writing

Happily Never Ever

(YA)

Happily Never Ever will appeal to fans of A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellis and Lucy Ivison with humorous scenes and a similar emotional tone in the coming-of-age, meet-cute story You Have A Match by Emma Lord.

When Nova sees a mysterious boy with dimples get on a school bus, it's over for her – he's the one. Not waiting for fate to intervene, Nova spends days tracking him down. But she doesn’t find him.

Until they reunite at a birthday party, where her best friend Bexley happily introduces Lewis, her new boyfriend, to Nova. It’s Dimples. A billion stars in the galaxy, and Nova and Bexley pick the same one. Eeyore might be happier than Nova. The logical course of action? Move on and sign up for the choir competition in Nashville, Tennessee. Except her family finances are falling apart enough that they might lose everything. Scratch out the competition. She can’t afford to go to Nashville. 

The hands of fate twist, though, when Nova finds out the boy she saw get on the bus wasn’t Lewis. It was his identical twin brother Adler. Even more, there’s no doubt that Adler feels the same way about Nova. He saw her that day, too, and it’s clear he’s been thinking about her ever since.

Except all is not fair in love and meet-cutes. Nova thought Bexley hadn’t been ecstatic with the Adler development because Nova had been exploring things with Bexley’s brother. It turns out so much worse – she doesn’t want Nova dating who she deems as basically the same guy, and she’s growing more distant, even resurrecting an old friendship with a Queen bee enemy. Increasingly distressed over their strained friendship, Nova gravitates to Adler as a source of comfort.

Things get more twisty when Nova tries out for the coveted duet in the choir competition and lands it. Even though she still can’t afford to go, she did it because she wanted to know if she would have made it. Bexley betrays Nova by telling Nova’s duet partner that she’s broke and jerking everyone around, and Nova is faced with her duet partner's fury. Nova confides all this to Adler, who persuades her to busk for money in Seattle's famous Pike Place Market. If she can make enough tips from busking, then the Nashville competition becomes reality.

But there are complications: Nova’s beloved cat falls ill and needs a costly operation. Bexley acts more and more strange until a secret comes out that will make Nova wonder if she’s ever really been her friend. And her parent's finances threaten to unravel everything.

But life is learning that existence isn’t a straight line and what seems forever might change. Sometimes you might lose something, or someone, only to have that something, or someone, come back. Just not in the way you expected.