but now has her fill of shopping opportunities. Sophia first got into writing as a five-year-old when she came up with a story while taking a bath. Her mother helped type out the story though they had a huge fight as her mother wanted the story to end with the characters going to get a milkshake while she wanted to kill everyone. Sophia published her first novel “The Law of Inertia” in 2018 and then followed it up with her romantic comedy in 2020 titled “Only Most Devastated” that she published with Macmillan/Wednesday Books. While she always dreamt of becoming a professional author, she currently holds a day job as a psychologist. When she is not writing or working, she loves to ice skate, perform at the musical theatre, hike, watching TV, play PC games and play the piano.

Sophia started actively writing when she lied to get into the Mugglenet fanfiction event at age eleven. Most of the fiction that she submitted for the event was Harry Potter and hence she asserts that this has inspired much of her subsequent writing. The idea for her debut novel came to her when she was pondering how classic romantic comedies would look through the lens of diverse and queer characters. Would the common tropes about the genre still hold in the modern era? Will they show that love, whether it be familial, platonic or romantic, is an ageless constant? The way she went about writing her novels is through a lot of research particularly given that she writes about American characters and settings, yet she is Australian. While most Australian media is influenced by the US, there were many cultural differences she had no idea existed and as such she had to self-fund a trip to the United States and have some of her US-based author friends go through the drafts to find any errors or inauthentic scenarios and settings. Nonetheless, some things such as when scholarships applications are sent out, how they are offered or the days for basketball games were a huge challenge. But, with a little bit of Googling, she was able to write her bestselling rom-com.

Sophia Gonzalez’s “The Law of Inertia” is the story of Elliot and Ash, two brothers that had a messed up life due to living in foster care. Elliot the eldest spends most of his time partying and drinking while Ash is a sixteen-year-old high schooler who is trying to pass his high school diploma and head on to college. He is best friends with James, a gay boy though Ash has always had girlfriends. He now finds himself strongly attracted to James most probably because they have shared a lot together including the fact that they both suffer from anxiety and tend to cut themselves. Ash thinks that he may be getting into a situation that he may find difficult to get out of. In the meantime, his older brother Elliot is fighting to be granted guardianship over Ash so that they can live together and free of the restraints of the foster home. But recently his problems with drug use have only gotten worse and this makes the process of getting guardianship so much harder, if not outright impossible. Things only get worse when Elliot learns that James and Ash got together as boyfriends and leaves town. Ash is devastated and has a fight with his boyfriend before killing himself and leaving James all alone to deal with the blowback. Nobody cares that a child that was in the foster system committed suicide. It is now up to James to find out just what happened to Ash as he believes there is something bizarre about the whole situation.

“Only Most Devastated” by Sophie Gonzalez is a coming of age gay romance with a southern twist. Ollie’s year is not going the way he wanted it to as Will his summer crash seems to have ghosted him and is no longer responding to his texts. In the meantime, his aunt’s illness becomes so critical that his parents make the decision to move to Collinswood from San Jose to take care of her in what they believe will be her last days. Ollie starts the senior year at his new school and is devastated at having to leave behind all his friends, his band and Will, the casual summer fling he had hoped to see again back in San Jose. But when he reports to the new school he is overjoyed to learn that Will his summer fling is basketball captain. But Will refuses to be seen with him as he seems to still be in the closet, crushing Ollie’s hopes. All that Ollie wants is a fresh start and he is willing to leave the fling in the past though Will is making that impossible. He seems to be doing everything to be in his vicinity from transferring to his music class to taking a place at his lunch table. The novel is full of sappy, happy, sad moments of love friendships and family.

Sophie Gonzalez’s third novel “The Ex-Girlfriend Getter-Backer Experiment” is about the school’s Locker 89. It is a popular locker where people slip in letters outlining their relationship problems and a fiver, after which someone anonymous sends them an email with advice on how to deal with their woes. Darcy Phillips is a sweet and quiet junior that secretly runs Locker 89 until she gets caught by a senior named Brougham. He is going to blab unless Darcy agrees to become his personal dating coach though he is ready to pay a handsome fee given the reputation of the advice from Locker 89. Darcy is not ready to let out her secret since she has another secret that could come out too if Brougham talks. A few weeks ago she had used Locker 89 to sabotage the once budding relationship of Brooke her best friend. Darcy wants Brooke for herself but she cannot let her friend find out about the sabotage.