Out now!

in paperback, audio, and ebook

Also available on kindle unlimited

Hachette

Pocket Books

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Target

Walmart

Bookshop

It's All In Your Head

Your fake relationship shouldn’t come with chronic feelings.

Skylar is done with offline relationships—especially romantic ones. Living with chronic illness means she’s heard it all before: unreliable, high-maintenance, too much. She’d rather spend her free time in her online chronic pain support group, and lately, she can’t help but notice Pike, the hot new guy with a penchant for broody poetry. When a chaotic night in the group forces her to pose as his girlfriend, she reluctantly agrees to keep up the charade in real life. Surprisingly, he’s thoughtful, sweet, and—most importantly—doesn’t flinch at the things that have scared others away.

Fake dating gets a lot more complicated when she discovers Pike isn’t just some guy. He’s a professional snowboarder whose career-ending injury is as infamous as his playboy past. He won’t talk about that, though. He’s fine. Really. But pretending to be in love with Skylar turns out to be the least depressing thing he’s done in months. As they spend more time together, she starts to notice the cracks in his carefully crafted image, and for once, he doesn’t mind being seen.

After all the bed-sharing and late-night talks, it becomes harder for both of them to pretend. But just as things start turning real, the paparazzi catch on, wanting the scoop on how everyone’s favorite Olympic medalist is doing post-accident. Dating while disabled comes with challenges of its own, but public speculation and invasive questions are something else entirely. If their newfound feelings can’t survive the spotlight, their not-so-fake relationship may be over before it ever truly begins.

Content Note

Dear Reader,

Thank you for picking up It’s All in Your Head. While this is a romance novel filled with beloved tropes and a happily ever after, it is also a narrative that refuses to treat disability as an afterthought. The title comes from a phrase that people living with chronic pain hear all too often when their symptoms are dismissed. The truth is, not everyone has ideal pain management, supportive doctors, or families who truly understand. For a lot of us, support groups are the only place where we can speak openly about our experiences and receive validation, insight, and help.

In this novel, you’ll encounter characters navigating chronic pain within the US healthcare system and facing systemic ableism. Some content may be triggering to readers sensitive to these topics, which are listed below for reference. While the narrative doesn’t shy away from the tough realities many disabled people face, it also unapologetically calls out ableism and microaggressions toward our community.

Although I’ve done my best to accurately portray these characters’ struggles with chronic illness and long-term pain, many of them drawn from my own lived experience, this remains a work of fiction and is not intended as medical advice or a one-size-fits-all depiction. Every individual’s experience with disability is unique; even with the same diagnosis, no two people face identical challenges in severity, pain, or treatment. The medical details in this story, including surgical interventions and outpatient procedures, are not endorsements. The narrative also doesn’t attempt to address every systemic issue disabled people face. While COVID-19 remains a serious and ongoing concern for our community, It’s All in Your Head takes place in a world where COVID-19 is not a factor.

At its heart, this book is a love letter to online Spoonie friendships and the support of the disability community, acknowledging the care, resilience, and connection that sustain us. If chronic pain or illness has upended your life, I hope you’ll hold on to the possibility of your own happy ending. Joy, romance, and belonging are not out of reach just because we are ill or disabled. We do not need to be cured or inspirational to find love, in whatever form it takes. Thank you for joining these characters on their journey, and I hope something in this story makes you feel seen.

With love, Sabina

Content Warnings

This work contains medical trauma (including medical gaslighting, pain, side effects of medications, trauma responses to seeking emergency care, and medication rationing); on-page lumbar puncture; BMI weaponization and fatphobia from a medical professional; emotional, physical, and psychological struggles following a life-altering accident; online harassment (trolling) with ableist and threatening language; ableist commentary; conversations about forced psychiatric care; toxic relationships between disabled adults and nondisabled parents; ableist language in the context of unlearning ableism; discussions of parental abandonment; mentions of parenting struggles within the disability community; on-page sexual content; and a minor, single-vehicle car accident with no injuries.

Reader Letter

Dear Reader,

Romance novels have a way of telling us who is desirable—and sometimes, who isn’t. Too often, disabled people have been written out of these stories, or, when they appeared, were made inspirational or sidelined as a lesson for someone else’s growth. With a guaranteed happily-ever-after, the romance genre promises that love can heal, but that promise can come with an asterisk: the chronically ill character will be healed before the end, too, which isn’t a reality for most of us.

When I started writing this book, I longed for more romance that didn’t sanitize disability, magically cure us, or leave out the joy, humor, and connection that make our lives rich. Where fatigue, mobility aids, and pain existed alongside swoony banter, steamy kisses, and sweeping grand gestures. It’s All In Your Head grew from that gap.

Late one night, propped up with ice packs and chatting with my online support group, I realized that if I split up all the diagnoses I had collected over the years, I could cast an entire romance novel. So, I did. Pieces of me thread through these pages: the painsomnia, various conditions, and the fight to be believed, but also the laughter, stubborn hope, and incredible friendships in Spoonie communities.

The story begins online, where Skylar would rather admire a hot stranger from afar than risk another failed offline relationship. She’s the kind of woman I see in my own groups: sharp, caring, and exhausted by a world that keeps calling her “too much.” Pike, a former pro snowboarder who knows what it’s like to have his life treated like public property, also turns to online spaces to process grief after a career-ending injury left him disabled. (I understand that grief—an injury took away my ability to snowboard as well). Pike masks his pain behind nonchalance and broody poetry until their pretend romance forces him to open up.

Their guarded hearts collide in fake-dating chaos: secret celebrity drama, not-so-pretend kisses, only one bed (of course), and a scheme that neither expects to snowball into paparazzi photos and real feelings. Amid all the beloved romance tropes, there’s also vulnerability, boundaries negotiated with care, and sex-positivity that embraces all bodies as they are. It’s All in Your Head insists that disabled intimacy is powerful and worthy of big, cinematic love.

Around Skylar and Pike is a web of care with disabled friends who make a phone feel like a living room after midnight. They trade memes when the tinnitus won’t quit, hold space for anger and grief, and gleefully egg you on when it’s time to find out what “body heat for survival” does to heart rate and blood pressure during a blizzard.

Thank you for stepping onto the slopes of this story with Skylar, Pike, and their found family. My hope is that this book feels like the warmth of a text arriving just when you need it—a reminder that love can find us even when life doesn’t play fair.

With love,

Sabina

Praise for

IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

"[A]n extremely slow burn that pays off exponentially. The sex is super hot. Because Skylar and Pike learn early to communicate about pain and limitations, they’re great communicators by the time they do eventually hook up, which makes for some steamy dirty talk. Together they learn that while chronic illness comes with restrictions, their desire for one another does not. A strong debut about characters who meet in the pause between pain and hope."

Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

"Sabina Nordqvist has crafted a sexy, swoon-worthy romance that gives you all feels, while also offering a raw and authentic look at the realities of living with disability. It's All in Your Head is brimming with chemistry, alive with wit, and perfectly balances the romantic tension and the tenderness between the main characters."

Nisha J. Tuli, USA Today Bestselling author of Not Safe for Work

Illustration of a red-haired woman reclining and looking at her phone, in a blue sweater and white socks with green/teal awareness ribbons; blue and green heart doodles.

When Skylar decided to fake date a hot man from her chronic pain support group, she was shocked to discover his prolific dating history and infamous Olympic career-ending injury. Pike used to be a professional snowboarder and certified rake before one bad accident changed everything, but it didn’t stop media interest. Now, Skylar finds her fake relationship in the public spotlight, and the pressure could be enough to cool any real feelings she might have. This debut romance gives members of the disability community the HEAs they deserve.

BookRiot

“Nordqvist masterfully balances a swoon-worthy, toe-curling romance with the unfiltered reality of being disabled in our current society—from the frustration of not being heard, to the magic of finally feeling seen. If you have ever wondered if you were too much or not enough to be loved completely as you are, this book is for you.”

Sonora Reyes, author of The Broposal

"What a remarkable debut! This book is EVERYTHING I needed. I wish I could go back in time and give this book to myself as I began my own journey with chronic illness a decade ago. There's so much hard-earned wisdom in these pages, but there's also hope and humor and a romance that had me breathlessly turning the pages in giddy anticipation. IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD is a masterful exploration of heartache and healing with a delightful kick of heat. The chemistry between Skylar and Pike sizzles, but the way they take care of each other is just as hot as the spice. And Brandon Pike? He may be the book boyfriend to outdo all book boyfriends. You'll fall head over heels in love with both of these characters as they navigate their fake dating scheme and a world that is stacked against them. If this is Sabina Nordqvist at the beginning of her career, I cannot wait to see where she goes from here."

Cora Carmack, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

"Nordqvist deftly tackles the pervasiveness of ableism in familial, platonic, and romantic relationships—even in the relationships the characters have with their own selves. Her writing is unflinching, funny, and heart wrenching. It's All in Your Head is one of the first books I've ever read that accurately depicts what it is like to date, be in love, and navigate the world as a disabled woman, all without shying away from the parts of ourselves society has taught us to hide."

Lillie Lainoff, author of One for All, an NPR Best Book of 2022

“IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD is a breath of fresh air and an instant favorite. Skylar and Pike’s chemistry and tension is rewarded with the sexiest, most tender payoff, one that had me tearing up and blushing in equal measure. Simply put, this book feels like falling in love—with yourself and your disability, and with the one person who knows to bring you cake when you’ve existed on crumbs. Sabina Nordqvist just gets it.”

Megan Murphy, author of Fake It Like You Mean It and person with chronic illness

"This romance novel was one of my favorite disability books of 2025 and is already one of my all-time favorites. This is the first book I’ve read that really captures the magic and found family that grows out of chronic pain and illness support groups alongside the grief that comes from being misunderstood by non-disabled family and friends. This would also be the very first book I’d hand to someone who is chronically ill and to someone who isn’t but genuinely wants to understand what it feels like when your life is turned completely upside down.

The story handles grief, pity, and ableism with so much care and precision. Nordqvist somehow manages to educate without sounding pedantic, while still affirming the messy, complex realities patients live with every day. I found myself nodding along and saying, “Yep, that is so true,” again and again while reading.

On top of all that, the romance delivers: fake dating, one bed, all the good stuff. AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE PINING AND THE SIZZLING CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THESE TWO? *Whew.* Good lord. I loved seeing Nordqvist say a very clear no thank you to anyone who thinks disabled people can’t be sexy, desirable, or hot for one another."

@SpoonfulofLindsay, disability advocate

"Charming and heartfelt! A While You Were Sleeping-style mix-up sets off sweet, poignant, and swoony consequences. From perfect setup to triumphant end—this book has its sights set on readers’ hearts, minds, and understanding of disability."

Gigi Griffis, author of the Netflix tie-in The Empress