Some Like It Cold - Elle McNicoll

18 months ago, Jasper left the small town of Lake Pristine for university and hasn't been back since; until now.  And her arrival coincides with her sister's very public marriage proposal that Jasper crashes ... literally.  Suddenly life in the town becomes a hive of wedding preparation with only weeks to organise a New Year's Eve wedding. And this makes the real reason for Jasper's return even harder, for she is there to say goodbye (and she has a to-do-list to help her with this). Add a budding film maker into the mix and tensions slowly grow and secrets are bound to be revealed.

This is my fourth attempt to write a review of Some Like It Cold; not because I didn't like the book; quite the opposite: I absolutely adored it; it touched my heart in so many wonderful ways and I know that Jasper is somebody I'm not going to forget.  The problem I have is that I don't feel I'm really doing the book justice with my reviews.  But I need to somehow convey my love for this book, so here goes...

At its heart, the book is a romance with all the ingredients for the perfect love story: an idyllic setting; unrequited love that weaves its way through the book and keeps you wondering whether there will be a happy ending; characters you will fall in love with and some you'll want to slap; a cinema showing classic films; a Christmassy setting... I could go on.  Elle has deftly woven these things together to create a warm hug in a book.

Lake Pristine is a perfectly created small town (so much so I found myself Googling it to see if it really exists!).  It's somewhere where everybody knows each other and nobody ever wants to leave.  From the frozen lake to the central bandstand; the cinema to the market stalls, the town feels warm and familiar and somewhere I would genuinely want to visit. 

However, for me, what makes Some Like It Cold so special is Jasper, the main character: she's popular, she's pretty, she loves design, she's a ballerina ... and she's also autistic.  She feels very real and gives readers a realistic look at what life is like when you spend all your time masking and what happens when over-stimulation occurs; she shows readers how complex life is as an autistic person, but most importantly she shows us that everybody deserves to be seen in love stories.

Publishing on the 3rd October, Some Like It Cold has stolen a piece of my heart.  It's a beautifully told love story with hugely important messages and representation, with the most wonderful heroine at its core.  Elle McNicoll is well-known for her middle grade books that shine a light on neurodiversity (something she does brilliantly well) and this is her first foray into the YA market; I just hope there is more to come, for the YA market absolutely needs and deserves more books from Elle.