SOLVED. 90s YA fiction. Girl meets boy but they are from different worlds set in UK. [s]

[Christina]

I remember this book being free with one of the 90s magazines at the time like Sugar, Bliss or J17. I can only recall a few things, girl meets boy but they are from different social circles. I remember the girl going to the boys house for lunch and feeling out of her depth as they had different types of bread/foods to eat and she wasn’t used to that. At one point they break up and she and her dad convert the attic at their house into a bedroom so she can have more privacy as she is growing up.

[Rainbowheart]

When you say it came free with the magazine, did you have to send away for it?

Or was it included in the packaging with the magazine?

[Christina]

It was included with the packaging as a free gift

[Christina]

I believe it was free with MIZZ magazine in 1997

[Rainbowheart]

There is a list for books like this, but unfortunately I don't think yours is on it.

Received New (non-digital) Book as Unsolicited Free Promotional Copy

[Becca]

It looks like Screen Kiss by Chloe Rayban, the first book in the Models series, was given away with Mizz in 1997 - see e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Models-Scree.... I haven't been able to find a preview to see if it matches the details that you remember, though. Does the girl becoming a model ring any bells?

[Christina]

I may be wrong then as that doesn’t sound familiar unfortunately :(

[Becca]

Ah, I'll keep looking! I found a thread on Mumsnet where someone mentioned the Models books, and someone else remembered getting Zoey Fools Around by Katherine Applegate as a magazine freebie - I checked a copy on archive.org for 'attic' and 'bread' but didn't find a match, and it's not set in the UK, but mentioning just in case.

Just Seventeen / J-17 magazine also published some YA romance books - not sure if they gave any away for free but worth checking if any of these seem familiar to you: Just Seventeen series

Edit: My other idea for potentially tracking this down would be to browse through an archive of these magazines from around the year you think it was, because the free gifts are often mentioned on the cover. A magazine collectors website e.g. https://www.magazinecollectors.co.uk/... would be a good place to look, although they don't seem to have every issue listed.

[Christina]

Thank you that’s so kind of you. I have been looking on the magazine collectors website but had no luck so far. It would help if I could remember which magazine it came free with. I’ve not lost hope of finding it yet though :)

[Christina]

I’ve found it finally! It’s called Diving In by Kate Cann and was a 3 part series which I didn’t realise. The first part was free with Bliss magazine in the late 90s :). Solved.

[Becca]

I'm glad you found it! And thanks for letting us know.

[Alan]

Diving In by Kate Cann for the link (for anyone else who is interested).

[Rainbowheart]

Yay, glad it's solved!