Piatkus bags fairy-tale debut from Luci Adams

Piatkus has acquired Not That Kind of Ever After, a “modern fairytale” from debut author, Luci Adams.

Publisher Anna Boatman and assistant editor Sarah Murphy negotiated a deal for UK and Commonwealth rights from Megan Carroll at Watson, Little in a two book deal. The book will be published in February 2023. North American rights, for the same two titles, were sold to Alexandra Sehulster at St Martins.

“Bella Marble is a true, hopeless, despairing romantic,” the synopsis reads. “But when her beautiful best friend moves out of their flat share to live with the most boring ogre in history, and her perfectly paired parents tell her their own love story is coming to an end, her illusions of a happily ever after start to shatter. If they can’t find ‘the one’, what chance does she have?”

“Disenchanted, Bella throws herself into looking for love in all the wrong places. London may be fresh out of knights in shining Armani, but it’s got a surplus of frogs and kissing frogs can be extremely fun. But Bella is forgetting the essential rule of all fairytales—there is nothing more powerful than a first kiss.”

Boatman said: “It’s so rare to find a writer with such a fresh voice. I loved every moment of reading this: it’s laugh-out-loud funny and is a proper fairytale for the modern age. I’m so pleased to have this wonderful book and author on the list.”

Murphy commented: “I couldn’t be more excited about this gorgeously plotted, delightful book. I can’t wait for readers to meet Bella, who is impossible not to love, and join her riotously fun quest for a happily ever after.”

Adams described the book as “an absolute joy to write” and added: “I couldn’t be happier that Bella’s search for a modern-day Prince Charming has found its own perfect pairing with Anna, Sarah and the whole team at Piatkus.”