Rules for Being a Girl

(Run Time: approx. 6 hours)

Candace Bushnell, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sex and the City, and Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days, team up to write a fierce, propulsive novel about a girl who is preyed upon by a manipulative teacher and finds the power to fight back. Perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Laurie Halse Anderson.

It starts before you can even remember: You learn the rules for being a girl...

Marin has always been good at navigating these unspoken guidelines. A star student and editor of the school paper, she dreams of getting into Brown University. Marin's future seems bright, and her young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. Beckett, is always quick to admire her writing and talk books with her.

But when Bex takes things too far and comes on to Marin, she's shocked and horrified. Had she somehow led him on? Was it her fault?

When Marin works up the courage to tell the administration what happened, no one believes her. She's forced to face Bex in class every day. Except now, he has an ax to grind.

But Marin isn't about to back down. She uses the school newspaper to fight back and she starts a feminist book club at school. She finds allies, and even romance, in the most unexpected people, like Gray Kendall, who she'd always dismissed as just another lacrosse bro.

As things heat up at school and in her personal life, Marin must figure out how to take back the power and write her own rules.

Candace Bushnell (Co-Author) is famously the author of Sex and the City, published in 1996, the basis for the TV phenomenon Sex and the City, spawning six-seasons on HBO, two movies and the re-boot series And Just Like That, currently in production for its third season. An acclaimed novelist, Bushnell is the international best-selling author of Four Blondes, Trading Up, Lipstick Jungle, One Fifth Avenue, and The Carrie Diaries. Lipstick Jungle and The Carrie Diaries each became network TV series (NBC and The CW) for two seasons.

Katie Cotugno (Co-Author) is the author of more than a dozen books for readers of all ages. Her books have been honored by the Junior Library Guild, the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee, and the Kentucky Association of School Librarians, among others, and translated into more than fifteen languages. Katie is a Pushcart Prize nominee whose work has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Mississippi Review, and Argestes, as well as many other literary magazines. She studied Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College and received her MFA in Fiction at Lesley University. She lives in Boston with her family.

Julia Whelan (Narrator) is an author, screenwriter, lifelong actor, and acclaimed audiobook narrator of over 700 titles.

She is, most recently, the recipient of Spotify's Narrator of the Year Award (the most listened-to narrator globally), the first-ever Gracie Award for Best Fiction Narrator (presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation), the SOVAS (Society of Voice Arts and Sciences) Lifetime Achievement Award, and winner of the Audie Award for Best Fiction Narrator of 2025. She also captured both the winner and runner-up slots in the inaugural audiobook category of the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Her latest books — the Audie nominated duet romance, Casanova LLC (coming in print, Spring 2027), and the annotated Victorian poetry anthology The Poetry Of My Oxford Year — debuted exclusively on Audiobrary. jmwhelan.com