It Gets Better . . . Except When It Gets Worse And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me

The irreverent and candid coming-of-age memoir of Nicole Maines: trailblazing trans actress, activist—and sometimes someone who's just existing, which is actually pretty hard!

Nicole Maines knows a little something about a “happily-ever-after.” Not just because she’s a self-professed expert in the Disney princess canon, but also, she’s lived it. After coming out at an early age, her family had not only to educate themselves, but also those around them as they fought and won a landmark court case in the state of Maine before she graduated high school. She got into college, got the guy, and finally had The Surgery™. She then achieved her lifelong goal of becoming an actress when she landed a major role in the CW’s Supergirl, playing television’s very first live action transgender superhero!

Cue sappy music and sunsets, because we’ve got ourselves a happy ending, right?

Ha! As if. 

For the first time, in her own words, Nicole tells her story, bringing us on her journey from her childhood in rural Maine to the spotlights of Hollywood, sharing the lessons she’s learned along the way. With clever wit and unflinching honesty, she tackles some of the most insidious messaging absorbed by queer kids and all young women, from the idea that any one thing can (or should) ever really "fix" you, to wondering what's wrong with you when things don't always feel better, and reminding us that, sometimes, a happy ending is only the beginning of the story.

Nicole Maines is an award-winning actress, writer, and transgender rights activist. She was the anonymous plaintiff in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court case Doe v. Regional School Unit 26, in which she argued her school district could not deny her access to the female bathroom for being transgender and won, the first such ruling by a state court. That case and her family's story was the focus of Amy Ellis Nutt's bestseller, Becoming Nicole. As an actress, Maines played Nia Nal/Dreamer on The CW’s hit series Supergirl, and most recently Lisa in Yellowjackets.