{"id":4483,"date":"2021-09-27T18:52:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T08:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=4483"},"modified":"2021-09-27T18:56:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T08:26:47","slug":"wakefield-press-acquires-jodi-mcalister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2021\/09\/wakefield-press-acquires-jodi-mcalister\/","title":{"rendered":"Wakefield Press acquires Jodi McAlister YA campus rom-com"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wakefield<\/h1>\n

Wakefield Press is excited to announce the acquisition of world rights to Jodi McAlister\u2019s YA rom-com Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending<\/i>, via Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Literary. It is scheduled for Australian publication in May 2022.<\/span>
\n<\/h1>\n

This sparkling, archly witty campus novel places its sensible heroine, Libby, at the high-drama heart of an amateur theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing<\/i>, and explores authenticity, friendship and the trickier emotional aspects of sex and romance \u2013 all within a rollicking plot. And it skilfully critiques and subverts romantic tropes along the way, from the muddying of sex and power in the #metoo era to when romantic pursuit becomes stalking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jodi McAlister is the author of the YA Valentine series, published by Penguin Random House, and will be publishing the first of two adult novels with Simon & Schuster in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u2018I’m unbelievably delighted to be working with Wakefield Press to bring Libby Lawrence and her world to life. Libby has been living in my brain for a long time \u2013 ever since I was her age myself \u2013 and the fact that she’s finally going to be on the page is such an incredible thrill,\u2019 says Jodi.<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Her academic work focuses on the history of love, sex, women and girls, popular culture and fiction \u2013 and while Libby Lawrence is Pretending<\/i> is a romantic romp on the surface, the novel is grounded in a deep understanding of her genre and themes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She says, \u2018I grew up in community theatres, so delving back into this setting has tapped a rich vein of memory for me. I hope you all have as much fun exploring this world with Libby and her intense, messy band of theatre kids as I did writing this book.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018This dialogue-rich novel combines some of my favourite ingredients: smart, funny, psychologically complex, and addictively immersive,\u2019 says Jo Case, associate publisher at Wakefield Press. \u2018Reading this novel felt like watching those great nineties teen comedies that astutely comment on contemporary teens by riffing off great literature. And I love that it\u2019s a campus novel, exploring those years when teens first transition to adulthood, with all the discovery and misadventure that brings.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ABOUT<\/span> Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

Nineteen-year-old Libby Lawrence is good at pretending. Problem is, she\u2019s not entirely sure how to stop. Which is good for her role in the campus production of Much Ado About Nothing<\/i> \u2026 but poses problems in her personal life. Especially when the list of things she can\u2019t admit to, even to her best friend Ella, starts to build.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Losing her virginity to the too-charming director of her uni theatre group (just before he ran off with the group\u2019s money) is only the start. There\u2019s also an uncomfortable encounter with her broody on-stage love interest Roarke, and her crackling offstage chemistry with nerdy-but-sweet new director Will.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And while Libby is thrilled to finally be on the inside of the uni theatre group she reveres, there\u2019s a downside to being in on all the group chats, drama and backstage gossip. She must discover who she wants to be, who she wants to be with \u2026 and how to stop pretending.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Jodi McAlister\u2019s sparkling campus novel is a rom-com about friendship, authenticity, and all the ways we perform ourselves \u2026 and the preciousness of those moments when all artifice falls away. Dramatic and wise, it combines the arch wit and sharp banter of Ten Things I Hate About You<\/i> and Clueless<\/i> with a knowing heart.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wakefield Press is excited to announce the acquisition of world rights to Jodi McAlister\u2019s YA rom-com Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending, via Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Literary. It is scheduled for Australian publication in May 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-fun"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-1aj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4483"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4488,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483\/revisions\/4488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}