Excerpt from A Gorgeous Excitement by Cynthia Weiner, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Black stockings very pretty against Miss Nina's white, white skin," he said.

She'd cut the feet off a pair of lace tights to resemble Madonna's, although now she saw she might have chopped too much since in the lobby mirror they looked more like knickers.

"Leggings," she corrected him. Her voice was stern, but that didn't stop him from closing the space between them to embrace her. The doormen also weren't supposed to touch the residents, but she submitted to his hug for the usual count of five, her unspoken quid pro quo for Freddie not ratting her out to her parents for various transgressions, like the time she and her friends tossed raw eggs out the bathroom window and a pissed-off casualty called the police. Or six weeks ago, over spring break, when she came home drunk from Walker Pierson's after a humiliating effort to shed her virginity, with bits of her own vomit still caked in her hair.

The first time Freddie had surprised her with an embrace, she figured maybe it was a customary greeting in his country. She later noticed he didn't hug any of the other residents—or leer at them or comment on their clothing or their figures—but it seemed too late to renegotiate their tacit agreement.

Excerpted from A Gorgeous Excitement by Cynthia Weiner. Copyright © 2025 by Cynthia Weiner. Excerpted by permission of Crown. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.