"Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book." — Jane Smiley
I love this quote ❤️. It's true for me in all circumstances, but most especially at YALC, my favourite weekend of the year. The eleventh Young Adult Literature Convention took place at London Olympia on November 15-16, and I'm still smiling two days later!
Today's blog post is a quick tour of YALC 2025 by way of five memorable (to me) books from this year's event.
Winning a proof copy of an unpublished book isn't guaranteed, but there's no denying it's awesome when it happens. Most of the publishers bring a very limited number of proof copies, and the queues can be pretty long, so it helps to do your research and only focus on the ones you're really interested in.
The Heirs, by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is described as The Inheritance Games meets Knives Out, and it's due to be published in June 2026. Actually, it was my youngest daughter (and long-time YALC companion) who found this one, and I'm really glad she did!
Octavius the Maestro.
Fola the Brain.
Bilal the Olympian.
Perdita the Artist.
Romeo the Failure.
Five prodigies. One dead father. A mansion full of suspects.
The proof competition was really fun—we had to complete a word puzzle followed by a quiz to find out which of the five heirs we were most like (answer: Romeo, the Writer).
There were five character-coded versions of the proof, which is the reason mine has a pen on the front. Then we got to meet the lovely author, Faridah, who signed and dedicated each copy. I asked her if The Heirs is a standalone (it is). I can't wait to read it!
To say that you're spoilt for choice as a reader at YALC is a massive understatement. There are literally piles and piles of beautiful, intriguing, and distracting books everywhere you look, and the publishers' stands are perfectly decorated to showcase their stories.
The challenge lies in figuring out which books are the right ones for you.
I chose Embrace the Serpent, by Sunya Mara for three reasons: the cover 💜, the prologue 🐍, and because it's recommended for fans of Once Upon a Broken Heart (definitely me). The free tote bag was also very cool 🛍️!
It's no secret that I love fairy tale retellings—I've already written four blog posts about them! I found A Curse of Shadows and Ice, by Catharina Maura, on the Orion stand. The presentation of the whole stand was beautiful. There were ten romantasy story clues on the various shelves (including: 🦊👑⚔️🗡️🧜♀️) that you had to match to the right books to win a prize.
I chose this book because of the first chapter. I wasn't expecting it to start with the MMC POV, and I wasn't expecting him to be so... I'm trying to think of the right word to describe him. He's not exactly likeable (and obviously he's not supposed to be at this point in the story), but he's definitely interesting. I am curious to see how this particular retelling goes.
4️⃣ The Book I Already Own
Author signings are a big part of YALC. They're also very popular, and tickets are issued right at the start of the day, so arriving early is a must. All of the authors I've met have been incredibly friendly, and Laini Taylor was no exception. She was so easy to talk to. I told her how much I loved the Strange the Dreamer duology and how I never thought in a million years that I would wind up cheering for one particular character (no names, no spoilers!).
She told me she had no idea when she started writing that this character would evolve in the way they did. The story was originally supposed to be only one book, but it turned out there was a lot more to tell before it was finished.
She also said she's a great believer in intuitive writing, which made me very happy because I'm not a planner either! Meeting Laini was the highlight of my weekend.
5️⃣ The Last-Minute Purchase
The Rebel and the Rose, by Catherine Doyle, is the second book in the City of Fantome series. It's only recently been released, and I was waiting for the paperback to come out before I bought it (because 💷).
But one of the (many) great things about YALC is the price reductions that happen on Sunday afternoon toward the end of the event. When this particular book dropped to 30% of its retail price, I caved and bought it. And I have no regrets. I loved the first book, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter in Seraphine and Ransom's story.
And that concludes my list! I hope it provided a bit of insight into this brilliant event. I'm sad that I have to wait a whole year until the next one, but at least I have plenty of new stories to keep me occupied in the meantime.
If you were at YALC this year, I hope you had an amazing time, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today💕.
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