Interview with Laura Jarratt #YAShot

Hugely excited today to be taking part in the #YAShot blog and vlog tour again, this time with another of my favourite authors, Laura Jarratt!

Skin Deep really made me sit up and take notice of Laura Jarratt and since then I've always eagerly awaited anything else by her. I especially loved the exploration of identity in her first two novels. But here we are discussing YA Shot and libraries and getting published!

To find out more about Laura Jarratt and her books, do visit the following links:

Laura Jarratt ... Follow Laura Jarratt on Twitter ... Add Laura Jarratt's books on Goodreads

                      To find out more about YA Shot, check out yashot.co.uk

Hello and welcome to Fluttering Butterflies! Could you please introduce yourself and your books? 

Hi, and thank you for having me. I’m Laura and I write YA fiction – romance/thriller is probably the best way to describe my published books, although I’m not really bothered by labels. ‘Teen fiction’ is enough of a category for me.

I’m never very interested in authors’ personal lives but for those who are, I’m married with an eight-year-old stepson and a two-year-old daughter. We’ve got two RSPCA rescue cats, which belong to my daughter, Orlaith. My family is of Irish descent and my husband’s family are a mix of Welsh and English. After twenty years working in comprehensives, I recently moved into the special education sector and I’m now a Headteacher at a school for children with physical, medical and other complex needs. It’s a great job and I’m lucky to be in a position where I enjoy what I do.

You'll be chairing a panel at YAShot called 'Crime and Punishment: fictional wrongdoing and human rights' which sounds really intriguing. What can we expect from this panel and who do you think might find it interesting?

You’ve got a real range of writers on this panel, and a real mix of books in their catalogues. One question I will be asking is whether fictional wrongdoing should always be punished – I expect some interesting answers to that one! I haven’t met any of the others yet but my experience of these things is that we all tend to have very different personalities too, so that should make for a lively debate. My job is to make sure everyone gets to talk and throw some questions into the mix if we stall.

I think it should appeal to all lovers of YA fiction because the books we’ve written are so different that there’ll be something for all readers. Audience participation is always great so come with any questions you want answered.

What other panels or authors are you looking forward to seeing or meeting at YAShot?

I’m hoping we arrive in time to see Playing with Time: Historical fiction and historical settings. And I also want to catch Trigger Warning: Exploring sensitive issues in ethical ways. Which reminds me – I really must find time to ask my husband if there’s anything he’s particularly interested in. I’m dragging him along with me at it’s our anniversary the day after and we’re having some away time in the Cotswolds, so we’ve got to shoot off up there at 5pm. It means I don’t get time to hang out with the other writers afterwards but my family always comes first. Hopefully I’ll find some time to catch up with a few people and say hi to some of the bloggers

YAShot is an event celebrating libraries! What do libraries mean to you?

When I was a kid, we lived in a council house in a very deprived urban area. My mother was a single parent and worked really hard in her job to keep up a decent standard of living. She took me into Manchester city centre every week when I was small to buy me a book and she was the one who taught me to read. Until I was eight, there was no library within easy reach and I was a very fast reader. When a library finally opened near the shopping precinct, she enrolled me in their opening week. I got dropped off at the library on Saturday mornings while she did her shopping and I’d spend the morning browsing the books, fiction and non-fiction. Reading gave me a window into different worlds and the library expanded my horizons even further.

All kids need access to a library and the ones who need it most are the kids whose parents can’t afford books for them.

You've had 4 YA novels published so far, what were your biggest obstacles to overcome with each of these books? 

With Skin Deep, which was my favourite of all of them to write, it was getting used to working with an editor. One of the reasons I signed with Egmont was because I find Stella Paskins great to work with on shaping a book, but there is definitely a process to get used to in working with your editor and building the relationship is really important.

The hardest thing about By Any Other Name was actually meeting the deadline. I had real trouble getting through the word count because I was in a new relationship (I did marry him eventually so he was worth the disruption to my writing) and operating outside my normal writing routine. Structurally it was quite difficult to get the balance right too. We were aiming for a faster pace than with Skin Deep because the book leans much more towards ‘thriller’ and I find that really hard to judge – which is where Stella comes in.

Writing Louder Than Words was lovely because I was off on maternity leave but I did try to be too clever and it didn’t come off so I ended up having to do a monster edit to chop out sections where I’d had Rafi write from ActionX’s perspective. It seemed like a good idea at the time from the point of view of her wanting to be a writer but what I really ended up doing was killing the tension.

I thought I’d found my writing pattern after three books but In Another Life destroyed that view. I just could not write this book in sequence so I ended up writing the first quarter and then the last quarter, and then going back and filling in the middle. It’s because I don’t plot before I write and I hit a panic zone at 25k with this book, which was only dispelled by writing the end so I knew where I was going. I’m fairly pleased with how it came out in the end though, but it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be – I still have some pangs for the book I wanted to write in the first instance.

Can you tell us a little something about your experience in getting an agent and having your first book published?

I didn’t go the usual route and submit. Actually, technically, I did do that at first but with another book and I got nowhere. But while that was going on, I was writing my second unpublished book on a website called Authonomy. It’s where I first came across Stella Paskins because I won a review on my first 10k. While I had my work up there, my agent spotted it and contacted me. We didn’t go out to publishers with that book (Freefalling) as she thought it was too hard to sell commercially but I’d already had another fledgling idea, which became Skin Deep, and she signed me after seeing the first 20k of that. I finished it and she took it out to publishers. Ultimately I had two publishers offering and we went with Egmont. I was actually co-agented initially by Ariella Feiner and Simon Trewin while Ariella (who was then Simon’s assistant) was setting her own list up. Having his name behind us helped editors take us seriously  - he’s a lovely chap and gave me some really good advice about getting the final draft ready to go out for submission.

You are definitely one of my favourite UKYA authors. Who are your favourite UKYA authors or books at the moment?

That’s a really hard question. I don’t read nearly as much YA as I used to. Two reasons really: firstly I have a full time job and a two year old to look after, as well as writing, so my reading time is much more limited than it was; secondly, I’m more into adult fiction at the moment. I guess I’m looking for something amazing to sweep me off my feet in YA. I have high hopes for Jenny Downham’s third novel Unbecoming, but I don’t have time to do it justice at present so I’m waiting for a holiday to read it. At first I thought the pre-release information was uncomfortably like an adult book I’m working on so I was relieved to read more about it and find it’s very different.

In all honesty, I want to find a ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ in UKYA soon. I think we need to up our game and write more of the kind of books that stand the test of time and become classics, those books you still remember twenty years later. You don’t get many of them, of course, but I really feel they’re much too scarce at the moment.

What has been the best experience when interacting with your readers?

I rarely get out to do events because I work full time in term time and it’s not the kind of job where I can take time off so I don’t get to do book tours. My favourite events are school audiences outside of school buildings, like book awards or the Edinburgh book festival. I’m happiest talking to teens and I love doing Q&A sessions with them because they always ask something interesting I wasn’t expecting.  If pushed to declare a favourite, it would be the Portsmouth Book Award – it was a great set-up and I got to talk to fans and hear what they thought of the books.

And finally, can you give us any clues as to what you're working on at the moment?

I’m writing something for the adult market at the moment – a reading group-type novel about a woman investigating the decades-old death of a child who is haunting her.

The YA novel I’m writing next is moving away from thrillers. I want to do something with a bigger concept – a love story on a grander scale, that questions one of the great mysteries of life. There’s no guarantee I can pull it off but I’m giving it a go. I am concerned I’m not good enough to write it though!

Thank you so much, Laura!

Author Spotlight: Siobhan Curham

Siobhan Curham is an award-winning novelist, motivational speaker and life coach.

She has written books for adults, young adults and children – both fiction and non-fiction – and has publishing deals in the UK, France and Germany. Her YA series, Shipwrecked, is currently being developed for television.

Siobhan is currently working on a non-fiction book called True Face: Be Real. Be Fearless. Be You! to be published by Faber & Faber in 2015.

Her new YA novel, Dark of the Moon, the second in the Shipwrecked series, was published by Egmont in June 2014.

The above is (part of!) Siobhan Curham's official bio that can be found on her website!  Do find out more about Siobhan Curham and her many books (including books for adults) on the following websites:

Siobhan Curham .... Siobhan on Twitter ... Siobhan on Facebook ... Dare to Dream ... True Face Revolution

Of course, recently you've probably heard Siobhan Curham's name in connection with Zoe Sugg and that whole situation.  But I first heard about Siobhan's stories when she self-published her first novel for young adults, Dear Dylan.  I think I saw a review of it over on Chicklish (still one of my favourite websites ever, even if it is no longer running!) and I was intrigued by it.  The title and author of the book stayed with me.

Dear Dylan

So when the book was picked up by a traditional publishing house and sold to Egmont, I was incredibly happy for her, even though I didn't know much about her or the book.  I did get a copy of it for review, but it came at a time when I felt pulled in too many directions and one of my guest reviewers very kindly reviewed it for me.  And she liked it.  I still would like to find the time one of the days to go revisit Dear Dylan and give it my full attention. It's a story told entirely in emails between a teenage girl and (supposedly) the celebrity she really looks up to. I like that this book is about friendship and finding those ways to get through difficult times.  It sounds like an interesting book.

Finding Cherokee Brown and Finding Your Inner Cherokee

But it wasn't until Finding Cherokee Brown that I really sat up and took notice of Siobhan Curham and her writing.  I read Finding Cherokee Brown and I felt incredibly connected and emotionally invested in a character and her story line.  Reading Finding Cherokee Brown actually helped me as well. I struggle with my self-confidence and the idea that's brought up in the book about a girl who makes up an alternative persona who is everything that she wants to be sounded like such a good idea that sometimes in situations where I felt uncomfortable or where my anxiety might creep in, I'd sometimes think of what my alternate-Michelle would look like.

Which is kind of why I was so happy that Siobhan Curham wrote and distributed Finding Your Inner Cherokee for free during anti-bullying week.  The main character in Finding Cherokee Brown is bullied and in Finding Your Inner Cherokee, Siobhan really pulled together her own experiences of being bullied with her life coaching and writing for teenagers to put together a short non-fiction guide to help teens and young people regain their confidence after bullying.  I won't lie, reading some of this book made me cry because almost 15 years after my own bullying experiences and I still needed to hear some things and I realised that I hadn't quite gotten over how painful my own experiences with bullying was.  It was an eye-opener. And I thought Finding Your Inner Cherokee was a really important and worthwhile project to have done.

Shipwrecked and Dark of the Moon

But then, Siobhan Curham has also written Shipwrecked and Dark of the Moon which I think are very different.  They're kind of a Lost meets Gossip Girl as a bunch of teenagers get stranded on a deserted island.  I believe they've been optioned but ...again, I haven't yet read them.  They look really fun and adventurous but I just haven't gotten around to them.  I think that's just me though. These books came out with Electric Monkey and I will read them. I will.

True Face

Siobhan's latest project is another non-fiction book called True Face. It's published this month by Faber and it's a book about identity and image and a guide to being your true self in the age of social media and the pressures on teenage girls to be perfect.  Just like with Finding Your Inner Cherokee, I find myself reading this book and feeling very emotional. Like even though I'm in my 30s and feel reasonably more okay with myself and who I am, there is still always more that I could be more okay with.  And Siobhan does a great job of walking through certain things and finding great exercises to do and great case studies to inspire. It's a wonderful thing, and I hope True Face really helps people out there.  

Have you read any books by Siobhan Curham? Do you now want to?

Author Spotlight: Vanessa Curtis

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

I can't say that I know a great deal about Vanessa Curtis as a person.  She's on Twitter but doesn't share much of herself there.  Her only website seems to be the literary consultancy she runs and has a brief, mostly book-related biography and it's the same with her Goodreads author page.

She plays the piano and has written several books on Virginia Woolf. She has a cat called Poppy. And she writes really interesting books for teenagers and young people that I have greatly enjoyed.

Zelah Green and Zelah Green: One More Little Problem

I first came across Vanessa Curtis after she published her first book for YAs which is called Zelah Green.  I had heard a little bit about it ... that it is a book involving a main character who has OCD mostly, which is a wonderful topic in YA fiction that I really wish more authors would write about ... but it wasn't until I learned that Zelah Green is a loose retelling of Snow White that it really made me sit up and take notice.  So I read it.  And I immediately went out to find and read the sequel as well. 

The Taming of Lilah May and Lilah May's Manic Days

And after I read the Zelah Green books I was quite curious to see what else Vanessa Curtis might write about.  And I was very happy to find the Lilah May duology, which takes a look at the life of another teenage girl who is dealing with some anger issues.  You know me, I like reading about angry girls.  And while I didn't always love where this story goes, I did enjoy these two very much as well. 

The Haunting of Tabitha Grey

Aside from the newest book by her, The Haunting of Tabitha Grey is the only book by Vanessa Curtis that I haven't already read.  And I'm not entirely sure why.  It's a ghost story set in an old Victorian house and it sounds wonderful.  Creepy and unsettling. I shall be looking out for it! 

The Baking Life of Amelie Day

All of the books by Vanessa Curtis that I've read I'd probably class as on the young side of young adult and The Baking Life of Amelie Day is probably more middle grade.  It's one of my favourite books mentioned in the post because while a lot of the story is quite sad, there is also much about this book that makes me really happy.  I loved Amelie Day as a character, very full of life and enthusiastic about baking and blogging. I also found it interesting that Amelie has cystic fibrosis.  I hadn't really come across a character with CF before and it opened my eyes.

The Earth Is Singing

The Earth Is Singing is Vanessa Curtis's latest offering.  This book is being published this month from Usborne and it is a historical YA book about a 15 year old Latvian teenager, Hanna, and her experiences during WWII.  I don't often read historical fiction but I'm really excited about this book! I can't wait to find myself a copy.  

Have you read anything by Vanessa Curtis as yet? Will you be picking up any of these books in the future?

REVIEW: Twinmaker by Sean Williams

Guest review by Kulsuma

I couldn't wait to start reading Twinmaker by Sean Williams because not only was the blurb gripping, but Scott Westerfeld recommended it. I really enjoyed The Uglies series and it seemed to me that Twinmaker might have some things in common with it. Set in the future, Twinmaker is set in a world where the use of revolutionary technology has made life so much easier. A technology called D-MAT means that people can transport from one place to another in the world almost instantaneously making cars, planes and trains useless. Fabbers can make clothes and food for everyone on the planet; no more hunger, no more need to work. The implants which give you access to the Air ensures you can update the world on your status instantaneously.

When Clair’s friend Libby reveals she uses a meme called ‘Improvement’ which promised to remove any flaw she wishes, namely the birthmark on her face, Clair is worried because Improvement is illegal. However, before Clair can actually find out if Improvement worked on Libby, Libby leaves and only turns up for short periods throughout the book and Clair is unable to work out if Improvement has indeed worked on her friend. She recruits the help of an ‘Abstainer’ (a person who refuses to use any of these modern technologies because of possible effects). Through trying out to find out the truth about Libby, Clair puts herself in danger and before long, she is on the run, cutting ties with the world she has known her whole life.

Twinmaker was a long, highly complex book in terms of the amount of technology discussed as well as story threads. It took some time to get into the book. The beginning put me off as it featured Clair disrespecting her friendship with Libby by cheating with Libby’s boyfriend, Zeppelin. Furthermore, I didn’t feel as though Clair and Libby’s friendship was shown enough at the beginning for me to want to know if Libby would be okay. However, the story soon picked up and became packed full of fervent action; hardly stopping for pause. I really enjoyed all the action and guessing what would happen next. The story was full of twists and turns and had a high body count.

I really liked Jesse and Q; a mysterious character who contacts and helps Clair from a distance at the beginning of the story and who Clair, along with the reader, desperately tries to figure out. Improvement, Clair finds out, is bad but there are those who will stop at nothing to ensure Clair doesn’t find out the whole truth and publicise the matter. What really redeemed Twinmaker in my eyes was the ending, which was simply incredible. The last hundred pages were so well-written and full of so many revelations that I can’t wait to read the next book, Crashlanders to find out what happens next.

Intriguing! Thank you, Kulsuma! 

REVIEW: Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt

I really enjoyed Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt. As a massive fan of Laura Jarratt's previous novels, Skin Deep and By Any Other Name, I was always going to be excited to read the author's latest... and while I don't think that Louder Than Words hits the same emotional high as I've experienced with the author's previous stories, I did still find it really addictive reading and incredibly interesting.

Louder Than Words is mostly told from the perspective of Rafi, a teenager girl who has selective mutism, which means that she hasn't spoken in many years.  Instead of words spoken out loud, Rafi really does better expressing herself with the written word.  And while Rafi is keen to point out at the beginning of the novel that this is her brother Silas's story, it actually feels like a combination of stories of all three main characters, Rafi, Silas and Josie, and it was nice to see contributions from Silas and Josie throughout the book.

Rafi was a really wonderful narrator, warm, funny and relatable.  My heart really went out to her right from the start as we learn more about what selective mutism is and how it has affected her life and her family's life. At all times throughout this story I really wanted Rafi to be happy and okay with who she is.  I wanted to get to the bottom of what has caused Rafi's problems with verbal communication and I wanted to see her take steps towards happiness and I loved seeing her progression with this in her friendship with Josie and during therapy sessions.  Rafi's story takes up the bulk of this book and it was definitely my favourite aspect of Louder Than Words.

Josie's story, however, while still really interesting takes up less page time.  I loved her though.  I think she was a wonderful friend to Rafi and she was pretty great at seeing through things.  We meet Josie right at the beginning as she's dealing with rumours spread by her ex-boyfriend and is being bullied and ostracised by her friends and classmates.  In some ways, Josie is the catalyst of the entire story as she is the person who spurs Rafi into action with her speech and in Josie's defense Silas gets involved in something bigger than himself.

Silas is the character that was most intriguing to me.  While we see through Rafi's perspective and get her thoughts and feelings through her narration and while we see snippets of Josie through brief Pinterest quotes, we only ever see Silas in the first person through a handful of letters that he's written to his father.  I found this really intriguing and I loved the format and structure of the book in this way.  I really loved Silas.  At the beginning of the story, he was an amazing support network for Rafi and he really looked out for her.  However, once we met Lara and started having feelings for her, he seemed to change and his priorities and interests expanded to more ...dubious activities. I do love that an aspect of political activism has been included in this book.  I'd really like to see more included in YA fiction as I think it's something that teenagers should have their eyes opened to from a young age.

All in all, Louder Than Words was a fascinating book for me.  I thought it was made up of some amazing characters, each with their own really emotional relationships.  In particular, I love the sibling relationship between Silas and Rafi and also the strong friendship between Rafi and Josie.  I thought both were really important to the story and were very well written.  I'm really happy to have read this book and can highly recommend it! Will certainly be looking out for more books in the future by Laura Jarratt...

Why selective mutism? by Laura Jarratt

I'm incredibly happy today to be taking part in the blog tour for Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt.  Laura Jarratt is a UKYA author who has quickly become one of my favourites. I really love her stories and Skin Deep and By Any Other Name have been firm favourites of mine. Louder Than Words looks set for the same.

If you'd like to know more about Louder Than Words or Laura Jarratt, do visit the following websites:

Laura Jarratt ... Laura on Twitter ... add Laura's books on Goodreads

Why did you decide to write about selective mutism?

In short, I didn't. I had a concept in my head of a girl who was the youngest of an incredibly gifted family and in my early ideas she’d stopped talking because everyone around her was so gifted and clever that she felt anything she had to say was worthless. That idea sounds more like the way Rafi's mutism used to be thought of, when the term used was elective mutism.

“Elective mutism is the former name for selective mutism. Elective mutism was defined as a refusal to speak in almost all social situations (despite normal ability to do so), while selective mutism is considered to be a failure to speak in specific situations and is strongly associated with social anxiety disorder. In contrast to selective mutism, someone who is electively mute may not speak in any situation, as is usually shown in books and movies.

Elective mutism is often attributed to defiance or the effect of trauma.” As I researched more up to date information about the conditions, I realised selective mutism fitted Rafi's personality far better and the way in which she describes how she came to stop talking should reflect that it wasn't a conscious choice for her but a kind of phobia that built over time. In Rafi's case, she became so disconnected that she developed a much rarer condition called progressive mutism, where the sufferer doesn't speak at all. I read a really helpful blog from the parents of a sufferer about the same age as Rafi on how their daughter’s condition had progressed and how it was affecting her life. There wasn't any technical information I didn't know presented there but it’s important to be able to connect with the feelings of the family around the sufferer as well as the sufferer themselves. Rafi's mother often shows great frustration with her and it’s easy to lose patience and empathy with her, but dealing with a child with this condition can be very difficult for parents too and there’s a palpable sense of failure that comes through from their parents when they’re blogging or on help forums. I think what you see in Louder Than Words is very much Rafi's anger and frustration with her mother, and a mother that she feels lets her down. When you look beyond that, and the fact that of course Rafi is writing this in first person, you will see tiny hints that maybe she doesn't have the full picture quite sorted yet. It’s also important to remember that Rafi is a fourteen year old girl, with all of the baggage that brings in a mother-daughter relationship. Looking back on myself at that point, I wouldn't say that age wasn't a high point in me and my mother’s understanding of each other. We’re very close but when I was fourteen I remember having those feelings of how she didn't understand me at all, and I certainly didn't understand her when I look back with adult eyes.

Louder Than Words isn't an issues book about selective mutism. It just happens that Rafi has this condition, in the same way you could meet someone at the bus stop with it. People with all kind of differences are out there in society with all the maelstrom of normal life going on around them, and that’s what I like to reflect in my books.

REVIEW: I Predict A Riot by Catherine Bruton

I Predict A Riot by Catherine Bruton very quickly became one of my favourite reads of the year so far.  It's a very engaging and emotional read, very thought-provoking and has some wonderful characters and relationships between them.  I really loved reading this book and had tears in my eyes by the end of it.

First off, I loved the structure of the book which is told from the perspective of our main character, Maggie, as she is secretly filming the events of her neighbourhood. The chapters are all based around specific scenes that Maggie has filmed in different locations around the main street, Coronation Road.  I Predict A Riot was inspired by the London Riots in 2011 and there were quite a few similarities between this story and actual events.

And at first, I was reading this book and comparing this story and its characters with what I remembered happening three years ago.  The area that Maggie and her friends are in is an area of London with a big class divide. There are families like Maggie's (whose mum is the local MP) who attends a boarding school and live in luxury alongside families like Tokes' whose mother works several jobs to pay the rent on a poky bedsit. There is also a large gang culture that is rampant, and our third main character, Little Pea is a 12 year old boy who has been caught up in the Starfish Gang and cannot see a future for himself outside of it. I Predict A Riot tells us this story of events that are leading up to the London riots including allegations of police brutality and protests but one of the things that I loved so much about it is that Catherine Bruton gives us this story without judgement. We witness characters saying and doing questionable things for their own reasons but each of those reasons are laid out and are true to Maggie, Tokes and to Little Pea.  I loved that about this book.

Because while I started this book making the comparisons to the rioting, I finished this story knowing definitely that while the riots were the background for this story, I Predict A Riot is really a story about a hope for change and it is a story about friendship and about being true to yourself and making the decisions that you can live with.  I loved the story arc for all three of the main characters.  I loved how each of them are very different and have different sets of principles and beliefs in what is right and wrong but that these principles are tested in really difficult situations.  Some characters surprised me by the mistakes they made, the strength of their convictions and about the ways in which they changed throughout the story.

I was really surprised by this book.  I was surprised by the depth of my feelings for Maggie, Tokes and Little Pea. I thought Catherine Bruton did an amazing job of pulling me into the narrative of this book and really connecting me to that of these three characters. It was really interesting to see different sides to this story from three characters with such wildly different backgrounds and the way in which their stories overlapped.  I really highly recommend this story!

Finding Your Inner Cherokee Guest Post by Siobhan Curham

Today I have the very lovely Siobhan Curham here for a special guest post for Anti-bullying Week to promote her FREE non-fiction e-book which she has written as a guide to help those who have been bullied to work through their feelings, gain confidence and become happier people.  I've read the book and I thought it was fantastic. Very interesting, hopeful and inspiring.  As a teenager I was a victim of bullying and all these years later and I still find the advice and support that Siobhan Curham has given in Finding Your Inner Cherokee something that I still need to hear, advice that I still need to be reminded of.  I think it's a wonderful thing she is doing and I am more than happy to support and promote this book! 

To find out more about Finding Your Inner Cherokee or about Siobhan Curham, please do visit her website: www.siobhancurham.co.uk 

Finding Your Inner Cherokee Guest Post

by Siobhan Curham

In March of this year, my novel Finding Cherokee Brown was published. Finding Cherokee Brown tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who finds the confidence to stand up to her bullies in her own unique way. After the book was published I received many emails from readers telling me that the book had helped them deal with bullying in their own lives. This made me want to do more to help and so the idea for Finding Your Inner Cherokee was born. Finding Your Inner Cherokee is a non-fiction e-book, full of case studies, exercises and advice, designed to help victims of bullying find their inner strength and become happy again.

When we think about the emotions that bullying causes, fear is often top of the list. But anger is just as common – and can be just as destructive if it isn’t dealt with properly.

When you are constantly being picked upon, anger starts building inside of you like the red hot lava in a volcano. And this is perfectly understandable. What you are going through isn’t fair. It isn’t right. After a while you can start feeling furious at the injustice of it all. And if you don’t find a safe way of letting your anger out, you can start to turn it in on yourself.

As a writer (and Official Word Nerd!) I am a great believer in the therapeutic power of the written word. The following exercises are featured in Finding Your Inner Cherokee and are the most effective ways I have found for releasing tension and anger, through writing.

Journal it Out

Find a time when you won’t be interrupted and turn to a fresh page in your diary / journal / random notebook. Imagine for a second that your feelings of anger are filling a tank inside of you. See your writing hand as a tap. As you start to write about how you’re feeling, let your anger flow out through your words. Get it all out on to the page. It doesn’t matter if there are spelling mistakes or commas in all the wrong places. As long as you are writing freely that’s all that counts. It is fine to swear and be as mean as you like. Don’t hold anything back. Write until you feel your anger fade, then when it’s all gone, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Just relax for a few moments and, when you feel ready, open your eyes and write down five things that you are grateful for. I know that some days it can be hard to find even one thing to be grateful for but make sure you do this last part of the exercise as it’s a great way of switching your brain from negative to positive. It doesn’t matter if it’s just that you’re grateful for the opportunity to express yourself, or that the sun is out, or that you had something nice on your toast for breakfast. As long as it makes you feel grateful it’s all good.


Write a ‘Dear Bully’ Letter

First off, don’t panic – I don’t mean actually send your bully a letter, but writing one that you will never send can actually be very therapeutic. Often, because we’re afraid of our bully, we don’t say anything when they start to pick on us. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to say anything. I bet you have loads you’d like to get off your chest. Well, here’s your chance, in the safety of a letter that will never be sent.

Take a piece of paper and begin it as you would a real letter, addressed to your bully. Then let rip. Tell them exactly what you think of them, how they make you feel, what you wish they would do (emigrate to Mars on a one-way ticket, perhaps?). Feel free to be as rude as you like and if you want to, write in BIG, ANGRY CAPITALS in ANGRY, RED INK. Keep writing until you’ve said everything you want and need to. Don’t hold back at all. If you start to cry while doing this exercise, just let the tears out too. When you’ve finished and feel you’ve got nothing left to say, I want you to add one final sentence:

I FORGIVE YOU.

Okay, I can practically hear you yelling, ‘WHAT?!!!’ But please bear with me. I’m not asking to do this because I want you to be kind to your bully. I’m asking because I want you to be kind to yourself.

There’s a famous quotation that some people attribute to Buddha and some to Jesus. Either way, it’s extremely wise, and it goes like this:

‘Not forgiving is like drinking a cup of poison and hoping the other person will die.’

Let me adapt that quote especially for you:

‘Not forgiving your bully is like drinking poison and hoping the bully will die.’

Basically, what this means is that anger and unforgiveness are like poison. They eat away at you from the inside, keeping you tense and stressed and uptight. But your bully is completely unaware of your angry thoughts. So they carry on doing what they’re doing, oblivious – and you carry on hurting.

By releasing your feelings of anger towards them, and forgiving them, you are actually setting yourself free. Instead of constantly stressing and feeling bitter, you create the time and the headspace to concentrate on far happier things. It’s obviously a lot easier to forgive once the bullying has stopped, but practising forgiveness while you’re still being bullied is a great way to ease your anger.

Even if you find it hard to do it with any meaning, always write ‘I forgive you’ at the end of an angry letter to your bully. Remember that by forgiving them, you aren’t letting them off the hook, or condoning what they’ve done, you’re actually helping yourself to feel happier.

Finding Your Inner Cherokee will be available from Amazon Kindle and all other e-book stores from 18th November and can be downloaded for FREE at my website: www.siobhancurham.co.uk

REVIEW: Arclight by Josin L. McQuein

Guest review by Kulsuma

I was really excited to read Arclight by Josin L. McQuein because I do love post-apocalyptic fiction and sci-fi. Arclight started with a bang; there was so much action that I was wrestling between a feeling of suspense and ‘What’s going on?’ Luckily, some questions are answered relatively quickly, but in another sense, I felt disconnected from the story.

Marina, the protagonist, has no memory of who she is, where she’s from, anything. She was found in the Grey; the boundary between the Arclight where it’s safe and the Dark which creatures called the Fade inhabit. When the story starts she’s been living in the Arclight for a few months and is alienated from the other students and detested in the case of one boy, Tobin, whose father was killed rescuing Marina.

After the fast-paced beginning, the action slowed down. The middle was sedentary but luckily, the ending was where it picked up. Besides Marina and the two love interests, none of the other characters were particularly memorable.

I really enjoyed McQuein’s writing style. I love reading stories in first person, present tense. However, apart from the great writing, I found it hard to connect with Marina. I never got to know anything substantial about her. I felt rather indifferent in the end. Even when she learns the truth about her past, she doesn’t find out about what she was like as a person, about those important to her and so on.

There are two love interests, but I didn’t know enough about either one to have a favourite. Finding out the truth about Marina and the Fade were the reasons I carried on reading the book. The Fade were an interesting and well-formed idea and should definitely have had more page time.

What disappointed me the most was the ‘twist’ towards the end because it could have been resolved much, much sooner and saved a lot of confusion, heartache and pages. Actually, I wouldn’t call it a twist as much as done for the sake of convenience. Also, I had some unresolved question about the villain. The ending was satisfactory but didn’t leave me with a feeling that I have to read the sequel, Meridian.

Thank you for that interesting review, Kulsuma!

REVIEW: Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham

Guest review by Kulsuma

I really enjoyed Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham. Fourteen year old Georgie tries to enjoy summer as much as is possible with an overbearing stepfather, weak mother and no one who listens to her. Though she isn’t given permission to go to the local drama workshop she desperately wants to go to, Georgie risks her stepfather’s fury by going anyway, taking her little sister with her who she is meant to babysit for the whole of the summer. The most surprising thing that happens in her summer though is when she emails the one person she idolises... and they email back!

Told entirely in email exchanges, Georgie forms a slow and steady friendship with someone who she at first believes is Dylan Curtland; an actor from a famous soap. While the mystery of who Georgie was really was corresponding with, I thought the story might take a sinister turn, but surprisingly it didn’t. It turns out that it’s Dylan’s mother, Nan, than has been emailing Georgie and the two form an unlikely friendship, offering advice and support to each other as they go through tough times.

Dear Dylan was a very quick read. The use of only emails to tell the story made the story fly by. The story really gripped me; Georgie going to her drama workshop, her turbulent friendship with her best friend, her first romance and the most interesting aspect of the story; domestic violence. Such a tough subject to write about but Curham wrote the scenes perfectly through the eyes and with the innocence of a fourteen year old.

Georgie grew throughout the story through hard lessons and with the help of Nan who offered sage advice at a time when she didn’t have any other adult to turn to. It is because of her unique friendship with Nan that Georgie’s life changes in the end. Overall, Dear Dylan was a wonderful, unique and refreshing story.

Sounds lovely! Thanks Kulsuma

REVIEW: The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

I was very pleasantly surprised last year when I read The Dark Divine, so I was very much looking forward to reading the sequel, The Lost Saint by Bree Despain. I found myself being really easily drawn into this story and into these characters... And The Lost Saint turned out to be just as good as I'd hope it would be, in fact better! This series just improves and I am dying to find out what happens next.

I have a bit of a soft spot in general for werewolf stories, but I also really loved the characters and the twisty-turny storyline, questioning the motivations of the different characters and how I just felt uncertain about what would happen next. I was a little unsure about where The Dark Divine had finished when I started this book, but as soon as I started reading, a lot of the confusion and questions disappeared.

This book follows on shortly after the events of The Dark Divine. Grace's father has left in search of finding Grace's brother, Jude. Grace and Daniel have been left trying to sort out their changing relationship as Grace has been infected with the werewolf curse and Daniel feels as though he can no longer protect himself or Grace. When Grace recieves a phone call from Jude and other strange things begin occurring, Grace feels as though she has no choice but to train as hard and as long as she can in order to become a Hound of Heaven in order to face what's coming. To do this, Grace turns to mysterious stranger, Talbot, as she delves farther into the dark world of Urbat and other demons.

I really loved the sequel. It's very action-packed as Grace and Talbot take on some truly terrifying enemies as part of Grace's new training. There's lots of fighting and blood and killing of demons, all done in the name of good, apparently. I loved finding out more about Urbat and demons and I was lapping up all the details about this new world. I felt really sorry for Daniel and Grace, as their relationship really took a hit in this book. There are so many things they have kept secret from each other, that it allowed somebody like Talbot to sneak in and threaten what they have. I really wanted to shake both Grace and Daniel, make them become more open and honest with each other, but at the same time, I loved Talbot's character. He's older and has a very dangerous and sexy vibe to him.

I also quite like that Grace is able to open up, finally, to a friend and have somebody else to talk to. Grace makes a lot of decisions and choices in The Lost Saint that as a reader I felt very uncomfortable and uncertain about, but this is not one of them. Every girl needs a best friend to be there for her. Grace really struggles within herself in this book. She wants to do right and fight evil with her new-found super powers and all, but at the same time she is at risk of losing herself to the wolf.

I was on the very edge of my seat reading this book, all the way up to the very exciting finale. Dying to read the next book now! What a great sequel and a fab series!

REVIEW: Between by Jessica Warman

Guest review by Carrie from teabelly

Between by Jessica Warman is a wonderful read about a girl trapped between life and death. It’s one of those books that sucks you in and keeps you reading, usually long after you should have turned out the light and gone to bed.

Elizabeth Valchar is about to turn 18 and celebrates her birthday with her closest friends on board her father’s yacht. Waking the next day Liz is annoyed by a persistent noise coming from outside the boat. No one else is awake or seems to hear it, and Liz goes out to investigate, making the shocking discovery that the noise is a body and, more horrifyingly, it is her dead body.

Liz is initially comforted by the presence of a young man who can see her, but when it becomes clear that he is also dead and someone she had had no time for in life, the comfort turns to irritation. There are also other emotions to deal with: Coming to terms with the loss of her life and the sadness that comes with that, and of those that she’s left behind; confusion as to where she is now and what’s happening; and anger at being trapped with someone who so obviously despises her. And there’s the problem of her memories, which she can fall into at any moment, watching her life play out before her, but she can’t remember the most basic things about herself, including her last moments of life.

Liz and her friends were extremely popular at school, they received some special treatment from teachers and used to make life difficult for those they deemed to be beneath them. Alex, the boy Liz is stuck with, tells Liz some home truths about her and her friends, and she gets to relive these vicious moments and see the worst of herself. But Liz isn’t just a one-dimension character. This is not a typical mean girl out for redemption tale. Liz had problems, severe ones. Her mother died when she was nine, from complications due to an eating disorder. Liz flashes back to life with her mother and sees how unhealthy the obsession with food was, and how much of it she had carried with her into her teens. Her father remarried quickly after her mother’s death, to his high-school sweetheart. With that came rumours of a continued affair and that her step-sister Josie may actually be her half-sister. None of this may seem like a big deal or a reason for her to be cruel, but there is more to it than I am laying out here, mostly because I want to avoid spoiling what is actually a very engaging, gripping story.

The characters in this book are all fully fleshed out and believable. And although Liz can be frustrating and extremely superficial, there’s so much more to her, things that are slowly revealed as you read, that you can’t help but warm to her. Her relationship with Alex seems very real too. They’re two people who have little in common stuck together, trying to figure out why, and they don’t always get on. To say that such a significant thing has happened they still focus on petty problems, and I believed that. We get insights into Liz’s other friends’ lives also, through her memories and following them around. Each time you think you’ve got them figured out, another layer is revealed, and it’s often surprising.

The only thing I could say about this book that might be slightly negative (although I didn’t think of it that way) was that the ending wasn’t surprising. The main mystery, such as it is, was resolved exactly as I expected it to be from the beginning. This didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of it, however, as the getting there was worth it. I hadn’t read any Jessica Warman books before this, but given how much I enjoyed it I would definitely look for any others she’s written. They’d be a hard act to follow though.

Ooh! Thanks for that Carrie!

REVIEW: Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

Oh wow, I love it when a book comes along and surprises me so completely. Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt so much more than I was expecting it to be and I loved it entirely!

Right from the first page with an incredibly emotional and hard-hitting first sentence, I was emotionally connected to this story. First with Jenna's character, but also Ryan's. I loved the dual-perspective of the story, seeing how each character thinks and feels and reacts to certain situations.

Jenna is 14 and on a terrible night, she is involved in a car accident that leaves her face permanently scarred and her best friend dead. She's been shut up in the house for months wearing a mask on her face, hoping that his scar will fade and heal. Now that her mask is off, she doesn't like to go outside or see people, worried that everyone is staring or talking about her. The tragic car accident and the loss of her friend and the changes in both herself and her family are still things that affect Jenna still. Jenna stole my heart almost immediately. I really felt protective of her and wanted the best for her.

In a different way, Ryan is used to people staring and thinking badly of him because him and his mum are travellers. Everywhere they go, the two of them are treated badly and forced to leave when the community inevitably bands together to cause trouble against them. Ryan would love nothing more to settle down somewhere, especially as he's still reeling from the loss of the only father-figure he's known. I really felt for Ryan. It must be quite hard for him, but he's also so lovely and responsible and caring, both for his mother and for Jenna.

I really loved both of these characters, and especially how wonderful their relationship steadily grows. It is really based in friendship and spending time with each other. I thought the two of them were utterly adorable and sweet together. It was really nice to see this friendship with Ryan (with his openess and his straight-forward ways!) really give the boost in confidence that Jenna needed, especially with the growing feelings of unease from other people in her town.

But this book isn't just a beautiful love story, it's also about friendship and what it means to be beautiful and also about how appearances can be deceiving. I seriously love this book and I urge you all to read it as well!

REVIEW: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

It was only recently that I read Unearthly and loved it. So I was very much looking forward to the sequel, Hallowed by Cynthia Hand. I think this series has been very surprising to me. At the start, I was the person saying 'angels? not my thing' and also 'a love triangle? Argh.' And Cynthia Hand really changed my mind about both.

Angels are not something that I've really ever been that interested in reading about. But I love the twists and unexpected happening in relation to the part-angels within this series. I love the idea of each part-angel having this purpose that needs to be fulfilled. I love the abilities that they posess, from the languages to the glory that they can tap into. It was very fun learning more about the mythology of angels and part-angels in Hallowed. From life timespan to different abilities and strengths. I find myself more and more intrigued by part-angels. And all the twists and surprises that Cynthia Hand throws in really keeps me on my toes!

Hallowed follows on not very long after the events of Unearthly. Clara now has to live with her decision to break from her purpose to save Christian, instead saving Tucker from the forest fire. Clara worries that there will be some punishment in store for her. Already she's feeling very conflicting emotions - she loves Tucker wholly and completely, but she's also drawn inexplicably to the mysterious Christian.

When Clara begins to have dreams about some event in the future in which somebody she cares about will die, Clara realises she has a tough time ahead of her. Dealing with this death of a loved one, the consistent appearance of a certain Black Wing and deciding who to give her heart to. I'd be warned beforehand that Hallowed is a tear-inducing book and it is incredibly sad and emotional! Keep those tissue boxes at hand.

What I love most about this series is as I read this book I find myself getting overly invested emotionally about its characters. I really want to know what's going on in Jeremy's head. I want to know what secrets Angela is holding onto. I want desperately to know MORE - about Black Wings, about Christian, about the purposes. I feel protective of Clara and all she's going through.

But I guess the big draw for me to this series is the compelling love interests. I absolutely adored Tucker in Unearthly. When I started Hallowed, I was sure that my love of him would continue being rock-solid. And I suppose that he still is, I still think Tucker is a wonderful guy, but as learnt more about Christian, I found myself completely swayed in my opinions!

Excellent sequel and series, I can highly recommend both!

Blog tour: Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe (and Charles Dickens)

I thought today I might share with you something a little different and break my Love month up with a little gore! It is my great pleasure today to take part in the Oliver Twisted blog tour. Oliver Twisted is a fun retelling of the Charles Dickens classic but with added horror. I think it is a great combination I really do.

Today JD Sharpe is sharing with us her favourite scene from the book. Do stay and watch the fantastic video of that scene being read aloud, it is wonderful!

“FLESH, the woe-begotten moaned at Oliver, baring teeth which were ragged and black.

“FLESH,” came another moan, and he turned to see two more woe-begottens behind. They began to shuffle towards him, barefoot – toes blue from cold, arms outstretched.

The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul.




I’ve chosen the scene where Oliver, bowl in hand, asks for more because it was such a joy and terror to write!

Everyone knows this scene in Oliver Twist. It doesn’t matter if you’ve read the book or not, this moment is part of the fabric of our collective consciousness. So when I came to write it, I felt that I had a real responsibility to do a good job!

In the original book, Oliver is forced to ask for more because he has drawn the shortest stick. In Oliver Twisted, it is Oliver’s conscience and fear for the souls of the boys around him that forces him to act.

His friends are starving. In fact they are being starved deliberately so that they might become desperate and evil. You see, it is only when their souls have become dark and twisted that the Brotherhood of Fenris, who owns the workhouse, can sacrifice a child to their wolf god. Oliver knows that if does not get food for his friends they will turn on each other, maybe even eat each other.

It is the first time we really begin see the hero that Oliver Twisted could be. However, to find out whether Oliver will remain good you’ll just have to read the book and see . . .

A sneak peek of the first chapter is here

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Thank you so much for that JD! ...To find out more about Oliver Twisted, do visit the website: www.olivertwisted.co.uk