Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . . About This Edition ISBN: This is for readers who are in the mood for problems and emotions surrounding giving up a child for adoption.

Editorial director Carmen McCullough acquired “binge-worthy” summer thriller Liar’s Beach by Katie Cutugno, securing UK and Commonwealth rights from Jocelyn Lange at Random House US. Described as “a high-stakes YA thriller full of secrets, lies, privileged teens and beach parties”, it is out in May 2023. Over the next five years, Ireland wrote four novels, all unpublished. Then, in 2019, she suffered another serious health scare. “All I remember is having a sore throat before it happened and feeling really depressed for a day or so,” Ireland recalls. She experienced headaches, vomiting and a spinning room before admitting herself to hospital. She was sent home—the doctors believed it was a migraine. Again, unable to walk, Ireland returned to writing with a new perspective. Reflecting on how her disability had affected her health, Ireland took inspiration from her life to craft a teenage protagonist with arthritis—and, slowly, what would become The First Move started to take shape. “Living with arthritis for so long, it was a no-brainer for me to have a disabled female character as my lead,” Ireland says. Teenage heroes During the period around her first diagnosis, after having studied French law, Ireland worked as a paralegal. “It wasn’t the career for an anxious person,” she tells me over Zoom from Belfast. Ireland quit law after getting married and starting a family. But just weeks after each of her two children were born, she suffered months-long arthritis flare-ups that left her unable to walk. Bedridden and home with young children, Ireland began writing. I would love it if my kids grew up reading stories of kids their ages with disabilities and chronic illnesses

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You know which movies are the worst? The ones set at Christmas. Teenagers with above-average good looks, festive jumpers and mistletoe, Tiffany boxes and fake snow, wrapped up with perfect smug smiles. A Dark Inheritance, a mystery saga by British author H F Askwith was also acquired by Colthurst. World rights were signed from James Wills at Watson Little. The book will be released in January 2023. There was a lot to like here. Renia is a really interesting character, and at a really interesting time in her life. I really appreciated how sensitively the issue of her having given her daughter in adoption was handled. This is not yet another book saying that giving a baby up, even when it’s patently the right thing to do, will screw you up for life. It’s true that Rey IS pretty screwed up about what happened, but I’d argue that it’s clear that this is more about her mother’s abandonment of her teenage self than about her own abandonment of her baby.

Ronan’s contained emotions, as well as his somewhat strained relationship with his mother, make starting at a completely new school daunting; the planning and approaching both his social life and school environment through chess makes for a niche but refreshing read, allowing more to be seen of his thought process as he references pieces moving or patterns/move sets of Grandmasters. Real life is the doctor handing you disgusting grey crutches and telling you that you’ll need to use a walking aid for the foreseeable future. I want to say again that the people feel real, the emotions feel real, the situations, regrets, second-guessing--everything. And the pull between Renia and Miles is so sweet. The romance is wonderful and the sex scenes are really good. There is so much in this book but it all works so well together. It's a book about finding a healthy place in relationships- between mother and daughter, father and daughter, mother and the daughter she gave up for adoption, between a man and a woman falling in love. There is hope, fear, rejection, forgiveness and finally acceptance. Acceptance that you do the best you can, so forgive yourself and others and move on with your life.

It was amazing, but then I had huge flares six weeks after the births,” Jenny explains. “Chris did a lot of the night feeding with Lyla because getting up was too painful for me, and my parents helped out a lot.” Both instantly engaging and finely nuanced, The First Moveis a YA romance with real-life resonance and uplifting vibes. Always honest on the realities of living with a long-term condition and mental health struggles, it’s also happy-making, wholesome, and a whole lot of fun, with well-developed characters readers will root for and relate to. A new kid called Ronan arrives locally who is good-looking and smart and acts like he's cooler than everyone else. Juliet doesn't realise that she has already encountered him online as he also plays chess. It's his escape as he is plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. The writer is married to Chris, whom she met at school and began dating at 19. They have two children, Lyla (9) and Rory (8), and Jenny’s arthritis went away during pregnancy. While research is still ongoing, one theory is that the mother's immune system changes to prevent rejection of the foetus, which also decreases pain and inflammation. It was so cute, fluffy and sweet. I don’t really read YA but this makes me want to get into genre more. This was definitely a Cinderella story x Queen’s Gambit themed. That’s spot on. It was so good - like this is a book I’d recommend to a younger version of me. My problem with most YA books being that they’re cringy - this wasn’t at all. I love the rep. It’s great and not harmful. Sheds light on what it’s like living with the disease and what it’s like for the people around you- yes young people can have it too. Delicate topics were well handled. I didn’t think it would be such an emotional read. The characters are three dimensional and very loveable. Yes, there’s the cliché queen bee and the gay best friend but I ate it up. I loved Juliet and Micheal’s friendship. He was there for her and was a true friend to her. I loved the healthy portrayal of her relationship with her parents and how they supported her.

I was thinking about how I would have felt in that position as I was so incredibly self-conscious at school and mortified by everything,” says Jenny. “I think young people dealing with anything extra in school are heroes because it's already hard enough being a teenager.”With a thrilling will-they-won’t-they rollercoaster ride of a plot revealing their respective struggles through a compelling dual narrative, The First Moveis that story that’ll move readers while putting great big grins on their faces. In a “whatever-doesn’t-kill-you way”, Ireland credits her encephalitis with giving her the confidence to write about chronic illness. “[Since my surgery,] I don’t freak out about the tiny things any more. I’m more inclined to go for it and write about what I want.” In fact, the family angst was the best thing about the book, and it was really, really good. In addition to the sections about Renia's mother, there's the stuff with her birth daughter. This is developed really slowly, and Lohmann doesn't make it into some sort of insta-connection. It feels realistic, both painful and hopeful at the same time, and I really liked it. I also liked Renia's relationship with Sarah, Miles’ daughter, in whom she sees bits of herself.