I've enjoyed every one of Ellie's books and was extremely excited to hear she was writing another YA romance, and even more so when I realised it was set in Lake Pristine (the same setting as Some Like It Cold) with characters from that book also reappearing.
Ellie does romance so well. Much like, Allegra (female lead in the book) argues when speaking of genre fiction- she treads some familiar ground (enemies to lovers in particular will always be a favourite trope of mine) but through a new lens. And what book lover does not/ has not dreamed of a bookshop romance.
The small town setting works and once again reminded me of Rainbow Rowell - fans of one will surely love the other too.
It also has some interesting things you say about celebrity culture, the internet, and media more generally which I enjoyed.
Characters are great and the side cast come alive with the same care as the leads.
Will definitely be buying for my school library (and myself too.)

Another insight into what being autistic can feel like from Elle McNicholl, but with a very different feel from A Kind of Spark and Keedie.

Allegra is an 18 year old film star and she’s autistic. She decides to spend the summer in the quiet town of Lake Pristine where her father owns a book shop and is gearing up for the annual book festival.

At first, the town allows Allegra to truly ‘get away from it all’ and she is able to make friends and behave like a teenager for the first time in her life. Relations with the two guys who work for her father in the bookshop are more complicated and both Simon and Jonah start to have issues with her presence…

I admit that at first I was thrown by the American setting rather than the Scottish one this author’s books usually feature. (When Jonah exclaims that Allegra’s more than 4.5 million Instagram followers is ‘almost more than Scotland’, I wondered whether the author had forgotten that this was an American teen speaking!) However, the setting was needed for the story that unfolds and I don’t think a Scottish one would have worked!

The secret email author storyline resonates with both a film (Love Again) and a book (Rebecca Yarros’ The Last Letter) that I’ve read this week. Each one has been different but has highlighted the importance of honesty and trust…the latter all the more so in this case of celebrity and autism.

I found the idea that the main characters in this story were only 18 didn’t ring true towards the end… but maybe that’s because I’m too far from that age(!)…and perhaps the celebrity angle would change things to that degree.

I have worked with a number of students who are autistic and, whilst I appreciate the insight that McNicholl’s writing provides, I couldn’t help but feel that the descriptions/explanations towards the end of this book were a little over done. However, I’m also aware that books like this may be the only insight some people will read and there is much to be done to increase understanding and awareness.

Grateful to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Publishing for an eARC.

I've been a fan of Elle's work since her debut middle-grade novel A Kind of Spark and have read everything she's published since. I'm waiting for an assessment for autism, and love the brilliant representation of neurodiversity that each of Elle's books has. Whether diagnosed or not, I regularly see a lot of myself in her characters, and have loved reading all of the books.

When this was announced a few days ago, I saw that I had been auto-approved by the publisher on Netgalley. Once I finished my current read, I moved straight onto this one. It's taken me a couple of days and has been a joy to be back in Elle's writing, especially as this one takes place in the same universe (or... in Lake Pristine) as her debut YA novel, Some Like It Cold. I'm here for the Elle McNicoll cinematic universe, completely.

Whether you're like me and need to see something that seems a little bit like your own experience in a book (OK, I'm a little beyond young adult, but I'll read anything) or you just want a great YA romance, this is for you. I can't wait to get this in store and to keep spreading the love for Elle's books!

A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed as autistic – an event that was not heralded by breaking news headlines and gasps of shock or surprise, at least not from me, and a few days later I read Elle’s debut title for young adults, Some Like it Cold. Having read and loved all of her middle grade stories, this felt like a much more personal read. Here I was, an autistic woman reading about another, much younger, autistic woman’s experiences, something that at the time threw up all sort of emotions, not least of which was recognising some aspects of the protagonist Jasper’s life.

A year on and here I am, far more comfortable in my own skin and trying to gather my thoughts to write a review for Elle’s second YA novel and not just full of admiration for her ability to write stories that I know many want to read, but also the impact she has had on the lives of so many autistic individuals through doing so. Here, she has taken us back to Lake Pristine in a story that follows Some Like it Cold chronologically but that is intended as a standalone – a story that is warm, keenly observed and that is – if anything – even better than last year’s offering.

At the age of 18, actress Allegra Brooks is wise beyond her years – the result of her speedy rise to fame and the inevitable commodification of her that has accompanied it. In desperate need of a break from the circus that her life has become, she makes plans to head to her father George’s hometown for the summer, where he owns bookshop Brooks Books, which will be hosting the annual book festival that sees the otherwise quiet Lake Pristine swarming with visitors for its duration. Hoping to spend a few weeks relaxing in the same way as her peers, Allegra emails the bookshop for details from an account that doesn’t reveal her identity, and her curiosity is piqued by the reply she receives back so that before long, there is a steady stream of messages going back and forth between her and the also anonymous bookseller.

Breaking the news of his daughter’s imminent arrival to employees Simon and Jonah, George tells them that Allegra will be helping out in the shop and with the festival – news that excites Simon, who is only too aware of Allegra’s fame, but not Jonah who is concerned that her presence will interfere with the many systems he has put into place to ensure the smooth running of the business. When Allegra arrives, he fails to recognise her and badmouths her – an act that, quite naturally, immediately upsets and annoys her and the two of them take an instant dislike to one another.

As Allegra tries to take the break that she needs, her relationship with Jonah fails to improve and she seeks consolation in her continued email correspondence with the still anonymous bookseller, increasingly convinced that it is Simon with whom she is exchanging messages. When she arranges to meet up for a blind date with her online friend, will she be delighted to discover who is behind the emails, or will it in fact make things much more complicated…?

When I went for my autism assessment, the subject of Mr S came up and the clinical psychologist with whom I was talking told me that it is unusual for an autistic woman to be married to somebody neurotypical – autistic people tend to migrate towards one another. I don’t know if this is true – I have no reason to doubt her – but here both Allegra and Jonah are autistic and, as in the case of all romcoms where the enemies to lovers trope crops up, they are eventually inevitably drawn to one another after sharing the very strongest of mutual dislikes. Where Jonah’s autism diagnosis is fairly common knowledge within Lake Pristine, Allegra’s has been shared on a strictly need-to-know basis so that neither initially knows the other is neurodivergent and they fail to recognise that what annoys them so much about one another is, to a certain extent, down to their shared experience of trying to negotiate a world that is very much not geared up to support them.

Anyone who follows Elle on social media will recognise parts of the life she shares online in this story. Allegra’s comments on there being no disabled authors invited to the book festival echo those that Elle posted on Instagram only a few days ago and the ableist attitudes of some throughout the book will be easily recognised by many readers. For girls and women in particular, the constant masking that is expected from those who are neurodivergent in an attempt to fit in and, very often, to pass as neurotypical, is addressed here, making this a book that needs to be read not just by those who fall under the neurodiverse umbrella but perhaps more importantly their friends, families and contemporaries who need to see just how much work is involved in doing so and how utterly exhausting it can be.

A wonderful read for a teenage audience, I gobbled this up and am hoping for a further visit to Lake Pristine in the not-too-distant future. My enormous thanks, of course, go to publisher First Ink, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, and to NetGalley for my advance virtual read. Wish you Were Her publishes 5th June.

18 year old Allegra Brooks has a glittering career in TV and film; she's the star everyone is talking about but nobody knows she's autistic. As the summer approaches, all she craves is the time to be a normal teenager so she decides to head to Lake Pristine for the summer, to spend time with her father in his book store. Determined to ensure her whereabouts are kept secret, her father insists that his staff don't share Allegra's location; however, with the town's annual book fair looming, this could be trickier than they think. Factor in that she and one of the booksellers have been anonymously emailing each other and have formed a friendship, and this may not be the quiet holiday Allegra was imagining.

Oh my goodness, Elle certainly knows how to write YA romance. Her first YA, Some Like It Cold (you can read my review here), blew me away so when I received an email on Valentine's Day to say I'd been preapproved to read Wish You Were Her, it immediately by-passed my reading pile (huge thanks to Charlie Morris at Macmillan Children's Books for making my weekend). I curled up with it on Saturday evening, staying up until I could stay awake no longer, and then stayed in bed far too long on Sunday morning, lost in its pages - it was simply wonderful.

Allegra is living what many teenagers would feel is their dream life: fame, fortune and an acting career to marvel at. But it comes at a price (no privacy, no time to herself and no friends). This is made all the more difficult for Allegra who is autistic and only a handful of those closest to her know. With some time to herself, she wants to spend the summer doing what other teenagers do, which is why she heads to Lake Pristine. At first, everything is great: she's spending time with her father whom she hasn't seen in years, she's making friends and the emails she's exchanging with one of the booksellers are definitely making her smile - but are her assumptions about who it is right?

As with Some Like It Cold, I find myself struggling to write my review; not because I didn't like it, quite the opposite - I absolutely adored it and I find myself unable to grasp the right words to express myself, so I'm simply going to list everything that made my heart sing:

I love that Allegra is very relatable;
I love Jonah - everybody needs a Jonah in their life;
I love that Jonah is very different when writing to in person (I can relate to that!);
I love that I got to head back to Lake Pristine: it felt familiar, homely and safe;
I love that you get to catch-up with some familiar characters as well as meet new ones;
I love that neurodivergence is woven seamlessly into the story;
I love that the book had me talking to myself and willing characters on;
I love that I completely escaped the real world whilst reading it;
I love that the book made me cry;
I love that it's one of those books I needed to just sit with after I'd finished reading it to allow myself to absorb everything;
I love that it left me with a massive book hangover and I've yet to start another book (those of you who know me, will know how rare that is)...

I could go on and on.

At its heart, Wish You Were Her is an enchanting love story full of warmth and hope that captivated me and made my heart sing. Publishing on the 5th June, it's guaranteed to warm even the coldest of British summer days.

I still don't think my words have done the book justice, but hopefully you get the gist!

I really enjoyed this lovely YA book! It’s so nice to see a teenage heroine dealing with autism and be able to have readers relate to that. It was a great storyline and kept me entertained and I know it will for young readers as well.