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Book Summary and Reviews of Freddie and Stella Got Hot by Maggie Horne

Freddie and Stella Got Hot by Maggie Horne

Freddie and Stella Got Hot

by Maggie Horne

  • Critics' Consensus (8):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2026, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Jenny Han meets Mean Girls in Freddie and Stella Got Hot, Maggie Horne's YA rom com about getting revenge and falling in love.

By the time the Beaumont-Gardiner Award is announced, everyone's going to hate Levi Preston. And they're going to love us.

Freddie and Stella are on a mission: take down their former best friend turned queen bee Levi Preston by depriving her of the one thing she wants more than anything: The Beaumont-Gardiner Award. Only the coolest, smartest, and - let's face it - hottest girls win ... so Freddie and Stella are going to have to get a whole lot cooler, smarter, and hotter.

At first, it seems to work – Freddie and Stella slowly manage to worm their way in with the cool girls. With every shopping date, agonizing salon appointment, and hot yoga class, the girls get closer to the in-crowd and Levi fades more and more into the background. The higher they rise, though, the more uneasy Freddie starts to feel. Stella's gone from her lovable, goofy best friend to someone she barely recognizes, using her newfound power for evil at every opportunity. Soon, Freddie realizes she's created a monster – and she needs Levi's help to put a stop to it.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Fresh and funny ... Freddie's journey from 'quirky sidekick' to seizer of the day (and the girl)―narrated in her breezy, fantastically facetious voice―steals the show, transforming the love-to-hate-'em mean girls into can't-help-but-root-for-'em protagonists in this snarky and tender love story." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Fully channeling the spirit of Tina Fey's recently remade Mean Girls in a way that remains authentic to both the film and young, sapphic experiences, Horne successfully balances snarky one-liners with genuine growth and characters who are ultimately endearing." ―Booklist

"A fun, banter-filled story about getting revenge and finding love―and maybe yourself―along the way." ―Kirkus Reviews

"The witty, sharp, lesbian answer to Mean Girls I've yearned for since Regina George first wielded a lacrosse stick. Equal parts hilarious and tender, Horne expertly captures the heartbreak of friendship breakups and the messiness of high school politics. A coming of age story worth devouring." ―Chatham Greenfield, Stonewall Honor award winning author of Time and Time Again

This information about Freddie and Stella Got Hot was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Maggie Horne

Maggie Horne is a writer who grew up near Toronto, Canada. She now lives in the UK with her wife, where they keep a collection of dogs and children. She is the author of Hazel Hill is Going to Win This One (an Indies Introduce Summer/Fall 2022 Selection, Indie Next pick, and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection) and Noah Frye Gets Crushed from Clarion Books, as well as Don't Let It Break Your Heart, from Feiwel & Friends. She's always trying to write the queer stories she wishes she could have read growing up.

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