I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

A USA TODAY BESTSELLERA Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year SelectionA Swooon 11 Best Holiday Romance Books of the Year SelectionA Screen Rant The 16 Best Christmas Books (By Trope) Releasing In 2025 To Read This Holiday Season SelectionA Junior Library Guild Selection

“Alternating between Lyric’s prose chapters and Juniper’s verse ones, the story moves at a steady, slow-burn pace that effectively keeps the pages turning. Lockington carefully and sensitively explores themes of dealing with anger, grief, and fear of abandonment. An emotional, engaging story of love and growth.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Award-winning Lockington is back with this YA romance told in hybrid prose and verse, both of which sing with grace and power. In addition to the girls’ chemistry, a stand-out feature of the story is the strong side character relationships, from Lyric’s grandma to Juniper’s moms. Lyric’s passion for makeup and beauty as a means to escape poverty is beautifully rendered, while Juniper’s love of nature and insecurity about the future will resonate with teen readers.” –Booklist

“Via Juniper and Lyric’s alternating POVs–respectively rendered in poetic verse and intimate prose–Lockington crafts a heartwarming love story enriched by the characters’ well-rounded emotional depth.” –Publishers Weekly

“Lockington delivers a cozy winter romance that’s both heartwarming and emotionally layered … A great sapphic romance for readers who enjoy a good will-they-won’t-they with depth and festive charm.” –School Library Journal

Mariama J. Lockington is an adoptee, author, and educator. She has been telling stories and making her own books since the second grade, when she wore shortalls and flower leggings every day to school. Mariama’s middle grade debut, For Black Girls Like Me, earned five starred reviews and was a Today Show Best Kids’ Book of the Year. Her sophomore middle grade novel, In the Key of Us, is a Stonewall Honor Book and was featured in the New York Times. Her young adult debut, Forever Is Now, won the Schneider Family Book Award. Mariama calls many places home but currently lives in Kentucky with her wife, her sausage dog Walter, and an abundance of plants.