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YA Cover Stories: UK versus US 📚

Sunday, 12 July 2026

“Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.”
― Paul Rand

There’s no denying the appeal of a beautiful cover. It’s such a big part of what draws us to the story inside the pages. I’m in awe of the way cover designers can interpret the heart and soul of a book using a single image. 

And I’m definitely guilty of owning more than one copy of the same book because I fell in love with an alternative cover! Limited shelf space or not, sometimes a new special edition is just too stunning to pass up. 

These days, book covers are mostly consistent across different geographies, especially for ebooks. But there are still a few exceptions, and the differences between UK and US paperbacks are one of them.

Because I love discovering new covers (and also because a blog post doesn’t take up any room on my bookshelves!) I thought it would be fun to compare ten YA books I already own to see if I would have preferred the US cover. UK covers are on the left and US on the right.

I hope you find my choices interesting and thank you very much for visiting my blog today 💕.

1️⃣ Once Upon a Broken Heart, by Stephanie Garber.

This is an easy one! Although the US cover is lovely, I can't help choosing the UK cover because of its fairy tale look and feel, the intricate illustrations, the colours, and the beautiful font. Also, there are foxes, foreshadowing a certain important ballad...

UK 🏆

2️⃣ A Darker Shade of Magic, by V. E. Schwab.

Looking at these two covers, I'm wondering if I can break my own rule and allow a draw! They're both brilliant in their own way. The UK cover focuses on Kell's coat and the colours of London. The maps beneath his feet are a neat way to represent his particular magical ability.

The US cover also hints at the coat, but it highlights Kell's eyes and the stone too. And although it shows Kell's face, there's enough shadow to allow the reader to fill in the gaps with their own imagination. I think, on balance, the US cover is the winner. 

US 🏆

3️⃣ The Crimson Moth, by Kristen Ciccarelli, or Heartless Hunter as it's known across the Atlantic. The taglines, like the titles, are also different:

UK: A moth to flame. A witch to burn.

US: Her deadliest enemy or her greatest love?

The UK tagline is more about the plot, whereas the US tagline is all about the romance. Both covers are beautifully detailed, and the imagery and colours are also similar. However, the US cover is a little simpler and sharper, which for me just gives it the edge over the UK version. 

US 🏆

4️⃣ A Treachery of Swans, by A. B. Poranek.

Although both covers focus on Odile and Marie, the two main characters, they're completely different in both style and tone! It's hard to believe looking at them side by side that the stories behind these two covers are identical.  

I prefer the UK cover because I think the gold and blue colour palette works really well. However, I have to admit that the US cover does a better job of presenting the conflict between Odile and Marie. 

UK 🏆

5️⃣ The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne, by Jonathan Stroud.

The font and layout for the title and author name might be identical in both versions, but the images behind them couldn't be more different. About the only thing they have in common is that they both show the protagonists, Scarlett McCain and Albert Browne.

The UK version shows them at a distance, standing still, silhouetted against a dramatic sunset. The US cover puts them front and centre, running from at least two shadowy pursuers, their faces and hints of personality clearly visible.

It's a tough call, but the UK cover works better for me in showing the dystopian landscape of the story. It's a key part of the challenges faced by Scarlett and Albert and a lot like the Wild West.

UK 🏆

6️⃣ The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire, by Anna Fiteni. 

Looking at the beautiful original illustrations on these two covers, I can only admire the talent of the artists 💜. 

Each cover does an amazing job of representing Sabrina and Prince Neirin. My choice is based on how I think they fit the vibe of the characters and the story (as I experienced them), and the UK cover is a closer match for me. I think the brighter colours and the slight asymmetry of the layout also work really well. 

UK 🏆

7️⃣ The Reappearance of Rachel Price, by Holly Jackson.

OK, so these covers are, on the face of it, very similar! And yet, when you take a closer look, so many of the details have been changed. The US version doesn't use caps for the title. It doesn't have polaroid photos. The fonts at the top and bottom are different. And the background colour is neutral. 

I went back and forth between both versions for a while, but I kept coming back to the UK cover because it looks a bit less cluttered. I also think the blue background is more eye catching. 

UK 🏆

8️⃣ Thorn Season, by Keira Azar.

This one was definitely a more straightforward choice! Although both versions have a rose or roses, I love the illustration on the UK cover. And I've already mentioned how much I like the combination of blue and gold, so on that basis, the US cover was probably never going to appeal to me in quite the same way.

UK 🏆

9️⃣ The Invocations, by Krystal Sutherland.

This is another case of two covers that look as if they belong to completely different books! They're both brilliant in different ways. The UK cover focuses on the main characters and hints at the importance of their relationships with each other. The US cover is all about the conflict and darkness within the story, as shown by the image and also the tagline: Give your demons hell. 

I prefer the UK cover because it does such a good job of showing Zara's mingled determination and desperation. It really gives you someone to root for going into the book. 

UK 🏆

🔟 Of Curses and Kisses, by Sandhya Menon.

Another duo of very different covers to finish. I love both of them.

The accuracy of the characterisation on the UK cover, along with the layout, the colours, and the font with its curling decoration top and bottom, combine perfectly. 

But the US cover is so pretty. The font is unusual, and I think it really works. So does the brightness of the colours and the little details like gold edges on the rose petals. It might not show Jaya and Grey, but I think it wins because the cover taken as a whole just stands out.

US 🏆

Final result:
UK 7
US 3


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A Xytovian Point Of View 💟

Monday, 25 May 2026
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“Places are never just places in a piece of writing. If they are, the author has failed. Setting is not inert. It is activated by point of view.”
― Carmen Maria Machado

Point of view counts for so much. Change it, and you change the story. 

The Beyond Androva series takes place almost entirely in the world of Xytovia. But thanks to the four perspectives of the first-person narrators, it's a very different Xytovia in each book.

Serena is Androvan with no prior knowledge of Xytovia. Art has grown up in a segregated post-war society with an abundance of rules. Kellan comes from a time before the war when magic on Xytovia was plentiful. For Averine, the war has only just ended, and mage-sickness has decimated the population. Averine is also the only non-magician.

Even when all four characters are in the same place at the same time, there isn't much overlap between their individual perspectives! I loved figuring out the different versions of Xytovia and how the skills and personalities of my characters would influence the overarching story. (Creating four tailor-made villains was also a lot of fun!)

Matched in Magic, the first story, is told by Serena. Her decision to open a portal to Xytovia acts as a catalyst for everything that follows, and it makes sense to discover Xytovia through her eyes before Art takes over for book two.

However, that wasn't my original plan! When I started Matched in Magic, I intended to tell the whole story from Art's perspective. I changed my mind pretty quickly, but even though I'd only written a few hundred words as Art, I knew I didn't want to lose his point of view. Not completely. I liked him, and his backstory was important. There were also a few important things happening when Serena wasn't around. That's when I came up with the idea of one-page journal entries as a way to include a little of Art's thoughts and feelings.

For today's post, I'm sharing the original (non-journal) prologue of Matched in Magic. I hope you find it interesting, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today 💕.


Prologue: Ammartus

“There is no easy way to tell you this. I’m afraid Miss Jonville is dead.”

I heard the words, but they didn’t make sense. Because it wasn’t possible. There had to be a mistake.

My mother’s face was expressionless as she waited for me to respond. Only a slight tension in her jaw betrayed the emotion lurking beneath. What kind of emotion, I wasn’t sure. She would never allow it to reach the surface. 

“I don’t understand.”

I had to force the words past a throat that was tight with panic, and my voice came out sounding hoarse.

Her eyebrows arched. “Yes, you do, Ammartus.”

I sat down abruptly on the edge of the bed. My ribs seemed to tighten until my heart thudded against them with a force that was almost painful.

Maxia Jonville was dead. And I was seventeen next year. I would never find another match in time. 

I hunched my shoulders, feeling ashamed that my first thought was for myself. Even though I had just lost my only chance of becoming a magician, I was still here. Still alive. For now, at least. 

My mother remained in the doorway, assessing me with customary shrewdness, her spine straight and not a single crease in her pale grey suit. Her hair was brown and shiny and perfectly smooth, and her eyes were the muted purple of gathering rainclouds.

She looked exactly the way a bonded magician was supposed to look. Calm. Controlled. Immaculate.

We were nothing alike. My own hair was a sort of dirty blond that gave a convincing impression of never having encountered a comb. My eyes were ridiculously bright, even for an underage magician. And control was not something I had ever possessed. 

The Bonding Spell would have fixed everything. It would have fixed me. Smoothed out my flaws and made me capable. I had been counting the days. 

“How did she die?” I asked. 

My mother let out a tiny sigh, and I knew immediately it was the wrong question.

“That hardly matters,” she said. 

I couldn’t help thinking it probably mattered a great deal to Maxia’s family. 

“You did not know her,” she added.

And now I never will. 

Nevertheless, I got the point. An emotional response was not appropriate. An emotional response was never appropriate.

“What happens next?” I said.

“Your grandfather has called an emergency board meeting. He will make every effort to find you another match.”

A hollow laugh rose up in my chest, and I pressed my lips together to silence it. 

“He won’t,” I said.

“Yes, he will,” she said firmly.

“I don’t mean he won’t try,” I said. “I mean he won’t succeed.”

My mother and I stared at each other in silence. I was her second son, not only in order of birth but in every way that mattered. No one in the Bavois family had ever scored so poorly against the eight criteria used to match one underage magician with another. 

My grandfather’s position on Vayl’s Board of Mages was the only reason the Jonvilles said yes. Every other magical family had politely declined. And a year later, my scores had not improved. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said my mother.

Her tone was infuriatingly calm, even though the tightness in her jaw had unmistakably increased.

“Why not?” I retorted. “We might as well face facts. Without a match, there can be no Bonding Spell. And no Bonding Spell means the removal of my magic. I’ll be a-a—” 

My voice caught. I took a deliberate breath and carried on. “I’ll be a cotidian.”

There. I had said it. The word that summed up my future.

Becoming a cotidian meant everything would change. Having no magic was only the start, and that was assuming I even survived the transition. What would I do? Where would I live? How would I live?

In the space of a moment, my entire education had become worthless. And the population of Vayl was strictly segregated. I’d be amongst strangers. I gritted my teeth. Not quite. They’d be strangers to me, but everyone in Vayl would know exactly who I was. Quite possibly everyone on Xytovia would know. The first Bavois cotidian ever.

“We’ll test you again,” said my mother as if I hadn’t spoken. “I’ll coach you myself.”

“That would be a waste of time,” I said. “For both of us.”

I got to my feet and lifted my chin, daring my mother to contradict me. I’d already had the best professors my parents’ lumien could buy. It hadn’t been enough. I hadn’t been enough.

The humiliation I felt when my scores remained stubbornly unchanged never faded. I could feel it now. Twisting my insides and making heat rise into my face until my eyes burned.

“Don’t give up, Art,” she said, and her tone was softer than before. “We’ll find a way. I’ll come back as soon as the board meeting is over.”

After she closed the door behind her, my hand went to the crystal amulet around my neck. The edges of the stone dug into my fingers as I tightened my grip. They can’t make me take the tests again. 

They could, of course. They could do anything they wanted. 

Whereas my options, always limited, had just shrunk to almost nothing. 


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Five Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty 🛏️👑

Saturday, 28 February 2026

“‘Once upon a time,’ he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.”
― Kate DiCamillo

I’m a big fan of fairy tales 🙂. They illustrate the power and importance of storytelling so well. And one of the reasons for their enduring appeal is the way they’re constantly being updated. No matter your age or reading preferences, there’s a fairy tale retelling out there somewhere that delivers.

My Five Fairy Tales series has been a brilliant excuse for me to discover retellings written for a YA audience. After previous posts about Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin, today I’ve chosen Sleeping Beauty. (I might have been influenced a little bit by Averine and Kellan in Lost in Magic!)

Most of the traditional fairy tales have more than one origin story, and Sleeping Beauty is no exception. The Brothers Grimm published their version—Little Briar Rose—in the early nineteenth century. However, the earliest story dates back all the way back to the fourteenth century and features a princess named Zellandine alongside a man named Troylus. It’s part of a much longer piece but includes several familiar elements, including an enchanted sleep triggered by a piece of flax from a spinning wheel.

Apparently, Zellandine was cursed when one of the goddesses invited to the celebration of her birth was given inferior cutlery! Another fascinating detail is that Sir Lancelot, a famous knight from the Arthurian legend, is described as being descended from Zellandine and Troylus.  

Sleeping Beauty can be reimagined in a lot of different ways, and I was spoilt for choice when I researched books for today’s post. 

I hope there’s a book on my shortlist that you find interesting, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today 💕.

Savage Beauty, by Casey L. Bond

Some inheritances are deadlier than others.

There is so much going on with this book! The beautiful cover, two Sleeping Beauties (twins Aura and Luna), their intriguing backstory, the magic they wield, and the fact that Prince Phillip’s brother (Luna’s love interest) was killed by Aura before the story even begins. 

Aura and Luna, the twins, are almost eighteen. They inherited a curse from the dark faery who exploited their mother’s desperate desire to have a child. In the first couple of chapters, Aura is presented as an evil serial killer who will stop at nothing to ruin her sister’s life. Luna, on the other hand, only wants one person dead. (Aura, in case that’s not obvious.) Prince Phillip is searching for his missing brother and is seemingly oblivious to exactly how dangerous Aura’s magic can be. I’m looking forward to finding out the truth behind those opening scenes!

Here's a short extract from the beginning of the book:

One by one, people began disappearing from the palace and from our lives. It wasn’t until I watched her kill the woman who had raised us without a flicker of hesitation, that I realized it had been Aura making them disappear. It was always her. She’d been killing for years, slaughtering anyone who got in her way. 
The mattress dipped under her weight. My blood began to boil. It took everything in me not to backhand her off the bed.
“Do you miss him?”
My eyes snapped open, fixating on her radiant smile, her sunshine hair. She spoke of him as casually as she would the weather. Aura laughed as if she knew what I’d been thinking.
“Sleep walk with me.” Rising from the bed, she took a few steps and glanced over her shoulder, waiting for me to join her. “I think I’ll let him join us today,” she offered.

A Long, Long Sleep, by Anna Sheehan

Sci-fi Sleeping Beauty.

I love the idea of a fairy tale set in space. After all, science fiction and magic aren’t that dissimilar to each other when the technology is really advanced. In this story, sixteen-year-old Rosalind (Rose) gets stuck in stasis for sixty-two years before her reanimation sequence is accidentally triggered by a boy called Brendan. He panics, thinking he’s killed her, and tries resuscitation (which is a neat way to incorporate the infamous kiss).

Millions died in the Dark Times while Rose was asleep, including her parents. She’s alone in this new and unfamiliar world. The people who assumed control of her parents’ business, UniCorp, aren’t necessarily delighted at the prospect of handing it back. And there’s something sinister lurking in the wings, something that’s more like a computer than a human being, and Rose’s reappearance has gotten its attention in the worst of ways.  

Here's a short extract from the beginning of the book:

“She has no family.” That was the older male.
“She has UniCorp, and that means me,” said the younger one. “Imagine waking up to discover she’s the sole surviving heiress to an interplanetary empire!”
“We aren’t an empire,” was the older man’s gruff reply. “Honestly, Reggie, I think you have delusions of grandeur.”
“Well, who do you think should be responsible, then? You?” There was no response, so the younger man continued. “This is mostly your fault, anyway. This would be so much easier if you’d left well enough alone. If you’d let me sign her over to the social services anonymously, it wouldn’t even be in question. It’s not as if anyone would believe her story.” He sighed. “I don’t know why we even had to tell the board, or the state. We could have given her a new identity. I doubt her memory’s very strong.”
“Because that wouldn’t be right,” said the older man, with a bite to his words that kept even the imperious one from arguing. 

Kingdom of Thorns, by Katherine Macdonald

True love but with free will and absolutely no damsels in distress.

I was drawn to this one because although the beginning is quite similar to the original Sleeping Beauty, the main characters are not. They might be living in a fairy tale, but that doesn’t mean they’re beholden to the stereotypes.

Prince Leopold (Leo) has volunteered to rescue the princess from her cursed slumber not for glory or riches but to protect his brothers and his kingdom. He makes it clear that he sees the princess as a person and absolutely not as a prize. His guide in this endeavour, Talia, doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind and obviously knows what she’s doing when it comes to surviving the dangers of the evil forest. 

The stakes are high from the outset. Many others have tried and failed to rescue Briar-Rose, and the majority were lost to the forest in the process. Almost one hundred years have passed since the start of the curse, which means the evil fairy is about to escape. That’s not good for Leo’s neighbouring kingdom and all of the people he cares about. I’m already rooting for him, and I’ve only read the first couple of chapters!

Here's an extract from the beginning of the book:

Dawn crackled along the horizon, like ribbons of liquid fire. Morning dew coated the ground. Leo tried to enjoy it, but he couldn’t shake the growing feeling of dread as the blackness of the forest grew larger. He doubted he would see much sunlight in there. What if this was the last true sunrise he ever knew?
“Nervous?” asked the old man.
“I’m about to enter a deadly forest by myself that has an impressively high mortality rate. Wouldn’t you be?”
The old man hooted. “Honest and amusing. You’ll do well.”
“I fail to see how either of those things will help me in there.”
“I don’t know, humour wards off insanity, or so I hear.”
“You’re really selling this experience for me.”

A Wicked Thing, by Rhiannon Thomas

What happens after Sleeping Beauty opens her eyes?

Princess Aurora has woken from the curse, but that’s far from the end of her story. Her kingdom is broken, everyone she knows is dead, and the random prince who kissed her awake is definitely not her true love. 

The opening chapters of this book focus on Aurora’s disorientation as she tries to understand what happened while she was asleep. The prince, Rodric, seems to be one in a long line of royal gate crashers who have tried to wake her over the years. She’s greeted by an overwhelming crowd of people that includes Rodric’s parents, the king and queen, who announce she will now marry their son. The queen in particular is unlikeable and more than a little overbearing. 

And the weight of expectation is significant. The end of the curse is supposed to return magic to the kingdom. Rodric is supposed to be Aurora’s true love. Everyone is supposed to live happily ever after. But something tells me it’s not going to be so simple, and I’m looking forward to finding out how Aurora regains her autonomy.

Here’s an extract from the beginning of the book:

A heavy wooden door waited at the end of the staircase, blocking out all sound from beyond. Aurora stared at it. She had not walked through it in years, not since her father decided that even the rest of the castle was unsafe for her. It was longer than years now. Lifetimes. The door had marked the way out, the way to freedom, for her whole quiet little life. What was it now?
Rodric’s hand hovered over the brass knocker. The moment lingered, and then he nodded, once, and pushed. The door slid open, just an inch, wobbling as though uncertain whether to swing forward or slam shut.
“Well?” A sharp voice cut through the gap. “Is she awake?”

Sleeping Beauty’s lesser-known younger sister.

I’m so glad I downloaded the sample chapters of this book because it’s an original take and looks like a lot of fun 😊. Imagine a scenario where Sleeping Beauty’s parents were so upset by the spinning wheel curse that they asked one of the good fairies to do something to protect their second daughter, Annie, from ever suffering the same fate. Then imagine that the fairy’s solution was to make Annie completely and utterly impervious to magic. 

On the face of it, not a bad solution, right? Except that magical gifts are the norm in the kingdom of Treecrest, at least if you’re a member of the aristocracy. Whenever the lords and ladies get within a few feet of Annie, their unmagical selves reappear, and suffice to say, none of them think this is a good thing. Even Annie’s parents would rather stay young and beautiful than get too close to their daughter. 

When the curse is inevitably activated, Annie is the only one in the castle not affected. She sets off to find her sister’s true love, teaming up with a handsome prince in disguise while encountering lots of familiar characters from other fairy tales. Annie seems like a great protagonist, and I think she’s going to be more than equal to the challenge!

Here's an extract from the beginning of the book:

Annie joined another pair of guards and stayed with them while they finished inspecting the tower and the rooms below it. She knew she should go see her sister, who was probably still unwrapping presents, but she wanted to avoid having to listen to her go on and on about Prince Digby, the man Gwendolyn would probably marry.
Her parents both said that Gwendolyn and Digby were suited for each other. The magic of his own fairy godmothers had made him as handsome as Gwendolyn was beautiful. But Annie was convinced that by concentrating on his appearance, the fairies had forgotten a few very important qualities: Digby had as much intelligence as a block of stone and an equal amount of compassion for others. Annie didn’t like him, and he didn’t like Annie.


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New Year's Reading 🕛🎉📚

Sunday, 28 December 2025
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"Midnight on New Year's Eve is a unique kind of magic where, just for a moment, the past and the future exist at once in the present."

— Hillary DePiano

Time is a fascinating concept. Not for nothing is it the most frequently used noun in the English language. It defines our lives, giving structure to the passing days, but it's also hard to pin down. Two people can live through the same hour in the same place at the same time and experience it very differently.

The one constant in the way we perceive time is that it flows forward. The past is done. The future hasn't happened yet. And yet, living in the present moment is kind of impossible! In our heads, we time travel constantly, because remembering the past and planning for the future shapes who we are. 

Unfortunately, we can't actually travel in time. But fictional characters certainly can. And with another New Year fast approaching, it feels like the perfect time(!) to read three YA books that explore the concept of time travel ⌛📚

Thank you very much for visiting my blog today! I wish you a Happy New Year and happy reading too 🎉🎆




1️⃣ Skipshock, by Caroline O'Donoghue

Tagline: Time is power. Love is a revolution.

Description: Margo is a troubled schoolgirl. After the death of her father, she’s on her way to a new boarding school in a new city.

Moon is a salesman. He makes his living traveling through a series of interconnected worlds on a network of barely used train lines.

They never should have met. But when Margo suddenly appears one day on Moon’s train, their fates become inextricably linked. If Margo wants to survive, she has to pass as a traveling salesman, too—except it’s not that easy.

Move north on the train line and time speeds up, a day passing in mere hours. Move south and time slows down—a day can last several weeks. Slow worlds are the richest ones: you live longer, your youth lasting decades. Fast worlds are sharp, cruel, and don’t have time for pleasantries. Death is frequent. Salesmen die young of skipshock. That is, if they’re not shot down by the Southern Guard first.

As Margo moves between worlds and her attachment to Moon intensifies, she feels her youth start to slip between her fingers. But is Moon everything he seems? Is Margo?

Told through the eyes of both naive Margo and desperate Moon, the unforgettable realm of Skipshock will shake the way you think about love, time, and the fabric of the universe.

It's no secret that I love portal stories, and this one is so clever! Margo and Moon are brilliant and complicated protagonists, and I was rooting for both of them equally (which left me quite conflicted at some points in the story). 

So, what exactly is skipshock? I'll let Moon explain...

"You're having a little skipshock, that's all. It will pass. You've come from a place with twenty-four hours in the day, right? Now you have a quarter of that. Your body is confused by the days passing in a different way. The light is changing too rapidly for your brain to keep up with it. Your body is ageing at four times the speed. I promise you, you won't feel it after a few days."

I guess it's like an extreme version of jetlag, but with symptoms that gradually worsen until they eventually become deadly. The worldbuilding in this book is incredible. There are so many layers. All of the places we visit with Margo and Moon are memorable (and dangerous) in unique ways. 

Fair warning, it all ends on a massive cliffhanger, so I'm really hoping the second book will come out in 2026. In the meantime, I'm grateful for every single one of the twenty-four hours in my day!

2️⃣ All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill

Tagline: Kill the past to save your future.

Description: Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet.

Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture—being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. 

Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future . . .

This book had me on the edge of my seat, and I was literally holding my breath at certain moments near the end of the story. I got so invested in the outcome. Although there was only one way for Em and Finn to succeed, and the inevitability of their timeline was explained with devastating clarity, all of the twists and turns meant I could never be sure what would happen next. 

Here's part of a conversation between Em and the Doctor.

He looks down at me, and he actually looks sad. "Please. They'll hurt you."
I stare back at him. "And you'll let them."
He turns away. "Sometimes you have to hurt someone you love for the greater good."
"Why do you get to decide what the greater good is?" I say. "These are people you're talking about, not just numbers in one of your equations. Don't you get that? Did you ever?"

There's a lot more to the backstories of Em, Finn, and the Doctor than first meets the eye, and the relationships between them really kept me guessing. I don't suffer from book hangovers too often, but it took me several days to move on from the emotional rollercoaster of this story!

3️⃣ See You Yesterday, by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Tagline: A swoony time-travel rom-com that captures the overwhelming nature of first love.

Description: Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.

The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.

When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?

This book was everything I hoped it would be—funny, smart, and relatable, with characters who really deserve a happy ending.

Although we only get Barrett's POV, she and Miles spend so much time together that there is plenty of insight into his thoughts and feelings too. They're both the perfect blend of awkward and real and likable, similar in some ways but very different in others. Being stuck together gives them the chance to decide what they really want (and figure out a few things from their pasts too).

Here are three quotes that give a bit of insight into Barrett, Miles, and their story.

"Maybe the sad truth of my life is that I don't fit anywhere, which only becomes brilliantly, painfully clear on those rare occasions I'm trying to force it."
— Barrett

"Miles treats smiles the way I do stickers and stationery—reluctant to part with them, as though they are precious things he has a finite number of."
— Barrett

"I could wake up on the same day a thousand times, and every single one would be different because of you. Every single one would be life-changing. Because of you."
— Miles

Nothing happens quickly. In the opening chapters, we can't imagine Barrett and Miles ever being together, and they share some genuinely hilarious moments as they adjust to the reality of their situation. Over time, they see beyond those first impressions to the hopes and dreams beneath. It's enough to melt the hardest of hearts!

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YALC 2025 📕📖🖋️

Tuesday, 18 November 2025

"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. 

1️⃣ The Proof

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!

Meet the heirs.
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!


2️⃣ The Impulse Purchase

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 🛍️! 

3️⃣ The Fairy Tale

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 Bargain

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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