REVIEW: Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

I have to be honest, it was the cover of Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis that had me intrigued.  I saw it on Netgalley and horror isn't really my jam but I was too tempted to pass this one by.  And you know what? It's become one of my biggest reading surprises of the year.

Harrow Lake has such a fantastic old-school horror film vibe to it.  Small town, old fashioned clothing, the creepiness in everyday items and places.  There's such a low-key creep factor to it that really builds throughout.  Despite it not being my usual reading material I found it really easy to fall into the story and into these characters.

Harrow Lake is a pretty unsettling place.  A small town that has been cut off from everything, not updated for decades and obsessed with the horror film that was filmed there and that made the town famous.  Our main character is Lola, who is the daughter of the film director who chose Harrow Lake as his film's setting and it's where her parents met, on set. 

But her mum has disappeared and when her dad is brutally attacked, Lola is sent to Harrow Lake to stay with her grandmother in this town that has not moved on.  I kind of loved how Lola doesn't really know who to trust or what to make of her grandmother and those she meets in Harrow Lake.  The jitterbugs in her mum's old room, the puppet in the town's museum, the abandoned sets used for the film all add different layers to how unsettling the book is.  I read bits of the Bone Tree out to my family and they were all suitably horrified.

I think my favourite thing about Harrow Lake, aside from how easily entertaining it is, is that it digs deeper than I was expecting into the buried secrets of their family, into those unanswered questions at the heart of Lola's and Harrow Lake's story.  And for that, I found this book utterly fascinating. 

Just, you know, keep an eye out - Mr. Jitters is coming.

Mini-Reviews: The Great Godden, The Gravity of Us and Giant Days

The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff

I was really looking forward to reading The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff. I've really enjoyed her books in the past and the description of this one sounded really appealing - a big family spends the summer at their holiday house by the sea - and they're joined by these two boys, one of whom is the mysterious and charming Kit Godden and what follows is this summer of love. Everything about that appeals to me.  Summer, beach house, love.

 I thought The Great Godden was written really beautifully written as is to be expected from Meg Rosoff, and I loved the lazy, summer days and the quirks of this family. But certain elements of the book just didn't work for me as well.

 1) We are never told the name or gender of the main character. The reader, I guess, is left to make any conclusions on their own (as I did) but I don't think this worked very well.

 2) I think maybe my expectations of this book based on the description versus what actually happens within the story were vastly different which hampered my enjoyment of the book. This is more of a problem with me and my own expectations rather than anything within the book? 

 I didn't feel emotionally connected to the characters, to the story or to the relationships throughout. I think I just wanted more.

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper was definitely an interesting read! I didn't know much about it going in besides the basics - a teenager with an online following is uprooted from NYC to Texas so that his dad can train as an astronaut for an upcoming mission to Mars and falls in love with another astronaut's son. But there was definitely a lot more to this one.

 There was a really interesting thread of science throughout this whole book and that was a really enjoyable aspect to the novel. Some of my favourite elements of The Gravity of Us included some background information that goes on behind the scenes at NASA.  I really wanted to know more about the dirt and how it's being analysed!

There was also the reality TV elements to the story which  showcased rather unfavourable sides to journalism but also explored some other types of media and attempted to make a point about what viewers want vs. what TV producers think viewers want. It was interesting though I wished the author had pulled back slightly on some of it. Some of it was a little heavy-handed and a subtler approach could possibly have worked better (for me).

On the whole I thought Cal and Leon's relationship was ADORABLE if slightly quick on the uptake. Cal was insufferably self-centred and messed up a lot but that felt realistic too and he at least owned up to his shitty behaviour and called himself on it within the text which I appreciated.

 More contemporary books with science-based themes, please! And more cute gay stories.

Giant Days by Non Pratt

I'm a huge fan of Non Pratt and I've loved everything by her that I've read. I always look forward to her books and as well as this e-book from Netgalley, I also own a signed paperback of this Giant Days. 

I've not read the graphic novels of which this book is based, but from this book it seems as though the graphic novels would be a lot of fun?

Giant Days tells this story of three friends, Esther, Susan and Daisy, as readers follow their adventures in university navigating school work, friendships, hobbies and relationships.

 I enjoyed Giant Days and really related to a lot of it - being unsure of mixing old friends with new, clinging to friendships that aren't as genuine as I'd like them to be, the uncertainty of new things, being away from home. It felt unusual to read a story like this one that explores this new world at university and was definitely a pleasant change from some of my usual reading. I absolutely wish there were more university-based stories.

I think the reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd have liked is that there seemed to be threads of story lines that were teased in this book (characters' sexuality, for example) that will probably be explored more in further volumes of the graphic novel and also the second half went into some territory that I didn't feel was relatable which felt jarring alongside all of the actual relatable university stuff.  Still, it was an enjoyable way to pass a few hours!

REVIEW: Here Is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan

Well. I really adore Sarah Crossan's verse novels from young adults and I was excited to read something from her aimed at an adult audience. I was intrigued by the title, Here is the Beehive, and the cover is gorgeous. I think by this point, I might just be tempted by every verse novel going. 

Sarah Crossan has such an incredible skill of creating relatable characters with interesting relationships. And Here is the Beehive was such an emotional journey for me. Already it takes such skill to write a novel in verse, but I was amazed by how many surprises there were in this book, how I really came to know Ana and understand her decisions. Here is the Beehive is about Ana, a solicitor who has been having a three year affair with (married) Connor but when the worst happens and Connor dies, Ana's grief is largely invisible because nobody knew that he meant anything more to her.

 This story is told in the present as Ana is struggling to come to terms with her own grief and complicated feelings about her relationship with Connor but it's also told in the past, so we can see Ana and Connor's relationship forming and the lines that are crossed and the decisions that are made, the justification. Everything is pretty messed up, the exploration of this relationship was all sorts of messy, with promises made, lines crossed, the emotional destruction, the lies, the secrecy, the neediness, the insecurity. 

One thing that really stood out for me with this book was that I loved that as soon as I thought I knew these characters something unexpected is revealed. It felt like there were plenty of surprises in this story even when things probably seem straightforward.

Here is the Beehive was one of the stories that creeped up on me. I hadn't realised how emotionally attached I was until that final quarter of the book where all the heartache just built into this crescendo. Beautiful.

Natasha Farrant (Awesome Women)

I'm really happy today that Natasha Farrant is here answering some questions about women and books and role models.  Natasha Farrant is the author the The Things We Did For Love as well as the Bluebell Gadsby Diaries and I have enjoyed them all!  The Things We Did For Love has been repackaged with this pretty new cover as well.

To find out more about Natasha or her books, do visit the following websites:

Natasha Farrant ... Natasha on Twitter ... Natasha on Facebook

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I was born in London and still live there with my husband and my two teenage daughters. I have a brother and two sisters, I’m half French, I speak Spanish, I love travelling, reading and the cinema. I combine writing with my job as a Literary Scout, looking for English language children’s and YA books on behalf of publishers in other countries. My favourite food is smoked salmon on toast, my favourite drink is champagne, and my perfect evening would involve both of those and a good book. 

Did you have a role model growing up?

My aunt. She’s an incredibly strong, hard-working woman who raised her two children alone, while also supporting her artist ex-husband, and maintaining a tremendous sense of fun throughout.  She is one of the toughest, most glamorous, life-loving people I know. She lives in the south of Spain and I stayed with her many times. She made all her morning business phone calls from her bed, smoking and drinking coffee and I wanted to be just like her. She’s the first person who made me realise what it means to take control of your life – that you don’t have to follow the path people expect you to. 

Who do you look up to now?

People of integrity who are true to themselves and their beliefs.

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

I wanted to be self-employed (like my aunt) and a writer. And now I am both!

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

My family is full of strong, somewhat complicated women. But my aunt (the one above) said to me recently, “I have made a beautiful life”, and I think that is true of all of them. Through war and heartbreak, good times and bad, they have crafted beautiful lives, with home and family very much at the centre.  There have been terrible fights – epic, really – but always, also, so much love and such a sense of belonging.  It’s something I come back to in my books again and again. 

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

It’s a hard call between Atticus Finch (who is true to his beliefs, see above) and Anne Shirley (see below).

Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?  And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be? 

Anne Shirley. No question about it. Because of her wild imagination and tendency to get into scrapes. Oh my god, I love her so much. I so desperately wanted to be an orphan and sleep in that bedroom and marry Gilbert.  I went to Prince Edward Island a few years ago and you can visit Green Gables! I wept when I saw it. I even bought an Anne hat (straw boater with red braids hanging down). I’m going to stop now before it gets embarrassing.

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

I was awkward, angry, obsessed with being cool and failing miserably at it. But I loved to lose myself either in books or on long solitary walks.  Both were very grounding and helped give me a sense of perspective on my really not at all miserable life. 

Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why? 

A difficult question, since every teenager is different (as my daughters keep reminding me).  I think, To Kill a Mockingbird because it tackles prejudice on so many levels, makes you question what is right and wrong, presents this amazing role model in Atticus, and also because it’s such an incredibly tender story about growing up and letting go.  

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

All those people you think are so sorted are secretly just as insecure as you… Also, do more exercise.

If you could choose to have a girly sleepover with any fictional characters, who would you choose? 

Apart from Anne? Lydia Bennet. Flora Gadsby, from my own books. The whole of Mallory Towers. Probably not all at once though, and assuming I was about 13.

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

I don’t know if there’s any one issue I like to read or write about.  I do feel there’s a real need for strong female characters who take on the world on their own terms – feminine without being vapid, strong without trying to emulate men, at ease with themselves and confident of their place in the world. That’s really important.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Just thank you!

Thank you, Natasha!

Author Spotight: Lydia Syson

I would like to regularly shine a light on some amazing UKYA authors!

Today I would very much like to shine a spotlight on one of my favourite recent UKYA authors, Lydia Syson.  Lydia is the author of three amazing YA historical books, A World Between Us, That Burning Summer and newly-published Liberty's Fire which I will be discussing today.

It was with Lydia's first book for young adults that really captured my attention, but I also really love reading Lydia's blog in which her passion for history and politics really shines through. She's also writes for The History Girls which is a fantasy collaborative blog written by historical fiction writers!

Lydia Syson ... Lydia on Twitter ... The History Girls 

A World Between Us 

In 2012, I read Lydia Syson's first book for young adults, A World Between Us, and it was incredible. And for me, utterly surprising. Because previous to reading this book, I really didn't consider myself a fan of historical fiction. There was always something about it that put me off that I couldn't connect to on an emotional level. I think, perhaps, the reason that I agreed to read and review this book had a lot to do with the cover design (designer: Jan Bielecki, I believe!) The whole look of the book from the cover had me intrigued and so I sat down and this book changed how I felt about reading fiction based in a historical time period.  And it just completely changed my mind.

I think what I loved so much about reading this book is that it was so very easy to get swept away into the stories of these three main characters. A World Between Us is set during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and it follows three main characters as they navigate through the horrors of this war. I knew absolutely nothing about the Spanish Civil War prior to reading this story. Nothing. And after finishing this story, I was hugely intrigued and curious to know more. To research more, to uncover more because my interest had been piqued in this incredibly entertaining way. And it didn't feel like I was gaining a bunch of historical knowledge and detail into this time period when I was reading either. Everything felt incredibly natural and seamless. As well as emotional. I was committed to these three characters and their relationships to each other and their happiness and well-being. I needed that.

That Burning Summer

The following year, Hot Key Books published Lydia's second book, That Burning Summer. This time, the story focused on another three characters during the summer of 1940 in rural England during World War II. It centers around a 16 year old girl called Peggy and her brother, Ernest, and about Henryk, a Polish pilot who has crash-landed near to where Peggy lives. Peggy decides to care for Henryk herself in an abandoned church and soon feelings develop between Peggy and Henryk. 

I think what I loved so much about this book is about the exploration of courage. Both in doing what we feel is right as well as the mental courage it takes to do difficult things. It's also about loyalty. I read this book during a very large reading and blogging slump and never did review it but I think I'd like to re-read it at some point. Again, I felt really connected to the characters and their relationship to each other. I also loved the historical detail and the ease in which Lydia Syson tells this story without the historical elements weighing down the narrative. I felt like this was a very interesting and emotional story that had an added bonus of learning something I hadn't known before.

Liberty's Fire

And that brings me to Lydia's third book for adults, Liberty's Fire. Liberty's Fire is being published on the 7th of May by Hot Key Books and I really recommend that you not only pick up this book but also her two previous books as well.  This book is set in Paris in 1871 and it tells the story of a revolution from the perspectives of four different characters. I have a review of this book and an interview with Lydia coming up this week in which I will be writing more and you'll be hearing more about the story and the characters and everything else. Do look out for both of those!  

For now, let me just say that this book was another absolutely fascinating, emotional story rich in detail and told in Lydia's amazing writing style. I feel like I went on a journey with these characters. And everything, from the descriptions of the opera or 19th century photography techniques to the politics of the Communard: everything just drew me in and I couldn't help but be swept away by this story. 

Have you read anything by Lydia Syson? Have I tempted you to read any of these books by her?

Being A Stranger by Sam Hepburn: If You Were Me Blog Tour

I'm really happy today to be taking part in the blog tour for If You Were Me by Sam Hepburn. I thought it was a fantastic and tense thriller and I especially loved that Aliya and her brother are from Afghanistan and that we get a great glimpse of how strange it must be to live suddenly in a new country with a new culture such as England. I'm so happy that that is what Sam is here discussing today! Over to you, Sam...

Being a Stranger
Sam Hepburn

One of the exciting things about writing for young adults is that now and then you get an invitation to go to schools and festivals abroad. Last year I was lucky enough to go to Germany and Sharjah ( one of United Arab Emirates) and this year I was invited to spend a week at the Khartoum International Community School in Sudan.

The school was fabulous – newly built and incredibly well equipped but what was so interesting about it was that while fifty per cent of the children were Sudanese the other fifty per cent were from every country you can imagine. Because so many of the pupils were from families whose parents’ jobs take them all around the world they were used to being plunged into life in a new country every couple of years . In the creative writing workshops we did together a number of them wrote stories about the difficulty of being uprooted and suddenly finding themselves in a place they knew nothing about. They talked about the sadness of leaving friends, adjusting to a new climate, having to communicate in a second language and the confusion of just not knowing their way around or how things worked.

But these were privileged children whose parents had made the choice to move countries. My new thriller IF YOU WERE ME is about a fourteen year old girl called Aliya who has no choice about fleeing her homeland, Afghanistan. She and her family have to leave because her brother, who worked as an interpreter for the British Army has been put on a Taliban death list. They escape across the rooftops at night and arrive in Britain with nothing but the clothes on their backs. That’s bad enough, but three weeks later her brother is injured in a bomb blast and everyone, including the police and the press believe that he is the terrorist who planted the bomb. So not only is Aliya in an alien country with no friends to support her, her brother’s face is all over the news and her whole family is under suspicion. Aliya however is convinced of her brother’s innocence and she sets out to discover the truth.

I have lived in London for most of my life and I spent a couple of weeks wandering around trying to understand what it would be like to be there for the first time, having to work out how to use the buses and how to find your way around the underground. I imagined tasting fish and chips for the first time, trying sliced white bread when you are used to eating naan bread, living in a half empty dilapidated concrete high rise when your old home was a two story house in the bustling old quarter of Kabul.

Aliya does speak good English, she’s learned it at school but the more I thought about it the more I realised that knowing the words of another language isn't enough if you want to find out if people are hiding things from you. You need to understand the signs and signals they make (both consciously and unconsciously) which may give them away, you need to get a grasp of words and phrases that don’t appear in the dictionary and you need to deal with all sorts of regional dialects and subtleties of intonation. Aliya does get help from an English boy called Dan but after a while she discovers that even he is lying to her.

As a writer it was a really interesting to put myself into her shoes and if you read the book I hope you get a sense of her panic confusion but also of the amazing strength of character which enabled her to go on fighting when all the odds were stacked against her.

If You Were Me by Sam Hepburn out now in paperback (£6.99, Chicken House)

Follow Sam on Twitter: @Sam_Osman_Books and find out more at www.samhepburnbooks.com

Interview with Sarah Naughton #UKYAExtravaganza

I am hugely excited today to be taking part in the amazing #UKYAExtravaganza blog tour to celebrate the massive author event that is taking part in Birmingham at the end of the month. Emma Pass and Kerry Drewery have done a wonderful job setting up the event and organising this great tour! Thank you so much for letting me take part in this :)

I'm so happy to be paired up with Sarah Naughton as well. She's super lovely and I've had a great time discovering a new author and to read books possibly outside of my normal comfort zone. I thought The Blood List was really great and I was fascinated throughout about the historical time period, the superstitions and the eventual witch hunt that occurs.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Sarah Naughton and if you'd like to know more about Sarah Naughton or her books, The Blood List and The Hanged Man Rises, do visit the following places:

Sarah Naughton on Facebook ... Sarah Naughton ... Sarah on Twitter

Hello and welcome to Fluttering Butterflies! Can you please introduce yourself and tell me a little something about your books?

I've written two books (not including the 300 or so languishing in my bottom drawer): The Hanged Man Rises, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Children's Book award, and The Blood List, both published by Simon and Schuster. They are both concerned with the supernatural, which I’ve always been fascinated by, despite my noisy skepticism (just because I don’t believe in ghosts doesn't mean I’m not scared of them…)


Both of your books are historical thrillers, what compels you to write about these historical time periods?


The idea comes first. With the Hanged Man Rises it was the idea of the possessed policeman and the boy trying to save him from himself. The Victorian era was the obvious setting, because of the huge popularity of spiritualism at that time, and consequent rich vein of subject matter.

The idea for the Blood List came after watching a heart-breaking documentary about the fate of disabled children in the medieval era. In those credulous times parents would become convinced that an ‘imperfect’ child was actually a fairy imposter left in place of their own ‘perfect’ baby. They would set about trying to get the babies switched back by inflicting various tortures on the ‘changeling’. As the plot developed to involve accusations of witchcraft, it made sense to set it during the witch fever of the 17th century.

At the beginning of The Blood List, Barnaby mentions having a great deal of free time. If you had a whole bunch of extra time to yourself, what might you be doing or learning?


I've never been one for extreme sports but since having children I have felt increasingly hobbled by the imperative of keeping them safe and well and, consequently, have begun to have wild fantasies about donning a bandanna and taking up arms in the fight against IS. Or more realistically, becoming a lifeboatwoman. I’d probably just do crosswords.


Both The Hanged Man Rises and The Blood List delve into some dark things. Child murderers and witch hunts. Did you ever have to pull back from writing these darker things?


Nah. I love it. Not gory Darren Shan stuff, which I just find repellent. I love psychological horrors like ‘A Good and Happy Child’ by Justin Evans and ‘Dark Matter’ by Michelle Paver – the latter of which I had to read in a bustling café in broad daylight because it was so effing terrifying. Scary books are a way for children to exercise their need for extreme feelings without putting themselves in genuinely dangerous situations. We have a psychological and probably evolutionary need to scare ourselves pantless. If you've been taught to look for wolves in the darkness you might manage to avoid being eaten.

The Blood List is filled with so much superstition surrounding the identification of changelings and witches to other more everyday things. What were some of the strangest superstitions you came across when researching?

I actually loved researching witchcraft and was even considering joining a coven until a psychic I met while writing The Hanged Man Rises advised against it… We’re all programmed to believe in magic: faith that the sun will rise every morning predates the scientific facts, after all. But with faith comes insecurity and a desire to keep sweet whomever we think might be wheeling the sun out every day, just for us. Even skeptics like myself derive a certain irrational sense of protection from saluting magpies and touching wood. Following my research into 17th century superstitions I keep a hagstone over the threshold of my front door to repel witch ingression and wear a pendant with a silver acorn, whose magical reputation dates back to druid times. I think a very small and primitive part of me actually believes they might do some good. (I drew the line at putting iron nails in my son’s cot).

One of my favourite aspects of The Blood List is the complicated relationships and dynamic between the members of the Nightingale family. Were there any particularly difficult aspects of these relationships for you to write or to get right?


The main characters in the Nightingale Family are based on people I know quite well, so all I did was slot them into the situation and my own familiarity with their characters told me how they would react. The tricky bit was making handsome, spoiled, arrogant Barnaby sympathetic enough at the beginning for people to relate to him and want to read on.

For what it's worth, I think Barnaby's character development throughout The Blood List was really well done! 

I always find it interesting to read about the witch hunts during this period of time. It's a leap, but if a similar campaign were launched in modern times, who do you think would be targeted or be accused of being witches?


Muslims, Jews, Poles, working mothers, people on benefits. The Daily Mail will no doubt decide. The older I get the more I feel those nebulous concepts we have such confidence in, like equality and justice and freedom, are so very fragile. States assassinate their enemies on our shores with no repercussions, our politicians fawn to oppressive dictators, terrorists gleefully massacre children. Perhaps we’ve lived through our golden age of enlightenment, and are slipping back into intolerance and barbarism. Guantanamo Bay seems like an endless Inquisition without even the blessed release of death.



I don't read very much historical YA but I'd love to read more. Can you share any historical YA recommendations with me?

Patrick Ness: he is the man. Diana Wynne Jones and her protégé Neil Gaiman. Suzanne Collins, although she’s hardly undiscovered. Melvin Burgess, Eoin Colfer, Philip Reeve and my teenage favourites: Robert Westall, Judy Blume and SE Hinton.

All excellent suggestions! ...But not many historical YA authors :)

What are your thoughts about the UKYA community?

It’s a wonderfully passionate and vibrant community, and extremely valuable to writers who otherwise get very little publicity. Publishing budgets are entirely devoted to the big names in childrens’ books, like JK Rowling and David Walliams, and without the bloggers some truly wonderful books would have been completely ignored. There doesn’t seem much in the way of reward for all your hard work, but I hope this is just a training ground and that many of you will go on to become authors in your own right.



You'll be appearing at the UKYA Extravaganza in Birmingham this month. Which authors are you most looking forward to meeting?

I always like meeting authors. After I left advertising I thought I’d miss the acerbic wit and quick-mindedness that characterizes a creative department, but it turns out writers are just as funny (just rather more self-deprecating). I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Emma Pass again. We did the Derbyshire Bookbash together a couple of years ago, and since then she has scaled the heady peaks of success. I’m going to ask her to sign my forehead.


A huge thank you for being on Fluttering Butterflies today!

Thanks to you too. See you on the 28th!

Author Spotlight: Sarah Alderson

I do really hope that you've been enjoying this new feature, Author Spotlight!  For today's spotlight, I'd like to shine it around Sarah Alderson, one of my favourite UKYA authors.

Sarah is an author that I've followed since the release of her debut book, Hunting Lila, back in 2011.  Since then she's published many more books than you'd think in just under 4 years. And I've loved them all.

She's written quite often of her family's travels around the world, living in Bali, and travelling more. She writes books incredibly quickly (like super-human quick!) and I think they're all very fast-paced, addictive and exciting reads. (And it says so on the back of most of her books!)

Do find out more about Sarah Alderson and her lovely books, by visiting her website or follow her on Twitter.

Hunting Lila and Losing Lila

Hunting Lila introduced me to Sarah Alderson! A lovely friend of mine sent this first book over for me to read and I very, very quickly fell in love with Sarah's writing style and her actiony scenes mixed together with some incredibly steamy interactions with hot Alex. These two books are all about people with extra-sensory powers and there's a road trip and explosions and it's all kinds of amazing. Sarah has also written and published several short stories/novellas surrounding the characters and story lines of these two books.

Fated, Severed, and Shadowed

These three books all center around demons and demon slayers and I've only actually read the first book in the series, Fated, so far. Though I do have both sequels on my Kindle waiting for me.  While I love the action and adventure of Sarah's stories, I do need to be in the right frame of mind for more paranormal-y stories!

Come Back To Me

Come Back To Me is a New Adult book that Sarah has written under the pseudonym, Mila Gray that follows a relationship between Jessa and Kit.  I loved how intense this book is and how much this book is also a story about friendship and family as well as a very emotional romantic book.

The Sound

I read The Sound early last year when I went home to visit my father who had been in the hospital. It was a very emotional time for me and all I really wanted to read were comforting stories by authors I knew and trusted.  And this book really fit the bill.  It's the story of a girl who becomes a nanny for a family in Nantucket at the time when there is a serial killer who is targeting foreign nannies.

Out of Control

Out of Control was so much fun.  I loved the added element of human trafficking to the story as well. Not only is it this fast-paced story with loads of chemistry between the two main characters, it also has this added bonus of bringing up a social justice story that I didn't realise was so prevalent. Plus, it's set in New York and I love New York based stories!

Conspiracy Girl

Conspiracy Girl is Sarah Alderson's latest YA book and it has been published by Simon and Schuster this month.  I'm incredibly excited to be taking part in the blog tour for this book. Look out for an interview with Sarah very soon!  This book was definitely an edge-of-my-seat read. About a girl who's family had died previously in a home invasion and who lives paranoid and constantly looking over her shoulder. She teams up with a hot hacker when her family's attackers come back to finish the job...

Have you read anything by Sarah Alderson? Will you be adding any of these books to your wish list?

Killing Sound Blog Tour: Writing For (Young) Adults by Paul Southern

I'm really happy to be taking part in the blog tour for Killing Sound by Paul Southern, a terrifying story about the London underground and sound waves.  I started reading this book late at night, on my own, in a creaky house and I just couldn't do it. If scary books are your thing, I'd recommend this one!

Find out more about Killing Sound or Paul Southern at his website and his twitter! 

Writing For (Young) Adults

by Paul Southern 

It is fair to say that my previous novels contained more than their fair share of violence and sexual content. Indeed, there was a surfeit of it. I was dramatizing the lives of young people in Manchester the way it is really lived on the streets. Having taught all ages from 5 to 21, I  also have a good idea of age appropriateness when it comes to writing for and about children. For example, I think most people would agree that giving 11-year-olds a dose of expletives and violence is probably not a good thing (although 11-year-olds play computer games with just that content). Most people would also agree that 13-year-olds should be protected from these things. By the age of 16, however, with the odd exceptions, and despite our best attempts to protect them, most children swear, are aware of what sex is, and have seen 18-rated horror films. The rites of passage have already begun. All of which leaves that difficult 13-16 age range in limbo.

 Teen fiction purportedly covers the ages 10 to 15, while Young Adult covers 12 to 18, or maybe even older. The lines between children’s fiction and YA and adult fiction are policed by adults, of course, who have often forgotten what it was like to be young, and like to read on their behalf. Meanwhile, children just want to be adults. Increasingly, the age they do so gets younger and younger. It’s difficult enough to set boundaries as a parent, never mind as a guardian of the nation’s youth.

 From its inception, Killing Sound was a book written for YA and adults. It was never written for 11-year-olds. Or for 13-year-olds, for that matter. The lowest age I thought would read it was say 14/15. In other words, well on the way to adulthood, coming to grips with growing up, and being aware of the world around them. I was consciously aware of this as I wrote it, edited it, and re-edited it. As a writer, you set your own bounds.

 Frankly, I think there is no difference in writing for YA and adults, except that, in the former, you’re writing largely for teen protagonists. You should never patronise your reader. You are still telling them a story. If a story for a 13-year-old has the word ‘fuck’ in it, society isn't going to collapse. My 12-year-old daughter has used the word talking to friends. I didn't want her to use the word. I’d rather she used a different one, but I guess my parents would have said the same thing about me. Kids want to use the word; it makes them feel grown up. Part of its appeal is the stupid taboo about it.

 Swear words should not be taboo. If they are used in context (or even out of it), they are appropriate. The author is best placed to judge this. No one knows their work like they do. The same goes for sex and violence. It isn’t just profanity and graphic content, either. Difficult or obscure words are sometimes deemed unsuitable for young adults. If a child or young adult comes across a word they don’t know, they should be reaching for a dictionary, not the remote control. How else do they learn?

 Killing Sound has its fair share of violence. It also has a lot of horror in it, both psychological and physical. I think it is important for kids to confront these things, just as the characters have to. Children know what’s at stake. It is only when you measure life against the alternative that it carries any meaning. Death is a constant in the book – not just coping with it, but the experience of it, and understanding what it means to die. Philip Larkin once starkly said, ‘Life is first boredom, then fear. Whether or not we use it, it goes.’ The quote is pinned to the wall above my desk. A good horror novel (or movie) helps us confront that fear and makes us feel more alive. That’s something children, young adults and adults can benefit from.

Killing Sound by Paul Southern out now in paperback (£7.99, Chicken House)

Top Ten Underrated UKYA Authors

I know that it's been awhile since I took part in a TTT, but I couldn't pass up this week's topic. I was going to film a video about underrated authors but it's always more fun to do things with a group of people, so I'm doing this instead!  Top Ten Tuesday, as ever, is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Do visit her site to visit other people taking part in this week's topic!

In no particular order, here are my top ten underrated authors.  They are all British authors who write YA. I came about this list by checking my Goodreads page and ranking my 'read' books by the books with fewest ratings. It's a very scientific approach, really. Sometimes I impress myself.

Liz Bankes

Liz Bankes is the author of three wonderful, funny, romantic books: Irresistible, Undeniable and, most recently, Unstoppable.  All three books are companion novels of each other and focus on a similar group of characters as they navigate their friendships, identities, jobs, and relationships.  I love all three books for their humour, their friendships and for all the lovely boys we meet. There's plenty of tension and awkwardness and I wish more people were reading and talking about her books!

Vanessa Curtis 

I really love Vanessa Curtis' books.  She is the author the Zelah Green books - Zelah Green and One More Little Problem - about a girl who is dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder and also the Lilah May books - The Taming of Lilah May and Lilah May's Manic Days - about a girl with rage.  She's also written a ghost story calling The Haunting of Tabitha Grey and most recently a middle grade story, The Baking Life of Amelie Day, about a teen baker who also has cystic fibrosis. Each of her books have been quite emotional and felt very different to other books I've read. I love the range of topics covered and how easily it was for me to really care about the characters.

Helen Grant

Now, I haven't yet read many books by Helen Grant but based solely on the strength of her two books in the Forbidden Spaces trilogy that have been published so far - Silent Saturday and Demons of Ghent - I really want to hunt down her other books.  I absolutely love Silent Saturday and Demons of Ghent. They're both set in Belgium and cover urban exploration and the ways in which the main character, Veerle, finds herself involved in difficult (and illegal) situations with some dangerous people.  I love the way these books unfold, how emotional they are and how absolutely tense and suspenseful they are!

Lydia Syson

I think that historical fiction writers are kind of overlooked? Especially in YA? And I think that's an absolute shame.  I've read and loved both of Lydia Syson's YA novels - A World Between Us and That Burning Summer - and I think she has a wonderful skill of really drawing me into her stories and letting the historical detail wash over me really seamlessly.  I'm not usually a big of historical fiction, but I am when Lydia Syson writes it.  A World Between Us tells the emotional story of three people during the Spanish Civil War and That Burning Summer is about a Polish pilot who crash lands in England and cannot face returning to war.  Both books are fascinating and gripping reading and count amongst my favourite UKYA.

Phil Earle

Love Phil Earle. His debut book, Being Billy, will always be one of my favourite books and it's one that made me feel a whole range of things. And everything else he's written - Saving Daisy, Heroic, The Bubble Wrap Boy - has been written with such warmth and heart as well.  It's been a very emotional experience reading Phil Earle's books but I look forward to it always.  He's published the first in a series of middle grade fiction next year and I cannot wait.

Candy Harper

Now I've only read one book by Candy Harper so far (but have read her dystopian book written under the name CJ Harper called The Disappeared and really enjoyed that!) but I found it hugely funny and entertaining and I can't think why more people haven't been picking it up and raving about it.  It's called Have A Little Faith and there's already a sequel, Keep the Faith, which I'm looking out for to read next.  I love the main character's attitude and self-centredness SO MUCH. I did the full range of smile to snort to full-on belly laugh reading some of Faith's adventures!

Sharon Jones

I've said it a million times, but I love Sharon Jones' books. Her Poppy Sinclair novels - Dead Jealous and Dead Silent - are really incredible and I'm constantly recommending them to people. Not only do I love the thriller aspect of the books, I also love the main character, her love interest, the setting and the fact that religion plays a part in both books. I love everything about these books and I can't wait to read more by Sharon Jones!

Julia Green

Julia Green is perhaps the author that I've read the least from on this list, but I'm very sure that that will change in the very near future. I just love how gentle Julia Green's stories are. Especially This Northern Sky which I absolutely adored. I love how much family and friendship and the setting felt like the main focus of the story.  It was also beautifully written in a way that made me quite desperate to visit the Scottish islands.

Theresa Breslin

Theresa Breslin is another historical author who I absolutely adore. I've only read a handful of her novels but everything by her that I've read, I've loved. And it does make me want to read her entire backlist too. My favourites of hers being Divided City about the religious divide between Catholics and Protestants in Scotland, Prisoner of the Inquisition and also Spy for the Queen of Scots.  Wonderful characters and settings!


Sita Brahmachari

 

I haven't read all of Sita Brahmachari's books (yet) but those books I have read make me want to read her others.  She's the author of five books for teens: Artichoke Hearts and Jasmine Skies which I believe are in a series together. There's also Kite Spirit, about a girl who goes to the country to recharge after the suicide of her best friend, and also Brace Mouth, False Teeth a Barrington Stoke book about a girl's work experience at a care home.  All of her books are filled with wonderful characters and settings! Her new book, Red Leaves, is being published this month, I believe.

Which authors would you consider as being underrated?

My favourite UKYA characters #UKYADay

As you know, I'm a big supporter of UKYA! So, you'll not be surprised then that I am happily taking part in Lucy's April Extravaganza! You can check out the  Project UKYA or Project UKYA Twitter feed for other information about all the fun UKYA inspired things going on this month and for future projects. 

And while I think Lucy does a great job being at championing UKYA if you're interested in further supporting efforts by other lovely people, I would recommend also checking out the UKYA website run by the lovely Keris Stainton, Susie Day and Keren David for information about past, present and future UKYA books.

I would also strongly urge you to join the British Books Challenge run by the lovely Sarah from Feeling Fictional. Link up your review to ANY book written by a British author and be in the chance of winning monthly prizes.  The British Books Challenge has been running for four years now and is highly successful. It's a great way to motivate yourself to becoming more aware of what you are reading and to read more by British authors if that is what you wish to do!

I'd also check out Jim's Countdown YA website for more information about his upcoming blog tour highlighting the amazing UKYA books that are being published on the 5th of June.

Today, Lucy has deemed it #UKYAday and the task for every UKYA fan is to shout from the rooftops about UKYA. Why we love it, how we support it, who and what are our favourite authors and books.

Today, I'm going to be talking about some of my favourite characters that I've discovered from reading amazing UKYA.   Please do share in comments which are your favourite UKYA characters!

Poppy Sinclair from the Poppy Sinclair series by Sharon Jones


I really love Poppy Sinclair. I love that in both Dead Jealous and Dead Silent we see Poppy on a mission to get to the bottom of things. She's pretty stubborn and wonderfully straight forward and I really just want to rip her out of the pages of these books and turn her into my real life best friend. I really do think she's fantastic.  I love how these books aren't just murder mysteries but that they also deal with Poppy handling a new romantic relationships, juggling her (sometimes) difficult relationships with her parents and that they see Poppy exploring her own faith whether that be her mom's paganism or her father's Christian faith.  It's all incredibly fascinating and edgy and I am desperate to read more. Please let there be more Poppy Sinclair stories! 

Micah Grey from Pantomime and Shadowplay by Laura Lam


Another character who I absolutely love! I really love everything both about Micah Grey and about Ellada, this fictional fantasy place that Micah lives.  I absolutely adore every detail that I've read so far about Micah and about Ellada and his adventures there but with the circus and with the magicians.  I really love all of his relationships as well, not just the romantic ones with Aenea and Drystan, but also with his brother and new friends met in Shadowplay. I've found that I grew to care for Micah very quickly and now he lives in my heart. 

Harriet Manners from the Geek Girl series by Holly Smale

Harriet Manners has to be one of the best characters I've come across in a really long time. I love how geeky and awkward and just how fantastic she is.  I love the really uncomfortable situations that she gets herself in but I also love how incredibly lucky she is to be able to travel around the world with her modelling and how she has some incredible people fighting her corner like her dad and step-mother and her stalker, Toby. 

I'm so glad that there is so much more Harriet Manners in all of our futures!

Rubeus Hagrid from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

I know.  You see a list of favourite UKYA characters ... you scan the list of books mentioned ... you see the Harry Potter series ... and you probably imagine to see somebody like Hermione Granger or Luna Lovegood, maybe even somebody equally amazing like Neville Longbottom or  Dumbledore.  No. For me, my favourite character in Harry Potter will always be Hagrid.

Do you know how I know this definitively?  Because as I was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the first time and that last scene before the prologue happens. It's the Battle of Hogwarts and I know characters have to die, right? It's the Battle of Hogwarts, the biggest show down between Harry Potter and Voldemort once and for all.  And I could barely see straight from the tears anyway and for some unknown reason, JK decides to place Hagrid in the midst of things before the duel between Harry and Voldemort. WHYYY? I had to ask N to read the final pages for me so that he could reassure me that no harm comes to my beloved Hagrid.

There's just something about him.  I love how fierce his love and loyalty is for Dumbledore. How that carries through to Harry and Hermione and Ron. I love how gentle and loveable he is and how much he cares for those who have nobody else to care for them.

Saba from the Dustlands trilogy by Moira Young

I just finished reading the final book in the Dustlands trilogy, Raging Star, so Saba and her adventures are still really fresh in my mind. I absolutely tore through this series.  It's so action-packed and tense. I love the world-building and the relationships in this book. But especially I love the force of nature that is the main character Saba.  She's so determined and capable.  I loved her wild and focused pursuit of her brother in the first book. She was so determined to survive and to rescue him that she became the Angel of Death. But she certainly isn't perfect. She makes huge mistakes and isn't very nice, especially to her little sister.  She reckons she can do everything on her own when clearly she can't. And yet over time she begins to realise all of this and change in ways for the better. Everything may not work out how she wants it, but she tries her very best.

 

Lyra Belacqua from His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Lyra is one of the first main characters that I read when I started properly reading YA. For many, many years I was mostly a literary fiction reader, so I was not expecting to fall so hard for this scrappy girl from a YA fantasy novel. But she really captured my heart right from the first page and I love how adventurous and wonderful she is.  You can really see her growing throughout these three books and I loved taking this journey with her.  It's been too long now since I last read these books. I think it must be time for a re-read! 

Who are your favourite UKYA characters?