A BETTER NIGHTMARE is a cinematic tale of friendship, bravery and the potent power of imagination, with an electric romance at its core. Perfect for readers of Sarah Maas, Jennifer Armentrout, JK Rowling and Annie Kirby, and fans of Wednesday and Marvel.

A BETTER NIGHTMARE
by Megan Freeman
Chicken House/Scholastic, Spring 2025
(via Northbank Talent Management)

What if magic wasn’t a gift, but a disease?

She was eight when she started showing signs of the disease. Odd dreams, hallucinations – impossible things that happen around her. Until one night Emily is rushed to the Wildsmoor Facility, a correctional school for afflicted children, where her life is changed forever.

Fast forward seven years and Emily is fifteen. Like a shadow she lives her days, each one blurring into the next, hardly aware of life passing her by. Until she meets Emir.

Emir isn’t like the other kids at Wildsmoor. He’s quicker, livelier, and says things that he shouldn’t – dangerous things. Emir is electric, in more ways than Emily can know. He introduces her to The Cure, a secret society for children who believe that The Grimm isn’t a disease at all, but a gift. As Emily starts to wake up, so do her strange abilities, and the outcome is magic.

Megan Freeman writes young adult fiction and loves all things magic and mythology. She juggles writing with her day job working for a children’s mental health charity, promoting wellbeing through surf therapy. Megan hails from the far west of Cornwall, and when she’s not working or writing, loves tramping around the moorland and swimming or surfing in the sea.