Audre & Bash are Just Friends

Tia Williams is a New York Times bestselling author of young adult and adult romances. She made her debut as a novelist in 2005 with The Accidental Diva, which tells the love story between Billie Burke, a 26-year-old beauty editor at the world’s top fashion magazine, and Jay Lane, a performance artist from Brooklyn’s housing projects. The book draws from Williams’s experiences as a Black fashion editor working for Elle, Glamour, Teen People, and Essence within the predominantly white beauty magazine industry. 

She published her first young adult novel, It Chicks, in 2007. Set in a prestigious performing arts school in New York, the story follows a group of ambitious young men and women who dream of fame. The sequel, It Chicks: Sixteen Candles (2008), digs further into the romances and rivalries of Skye, Tangie, and their peers at the elite Louis B. Armstrong School of Performing Arts. Like Audre & Bash Are Just Friends, the It Chicks books examine young love, teenage drama, and the cost of the relentless pursuit of excellence.

Audre, her mother, and her stepfather first appeared in Seven Days in June (2021). Eva Mercy and Shane Hall share a passionate but self-destructive week during their senior year of high school.