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Yearning Difficulties

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Part of Lake Pristine Quartet

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Pub Date 8 Oct 2026 | Archive Date 5 Oct 2026


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Description

It's autumn in Lake Pristine! Discover the standalone 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.

It's autumn in Lake Pristine! Discover the standalone 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...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781037402180
PRICE £8.99 (GBP)
PAGES 320

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Average rating from 11 members


Featured Reviews

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I honestly loved this book so much! I really enjoyed Some Like It Cold and Wish You Were Her, so I was very excited to return to Lake Pristine for Autumn and I think Yearning Difficulties was my favourite out of the three. I swear this series gets better with every book!
I felt that this book was quite different from the first two, largely due to the fact that it was in first person instead of third, but I think this really worked in the books favour and gives readers an insight into Zella's mind.
I loved Zella and thought she was such an interesting, smart, well rounded character. It was so interesting to see the story through her eyes and witness how she changes throughout the book. I also felt her story of discovering her autism was very authentic and well done. 
Killian was also a great character in my opinion, and was a perfect match for Zella. Their story was honestly so sweet and kept me hooked and rooting for them throughout.
I also thought the cast of side characters were very vibrant and interesting, especially Cherry, who I thought was such an icon! I loved her dynamic with Zella, and I also felt awful for her though considering how some treated her, especially her stepsister.
I thought it was great that whilst Zella, Killian and Cherry were all autistic and had some similar experiences and traits due to this, they were all vastly different characters with unique personalities, which I think showed the diversity within the autism spectrum and that all autistic people are different.
I was very pleased that there was cameos from characters who were in the previous books. I felt their appearances were well handled so that those who had read the previous books could see how they were doing years later, without alienating new fans, and drawing them in to reading their stories.
Overall, I really enjoyed Yearning Difficulties and would highly recommend. Can't wait for book 4 to come out!

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An incredible read. Bold, beautiful, hilarious and heartfelt Zella and Killian were a breath of fresh air.. Yearning Difficulties is full of action, wonderful characters, twists and plenty of romance. It’s a love letter to friendship, love and acceptance. Five stars. Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

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