This event takes place in person at Charis and on Crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. This event is free, but registration is required for virtual attendance. Please read the in-person event guidelines at the bottom of this page to be sure you can participate in the event. 

Charis welcomes Jordon Greene in conversation with Julian Winters in celebration of How (Not) to Conjure a Boyfriend, a delightful rom-com about a nonbinary teen kitchen witch finding both family and romance in the least likely of circumstances.

Standing at the foot of my comatose crush's hospital bed is not how I envisioned becoming Hayden's partner. First I needed to find out if he's even into the theys, then hopefully some flirting, a cute date up in the valley or at Taco Bell, a kiss. The normal cutesy stuff, but this? No Hayden wasn't supposed to get hurt, especially not a trauma-induced extended nap from slipping on a wet floor at my job. On top of that, one of the nurses told his family we're dating. Sure, it might have been because that's what I told her when I was trying to get to his room to see him...but it's not true.

The wild part is his family believes it. They really think I'm the Hayden Marcus's short little curly-haired enbyfriend. His partner. With one little lie, now they think he isn't straight, and I'm terrified he actually is.

So now I'm having Thanksgiving with a family I barely know because, as far as they're concerned, I'm "dating" their son. I can't tell if this is a sign my love spell worked, or if I royally messed up and I'm being punished. I mean this family is amazing. It's everything I wish I had, and honestly more. But it's all based on a lie.

Oh, and as if all of that wasn't bad enough, my comatose crush has an even cuter brother who I think I might be falling for...

Jordon Greene is the award-winning author of EVERY WORD YOU NEVER SAID and A MARK ON MY SOUL. He can usually be found at his favorite little coffee shop with his found family or posting online about his latest Asian-pop music or BL drama obsession. An alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a B.S. in Political Science, he works full-time as a software engineer. Jordon lives in Kannapolis, NC with his children Genji and Freyr (aka his cats).

Julian Winters is the bestselling and award-winning author of acclaimed novels, including Running With Lions, a IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Award winner; Right Where I Left You, a Georgia Peach Award nominee; as well as adult romances, I Think They Love You and Last First Kiss, a USA Today Bestseller. A self-proclaimed comic book geek, Julian currently lives outside of Atlanta where he can be found swooning over rom-coms or watching the only two sports he can follow—volleyball and soccer. You can follow Julian on Instagram (@wintersjulian) or his website, julianwinters.com.

The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.

Charis Books is a fully wheelchair accessible space with on site van accessible parking, two ramps, and additional overflow accessible parking nearby. Additional accessibility information can be found on the Accessibility page of our website. 

In-person event guidelines:

All attendees must wear a face mask during the event.

We will begin seating people at 3:00 PM ET.

This event will be live-streamed via Crowdcast. 

As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304.

Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org.

By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email info@chariscircle.org.

How (Not) to Conjure a Boyfriend -- Jordon Greene in conversation with Julian Winters