Raimy from Readaraptor (Awesome Women)

Today I have the great honour of featuring another newish blogger that I absolutely adore. Her blog background is one of the most adorable I've ever seen, I can't believe that anyone could look at it and not instantly think 'AWWW' - Please welcome Raimy from Readaraptor!

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

First of all, thank you for having me!

I’m Raimy, that’s not my real name, it is actually Rachel Amy and I decided to blend the two because Rachel was too much of a normal name for me. I like to be a bit strange!

I’m an editorial assistant for a construction magazine, which is the closest thing you can get to a journalist this far away from London! I also have a blog, Readaraptor, on which I drool over books that I love and you may see more dinosaurs than you will expect!

Did you have a role model growing up?

Yes. I think my first was probably Avril Lavigne, when I was around 13/14, I think when I saw her I realised that I didn’t have to be what everyone else wanted me to be and started actually being myself.

Then it was probably Louise Rennison, I remember spending HOURS writing my own story just like the Georgia Nicolson series! It was because of Louise Rennison and Sarra Manning that I wanted to be a writer!

I’ve also always admired really strong women, like kick-ass women. Especially women in bands like The Donnas, Amanda Palmer from The Dresden Dolls (among others including her solo career) and Slunt. They are all really strong women who won’t take any crap and that’s exactly what I try to be!

Who do you look up to now?

That’s harder than the previous question. I haven’t really thought about it. I guess a lot of the people I look up to the most are writers. I would love to spend ten minutes in the company of Sarra Manning, Malorie Blackman, or journalistic types like Victoria White.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Anything but a shopkeeper! (My parents were shopkeepers so when I played “shop” I wasn’t playing!)

I remember wanting to be a jockey, (even though I’ve never ridden a horse) a vet, a singer, and at one point a famous violinist (I was terrible!)

I went to secondary school and wasn’t sure what I wanted to be as long as it didn’t involve maths! I decided I wanted to be a police officer and I was told I’d have to be good at PE and do it for GCSE, I loathed PE too but then I got the idea of being a writer and that stuck.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

When I was at school I had an AWFUL teacher, she didn’t like me from the minute she saw me, having known my brother and instantly painting me with the same brush. She made my GCSE years hell, telling me that I wasn’t good enough to be in the higher set (even though the higher set teacher saw my work and thought that I was!) and I believe even purposely losing my coursework, though I have no evidence for this. When I told her that I wanted to be a writer and my back up was to be an English teacher she laughed in my face and told me that I wouldn’t even get into college.

Maybe, looking back, she was just pushing me to try my hardest, but it hurt a lot and if that’s what she was doing it worked because I wanted to prove her wrong and prove myself to anyone who doubted me. I actually ended up failing some of my GCSEs. I wasn’t allowed to go do my A Levels so few, especially not if I wanted to be a teacher so I had to re-sit some and pick up others to get me over 6 GCSE’s. I passed them all after a one year quick course and went on to do my A Levels and go to uni. Although I didn’t get great grades, I’m now working for a magazine and have my blog. I guess I owe a lot to that English teacher, even if she did make me feel like a failure all the way through my last two years at school.

My mum and sister have had a big influence on me too. I didn’t get on great with my mum because I’m such a daddy’s girl but she is always there for me. The same with my big sister, she’s awesome, and was the one to get me into reading!

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

This is another hard one, but I think I have to say Sephy from the Noughts and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman. Everything she goes through and has to give up to do what she has to do, is incredible. It’s been a long time since I read the series, and I haven’t even finished it (not read the last book!) but it’s stayed with me and it is my favourite book of all time. I love it, Sephy, and Calum.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

I was awful as a teenager. The summer I found music I went from a size 8 girly girl to a full on size 14 goth. I practically grew boobs overnight, my changes happened that quickly, and to deal with them I lost myself in music, Good Charlotte, Him, Slipknot, anything that could be played loud enough to drown out the music from my brothers room and the crap I got for being different at school.

I had a bit of a tough time because when I was 14 my sister went off to uni and my parents shop was getting busier. I had to work a bit before and after school and on a weekend, starting at 4 or 5 in the morning. I did most of my school work in the shop and because I couldn’t watch TV or listen to my music I read A LOT whilst there. I read to get myself outta there, to forget I had a brother when he was being awful (you know what teenage boys are like) and to forget that my friends were out having fun while I had to work.

I didn’t go without anything though, my parents loved me and gave me anything I asked for because I worked for it so I can’t complain! I probably would have gotten in with a bad crowd if I wasn’t stuck in that shop!

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

There is more to life than this, just hold on and it’ll come!

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading about?

After reading Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, I am fascinated by body image issues, I think growing so fast meant that I didn’t have chance to get used to my body changing and I hated how big I was, I hated how I looked but I’ve learnt to love myself. It intrigues me to hear how other people come to terms with the way they look.

Also getting in touch with your sexuality is something I love to read about. When I read a book like Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill or Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle and those characters are coming to terms with who they are and their sexuality it fascinates me to see how they cope!

I don’t believe that anyone, fictional or not, should hate themselves, think themselves not worthy, or think that they have to be a certain way because that’s what society dictates.

Everyone should love themselves and their bodies because this is what we have and if we don’t love it then no-one else will!

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I would like to add a huge thank you to you and some of the other bloggers out there. I am new(ish) to blogging and I love that I have found such an amazing community. Thank you Michelle for an amazing feature, I hope you include a post on how awesome you are too!!

Thank you Raimy for such wonderful answers! I too really love reading about sexuality and body image. I'm honestly apalled at your English teacher... Raimy blogs at Readaraptor, please do follow her awesome blog!

My reading/blogging habits

I've seen quite a few bloggers lately discuss their systems of what to read next and how they write reviews and other blog posts and I thought it might be fun today to share with you mine.

Reading habits

I think I may have mentioned some of my methods of what to read next before. I keep all of my unread books together on shelves in my garage. They're ordered alphabetically at the moment, though sometimes I split them up into genre (for instance the paranormals together, the gritty realism books together and maybe the contemporary romances together) or sometimes, if I'm being very anal, I'll split the books into different publishers. This doesn't happen often.

What will happen when I'm reading to choose a new book to read is I will make a shortlist of books I'd like to read, maybe 8 or so books. This will usually include urgent books for review or books I'd like to read for a specific themed week but also I'll normally try to include other books I'm really excited to read. Depending on my mood, I'll choose a book, faff about trying to make up my mind and go back and forth for awhile.

Then, when I've chosen a book, I'll update my GoodReads account, which is almost always up-to-date. During reading, I'll either have my blogging notebook nearby to write down notes or I'll use an index card as a bookmark and jot down some of my thoughts about storyline/character/themes. A lot of times both happens. I feel like I'd be absolute lost and bereft without my blogging notebook.

Because I can never really make my mind up, I'll have stacks of these shortlisted books all around the house. It drives N crazy because there are literally piles and piles of books in almost every room in the house because my mood changes wildly and I'll feel like reading different books every few hours. It used to be that I never read more than one book at a time, but this has slowly changed. Now, it's possible that I'll flit between 2-3 books at a time. Right now? I'm bouncing between 3.

Blogging habits

I don't often review books straight after I've read them. In fact, I rarely do. What I will do, is open a new post in Blogger and title it review + title name + author and save it as a draft. I'll add any relevant tags to the post, and then jot down some of my thoughts after reading it as well as any notes I'd written while reading the book so I have a small outline for when I do actually write the review. If I don't write in now where I got the book, I won't generally remember later!

If I'm feeling particularly organised, I will then insert the cover art of the book and copy and paste the GoodReads description into that post before saving it and leaving it for another day. If not, that'll happen another day, usually when I can't bring myself to write any reviews but I feel like being productive in some small way.

Review-writing happens whenever I get the chance. Sometimes it's before I drop my Eldest to school but after breakfast. Sometimes it's in the early afternoons after he comes home from school and him and the Littlest are playing. Usually it's after the two boys have gone to bed. Rarely any blogging happens on a weekend.

In my blogging notebook, I draw out a calendar and I have a rough schedule of posts and reviews for any particular month. At the moment, I have rough outlines for the rest of April and May as well as an outline for July because of a blogging event happening then. I have so many lists in that notebook. Post ideas, reviews that need to be written, to-do lists, review books that need to be read. I really rely on that notebook to keep me organised!

My blogging schedule at the moment consists of reviews posted on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. There's usually a personal post on a Wednesday and a books discussion post on a Friday. Saturdays I like to dedicate to my Awesome Women feature, whether it be the interviews or posts about particular women and every other Sunday I do In My Mailbox with the other Sunday left free. I like to think that I'll add in another review here, but it hasn't happened so far.

Almost ALL of my posts are scheduled in advance. I can't do seat-of-my-pants blogging anymore, I don't have the spare time. When I've written a review, it gets slotted into the next available Monday/Tuesday/Thursday slot unless it's for a blog tour. I make lists of personal posts that I could write as well as discussion posts for Fridays and I try to work my way through my lists. Ideally, both those lists are always full. I hate being stuck for ideas! If ever I'm in a review-writing rut (which I currently am!) I will try to then focus on these Wednesday/Friday posts so if nothing else, SOMETHING is being posted.

And ... I think that's it. What sort of reading and blogging habits do you have?

Review and Interview: A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard

This complex and haunting exploration of life on the edge and what it takes to triumph over adversity is a story about the indomitable nature of hope.

Two young boys, an old tramp, a beautiful teenage dancer, and the girl's baby-ragtag survivors of a sudden war-form a fragile family, hiding out in the ruins of an amusement park. As they scavenge for food, diapers, and baby formula, they must stay out of sight of vicious gangs and lawless solders. At first they rely on Billy, the only adult in the group. But as civil life deteriorates, Billy starts to fall apart. Skip, who is barely into his teens, must take over and lead them on a search for sanctuary.

I hardly know how to find the right words to review A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard. It's a really sweet book and the main character's voice is one that pulled me into the story from the very beginning. Once I started the story, I couldn't put it down and I found myself feeling all sorts of different emotions that I didn't know how to deal with. It's that sort of book. But in a good way of course.

Skip is homeless. He had a home but it wasn't very good, so he left it. Despite the rough life that it's hinted at that he has led so far and despite the hardships Skip has had as a homeless boy, he still maintains this wonderful and innocent view of life. His passion is drawing with chalk on the pavements around him - he sees the world around with such exquisite detail.

Skip seems drawn to another homeless person, Billy. And when disaster strikes and the city is falling apart under air strikes, the Skip and Billy band together. Joining them is a little boy, Max who has lost his mother. They think it best to leave the city and they end up in an abandoned fairground. Joining their little group are a beautiful teenage dancer, Tia and her baby. As a group, they search for food and supplies for the baby and find the best ways to make it through the war.

It should be quite a grim story so far. A homeless man and two young boys struggling to survive while the world falls apart around them - but it isn't. There's passion in the characters, Billy's music, Skip's artwork, Tia's dancing. The strong bonds and relationships between each of the characters - especially Skip and Billy, and Skip and Max. Though all are strangers at first, there is such generosity and kindness between them all. What is most surprising, is how Skip seems to be almost overjoyed at this new situation he is in, as it's everything he's always wanted - a place to belong with his strange, new rag-tag family. I also really loved the juxtaposition of a world torn apart, and our characters living in a theme park.

I think what A Small Free Kiss in the Dark does really well is show how even in times of crisis and despair, there is still hope and friendship and kindness and family. Beautiful little book, one well worth reading!

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Thanks to the kindness of Glenda's publishers, Templar, I am today's blog tour stop with this interview with the lovely author of A Small Free Kiss in the Dark, Glenda Millard. Hello Glenda!


First of all, I'd like to say how much I loved A Small Free Kiss in the Dark! For those who haven't read it, can you tell me a little something about the story? And the title?

Thanks Michelle. I’m so glad you enjoyed reading my book and thanks for helping me with this blog tour.

While I had many ideas for the title of this book, I couldn’t settle on one. We were almost to the end of the editing process when my publisher suggested the eventual title, A Small Free Kiss in the Dark. It is a quote from a line spoken by Skip, the leading character. Immediately she mentioned it I knew it was right as those few words seemed to capture the essence of the book; a small innocent kiss, between two young people searching for love and acceptance. A bright moment in what otherwise seemed a very bleak world.

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark is the story of Skip, a twelve year-old boy whose view of the world is highly influenced by his love of art and beauty and also by years of living with a neglectful father and later with paid carers who abused him.

Skip runs away to the city where he meets Billy, an old homeless man. Billy recognises Skip’s artistic talent when he sees him draw on the pavement with coloured chalks and takes him to a library to show him books on the great artists.

Then war breaks out. In the aftermath of the terrible destruction Skip and Billy meet five-year-old Max who is waiting fruitlessly for his mother to come for him. The city is almost destroyed but Skip’s deep desire for family sustains him as he, Billy and Max are forced to move on in the battle to stay alive, to feed themselves and find refuge.

When the trio reach a derelict fun park they meet Tia, a young dancer with a tiny baby. Despite the threat of the soldiers on the hill, lack of food and accommodation in the house of horrors, Skip is happier than he’s ever been before.

But then things start to go wrong. Billy lets him down, he’s not sure whose side Tia is on, Max still wants his mother and once again Skip has no adult to turn to for help.

This is a story of the power of hope.


If you were to write a permission note giving my readers reasons to read A Small Free Kiss in the Dark, what would it say?

Dear reader,

You have my permission to look through the eyes of an artist and see rare beauty in the most unlikely places. Permission is granted to you, to fall a little in love with Skip and with Max. I grant you permission to wonder what life would be like for you, if you woke up tomorrow and your city, your country was in ruins. And finally, I give you permission to get inside Skip’s head and his heart, to discover what it it like to be unloved and to find out how amazingly strong hope is.

The main character in your story, Skip has trouble sleeping and uses visualisation techniques in order to fall asleep. In the same situation, what happy memory would you visualise?

I think I would visualise my one perfect day that I have described below. Some people claim that visualisation can work back-to-front. They say that if you imagine something often and accurately it actually occurs. Maybe if I imagine that picnic it will happen!

One of my favourite parts of A Small Free Kiss in the Dark is when Billy takes Skip to the library. What do libraries mean to you and how important are they to you?

When I was growing up there wasn’t much money to spare, so books were often given as birthday or Christmas gifts. We lived on the outskirts of a small town and it didn’t take long to read all the books stocked in the primary school library. Visits to town were infrequent, but when I went to secondary school I travelled by bus because the school was in town. And the town had a library. That library evoked a delightful sense of excitement and expectation in me. Libraries still do that. I can go in with no idea of what I’d like to borrow and come out, arms laden with books. For me there can be no such thing as a quick visit to the library.

At the library, Skip saves three books. If you could only save three books from being destroyed, which three would you choose?

If I was in Skip’s situation and could save only three books;

I’d save one book of pictures - probably one of Van Gogh or Monet’s - to remind me of how beautiful the world once was.

Secondly, I’d save a book of words - perhaps Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ or John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men,’ to remind me of how decent and just and admirable man can be and also simply because I love those books both for the stories they tell and the way they are written.

And finally I’d save a book of empty pages so I could write on it.

Skip is quite the artist. I was just wondering if you had a favourite artist or piece of artwork?

Skip and I share similar tastes. I love Monet’s work and also Van Gogh’s. Waterlilies and Starry Night on the Rhone River are two of my favourite paintings.



Skip works hard in order to create for Max and Billy a 'perfect day' - what would a perfect day for you be like?

There are many places where I could happily spend a perfect day. I’d choose a picnic in the country. It would be autumn. The sun would be shining. The air would be still. There would be trees and scented roses in bloom. I’d reach my destination by hot air balloon. It would touch down beside a tartan picnic rug. There’d be deck chairs, cushions, rugs, books, endless flasks of hot tea, egg and lettuce sandwiches, melting moments biscuits, chocolates and no deadlines. But the most important thing would be that, just like Skip, I’d choose to spend it with my family.


And finally, I found A Small Free Kiss in the Dark to be an interesting mixture of quite grim circumstances together with swirls of hope. Can you tell me a little bit about this?

I wrote A Small Free Kiss in the Dark against the advice of my husband - I think he’s forgiven me now. You see when I told him about my idea for a book set against a backdrop of war, he commented that no matter how resilient the human spirit is, war is disempowering and especially so for children. So I put the project on hold. I didn’t want war to be the focus of the story and I did want to demonstrate that hope can survive even the most dire circumstances. But I wasn't sure if I could achieve either of those things. Eventually I decided that the only way I’d ever know would be to write the book. So I did and I’m very pleased you referred to it as an interesting mixture of grim circumstances together with swirls of hope as I feel as though I have achieved what I set out to do.

Thank you Glenda for those brilliant answers! A Small Free Kiss in the Dark is officially published on the 1st of May, do look out for it!

Guest posts

Somewhat strangely, even though I have been a little bit scarce posting on MY OWN blog, for the month of April, I have been guest posting on other blogs like crazy. If you are so interested, please do check out my guest posts and leave me really wonderful, adoring comments!

For Translation Month on Mostly Reading YA, I provided a guest review of Reckless by Cornelia Funke.

On Vicki and Lyndsey's blog, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory Book Reviews, I wrote a guest post for their feature, So I Say Thank You For the Books... in which I'm grateful to the people who inspired my love of reading.

Next, I was on Kirsty's blog, The Overflowing Library, where I showed off my very overflowing and cluttered bookshelves.

And finally, I was on Emma's blog, Asamum Booktopia talking about the importance of libraries and librarians in my childhood. (This post has no comments!)

So, if you have any interest in Reckless, or who I'm grateful to for my love reading, or if you'd like to ogle my books or read a post about how influential libraries have been, please do check out these posts.

Sorry for the horrific self-promoting post. All will be back to normal tomorrow!

Hayley Long (Awesome Women)

To conlude my mental health themed week, I give you this interview with the absolutely wonderful Hayley Long, author of the books Lottie Biggs is (Not) Mad and Lottie Biggs is (Not) Desperate. A third Lottie book, Lottie Biggs is Not Tragic is due out in August.

To find out more about Hayley Long, please visit the following links:

Official Hayley Long website
Hayley Long's blog
Hayley Long on twitter
Hayley Long's Facebook page

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

Yep, I’ve recently had all my hair cut off, I’ve got a big freckle under my left eye and a small scar on my right thumb. I got that scar poking a patch of rust on an old car I once had. What else? I’m hideously close to arriving at a significant birthday landmark, I have a tendency to get addicted to pointless computer games and I always have to get my trousers shortened. Oh, and I wrote those books about Lottie Biggs.

Did you have a role model growing up?

No role model as such; nobody I particularly looked up to or tried to emulate in anyway. But my parents did a good job. Neither of them was particularly into books but they were always happy to buy me plenty of them! And they took me and my brother loads of places. Castles, theme parks, zoos… I’ve got lots of memories of interesting holidays and exciting days out. We were lucky in that way. I’m quite sure that my love of Wales grew from a holiday we had in North Wales when I was about seven. I was really amazed by the landscape and also completely fascinated by the people I overheard speaking Welsh. It was that initial romantic impression of Wales which made me choose to study at a Welsh university when I was eighteen and after that, I spent many years living there. This is why Lottie Biggs is from Cardiff. So to get back to your question; beyond my parents, I had no obvious other role models. But I don’t think I needed any others.

Who do you look up to now?

Most people. I’m only 5 foot and a half an inch.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Oh this is such a cliché I know but I ALWAYS wanted to be a writer. When I was about eight or nine, I remember that we had this classroom helper called Mrs Burrows and I remember her explaining the word ‘ambition’ to us and then asking us what our ambitions were. Without any hesitation, I’d said, ‘My ambition is to write books.’ I’ve actually written a few books now so I suppose it’s fair to say I’ve fulfilled that ambition. It’s funny how the goalposts change though. I now want to go into a bookshop and see a whole shelf of books with my name on.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

Well obviously my mum has influenced me. And also my female friends. Those I knew when I was a teenager and those I met when I was a student and am still very good friends with now. But to be honest, I don’t really have many women in my life! But I love this question so I’m going to talk about the women who I really admire. This could go on for a while so I’m going to restrict myself to picking four. And first is:


PJ Harvey - the British singer song-writer. I’ve been thinking about her a lot just recently because I’ve been listening over and over again to her latest album ‘Let England Shake.’ It’s not an easy listen; it’s all about war so in places it’s actually rather depressing. But I think that CD is a total masterpiece. The more I listen to it, the more I hear. I think PJ Harvey is amazing. She’s been making music for more than twenty years and she still sounds totally unique. I think she’s a very good example of what happens when someone is left alone to be creative in their own way.



Harper Lee – the author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. So she only ever wrote one book. But OMG – WHAT A BOOK! I’d love to have half an hour to have a cup of tea with Nell Harper Lee. Unfortunately that will never happen because she wisely shuns adoring admirers like me.




Harriet Tubman – one of America’s greatest heroines. Except that hardly anyone has ever heard of her. She was born into slavery, escaped from it and then over a number of years, helped hundreds of other slaves escape up to the free states of the north or to Canada. She was a tough old bird make no mistake. If a slave panicked and was too afraid to escape with her, it’s said that she’d hold a gun to that poor person’s head and say, ‘Come with me or die.’ Whatever her methods, she risked her life again and again to help other people and was one of the few women to fight during the Civil War and campaigned for women in the U.S to be given the right to vote. Her name should be much more well-known than it is. The fact that it isn’t suggests that we still live in a white man’s world.



I also admire the sixties French singer Francoise Hardy. Because she was cool and beautiful and played the guitar. I think it would’ve been quite nice to have been her actually.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

Ooooh. Let me think. Oh crikey, what a good question. There are so many. From ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ I’d have to choose Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose who is this horrible, rude old lady who sits on her veranda and shouts stuff like, ‘Don’t you say hey to me, you ugly girl,’ to little Scout Finch – who is only about seven. I think it says something deeply disturbing about my own character that I like Mrs Dubose and can identify with her in some ways ;-)

I also like Henry Sugar from Roald Dahl’s short story ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.’ He’s a bit of a rogue and learns to see through playing cards so that he can travel the world ripping off all the casinos. But then his conscience catches up with him and he uses all his winnings to set up orphanages. Which is very good of him but actually I think it’s his earlier wild streak that I’m attracted to.

Who else? Well I have to finish with Adrian Mole. To my mind, Sue Townsend created the most perfect comic creation ever. And he’s just so real. I’ve grown up with him. Adrian Mole made me laugh and cringe and howl with disgusted delight when I was twelve years old and he still does. I’ve never been a big one for fantasy. If you look closely enough at life, it’s weird enough. The Adrian Mole books perfectly illustrate this.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

Oh God… [insert long pause]. I’d love to say that I was terrifically cool and funny and popular but actually I wasn’t any of those things. I found the ages eleven to sixteen to be extremely difficult. Within school, I had no confidence at all. This was probably because I looked about ten years old the entire time. And I had really rubbish hair. Also, I never really had any close friends and so I just sort of muddled along in my own way. I read a lot of books and I listened to hours and hours of the radio. Every Sunday, I’d listen to the chart countdown and make a list of all the records in the Top 40. One year, I managed to do this every single week! So I was very well-read and I knew a lot about music. Neither of those things are bad in the long-term; in fact, they’re both very handy and probably helped me to make interesting friends when I was a little bit older. It didn’t feel like much fun aged thirteen though. Still, I don’t worry about any of that now. It’s all part of life’s weird plan, isn’t it?

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

Hang on in there kiddo, when you get to university you are going to have such fun. And one day, you’ll marry a bloke you are totally mad about. (And I mean ‘mad’ in a good way)

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?

Pffff. Deep. I haven’t got a clue, sorry.

Thank you Hayley! Such fun answers :)

For other interviews and posts in my Awesome Women feature or to take part yourself, please see here.

Famous women who have struggled with mental illness (Awesome Women)

I always felt like there was a stigma attached to mental illness and I always felt ashamed to admit my own battles with depression and an eating disorder. But there are others who aren't. Other brave people willing to speak up and speak out and use their experiences to let others know they aren't alone and to open people's eyes about mental health.

Here is just a small handful of famous women who have spoke openly about mental illness.

Diana, Princess of Wales - Despite the appearance of leading a fairy tale life, Princess Diana suffered a great deal. Before her untimely death, she had dmitted to depression and self-harm in the difficult transition into royalty as well as her marital problems with Prince Charles. Princess Diana also suffered from post-partum depression after the birth of her eldest son.


JK Rowling - Bestselling author of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling has said that she's never been ashamed about seeking treatment for depression/suicidal thoughts following the separation of her husband in her 20s and before the success of the Harry Potter books.

Brooke Shields - I think Brooke Shields has been quite open about her experiences with severe post-partum depression, even writing a book about it. In her book, she chronicles her lack of bonding with her baby, her thoughts of harming the child as well as herself.

Vivien Leigh - Best known (to me, anyway) in her role as Scarlett O'Hara in the film adaptation of Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Vivien suffered from manic depression as well as tuberculosis and poor health. Her experiences with these illnesses is what led her to be cast in roles which required to be tormented, something Vivien knew a great deal about. She suffered a breakdown after a miscarriage and was confined to a nursing home.

Books that deal with mental illness

Reading books about people and characters that have suffered from some sort of mental illness or have been affected by mental health issues is always really fascinating for me to read. I'm always on the lookout for books that handle this topic sensitively and with understanding. Aside from the books I've already reviewed this week, here are some of the books that I've read recently that I've enjoyed.

This list is hardly comprehensive and I would love to hear any suggestions that you might have in the comments!

Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones - I really adore Sonya Sones and her lovely, emotional verse novels. This was the first book of hers that I'd come across, told in beautiful and honest poetry how the main character and her family deal with declining mental health of her older sister. I believe this is based on the author's own experience with a sibling's mental illness.

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - I adore Melina Marchetta something fierce. And part of the adoration stems from the really honest and believable way in which the heavy depression of a family member is portrayed. There's such strong feelings of guilt and blame by Francesca over her mother's depression that it really hurt my heart reading this book.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen - I admit that I read this book after watching the movie and long before I started blogging so I'm a little hazy on the details. I do remember enjoying the detailed descriptions of Susanna's experiences within a mental hospital and the complex cast of people she meets there.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb - I remember this book being slightly angsty and at times a little bleak, but when I read this book as a teenager I really felt connected to the main character's story and her heavy thoughts of depression and her battles with food.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar was such an important book for me as a teenager at the height of the worst of my depression. I loved feeling less alone whilst reading this book and it just filled a hole that I hadn't realised existed.

Zelah Green by Vanessa Curtis -I've not come across any other books about OCD other than this one. I'm aware that there is a sequel but I've not come across it as yet! This one tells the story of teenage Zelah Green as she spends some time in a youth house that specialises in helping youngsters with psychiatric issues. Other patients have issues including self-harm and

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey - I admit to never having seen the film adaptation of this film! I mostly picked up this book because I felt homesick and knew the author is an Oregonian. But as I began reading, I was fascinated by the descriptions of the treatment within this mental hospital in the 70s. Shocking and unbelievably sad but told in a wonderful, engaging voice.


Another book I was hoping to read for this event, but wasn't able to find the time: Wild Roses by Deb Caletti, which I believe is a YA novel that deals with a depressive father.

Please, please do share your own recommendations with us all in the comments! I know how very limited this list is.

Guest post: In the Darkness (Sentimental Geek from Read A Book on You)

Please welcome to the blog today, Hayley from Read A Book On You a fairly new UK book blogger who has agreed to write a guest post on her own experiences with mental illness and some of the books that have had an impact on her. Over to you, Hayley...


Through my teens and early twenties I battled with anxiety, depression and OCD. Although I now feel many aspects of those battles are behind me it still hurts to try and talk or make sense of it all, so what I thought I’d do here instead is to discuss some things I found solace in during those years.

The first book that really ‘spoke’ to me was ‘Prozac Nation’ by Elizabeth Wurtzel. I know this book has been criticised for being self indulgent and I think the fact that it is written by a woman with so many privileges and opportunities rankles with people. To me though such a criticism is missing the point, depression can darken anyone’s door regardless of privilege and that is one of the things that drew me to the book. I could relate to feeling hopeless and desolate for no specific reason and I loved the raw, angry world within Wurtzel’s words. I too was a girl who hid within music I thought could recognise my pain and felt isolate and serious compared to other carefree teens. ‘Prozac Nation’ is one of the few books I’ve read more than once and each time I read it I find another passage I like or can understand. My original copy is scored with underlined sections, something I’ve never done with another book.

At the same time I bought ‘Prozac Nation’ aged 14, I also bought ‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath, possibly the most lyrical and poetic mediation on depression I will ever come across. Another book I’ve read more than once, ‘The Bell Jar’ has honesty in its beauty and vice versa. The part that has always stuck with me is Plath’s evocation of the fundamentally pointless tasks like washing your hair that when you’re in a void of depression are just too tiring to complete again and again. At the heart of ‘The Bell Jar’ there’s a war between resilience and resignation and its development is so fragile and breath taking. Sylvia Plath’s story for me is such a tragedy but her words shed such a beautiful light on the devastating blackness of depression.

During my most isolated times I often found it difficult to talk about my feelings so sought comfort in books and music I felt I could relate to. The amount of stigma that still surrounds mental health issues saddens me, so if I have any advice at all for those suffering it would be to reach out. Speak to a trusted friend or family member or find a message board for people with similar problems. Sometimes the worst feeling in the world is to feel alone. Now I’m at a stage where I can take comfort in the support I receive from others, but it has taken me a long time to get to this stage.

REVIEW: Lottie Biggs Is (Not) Mad by Hayley Long

My name is Lottie Biggs and in three weeks time, I will be fifteen years old. At school, most people call me Lottie Not-Very-Biggs. I’ve never found this particularly funny . . . My current hair colour is Melody Deep Plum which is not as nice as Melody Forest Flame but definitely better than the dodgy custard colour I tried last week . . .

And this is my book – it’s about important things like boys and shoes and polo-neck knickers and rescuing giraffes and NOT fancying Gareth Stingecombe (even though he has manly thighs) and hanging-out with your best friend having A BLATANTLY FUNNY TIME. It is definitely not about sitting in wardrobes or having a mental disturbance of any kind!

Painfully honest and laugh-so-hard-you-forget-to-breathe funny.

What I love most about Lottie Biggs Is (Not) Mad by Hayley Long is that it is extremely funny. Lottie Biggs is such a fun and endearing character that I couldn't help but fall in love with her pretty early on in the story. From hair-dye dramas to the wonderful little illustrations throughout, I was thoroughly entertained reading this book.

As Lottie writes about her life, school, her friends, her job and her enormous fascination with Gareth Stingecombe's manly thighs, I really got a great sense of who she is. She has a very typical nearly 15 attitude, and she can be slightly self-obsessed and a tad obnoxious/annoying but I think that's part of her charm! For me, an added bonus is that this book in set in Wales!

Lottie Biggs has a wonderful voice and I could really relate to her as a person. She a has a wonderul best friend, Goose and together they have mad little adventures during their Saturday job at a shoe store. I loved how much Lottie bounces around in her feelings for Gareth, poor boy. While some of her decisions seem a little strange at first, we soon discover something more serious going on. Because it isn't all rosy in Lottie's life either. In fact, things really take a turn for the worrying, as Lottie deals with what she calls a 'mental disturbance.'

And here's where I went from really liking the book into loving it. I really loved the way in which Lottie's mental health issues are handled in this book. The information regarding what Lottie is going through is told sensitively and without preaching or being heavy-handed at all. Everything felt very realistic in the way that Lottie responds to it. I love that her mental disturbance isn't the defining characteristic of the book in the same way that it doesn't define who Lottie is.

She's still a wonderful, full-of-life girl and I'm really glad she has such an amazing amount of support around her, from her mother, to Goose to Gareth Stingecombe. I really can't wait to read more of Lottie in the sequel, Lottie Biggs Is (Not) Desperate, and I couldn't be happier to see books regarding mental illness for a young adult audience written in such an engaging way.

My battle with mental illness (Mental Health Week)

I've been battling different forms of mental illness my entire life. The dominant form being depression which has affected my life since I was a pre-teen. At other points in my life I have self-harmed, had an eating disorder, and had issues with anxiety and panic attacks. Today I thought I would tell you a little something about my experience with all of these. Mental illness is something that is very close to my heart and I hope that by sharing my experiences that I can do my part to spread information, encourage understanding and abolish the stigma that I feel is still attached to mental health issues.

Depression

To myself, I've always believed that I've been battling depression since I was 11 years old. I kind of pinpoint the turning point as my parent's divorce but so many other things led up to that, I think. Low self-esteem due to a toxic home environment. Constant moving led to my isolating myself. The pressures I was under to live up to high academic expectations. There are so many different aspects of my childhood and upbringing that my depression could have originated from but I think it began as a combination of all of the above.

It was worse as a teenager. I was already going through so much at home and really failing to meet my expected potential both in middle school and high school and it led to some awful coping mechanisms. Especially in my teenager years I felt very low for a great deal of time. I hated myself and could find no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I often thought of suicide and felt like nobody cared. I had no thoughts of the future as I couldn't see one for myself. I slept a great deal, I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't concentrate in class and did very little coursework. At times, I wanted to get certain things done and found myself physically incapable of accomplishing even the smallest of tasks.

Over the years, I've found better ways of coping with it. It's never gone away, but I feel like I'm better able to see the signs of a depressive mood coming on. I try to maintain regular exercise, eat better, actually SPEAK about how I'm feeling. It isn't perfect though.

Self harm

At my worst, as I was heavily depressed and having suicidal thoughts, I also self harmed on a regular basis. I had no outlet for how I was feeling. Even now I have a hard time dealing with really strong emotions and (now) instead of facing them head-on I bury them inside me. As a teenager, though, this method did not work at all and the pain that I inflicted on myself was a small way of expressing the feelings that I had no idea how to cope with.

It was also rather gratifying as a method of self-punishment. I really don't want to dwell on this aspect of my life as it really brings back strong emotions and feelings that I still don't know how to process. This was a really difficult thing for me to overcome, finding other ways to relieve built-up tension. I ended up reading several books about self-harm and knowing I wasn't alone in it helped a great deal as well as having several healthy relationships in which I was able to see myself through them and could have a better understanding of my own worth.

Eating disorder

As a teenager, I had an eating disorder. The symptoms of my eating disorder are closely related to bulimia nervosa, though I rarely purged my food. Instead, I'd binge and follow it with days of starvation. The periods of starvation lasted longer and longer and I'd feel faint and pass out. I remember passing out one time in the bathroom and I hit my head on the toilet bowl quite badly.

To this day I still hold onto feelings of shame and guilt around food. I still struggle with binge eating and also struggle to eat regular and healthy meals. I believe my eating disorder is so tightly wound together with my self-esteem that it is hard for me to fully overcome this. I've also read that bulimia is another way of expressing emotion which I still struggle with. I've always had issues with my body-image and am constantly on exercise programmes and different means of dieting.


Anxiety and panic attacks


And finally, we have my anxiety and panic attacks. I suffer from social anxiety - in which I feel excessive anxiety about social interactions. Not just common fears such as speaking in public (holy crap, I can't do that!), but also meeting new people, being in new environments where I will worry about what other think of me.

At some points in my life I have not been able to eat in public, I'm not able to do certain activities where people might see me, I cannot comfortably walk into small shops on my own. I cannot be late into a tutorial for fear of people turning to look at me. In some cases, it is impossible for me to actually speak in a social setting for fear of embarassing myself. I really struggle to go to new places and will avoid all of the above if I can. Both as a teenager and now.

I've suffered panic attacks at really stressful times in my life. Changing schools was always very upsetting for me and I used to get panic attacks before walking into a classroom where class had already started. The anxiety I felt was at such high levels that I felt like I couldn't breathe, my heart would race and tighen, my palms would get sweaty, I'd feel dizzy and the fear would just take over. Every single time I had a panic attack, I always felt like the only way I would be able to breathe again would be if I raced to the library. The library always had a calming influence on me. I feel very lucky that I have not experienced a panic attack in many years.

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I always felt alone in the things that I experienced. As a teenager, I was never comfortable with anyone enough to talk about my depression, my self harm, my eating disorder or my anxiety. Only through books and through this blogging have I felt any sort of outlet for the things I've gone through. Thank you for your support and for listening.

REVIEW: It's Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Ned Vizzini, the talented young author of Be More Chill (the first YA novel selected as a Today show book club pick), crafts another superb study of angst-ridden adolescence in this story of teen depression. Craig Gilner is a gifted 15-year-old boy who works hard to get into a fiercely competitive high school, then crumbles under the intense academic pressure. Blindsided by his inability to excel and terrified by thoughts of suicide, Craig checks into a psychiatric hospital where he finally gets the help he needs. Vizzini, who himself spent a brief time in psychiatric "stir," invests his novel with great emotional honesty. A graceful, skillful, and witty handling of a sensitive issue, this is an important book we heartily recommend for older teens.

I really loved this one. It isn't quite what I expected, but now that I've read it and am sat here trying to review I now can't remember what it is that I thought this book would be. If that makes sense?

It's the story of a teenager, Craig Gilner and how he came to end up in a psychiatric ward. I've seen other people mention that It's Kind of A Funny Story has a slow start, but I really loved the build-up. It was really interesting to learn more about Craig, his friendships and his family. He's worked incredibly hard in order to get into this really prestigious New York City high school, but once there Craig can't seem to handle the pressure. And the knowledge that he isn't able to succeed in this new environment really gets to him.

Craig is soon unable to eat or sleep. In fact, he really finds no pleasure in anything anymore (peeing aside!). He feels increasingly left-out amongst his friends at his last high school. Despite having this group of friends and despite having wonderful parents and a great life, Craig is depressed and when thoughts of killing himself keep him up at night, he calls for help before he can do himself any harm. When the woman answering the suicide hotline answers, she tells Craig to go straight to the emergency room. There, Craig is admitted to the psychiatric ward.

What I loved so much about this book is how I could relate to so much of Craig's experiences. Struggling under academic pressure, the guilt associated with feeling depressed. I think that It's Kind of A Funny Story felt very realistic in terms of what Craig went through and how his outside relationships were handled as well as the complicated and interesting relationships that occur within the psychiatric ward.

I really loved the characters we meet inside the hospital. Everyone is messed up in their own ways, but I love the comraderie and the ways in which Craig fits in here and manages to help others out as well as realising some truths about himself and what he wants out of life. I think that this book would have been perfect for me to have read as a teenager as I think it really would have helped me to put some perspective on my own situation.

Craig is a really engaging and wonderful character. The insights into his life, his friends and family that he shares are sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes hilarious but always very honest. I'm so glad that I read this book and I can now highly recommend it!

REVIEW: A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma

Life as a student is good for Flynn. As one of the top pianists at the Royal College of Music, he has been put forward for an important concert, the opportunity of a lifetime. But beneath the surface, things are changing. On a good day, he feels full of energy and life, but on a bad day being alive is worse than being dead. Sometimes he wants to compose and practise all night, at other times he can't get out of bed. His flatmate Harry tries to understand but is increasingly confused by Flynn's erratic mood swings. His friend Jennah tries to help, but Flynn finds it difficult to be around her as he struggles to control his feelings and behaviour. With the pressure of the forthcoming concert and the growing concern of his family and friends, emotions come to a head. Sometimes things can only get worse before they get better.

A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma is a really hard-hitting read. It wasn't easy reading about Flynn's experiences with bipolar disorder, and at times I felt almost overwhelmed with emotion whilst reading this book. So much of what Flynn experiences and feels are portrayed in such a way that it was very difficult for me to separate myself from Flynn. Despite having no previous experience with manic depression, I really felt like I had a much better understanding after reading A Note of Madness especially going through it all with Flynn, as Flynn.

Flynn is one of the top pianists at the Royal College of Music in London. He's a well respected musician and is under quite a bit of pressure to become better and just constantly improve in such a competitive environment. When Flynn is put forward for a very prestigious concert by his mentor, Flynn should be overjoyed at this wonderful opportunity. He worked hard in order to get into the Royal College of Music, and Flynn feels another pianist is more favoured, so this is Flynn's chance to prove everyone wrong. I really love the role that music plays in A Note of Madness. I'm not in any way musical, but I'm always drawn to stories where characters like Flynn that have such a passion for music.

But things are not entirely right in Flynn's life. Some days Flynn can't bring himself to get out of bed and he'll lie there for days on end, unable to function in any way. Other days he throws himself into his work, composing operas and his enthusiasm and full-of-life attitude are infectious and all-consuming. But these drastic shifts in mood are difficult for Flynn's friends to handle and it all becomes too much when Flynn's down periods become more serious and there is risk of him hurting himself.

I also really love Flynn's friends - his flatmate and best friend, Harry who tries so hard to understand and get help for Flynn when he is at his worst, calling in Flynn's older brother. Jennah as well, though in a different way. You can really feel how much Flynn cares for Jennah and how much he torments himself by thinking that Jennah would never care for him in the same way. Flynn really pulls away from Jennah a lot during the story and there's this awful tension and build-up in the relationship between Flynn and Jennah that is almost difficult to witness!

In fact, a lot of A Note of Madness is difficult to witness. So much of Flynn's mood swings, his irritability, his severe depression is so intense and more than a little bleak that it can be hard as a reader to buoy yourself up and continue. We see so much of the story from Flynn's perspective that the tone of this novel can be heavy at times, even after Flynn seeks medical help and he learns that the medication he is to recieve will make him feel a lot worse before he can even begin to feel a little better. Thankfully Flynn does have a support system in place and he is able ultimately to find hope and a reason to keep struggling and fighting towards something better.

I will be very interested to read the sequel to this story and anything else that Tabitha Suzuma writes. She has a wonderful ability to pull readers into her stories so brilliantly and I love that she tackles some very serious topics in her books. Reading her website, I see that she has written about mental illness from her own very personal experience and I applaud her outstanding effort with this book.

Introducing Mental Health Week

This week I'd like to discuss something very important and personal to me ... mental illness. It's something that I feel very strongly about, having struggled with various forms throughout my life. I feel, even now, that there is a huge stigma attached to people who suffer from mental health issues and I'd like to do something, even as small as hosting this themed week, in order to take away some of the shame associated with admitting to mental illness.

I am however, not a health care professional. If you think you are suffering from mental illness, please do seek support from your GP.

Mental illness affects 1 in 4 people today in Britian. It's very common, but I'm sure that there is a lot that is not widely known about mental illness. It can take many different forms, from anxiety and panic attacks to depression. Personality disorders, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Other issues related to this psychiatric disorders include eating disorders, the abuse of drugs and alcohol and also self-harm.

There are many different causes for mental illness: difficult childhoods, genetics, stressful life events to name but a few. And there are different types of treatment from medication to talking therapies and many different means of seeking help. For more information, visit the NHS website about mental health.

For me, I find that regular exercise, eating well, expressing my emotions and having someone available to openly speak about past events and my feelings does a great deal towards improving my mental well-being. I'll be discussing some of my own experiences of mental illness during the course of this week.

During my Mental Health Awareness week, I'll be reviewing several YA books that dicuss some aspect of mental illness or disturbance, share some of my own experiences, and provide some other recommendations of books that cover the subject well.

I think mental illness is a very large topic, and I won't be able to address every aspect of it. In fact, the books I'm reviewing this week deal mostly with depression/bipolar disorder. Please feel free to write in the comments any books you've reviewed that deal with mental health issues, share your own experiences or give recommendations for books that discuss other aspects of mental illness!

Thank you and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic!

IMM 27

Hello and welcome to another In My Mailbox - a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren. In My Mailbox, or IMM, allows you to share with your readers some of the books that you've acquired lately. It's really quite fun and I look forward to it every week. Thank you Kristy for being so lovely.

And here are the books that are now keeping me company... I'm very excited!



Flash Burnout by LK Madigan - Click.

Telephoto lens. Zoom. In a shutter release millisecond, Blake’s world turns upside down. The nameless woman with the snake tattoo is not just another assignment. “That’s my mom!” gasps Marissa.

Click.

Saturated self-portrait: Blake, nice guy, class clown, always trying to get a laugh, not sure where to focus.

Click.

Contrast. Shannon, Blake’s GF. Total. Babe. Marissa, just a friend and fellow photographer. Shannon loves him; Marissa needs him. How is he supposed to frame them both in one shot?

Click.

Chiaroscuro. Lightdark. Marissa again, overexposed. Crash and burn.

Talk about negative space.

Click.

I'd only heard a few things about this book before the sad passing of LK Madigan and since that I've heard nothing but praise for her and her work. I really like the sound of this book and can't wait to get into it.

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So Shelly by Ty Roth - Until now, high school junior, John Keats, has only tiptoed near the edges of the vortex that is schoolmate and literary prodigy, Gordon Byron. That is, until their mutual friend, Shelly, drowns in a sailing accident.

After stealing Shelly's ashes from her wake at Trinity Catholic High School, the boys set a course for the small Lake Erie island where Shelly's body had washed ashore and to where she wished to be returned. It would be one last "so Shelly" romantic quest. At least that's what they think. As they navigate around the obstacles and resist temptations during their odyssey, Keats and Gordon glue together the shattered pieces of Shelly's and their own pasts while attempting to make sense of her tragic and premature end.

I think the cover of this book is so pretty and it looks even nicer in person. I've seen this book around a lot lately and it sounds like a very interesting modern take on the Romantic poets. I'm intrigued!

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Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham - A teenager struggles through physical loss to the start of acceptance in an absorbing, artful novel at once honest and insightful, wrenching and redemptive.

On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything — absolutely everything — changed. Now she’s counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, "That’s her — that’s Shark Girl," as she passes. In the meantime there are only questions: Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life? In this striking first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it’s like to lose part of yourself - and to summon the courage it takes to find yourself again.

I remember reading a review of this during Jo from Once Upon a Bookcase's body perception and self-image month awhile back and it's stayed in my head since then. I'm really quite excited to read this one!

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Dramarama by E Lockhart - Two theater-mad, self-invented fabulositon Ohio teenagers. One boy, one girl. One gay, one straight. One black, one white. And SUMMER DRAMA CAMP. It's a season of hormones, gold lame, hissy fits, jazz hands, song and dance, true love, and unitards that will determine their future--and test their friendship.

I adore E. Lockhart. I've adored her Ruby Oliver books for such a long time and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was at the front of my brain after writing about it recently on my blog and I knew that I really wanted to read more of E Lockhart's backlist. This one sounds quite interesting, I really do love books about the theatre, so I thought it'd be an excellent place to start.

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Losing Faith by Denise Jaden - A terrible secret. A terrible fate.

When Brie's sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don’t know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.

As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith’s final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.

I really can't quite remember when I first heard of this one, but it's been on my wishlist for ages. Since agreeing to take part in the death and bereavement event in July, I've been quite keen to read books that deal with this subject. *I* won't be reviewing this book for that event, but nevertheless, I am still looking forward to reading it and reviewing it another time...

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Jane by April Lindner - Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, an iconic rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer, and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance. But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is tested by a torturous secret from his past.

Part irresistible romance and part darkly engrossing mystery, this contemporary retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre promises to enchant a new generation of readers.

Ooh. I really do love the sound of this one. Jane Eyre is one of my favourite books and I'm really looking forward to seeing how April Lindner handles this modern retelling. I love the cover art, very moody and atmospheric. This one will quite possibly jump to the top of my TBR pile.

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Sweethearts by Sara Zarr - As children, Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were both social outcasts. They were also each other's only friend. SO when Cameron disappeared without warning, Jennifer thought she'd lost the one person who would ever understand her. Now in high school, Jennifer has been transformed. Known as Jenna, she is popular, happy, and dating—everything "Jennifer" couldn't be. But she still can't shake the memory of her long-lost friend.

When Cameron suddenly reappears, they both are confronted with memories of their shared past and the drastically different paths their lives have taken.

Sweethearts is a story about the power of memory, the bond of friendship, and the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts.

I have always meant to read a book by Sara Zarr, any book! I've been seeing her name around for years and I'm curious about her. Plus, I think the cover of Sweethearts is quite cute. I'm really not sure what to expect with this one, but I'm sure I'll have fun finding out! :)

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The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Melina Marchetta's brilliant, heart-wrenching new novel takes up the story of the group of friends from her best-selling, much-loved book Saving Francesca - only this time it's five years later and Thomas Mackee is the one who needs saving.

Thomas Mackee wants oblivion. Wants to forget parents who leave and friends he used to care about and a string of one-night stands, and favourite uncles being blown to smithereens on their way to work on the other side of the world.

But when his flatmates turn him out of the house, Tom moves in with his single, pregnant aunt, Georgie. And starts working at the Union pub with his former friends. And winds up living with his grieving father again. And remembers how he abandoned Tara Finke two years ago, after his uncle's death.

And in a year when everything's broken, Tom realises that his family and friends need him to help put the pieces back together as much as he needs them.

I'm sure nobody is surprised at this one. Melina Marchetta is one of my all-time favourite authors and I'm super excited to read this follow-up to Saving Francesca. I adore the way in which Marchetta writes and her characters and especially the way she makes me feel as I'm reading her books. I can't wait to be swept away into something amazing.

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Those are the books that arrived into my house this week, what did you get?

Laura from SisterSpooky: Book Fangirl (Awesome Women)

One of my favourite new book bloggers at the moment is Laura from Sister Spooky: Book Fangirl. I would love it if you'd all click on the link and follow her blog! She writes her reviews very enthusiastically and just started a new, fab feature about falling in love with fictional characters! You really should check her out and I'm honoured to have Laura on my blog today. Over to you, Laura...

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

Well, I'm 25, I live in South East London/Kent of UK. I like coffee and when I'm not reading and blogging I work in a chocolate and old fashion sweet shop (seriously it's like the best job ever). I used to work in a book shop after finishing my degree and my other passions are going to music gigs, I make jewelery and DIYing my own clothes etc I'm a very crafty and creative type of person.

Did you have a role model growing up?

Apart from family members I don't think I ever had a real "role model" that I could say 'Oh I want to be them when I grow up!' about. Not that I remember anyway.

I can remember wanting to be book characters like Roald Dahl's Matilda or Arrietty from The Borrowers by Mary Norton. They were head strong girls and were just very cool in my eyes.

Who do you look up to now?

I look up to family members still because as you get older you understand them better as you become an adult yourself. My mum because she is a very giving person, my nan would be your friend instantly and my aunt is wonderful, and Greek, thus refuses to let you leave her presence without being fully fed and all your needs met.

I look up to strong minded people that are not afraid to be themselves and let others be themselves too even if that's different from who they are. It tends to be musicians, actors, writers and other artists because they express who they are and truly enjoy seeing others express themselves too.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I have vague memories of wanting to be a ballerina, very briefly, but then I didn't like ballet class or the having to learn to dance, so for a long while after that I wanted to be a fashion designer or an artist.

I think I probably wanted to write but didn't really understand what it was to be a writer or that it was even a job or career.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

My mum firstly always encouraged me to be happy and enjoy my interests. She doesn't always understand why I like certain things but she'll learn band members names or author's new books so she can show an interest and whenever I've been to a gig or author event or comic book shopping even she'll ask how it was and want to see my photos etc. She lets me be me even if we do butt heads sometimes we still understand each other.

My Nan is a superstar. She is what I call my 'fangirl Idol Hero'. She was a Tom Jones fan back in the day; she'd wait at airports to see him, outside his house, went to TV recordings if he performed and generally loved him and his music. Now I wouldn't go quite as far, but with the fandoms I love I'm totally up there with my nan for the passion title award! She loves to hear about my tales of following bands or the books/authors I love. She thinks I'm actually amazing and in turn I think she is too!

My Aunt is awesome because she is so generous and sharing with her time and would give you her right arm if you needed it. She runs her own business and keeps my uncle and cousins organised and fed too which is quite a task! She used to be a hardcore punk back in the day and so is very embracing when it comes to letting me and my cousin go out solo to have fun and seek adventure :-)

My cousin Rebecca is my fangirl partner in crime because we are very similiar but very different too. She's a mega talented artist and though she's younger than me, she has been a big influence on who I am and who I've become.

Lastly are some really awesome friends namely Verity, Ellen, Leanne (there are more but I feel these 3 are the most suffering at times. lol) and that are so nice to me for so many reasons and even though I drive them nuts sometimes, they still call me up and want to chat or see me.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

That is SUCH a hard question! I guess if I can only pick one then the one fictional character I always wanted to be or thought was someone that you should inspire to be was Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. From the (bad) movie, the TV show to the books and comics she was a strong female character doing a tough job. She had to face life and death all the time and was able to balance being a fighter and a girly girl whilst finishing high school. She was cool and funny but also a leader. When times were hard, she had her family, her friends and her inner strength to make her keep going. She's the traditional action hero man meets the damsel in distress to be the distressed action damsel that saves the world.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

As a teen, I always thought of myself as a bit of loser art kid. I wasn't really into boy bands like my friends and I was really into reading, doing art and listening to music. I was this plump kid that wore black baggy jeans and band t-shirts and I think I knew who I wanted to be or look like etc but wasn't quite brave enough to be that person at the time. I wanted to be cooler or to just be who I was without worrying that I'd be teased or called names, but to be honest that happened anyway so it was such a waste of time.

In terms of how I coped, I didn't really if I'm honest. I was a very moody teen and was probably rocking the 'emo' image before emo got big and hated for being 'a teen death cult' (ha ha emo never was and never will be that I can tell you!). I had a lot of stuff going on during my teen years like family deaths and general teen dramas to deal with and all I can say is that I feel like my very late teens early 20s were want I wanted to be like when I was 14-16.

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

-Things seem like a major suck fest now but I can tell you that they may get worse at times but they will also get a million times better.

-Be that person you want to be inside but on the outside; Be Brave.

-Let people in because they will stick around, talk to more people and just relax because all that tension will drive you nuts.

-It's OK to say you don't know or you're afraid; we all are most of the time but it's in sharing the fear that you learn to overcome.

-Also wear more colour because it won't kill you:TRUST ME.

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading about?

I always enjoy reading about women that have overcome their own issues and gone on to help others. I think one of the most powerful tools we have to share in life is experience, and even if it's just a friendly chat with a younger girl that needs a little encouragement or bigger campaigns, it's in the sharing of knowledge that we all grow.

I'm also very aware of stories and issues in the media about body image and the effect it has on younger girls, particularly because it was a big issue for myself growing up and I feel very strongly about the misuse of photo shopped images of women or when a woman is judged solely on her looks and not her talents as a human being.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Just a big thanks for doing this feature and asking me to join in.

Also concerning awesome and empowering women that everyone at ANY age should have them no matter if they are younger or older than yourself. You can be an awesome woman in all sorts of ways to people you know and total strangers too by just being who you are and being a good person. It's nice to be nice and it costs nothing to do a small thing that can often make a big difference to someone else.

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Absolutely amazing answers Laura, thank you so much! Everyone, you can read more about Laura at her blog, Sister Spooky: Book Fangirl! :)