The Brief, Tumultuous Reign Of An Erstwhile Best-Seller

For a little while Thursday, young adult literature had a new reigning New York Times best-seller. In the paper's list of most popular YA hardcover novels, a new face had toppled Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give from the perch it has occupied nearly half a year. By mid-afternoon, though, the order the YA world had known for weeks was restored.

But what happened to the hours-long ascendancy of Lani Sarem's Handbook for Mortals? Gather round, everyone — that's going to take some explaining.

First, a little background: Sarem's debut novel hit the market earlier this month, the first book put out by novice publisher , which, is "already in the works to be made into a motion picture."