Usborne has picked up Love Radio, a debut novel by PRH US marketing director Ebony LaDelle that recently went in America to Simon & Schuster following an 11-way auction.
Fiction director Rebecca Hill snapped up UK and Commonwealth rights, with The Bent Agency’s Molly Ker Hawn brokering the deal on behalf of New Leaf Literary and Media and Cake Creative. It will be released in August 2022 with a global launch.
The synopsis explains: “Love Radio is a contemporary dual-narrative YA starring clever teenage DJ Prince Jones, who is always giving people advice on (and off) his popular relationship advice segment on Detroit’s hip hop radio show, and Dani Ford, who is allergic to romance and would rather be preparing to be the next great novelist. But when Prince proposes that it will only take him three dates to make Dani Ford fall in love with him, surprises are in store, and both find themselves questioning if love will be in the air for them.”
LaDelle is also the host of “Why Not YA?”, a monthly series of videos in which she interviews YA authors.
Rebecca Hill, fiction director, said: “There isn’t anything better than falling in love with a heart-meltingly gorgeous romance. The electricity between Dani and Prince spills from the pages of Love Radio and Ebony’s incredible talent had the whole Usborne team in a delicious spin. We can’t wait for UK readers to fall in love with Dani and Prince too and are so proud to be publishing Love Radio in the UK.”