Yearning Difficulties

It's autumn in Lake Pristine! Get ready to fall in love with Yearning Difficulties, the fake-dating romance from Elle McNicoll, award-winning author of Wish You Were Her. "I honestly loved this book so much . . . I swear this series gets better with every book!" - 5* reader review "Always love a good romantic YA book especially one that has a cute fake dating scheme . . . Highly recommend!" - 5* reader review "A fabulous romance" - 5* reader review Zella is co-hosting the student radio show - which would be great if she didn't have to share it with her horrible ex, Dave. Her classmate Killian is brash, opinionated - and his mother happens to run the writing seminar of Zella's dreams. When Zella suggests he help her out by fake dating her, Killian sees an opportunity. He has his own reasons for getting close to Zella . . . But when he starts to trip up on his own lies and their friendship begins to fracture, Zella might have to open her heart to the possibility that what she's looking for has been there the whole time.

Elle McNicoll is a bestselling and award-winning novelist and screenwriter. Her debut, A Kind of Spark, won the Blue Peter Book Award and the Overall Waterstones Children's Book Prize, as well as Blackwell's Book of 2020. She is a four time Carnegie nominated author, and was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Awards 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Branford Boase Award 2020 and The Little Rebels Award 2020 and 2021. She was also honoured in the US with the Schneider Award, 2022. Her second novel, Show Us Who You Are, was Blackwell's Book of the Month and one of The Bookseller's Best Books of 2021. Her first fantasy middle grade, Like a Charm, was nominated for Best Children's Book for Older Readers in the first ever Week Junior Book Awards, and was highly praised in the New York Times. Her debut novel, A Kind of Spark, has also been adapted for television, is Emmy nominated and won Best Children's Programme at the Broadcast Awards and a Royal Television Society Award. She is twice nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the winner of the 2025 Books Are My Bag Young Adult Readers Award for Wish You Were Her. Her adult debut, Unapologetic Love Story, published in 2026.