Never Sorry Ever Jolly

What do you get when you mix dating with refugee camps, freedom fighters, and a thousand pairs of googly eyes?

Collin Uttley’s summer vacation.

"Honestly, I didn’t set out to be an imposter. I just wanted to meet girls. Why else would an atheist join a church youth group? (It sure wasn’t for the coffee.) And it paid off—I met Shelby Wanderal, the soul mate I never knew existed. When I found out she was spending her summer working with orphans in refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border—guess who joined the outreach team? And you better believe I didn’t let a little thing like the Expected Behavior Guidelines cramp my style. Not even Rule #1: “No romantic entanglements allowed.” But I gotta admit I didn’t expect a rival—my summer would have gone a whole lot smoother if Twain Abernathy had stayed home.

"Or if I hadn’t tried the betel nut.

"Or if I’d listened to the advice of the Freedom Fighters.

"Or if—nope, you’ll just have to read the story of my crazytown adventure… people say it makes them laugh. I’m just not sure if that means with me or at me."

ALL HE WANTED WAS A DATE.

In the new faith-based YA romantic comedy adventure, NEVER SORRY EVER JOLLY, homeschooled and unchurched seventeen-year-old Collin Uttley moves to SoCal (Southern California) and joins a church youth group out of sheer desperation for a social life. To fit in with the rest of the high schoolers and to increase his odds of scoring a girlfriend, he pretends to be a “believer” and attends every single group activity—even blindfold dodge ball. His tenacity soon pays off when he meets the girl of his dreams, Shelby Wanderal, who shares his enthusiasm for vintage clothing and swing dancing. When Collin finds out Shelby’s going on a summer outreach trip to help refugees on the Thailand-Burma border, he fakes his way onto the team, thinking it’s the perfect opportunity to win her over. However, things don’t go exactly as planned… to say the least.

From the author of CARPE DIEM comes another YA romantic comedy adventure set in Southeast Asia, NEVER SORRY EVER JOLLY, based on her own outreach experiences in Thailand and Burma. Praise for Autumn’s first novel:

“This is self-confessed travel junkie Autumn Cornwell's first novel—and she's hit one out of the park.”―The Washington Post

“Suspenseful and wonderfully detailed, the well-crafted story maintains its page-turning pace while adding small doses of cultural insight and humor.”―School Library Journal, Starred Review

“Take a traveler as reluctant as Anne Tyler's accidental tourist and add the number of misadventures found in The Out-of-Towners, and you have the recipe for Cornwell's hilarious, adventure-packed first novel…. the exotic settings and the wacky predicaments will exercise a strong enough grip to hold readers' imaginations.”―Publishers Weekly

“A witty coming-of-age adventure.”―Kirkus Reviews

“The locale, Vassar's gaffes, and quirky characters—especially Grandma Gerd and Hanks—are what set this book apart.”―VOYA

“…this first novel has its amusements and diversions, including Vassar's share of romance with a self-styled Malaysian cowboy. The best part, however, is the vividly realized setting. Cornwell has obviously been there and done that, and her novel is much the richer—and funnier—for it.”―Booklist

A fall IndieBound Pick (formerly Book Sense)
New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age
Nominated for the Missouri's Truman Readers Award.
Nominated for the Rhode Island Teen Book Award.
International Reading Association (IRA) Notable Book
​One of Publishers Weekly’s “Children’s Galleys to Grab” for Fall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Squat toilets, profuse sweating, jumbo centipedes, ear nibbling—these are just some of the delights Autumn Cornwell’s encountered in her global adventures, which inspired her first YA romantic comedy adventure, CARPE DIEM, published in the U.S., Germany (“Guten Tag!”), the Netherlands, and China. Her outreach trips to the refugees and persecuted minority groups on the Thailand-Burma border provided the backstory of her latest YA romantic comedy adventure, NEVER SORRY EVER JOLLY. Writing and speaking about physical, creative, spiritual, and—most of the time unintentionally wacky—adventures has been her lifelong calling. When she’s not trekking through jungles or losing luggage internationally, she be found attempting to write about those experiences at home in SoCal (Southern California).

To read more about Autumn’s latest escapades (and learn from her mistakes), head on over to www.autumncornwell.com or find her on Instagram @autumncornwell