From 9bde3df74df36eb16d72b858bcfcde449404caf2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Rajarshee Chatterjee <rajarshee.adm@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2026 21:13:47 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix: Prevent Novel Screen Empty State Flash (Closes #2034)

---
 .../__tests__/novelStore.bootstrap.test.ts       | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/store/novelStore.ts |  4 ++--
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/__tests__/novelStore.bootstrap.test.ts b/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/__tests__/novelStore.bootstrap.test.ts
index 2863aa36..8f8f606a 100644
--- a/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/__tests__/novelStore.bootstrap.test.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/__tests__/novelStore.bootstrap.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { NovelInfo } from '@database/types';
 import { getString } from '@i18n/translations';
 import { createNovelStoreActions } from '../store/novelStore.actions';
+import { createNovelSlice } from '../store/novelStore';
 
 interface BootstrapServiceSlice {
   bootstrapNovelAsync: jest.Mock;
@@ -88,6 +89,21 @@ describe('novelStore.bootstrap', () => {
     jest.clearAllMocks();
   });
 
+  it('starts in a loading state until the initial bootstrap completes', () => {
+    const state = createNovelSlice({
+      pluginId: 'plugin.test',
+      novelPath: '/x',
+      initialNovelSettings: {
+        sort: 'positionAsc',
+        filter: [],
+        showChapterTitles: true,
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(state.loading).toBe(true);
+    expect(state.fetching).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it('maps a missing novel to the not-found error', async () => {
     const harness = createHarness();
     harness.bootstrapService.bootstrapNovelAsync.mockResolvedValue({
diff --git a/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/store/novelStore.ts b/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/store/novelStore.ts
index 25185c68..b2539ffa 100644
--- a/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/store/novelStore.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/persisted/useNovel/store/novelStore.ts
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ export const createNovelSlice = ({
   initialLastRead,
 }: CreateNovelStoreParams) => {
   return {
-    loading: false,
-    fetching: false,
+    loading: true,
+    fetching: true,
     error: undefined,
     pluginId,
     novelPath,