overall i enjoyed this book! i found the plot and development really compelling, plus the world-building of the town was very well done. the representation of jasper's autism, especially masking, was particularly good and really resonated with me, and i loved how jasper called out how autistic people are often poorly represented in love stories. i found the ending was a bit rushed though, and at times the antagonists felt a bit cartoony.

"Some Like It Cold" is a delightful and charming book that will undoubtedly captivate readers. The intricate dance between Jasper and Arthur, pretending to despise each other while secretly pining and gradually softening, adds a layer of enchantment reminiscent of classic romances. The novel seamlessly blends elements of teen romance, with a small-town setting akin to Rainbow Rowell's works.

Jasper, the protagonist, emerges as a lovable character, and readers will find themselves cheering for her throughout the story. The book offers a perfect blend of comedy, drama, and swoon-worthy romance, making it an ideal cozy read. The writing style is engaging, and the narrative unfolds with just the right balance of familiarity and intrigue.

Overall, "Some Like It Cold" promises a heartwarming and enjoyable experience for readers.

I was intrigued to read this ya book by Elle McNicoll having previously enjoyed her middle grade books.
I absolutely loved the story of Jasper, a neuro divergent young woman struggling with the expectations of her family, the impending wedding of her sister and her feelings for Arthur.
This was a book I didn't want to put down and I loved the characters of Jasper, Grace and Arthur.
Highly recommend this book.

This is such a compelling and competent homage to all the snow-drenched, picturesque Christmas movies we all crave at a certain time of year. It has the wholesome setting, uber-weathly town, “returning home” trope, grumpy hero and “princess” heroine. It intentionally hits all the places those cosy movies hit, with the added bonus that the protagonist just happens to be neurodiverse. For my liking there were a few too many toxic girl characters, but I was hooked on the sweet romance. I can be a sucker for those holiday romances in the right mood, and this would be a refreshingly diverse addition to the Netflix menu if it were adapted. To be enjoyed with a hot chocolate.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC, in exchange for an honest review
I cannot tell you how much I adored this book, it’s just gorgeous. Jasper is a fantastic and as a neurodivergent person, I related to a lot of her dilemmas. I love the list, the references to classic Hollywood cinema. (Omar Sharif). I love the relationship between her and Arthur, her dramatic sisters. And Jasper’s dad is a gem. Elle is one of my favourite writers and it was a joy to read Some Like it Cold. Five stars and more.

It's really great. I loved the small town wintery feel to the story and loved the message it had to get across.

This was a fun and charming book which readers will fall in love with. I loved seeing Jasper and Arthur pretend to hate each other (leading to some great banter to rival Beatrice & Benedict), secretly pine, and slowly soften to one another. It had lots of familiar aspects of teen romance and reminded me of Rainbow Rowell in particular, with the small town setting. Jasper was a great lead who you will fall in love with and root for. Overall a perfect cosy read with good amounts of comedy, drama, and of course, swoon worthy romance.

18 months ago, Jasper left the small town of Lake Pristine for university and hasn't been back since; until now. And her arrival coincides with her sister's very public marriage proposal that Jasper crashes ... literally. Suddenly life in the town becomes a hive of wedding preparation with only weeks to organise a New Year's Eve wedding. And this makes the real reason for Jasper's return even harder, for she is there to say goodbye (and she has a to-do-list to help her with this). Add a budding film maker into the mix and tensions slowly grow and secrets are bound to be revealed.

This is my fourth attempt to write a review of Some Like It Cold; not because I didn't like the book; quite the opposite: I absolutely adored it; it touched my heart in so many wonderful ways and I know that Jasper is somebody I'm not going to forget. The problem I have is that I don't feel I'm really doing the book justice with my reviews. But I need to somehow convey my love for this book, so here goes...

At its heart, the book is a romance with all the ingredients for the perfect love story: an idyllic setting; unrequited love that weaves its way through the book and keeps you wondering whether there will be a happy ending; characters you will fall in love with and some you'll want to slap; a cinema showing classic films; a Christmassy setting... I could go on. Elle has deftly woven these things together to create a warm hug in a book.

Lake Pristine is a perfectly created small town (so much so I found myself Googling it to see if it really exists!). It's somewhere where everybody knows each other and nobody ever wants to leave. From the frozen lake to the central bandstand; the cinema to the market stalls, the town feels warm and familiar and somewhere I would genuinely want to visit.

However, for me, what makes Some Like It Cold so special is Jasper, the main character: she's popular, she's pretty, she loves design, she's a ballerina ... and she's also autistic. She feels very real and gives readers a realistic look at what life is like when you spend all your time masking and what happens when over-stimulation occurs; she shows readers how complex life is as an autistic person, but most importantly she shows us that everybody deserves to be seen in love stories.

Publishing on the 3rd October, Some Like It Cold has stolen a piece of my heart. It's a beautifully told love story with hugely important messages and representation, with the most wonderful heroine at its core. Elle McNicoll is well-known for her middle grade books that shine a light on neurodiversity (something she does brilliantly well) and this is her first foray into the YA market; I just hope there is more to come, for the YA market absolutely needs and deserves more books from Elle.

Some Like it Cold was a phenomenal YA debut by Elle McNicoll, an author whose books I have thoroughly enjoyed before, and this one was no different. It follows Jasper as she moves back home over the holidays, but she is planning on leaving it all behind and attending high school. Her sister is getting married and there’s a moody videographer on the scene, and Jasper has to navigate all these social difficulties. I loved how well Jasper’s autism was portrayed, as the author is autistic and to some extent, writes from experience. I thought the characters were very well written and the story was gripping, and Jasper’s autism wasn’t made to be a big deal but rather a part of her the characters come to terms with at different parts of the story. It was an excellent book and I would thoroughly recommend this for any age.

Tucked away amongst the very many middle grade titles on the list of books I’m anticipating this year, is this Young Adult read from author Elle McNicoll. Her first for that market, after the astonishing – and hugely deserved – success of her middle grade books, this is a romance with an autistic heroine – a story that is preceded by the sad admission from Elle that she did not know she was allowed to read or write books like this when she was 16.

Going on to tell her readers that she is now making up for lost time, she once again does what she does best by spinning a story that will not just have enormous appeal to those amongst the neurodiverse community, but one that will be picked up neurotypical readers too because it is – quite simply – a cracking story, very well told, and one that I hope is destined to be just the first in a long line of reads for older readers.

We meet our heroine, Jasper, as she drives through the falling snow towards the affluent and pretty town of Lake Pristine, where her return home after 18 months at university has recently been the subject of much discussion amongst its residents, all of whom know everybody else’s business. After unintentionally stealing the limelight by arriving during her sister’s unexpected engagement, Jasper is quickly dragged into the preparations for the big day, which is to take place on New Year’s Eve.

As if this were not enough to have on her plate, as well as her mother’s plans for the annual town performance of the Nutcracker, Jasper soon finds herself once more up against Arthur – the bane of her teenage life and co-manager of the Lake Pristine Arthouse – and, most importantly, has secret plans of her own to leave both her hometown and the course decided upon for her by her parents in favour of taking a path of her own choosing.

As she tries her best to juggle everything and to take charge of her own destiny, Jasper starts to see Arthur in a new light but after years of friction between them is he the one for her, and if he is will she feel obliged to abandon her plans to put herself first for once or will fate step in to give her a helping hand?

In common with other autistics, Jasper has spent all of her short life masking – not just as a coping mechanism to survive in a neurotypical world but also because of the enormous pressure her family has put on her to be normal. Used to pleasing other people, and putting their needs above her own, her time away studying on a course that is not of her own choosing has given her the opportunity for reflection, leading to her decision to quit that and take up something in which she is not only interested but also excels at. Having been pushed into a degree course myself that I really didn’t enjoy, but had to see through to the bitter end because my father made it clear that leaving wasn’t an option, I really felt for Jasper reading this and there will be many readers who pick this up and not only see themselves reflected here but will – hopefully – think very carefully about their plans for the future, and for whose benefit they have been made, before they commit to anything.

Having been diagnosed as autistic myself very recently, as well as the enormous pleasure that reading this has given me, the publication of books such as this – with authentic representation – makes me very hopeful that not only will young neurodivergent readers see characters like themselves in more and more novels but their neurotypical peers will also enjoy the books alongside them. By sparking discussions about individuals’ unique experiences, this will lead eventually to a society that is more accepting of all differences and is better set up for them. While we are a long way from that as yet, we are certainly closer than we were when I was a teenager who had yet to hear the term autistic, let alone to see it positively portrayed in the books I read.

My enormous thanks, of course, go to publisher Macmillan Children’s Books and to Net Galley for my advance virtual read. Some Like it Cold publishes 3rd October.

I want to start by saying how I have always loved anything written by Elle McNicholl and I always adore her characters. When I saw this was teen/YA I wanted to read to see if I still felt as strongly about her writing. And oh my gosh I do! This was absolute perfection in a story. I am also not a romance reader really, much preferring thriller and crime when I am not reading children's books, but I was all in right from Chapter 1. I could see the whole story in my mind, rolling out like a film, set in a town like Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls) In fact, I am so in love with Lake Pristine that I believe it must be a real place that Elle has based this story on because she has captured small town American life, shops, family and friend dynamics so believably that it is like she has observed them herself and is just writing about what she has seen.
Jasper is returning after over a year away at university, harbouring secrets. She does not want to continue her degree, but has instead applied for law school. She knows that telling her parents this will mean they will refuse to fund her as they want her to conform and want her to do something constrained within law. For Jasper has been diagnosed as neurodivergent. Through the story we learnt how Jasper thinks and how her mind works and we learn that on the surface she is a conformist and will do anything for anybody, putting anybody first, but this is just her masking and following social cues that she can. Her family also want her to "fit in" and mask. Elle cleverly gives information to the reader about what this is like to the reader whilst also making it a normality, a fact of life for people and helping readers to understand.
Her elder sister Christine is absolutely despicable - a complete tyrant, rude and oppressive. It is her wedding and we see all the planning going into it and how she behaves. Honestly, Elle has written such a believable character that I actually despised her and how she treated people.
But essentially, this is a romance story, a love story and the story of Arthur and Jasper. Two characters who have found they liked each other through their teenage years, but have both hidden their feelings away by being awkward and unkind to each other. Arthur knows he loves Jasper, but it takes her longer to realise and accept her feelings. This story is full of romantic moments when you can feel the love swelling between them, but Elle cleverly writes things that are conspiring against them being open to each other - interruptions, other people so you are desperate as a reader to find out their ending. Will it be a happy ending.
Throughout the story, Arthur and his cousin Marcus are filming small town life as an entry into a competition. When the screening happens not only has Marcus not shown Arthur the real final edit, but we get to see Christine and all her nastiness and then it is contrasted with the observations of Arthur and Jasper and the relationship between them. But screening this in front of all the residents of Lake Pristine serves to give them more bumps along the way.
I honestly could not put this down and Elle writes Teen/YA as a seasoned writer, she doesn't put a step wrong.
The characterisation, the setting, the dialogue and interplay between characters is perfect. Have I said perfect before?!
If this is not picked up by the BBC or Netflix to be filmed then there is something wrong. This is a rival to the current obsession with One Day by David Nicholls.

Jasper is returning to her home town after 18 months away at university. She's armed with a to do list and the desire to start living her life as she wants to, not as her parents want it. Jasper is hardworking, adored and autistic. She feels, as many autistic women feel, that they must constantly mask in order to remain accepted and loved. Elle McNicoll, as ever, explains this fantastically through her characters.

Some Like it Cold reads like one of the classic Hollywood films that its heroine adores; staunch friendships, bullies and awful men to vanquish and romantic grand gestures. I loved it.

𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗜𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗗
—𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗰𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗹 | 𝟯🌟

‘𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘕𝘋. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵.’

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲:
✨YA romance
✨Small town
✨Neurodivergent rep
✨Childhood adversaries to lovers

𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀:
Jasper has come home from college to the small town, Lake Pristine, where she goes above and beyond for everyone. But secretly, she wants to escape this town, escape her degree, and start a career in interior design. Her adversary, Arthur, wants to enter a documentary competition and thinks the perfect subject who needs humbling is Jasper’s sister.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
I was interested in this book as soon as I saw it was written by 𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘤𝘕𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭, author of children’s book, 𝘈 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬, that I have enjoyed previously. Especially when I read it’s her 𝗬𝗔 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝘁. In 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘥, the author continues her aspiration of writing about 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 and 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 in creating an autistic main character who is easy to relate to and demonstrates different depths of autism.

I really 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 the 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 in this. Particularly the 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 in the second half of the story, that is when this book really began to shine for me. The ND rep was 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 with a small town lens towards autism and how Jasper 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 for her diagnosis by being the town’s 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹. I found the rep really 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹.

I think I was let down on two fronts by this book. One element is that I found a lot of the characters to be 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 and this felt 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 to me, especially when it felt like 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. Another element is that I found the dynamics 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴. These elements both 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 each other, really, I just couldn’t quite grasp who was hating who and why and this impacted my 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 and 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 in the story.

𝗸𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵 | 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘆 📚🧚🏼‍♀️

I am so excited to read, acquire, and share my thoughts on this one. It has me at Gilmore a girls and the cover is so attractive as well. I love it works in autistic and shows that a disability can be your superpower. Please watch this space for more soon.