Marisa Kanter Books in Order

Marisa Kanter was born and raised in the suburbs of Boston, where she was the kid who always had a book nearby. Her parents encouraged that habit, and she grew up reading young adult writers whose stories made room for romance, friendship, uncertainty, and big feelings. Those books gave her a sense that teenage girls’ inner lives mattered.

She started writing as a teenager and completed her first book at thirteen. At the time, young adult fiction was becoming a bigger part of the publishing world, and Kanter found both comfort and possibility in it. She has said that reading YA made her want to write her own stories, especially stories that could offer the representation and hopeful endings she had looked for herself.

Books also shaped her working life. Her love of reading brought her to New York City, where she spent six years and worked in publishing, including sales and marketing roles aimed at connecting books with their readers. It gave her a practical view of how stories travel from writers to the people who need them. Eventually, the former theater kid and lifelong rom-com reader put her own love stories on the page.

What I Like About You, her 2020 debut, follows Halle Levitt, a book-loving teen who uses a more confident online persona while talking to her internet best friend. When he turns up in her new town, the gap between Halle and “Kels” becomes hard to maintain. The novel pairs a sweet romance with book-blog culture, baking, family grief, and the awkward leap from online friendship to real life.

In As If on Cue, Kanter heads backstage. Natalie and her longtime rival Reid are forced to collaborate on a musical after cuts threaten their school’s arts programs. The setup brings pranks, creative clashes, and a gradual shift from competition to understanding. It also shows her interest in ambitious teens, messy family dynamics, and the ways art can be both a refuge and a source of pressure.

Finally Fitz returns to a supporting character from that novel, Ava “Fitz” Fitzgerald, and sends her to New York for a summer fashion program. A breakup, a fake online romance, and a reunion with childhood friend Levi push Fitz to question the polished image she has built. It is a queer romance about creativity, social media, sisterhood, and choosing real connection over perfection.

Kanter later moved into adult romance with Friends with Benefits. Lifelong friends Evie Bloom and Theo Cohen marry for practical reasons: Evie needs health insurance to take a career-changing fellowship, while Theo needs a way to keep his apartment. Their arrangement gives Kanter room for banter and longing, while also paying attention to chronic illness, money worries, and the everyday compromises of adult life.

Across these books, Kanter writes romantic coming-of-age stories about people learning they do not have to earn love by being perfect. Her characters tend to be driven, funny, and a little overwhelmed by the gap between the life they want and the life they can manage. Jewish identity, queer identity, creative work, family bonds, and friendships all matter alongside the romance. The happy ending is part of the point, but it has to feel earned.

Kanter now lives in Los Angeles with her husband. When she is not writing, she has described herself as an amateur baker, reality television fan, enthusiastic crochet maker, and someone who enjoys a good game night.