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ANYTHING BUT FINE

Tobias Madden

Luca Mason's audition for the Australian Ballet School is exactly six months away. He's been training for this moment for over a decade. Until one missed step on a flight of stairs lands Luca in the hospital with a titanium plate screwed into his foot.
No mobility in his foot means no more ballet. And no more ballet means no more prestigious arts scholarship, no more "Bunheads" group chats, and no more perfect future. But it's not all bad - as Luca settles into a life of doctors' appointments and unwieldy crutches, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with the rowing star of his new school. Jordan is gorgeous, popular, and (unfortunately) straight. Or, at least, people think he is. As Luca and Jordan get closer, Luca begins to wonder: Who is he without ballet? And how long can he stand being a skeleton in someone else's closet? ANYTHING BUT FINE is a romantic, laugh-out-loud story about finding yourself. Tobias Madden is a writer and editor from Sydney, Australia. He worked for ten years as a dancer, touring with musicals such as Mary Poppins and Guys and Dolls. Tobias is a passionate member of the LGBTQ+ community, and he currently works for Bloomsbury Australia as a Digital Marketing Executive and YA Publicist.
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Published 2022-01-25 by Page Street Press

Comments

Debut author Madden manages his significant emotional content with admirable aplomb and his plot with verve, offering keen insights into his empathic characters' lives. The result? An altogether lovely book that comes highly recommended.

ANZ: PRH Australia

A reflective, romantic, and emotional coming-of-age story. Read more...

ANYTHING BUT FINE is everything wonderful I love in a book: characters so real they breathe, a rollercoaster of a story that made me laugh, cry, and swoon, and vivid, gorgeous writing. Brilliant.

In ANYTHING BUT FINE, Tobias Madden delivers a stirring meditation on identity and grief. Sweet, warm and thoroughly delightful, it will quickly dance its way into your heart.