Dear Reader,

I’m a library kid-now-library adult, and I always wanted to set a romance in a library. One day, a friend posted her New York Public Library checkout receipt she found inside a book and commented she’d be best friends with that person if they ever met. And that’s how the idea for Checking You Out was born.

I had my setting. After binge watching Dash & Lily on Netflix, I knew I wanted my premise to be similar. Two teens who leave each other secret notes in public library books, assisted by a teen librarian, but who have no idea that they are volunteering together at the kitten nursery at Best Friends Los Angeles.

My family and I have been fostering kittens for Best Friends LA and our local shelter since December 2023, and have raised almost 30 kittens who have been adopted to loving homes. I love bottle feeding a tiny kitten and working with hissy kitties who need some space outside of the shelter to feel safe. It’s one of my passions so writing it into my book was a natural fit—and also a reason to have a cute cat on the cover (my absolute dream!).

What I hope you take away from Checking You Out is that sharing what you love with someone else, in community, can change your life in ways you couldn’t have imagined.

Love,

Jennifer Chen