The People I Know Now by Jasmine Donaldson

The People I Know Now

A powerful young adult novel about love, loss, and learning how to breathe again after everything has fallen apart.

After enduring the most difficult year of her life, nineteen-year-old Lyla Strafford leaves everything behind for a summer in the small seaside township of New Brooke. Staying with her Aunt Caroline, she hopes the quiet will be enough to hold her together while she figures out how to exist in a world that feels different now.

Slowly, gently, Lyla begins to heal.

With the support of a group of unexpected new friends, she starts to find pieces of herself again — laughter returning in small moments, trust rebuilt in fragile steps. And then there’s him. A boy who seems to understand the silences she carries, and who makes it easier to believe that maybe she can move forward after all.

But healing is never a straight line.

Just as things begin to feel like they might be okay, Lyla is confronted by a life-threatening experience tied to the trauma she thought she had survived. Old fear rises to the surface, forcing her to face everything she has been trying to outrun.

In the quiet spaces between love and loss, family and fear, Lyla must ask herself what it really means to move forward… when the past refuses to let go.

Because sometimes healing isn’t about forgetting.
It’s about learning how to stay.

✨ A heartfelt YA romance about grief, recovery, and first love after heartbreak
✨ Found family, seaside setting, and slow emotional healing
✨ For readers who love tender, character-driven stories with depth and hope

📖 Ages of Pages Preorder Exclusive
📍 Preorder now and collect your book from us at Ages of Pages (Hamilton) 2nd May

Limited copies available — once allocations are gone, they’re gone.