Some Like It Cold by Elle McNicoll

When I found out that Elle McNicoll was releasing a new book I went straight online to West End Lane Books and ordered a signed copy. There are only a few authors that I will do that for, but after A Kind of Spark and Keedie captured my heart and my imagination, I knew I was on safe ground. So, what did I think? Well read on!

The Story

This book is the story of Jasper Montgomery. She is at a crossroads in her life, having decided to give up her university course and move away from her home town of Pristine Lake for good. She returns home to find out that her Queen Bee sister, Christine, is getting married and quite literally crashes the proposal! She is clever, kind and incredibly hardworking. She is also, like Elle McNicoll’s previous heroines, neurodivergent, but very few people in town know that as her mother is at pains to keep that particular ’embarrassment’ a secret. Jasper is coming home to say goodbye to the town and to complete a list of things she has given herself to do. Two things seem to be getting in the way. She finds that her sister’s wedding is the talk of the town and that it is only getting bigger day by day, requiring her to help out with all the arrangements, and she has also come back when her nemesis Arthur Lancaster is making a film about Lake Pristine for a competition that will net $10,000 for the winner, money that he wants to put towards refurbishing the old cinema of his Dad’s that he now runs. As she gets to know ‘Art’ better she is getting confusing signals, which is situation normal for someone who is autistic of course, but she starts to think that maybe the signals aren’t actually confusing at all. Throw in the problems her estranged best friend is having with her boyfriend and the fact that she is directing The Nutcracker for her Mother’s ballet school, and Jasper is stretched to breaking point. When the rough cut of the film is shown with her and her sister heavily featured things get even more complicated. How is she going to tell everyone about university and finish her list before leaving Lake Pristine?

My thoughts

The idea of a neurodivergent romantic heroine was something that instantly intrigued me, particularly one written by a neurodivergent author who can communicate the reality of life on the autistic spectrum so brilliantly and so honestly. She has always been in the shadow of her sister, the queen of Lake Pristine, a situation reflected in Art’s sarcastic nickname for her, ‘Princess’. However, this isn’t a narrative of an ugly duckling turning into a swan, because the really fascinating thing about Jasper, is that her masking is so successful that she is actually incredibly popular in Lake Pristine. I had rarely seen an autistic character written like that before, and it was such a breath of fresh air. It’s marvellous to see the usual misfit narrative turned on its head and to see a socially successful character. Everyone, apart from Art apparently, loves her and values her for herself, although of course it isn’t her true self. Given this affection she inspires, why hasn’t she attracted more interest? When I think back to my own teenage years, albeit the polar opposite socially, I was totally ill equipped to enter into any romantic relationship. I either imagined a connection that wasn’t there or completely missed a connection that was – every single time! In this respect, Jasper is absolutely in tune with my teenage self.

Jasper has a huge amount of creativity, and design is her true passion, but people around her are reluctant to see it as anything more than a hobby. Her mother has always been extremely hard on her and made her dance until her feet bled in ballet class, whilst giving everyone else a much easier time. Jasper sees it as a reflection of her lack of perfection that her mother has seen since the diagnosis and which she seems to be punishing her for. It is her father who quietly supports her in everything except for her ambition to be a professional designer. We see a young woman forced into a family induced straitjacket of studying law which her parents are paying for. As they won’t pay for a design course, seeing it as a degree with no prospects, Jasper is saving every penny she can. This feeling of being pushed in the wrong direction for your talents is one I am very familiar with but unlike Jasper I never felt I was really in a position to plough my own furrow.

The supporting characters are so well drawn that you become immersed in Lake Pristine from the outset. Art is extremely complex with a number of threads that we have to unravel along with Jasper. His father has died leaving him as a surrogate parent to his little sister, Grace. His cousin, Marcus, is editing the film but it seems that he may be going his own way when putting together the final version. Odette, Jasper’s childhood best friend, is going out with Craig and the already strained relationship between the formerly inseparable duo looks like it could break down altogether with Jasper’s determination to show that Craig is bad news. Christine Montgomery is demanding, occasionally downright unpleasant, but is she more vulnerable than even Jasper realises?

Elle McNicoll drew me in to the world of Addie and Keedie and I really cared about the characters, but I grew to care about Jasper’s world even more. The town became utterly familiar to me as the story progressed and I wanted to learn more about the people in it, especially Art’s sister Grace, in many ways the second beating heart of the story. The romance was beautifully handled, avoiding cliché and easy sentiment throughout. Finally, the ending was simply perfect whilst, hopefully, leaving open the possibility of revisiting Jasper once again. For so long, The List of Suspicious Things was my favourite book of the year. This has now joined it and whatever age you are this wintry YA romance will enchant you and leave you feeling warm inside.

Finally, I must just give a shout out to West End Lane Books who have teamed up with Elle McNicoll to provide signed copies of this book and also Keedie. The book itself has a gorgeous cover and a lovely bookmark to go with it. It was simply the icing on the cake as far as I was concerned.