There are lots of references in my books – adding them in is one of my favourite parts of writing! Some of which are obvious, like Kate and Matt’s flashbacks to past lives. Others, you might have missed, especially if you were reading fast! So here are five tiny references in The Last Beginning.
1) The Loneliest Girl in the Universe
In the epilogue, there are not one but three references. The first is to my next book, featuring Romy Silvers, my new character!
2) Celebrities
You might have spotted the second reference in the extract above! Vlogger Casey Neistat and his famous skateboards gets a mention, as does Beyonce & Kim Kardashian’s famous offspring.
3) One Direction Fangirls
On the side of a webpage, there’s a little clickbait advert which is a (loving!) jab at Larry fans.
4) Death and Dream from The Sandman
On the same page, I reference one of my favourite books – The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman
5) Ella’s sneaky cameo in the prologueThis one is a favourite of mine. It’s one of the very last things I added to the book, and I’m so glad i thought of it in time! If you’re writing about time travel, you just have to embrace the tropes.

Ella also appears in The Next Together, by the way – let me know if you spot her!
Published by Wren James
Wren James is the Carnegie-longlisted British author of many Young Adult novels as ‘Lauren James’, including Last Seen Online, Green Rising, The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and The Quiet at the End of the World. Amazon MGM Studios is developing The Loneliest Girl in the Universe as a feature film. Joe Roth and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum will produce the film alongside Katherine Langford.
They are a RLF Royal Fellow and the story consultant on Netflix’s Heartstopper (Seasons 2 and 3). Season 3 will guest star Jonathan Bailey, playing a role created by Wren.
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