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What to expect

A gripping, haunting and brilliantly written book for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, They Both Die at the End and Holly Jackson.

How can the things you love hurt so much?
 
17-year-old Luka isn’t looking for love. She’s trying to piece her life back together after a heartbreaking loss. But when she meets the gorgeous and charismatic Cosmo under a meteor shower at the Greenwich Observatory, it feels like destiny has played a hand. Surely theirs is a love written in the stars.
 
But Cosmo isn’t what he seems, using Luka's love for him to slowly take control of her life. As the pandemic starts to make headlines and lockdown sets in, she is trapped emotionally and physically in a coercive relationship. Luka’s friends and brother can see what’s happening, but struggle to reach her. Something will have to be sacrificed so Luka can free herself – but what will be left of her when she does?

He tells me I’m the only one who can save him. But loving him is stealing the best of me.

Critics Review

  • “Utterly compelling, completely devastating, and so, so beautiful.”
    Simon James Green, author of Noah Can’t Even,
    Heartbreak and Boys Club!

    “Accomplished, confident, and compelling, nobody tunes into the emotional complexities of being a young adult as beautifully and as reverently as Sera Milano. There’s heartbreak and humour, grief and grit, and the characters’ energy leaps out of the page.”
    Justin Myers (@theguyliner)

    “Hard-hitting but ultimately hopeful, told from multiple perspectives.”
    The Bookseller’s Children’s Preview

    ‘It gripped my heart on page one and still hasn’t let go.
    Absolutely stunning.’ – Kat Ellis, author of Harrow Lake

    Praise for This Can Never Not be Real:

    “Told in a bold style, This Can Never Not Be Real is utterly gripping from the first page to the last. It’s a heart-in-mouth, heavy breathing, oh my gosh what’s just happened, compulsive read that you will be racing to get to the end of. In a word, stunning.” – George Lester, author of Boy Queen

    ‘Five urgent voices, five lives dangling by a thread. A heart-in-the-mouth story about fighting for survival, the fragility of life, and finding love in the darkest places.’ FInbar Hawkins

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