Renegade snaps up Christine Pillainayagam’s debut adult romcom
Renegade has signed romcom debut Chaotic Female Lead by Christine Pillainayagam. Senior editor Sara Jafari and publisher Anne Perry acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Thérèse Coen at Susanna Lea Associates. The novel is scheduled to be published in summer 2027.
The description reads: “Pia and Conor never broke up. Because you don’t need to break up when your boyfriend ghosts you and gets back together with their ex. Their hotter, more popular, oh-so-perfect-ex. Fifteen years later, Pia only dates nice guys. Reliable guys. Guys that don’t make you hide under a table when they run into their friends. She’s over Conor. Until he turns up in her office at work, now pretending he doesn’t know her. Thrown together on a sexy new architectural build, Pia can’t help but rediscover the connection that made Conor her first everything – but then she meets Jake. Sweet, funny, handsome (possibly-much-too young-for-her) Jake, who makes her fall in an entirely different direction. But with her ghost still haunting her, things are about to get very messy.”
Jafari said: “Christine has penned a truly laugh out loud funny read and created the most relatable protagonist in Pia. I know so many readers will see themselves in Pia, feel seen in this book (as I did) and chuckle at Christine’s witty liners and astute observations. And above all, fall for the messy love triangle that unfolds.”
Pillainayagam said: “I wrote Chaotic Female Lead for all the messy millennials stuck somewhere between adulting and full-grown adult, and I’m so glad my incredible agent Thérèse Coen found it a home with the brilliant Sara Jafari and Anne Perry at Renegade, who immediately understood and championed the story I wanted to tell. This book centres someone not unlike me, a messy British millennial who just happens to be brown, fall in love, and make some terrible decisions along the way. It’s been such fun to write. I can’t wait for the world to meet Pia, Conor and Jake.”
