Published By: First Ink
Pages: 320
Released On: 08/10/2026
Zella has just landed her dream student job as the co-host of a show on Radio Panache, Lake Pristine High School – if only she didn’t have to share the gig with her chauvinistic ex-boyfriend.
Her classmate Killian seems shy, but has no qualms calling out Zella’s ex live on air – making Zella immediately warm to him. The thing is: Killian’s been secretly in love with her for years, and now, as friendship blossoms between them, he’s terrified to make a move and ruin it.
When Killian learns Zella is hoping to be chosen for his mother’s writing seminar next semester, he comes up with a plan: he’ll be her fake-boyfriend for the autumn, allowing her complete access to his family under the guise of being his girlfriend – and it’s doubly appealing for Zella, who gets revenge on her ex by ‘dating’ the person who humiliated him.
But as Killian, desperate to keep his feelings a secret, begins to trip up on his own lies and their friendship starts to fracture, Zella will have to open her heart to the possibility that what she’s looking for has been there the whole time.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and First Ink for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is book three of the Lake Pristine series. I didn’t read the first but I did read the second and felt at no disadvantage. And this is the same. I’m sure reading them all in order will give you something a bit more, familiar characters and locations etc. but they’re perfectly fine as standalones.
I think I’ve read four of her books – Unapologetic Love Story; Role Model; Wish You Were Her; A Kind of Spark – and own two others, and throughout them all, what I love is her depiction of neurodiversity. I believe Elle herself is neurodivergent and you can really tell that’s where her passion and lies. She’s not doing it just to tick a box to say she’s got diverse characters; she really loves and believe in these characters and it’s beautiful to see neurodiverse characters given this much care and attention, particularly in high-profile mainstream YA fiction.
My nephew is autistic, and whilst he’s still a bit young for Elle’s books, they will definitely be ones I recommend to him when he gets older.
I’m not the biggest fan of the “fake dating” trope. I almost feel a bit too old for it (this is in no way an opinion on what other people like to read; you read and enjoy what you want to, I celebrate all readers regardless of what they choose to read), but on a solely personal note, I feel like I can’t relate to it anymore. So I was a bit apprehensive about whether Elle could win me over.
We mainly follow Zella who feels different but she isn’t quite sure why, which I found interesting because the reader knows, or at least assumes, why that is but it was fun to see her journey. I also liked how one of male characters (no spoilers here) is autistic and that’s rare, in my experience anyway, to read a fictional YA novel with a neurodiverse male, front and centre.
Also, and this goes for all her books I’ve read, she has multiple people with autism and other neurodiverse traits, and so shows that whilst there are some elements they may share, there is not “one autism”, and neurodiverse people are just as individuals as neurotypical people and I found that wonderful.
There are elements that perhaps were a little predictable but that’s not a negative, in fact it’s almost comforting in a way, but there’s still enough fresh sections to make the whole thing feel new and exciting.
I’m still not sure I’m on board with the “fake dating” trope but Elle has handled it well.
This is in the first person, whereas the previous books, if I remember correctly, were in third. I admit I only really like first person in thrillers, so that part jarred with me but that is obviously just a personal preference rather than a comment on the book itself.
It wasn’t my favourite of her books – that still lies with Wish You Were Her – but I still think it’s a very well accomplished book. It’s powerful and inspirational without trying too hard and I think young readers are going to absolutely love it.
Books By Your Bedside 