SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT

Published by Macmillan

For fans of Rachel Lynn Solomon and Alice Oseman, this swoony, fast-paced romcom stars a Deaf, demiromantic teen who falls in love with the lead singer of America's most popular boy band during a whirlwind summer tour.

This is what dreams are made of.

Every teenager in America knows eighteen-year-old Felix Song, the lead singer of the most popular boy band since One Direction. Unfortunately, Natalie Nielsen is no exception. Though she thinks of him more as an annoying rich kid from her hometown than a heartthrob.

Uninterested in stardom, Natalie dreams of honoring her late dad’s legacy and making a positive impact on her beloved Deaf community by revamping her family’s run-down Deaf Center. The issue? She has no money. When Felix's little sister's hearing loss begins to accelerate, he gives Natalie a generous job offer that would help secure the Center’s future: but she must accompany him on tour this summer to teach him ASL.

What begins as a professional arrangement soon morphs into stolen kisses and late-night rendezvous. But as their connection deepens, so do the risks—and when their relationship suddenly takes center stage, it’s not only their hearts, but Felix’s career on the line. Between relentless public scrutiny, contractual obligations, and meddling band members, Natalie must decide if their dreams can co-exist in the spotlight.

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  • Two teens stand on a rooftop in a tender moment. On the left is Felix, a dreamy Korean boy with long blond hair swept back. He wears a long tan trench coat over a lavender hoodie and plaid Burberry pants, gazing softly at the girl beside him. On the right is Natalie, a white girl with wavy pink hair, who wears a blue puffy sweater over a rainbow-striped shirt and yellow pants. She is mid-sign, holding up the ASL gesture for “I love you,” smiling at Felix softly.

    Behind them, the background is a cityscape of soft blue, with pinks and purples, and stars are dotted in the sky, the first hint of sunset. A plane soars through a starry sky above the title, which is written in a mix of bold white and handwritten white, purple, and pink script. The tagline at the top reads, “Can love survive the spotlight?”  Multicoloured Sticky notes float through the air around them. A large billboard in the background displays a silhouette of Felix’s boy band with a “SOLD OUT” banner in the corner of the billboard.

  • This novel includes light references to a deceased parent, financial insecurity, sexist comments (challenged), and online harassment (challenged).

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Praise for Someone to Daydream About:

  • "For anyone who’s ever felt too much and hoped it would be enough, Sydney Langford’s 'SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT' is a tender triumph. Delightfully awkward and quietly powerful, this rom-com feels like a warm hug—and a gentle push toward healing. With razor-sharp honesty and charm to spare, Langford makes falling in love feel like freefall, and finally landing on your feet."

    —Aiden Thomas, Instant NYTimes bestselling author of The Sunbearer Trials and Celestial Monsters

  • “An absolute delight of a romcom from start to finish, giving readers the perfect, swoony boy-band romance of every teen’s fantasy, while also being an incredibly insightful look into the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. You’ll love the secondary characters just as much as Felix and Natalie.”

    —Rachael Lippincott, NYT bestselling author of She Gets the Girl

  • “Natalie’s lively first-person narrative folds in wiki entries, text messages, and communications through ASL and SimCom (speaking and signing at the same time), effectively immersing readers in Natalie’s world—part daydream and part nightmare. Filled with likeable characters, this romance explores the conflict between image and reality and will appeal to readers who love to read about celebrities.”

    —BookList

  • "A feel-good bubblegum romance. This fun, breezy read will appeal to romance lovers, followers of boy bands, those with a connection to the Deaf community, and fan fiction readers. Alongside the romance, Langford incorporates elements of Deaf culture and community and touches on learning disabilities. The author portrays different approaches to communication realistically and without value judgments. Natalie’s complex relationship with her mother is given room to breathe and avoids a too-neat ending."

    —Kirkus

  • “SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT is swoony, tender, and honest. You’ll fall in love with the beauty of sign language alongside Natalie and Felix. Kiss-Fist!”

    —Anna Sortino, award-winning author of Give Me a Sign

  • "This contemporary romance is a love letter to boy bands, disability advocacy, and the hating-to-dating trope. Natalie and Felix are realistically flawed characters who grow over the course of the narrative as they grapple with relatable issues, such as grief, complex parent-child relationships, LGBTQIA+ identity (Natalie is demiromantic, Felix is pansexual), and disabilities. VERDICT: Recommended for all library collections that serve teens."

    —School Library Journal

  • “A sparkling romance about love in the spotlight that made me laugh, swoon, and clutch the book to my chest. Full of chemistry, charm, and emotion, SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT is pure, indulgent escapism in the best way!”

    —Sophie Gonzales, internationally bestselling author of Nobody in Particular

  • “Hilarious and wholesome, SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT is an absolute firecracker of a book with a romance that'll have your heart fluttering! This book is no daydream; it's the real deal! Langford delivers a heartfelt story about friendship, family, and love."

    —Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best

  • "Sharp, funny, and packed with yearning, SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT is the perfect read for fanfic lovers. With a swoon-worthy boy band, delightful slow-burn romance, and unbridled Disabled joy, Sydney Langford has written the ultimate daydream."

    —Crystal Maldonado, award-winning author of Get Real, Chloe Torres

  • "A love letter to boy-bands and fanfictions, Langford delivered a romance that makes me nostalgic for the nights I spent shamelessly reading under the covers and dreaming about love."

     —Trinity Nguyen, bestselling author of A Bánh Mì for Two

  • “Sydney Langford gives readers a daydream-worthy story that feels like your favorite playlist of songs dedicated to young love, meaningful representation, and the power of connection—a swoony romance that’ll be on repeat in your heart!”

    —Matthew Hubbard, critically acclaimed author of The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge

  • “SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT is an indulgent, effortlessly funny romance ripe with heart and meaningful representation. This one’s for the retired One Direction fans and the readers who grew up in fandom. Watch out—Sydney Langford is the next big name in the YA romcom world!”

    —Sujin Witherspoon, author of Bingsu for Two

Frequently Asked Questions

  • In 2015 (at 12 lol), I wrote a ~10k one-shot fanfic with the premise of a girl tutoring a member of Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer in ASL.

    After reading Kacen Callender’s “This is Kind of an Epic Love Story” in 2020 (and LOVING the Deaf rep), I decided to try my hand at writing my own disability-influenced YA books. During that time, I stumbled upon my old Ao3 account and aforementioned 5sos fanfic...

    It was so bad. SPECTACULARLY BAD. But! I reinvented it—keeping those ASL tutor x Boy band superstar vibes while incorporating further Deaf/disability, queer, and POC rep. That kernel of an idea, plus my enduring love of One Direction and 5sos, eventually morphed into SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT! (But it’s genuinely so much better now. Never, ever will the original one-shot see the light of day lmao)

  • Sometimes names come from an ever-updated “fave names” list, sometimes they pop into my head when I start plotting, sometimes I scroll Pinterest in a cold sweat at 2am.

    But in StDA, only a few names were selected for a specific reason:

    “Felix” has been one of my very favourite names ever since Felix Ever After (um... okay I’m starting to see a theme here with Kacen Callender books...) + the meaning of Felix “happy and fortunate” fits StDA’s LI’s personality so well. Lastly, a first name that began with “F” fit nicely with what I planned for the LI’s sign name (which ties into the ASL sign for music).

    “Calum Niall” is a tip of the hat to Calum Hood, 5 Seconds of Summer’s bassist, and Niall from One Direction.

    Natalie’s middle name (Elanna) was based on someone who was one of my very best publishing friends and was extremely instrumental in StDA’s road to publication early on.

    The asshole band manager (Andrew) is a reference to my ex who was also an asshole. #WriteWhatYouKnow. 🤷🤭

    A few minor characters are named in honor of dear friends in the writing community; they’ll know who they are when they see their names! <3

  • Topping the list: One Direction, hands-down (surprise!). Always. My Day One pookies!!

    But I’m a big fan of all sorts of other bands, music, and singers too: 5 Seconds of Summer (duh), pretty much any Disney Channel Original Movie soundtrack (i.e. HSM, Camp Rock), Seventeen, Lewis Capaldi, Why Don’t We, ATEEZ, Olivia Rodrigo, XG, Gracie Abrams, &Team, KATSEYE, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Chappell Roan, Stray Kids, Conan Grey to name a few. Oh—and the Beatles, Monkees, ABBA, and Bon Jovi (shoutout to my mom for raising me on Oldies!)

  • No. Having a popular boy band as a centerpiece of the story was inspired by One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer when I drafted it as a 17-year-old who grew up with their music. But there aren’t any specific individuals on which StDA’s characters are based.

    In fact, it’s been SO fun to see how these characters are artistically interpreted by different creators. One of these interpretations, obviously, is the cover art—which does a brilliant job of capturing the dreamy romcom feel of the book in general.

    Some other StDA-related artwork and mood boards can be seen below!

  • Yes! I love Seattle and have strong ties to it (it’s where I was born and the area I lived in much of my life; I still visit as often as I can). It also has one of the most creative and diverse music scenes around, with musicians like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Kenny G, Jimi Hendrix, Alice in Chains, Macklemore, and a gazillion indie bands hailing from it.

  • The writing of the first draft didn’t take long at all, only two months. But it took another 4+ years to shape it through edits, with two agents (different agencies) and two editors (different publishers), into its final form.

  • Yes! Have you ever noticed that the most famous boy (and girl) bands have 5 members? Obviously, One Direction! But also Why Don’t We, Spice Girls, SHINee, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Fifth Harmony, New Kids on the Block, The Jackson 5, August Moon (okay, that last one’s fictional, but still).

  • Both Natalie and I are medically hard-of-hearing but identify as Deaf, so we’ve had a lot of the same experiences in terms of navigating the Hearing world. And, let me tell you, auditory fatigue is no joke. I, like Nat, rely heavily on lipreading (which is definitely not an exact science!), signing, and captioning. We both have lovable service dogs that everyone wants to pet wherever we go! However, Nat was born medically hard-of-hearing while I was not; I lost a great deal of my hearing when I was 14.

    But Nat’s family is Deaf, and exclusively signs, while my family is Hearing and does not sign.

  • The main answer: getting to show that Disabled characters are not only allowed to get but deserve to get the “happily ever afters” that able-bodied characters constantly get. Disability rep is SO important to me and being able to showcase various disabilities in StDA is so meaningful to me. (On a less meaningful note... I’ve been dying to write a boy band book basically since 1D first formed—hence my previous fanfic writing as a tween—so. Also: Boy! Bands!)

    But also... it was just a really fun book to write, with characters/dynamics that were a blast to explore! I really enjoyed incorporating all the multimedia aspects into the story and using the band’s tour music video as a way of getting Natalie and the boys out and about when they’d otherwise be stuck in hotel rooms and backstage wherever they were. I learned a LOT about all these different cities while researching that part too!

  • It does feature aspects of Deaf culture, in addition to ASL and D/deaf rep! There are various elements of Deaf culture that are highlighted and/or explained throughout the book. Some examples: what “Big D” vs. “Little d” deaf means, mentioning that D/deaf people can be considered blunt because sign language is so straightforward and observational, explaining what Deaf Gain is, language deprivation, and much more! I had a ton of help on the Deaf cultural elements from my Deaf friends, colleagues, and authenticity readers!

  • Yes! In fact, Natalie’s service dog (Ginger, a yellow lab) was inspired by my service dog (Boss, a black lab) including their beloved, ratty, slobber-coated toys! Ginger and Boss do have different tasks, however.

  • Ginger is a Hearing Alert service dog. She alerts Nat to noises she often doesn’t catch, especially when in a different room or asleep. Like doorbells, knocking, Nat’s phone ringing or buzzing, oncoming traffic before she crosses the street.

Fan Art + Moodboards!