Author Archives: keithbwalters

Event Recap and Book Haul: The Fire Sermon blogger’s event

This is a kinda mish-mash of a post, because I really wanted to talk about the event I recently went to – and also I’m debating whether or not to bring back regular book hauls, which I used to do around fortnightly but haven’t done so for ages. Let me know if you’d like to see book hauls in the future!

Last Saturday, I was invited to an event at the shiny new Harper Collins office to celebrate the release of The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig (read my review here!) – a début fantasy that I’m sure is going to be talked about a lot this year. I was really excited as I knew some bloggers I know would be there and, of course, Francesca Haig would be talking about her book!

The event was really fun: The office was right by the Shard, and on the fourteenth floor, and all of the walls were windows… A little terrifying but the view was so stunning. I couldn’t get a good picture because I forgot to bring my camera’s memory card…

Sigh/facepalm/headdesk/etc etc.

Francesca read some of The Fire Sermon, and gave a talk & Q&A about her writing process. It was really enjoyable and bloggers (not me, obvs, I’m quiet and introverted) asked some really great questions – someone asked what I would’ve; there was a nod to John Wyndham in the book!!

There was a lot of time to talk to other bloggers, and it was great to talk to Andrew, Stevie, Debbie and others again. Also, it was so great to finally get to meet Charli from To Another World IRL, who is as awesome offline as she is online!

There were some very cool Fire Sermon cupcakes, and we were also given goodie bags with some books in after Francesca had signed our books. Thank you, Harper Voyager, for hosting a really fun event! (:

Fire Sermon cupcakes!

Book received from HarperVoyager – Birdbox sounds especially awesome.

After the event, I went to Waterstones Piccadilly to go buy more books. Heh. WHAT BOOK BUYING BAN. While in the YA section I bumped into Sophie, from A Day Dreamer’s World – I’ve known Sophie and loved her blog for a long time so it was crazy to finally meet her in person! We spent a while in there discussing booooks. And I ended up buying these:

Also, on Friday I received this in the post and it looks fantastic – The Bell Between Worlds by Ian johnstone. I’m 90% sure this is a paperback release and that it was published last year in hardback, originally – I think I remember checking the hardback edition out in a store! I’m really excited to start it, so thanks to HarperCollins.

That’s all!:D Have you read any of these? What do you recommend I start first?

Book Review: The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

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Published 1st January 2015 by David Fickling Books.

23058402 Goodreads Synopsis: Two boys. Two secrets.
David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl.
On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan.
When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long.

My Review: It’s pretty hard to collect my thoughts about The Art of Being Normal! I knew, from the many tweets I had seen about it, that it was going to be a stunning novel, and it was. I was speechless after finishing – I had no idea it was going to be that amazing.

I was so glad The Art of Being Normal it was receiving so much hype when I first heard about it last year, as not only is it a debut UKYA novel, but it’s also a story of growing up as a transgender teenager – a topic that is very rarely discussed in YA fiction. I think the only YA book I’ve read that centres around a character’s gender in a similar way is Pantomime by Laura Lam.

I have never read a book that tackles such a rarely-discussed subject so fearlessly. Lisa Willamson’s story is brutally honest, and very real-feeling. I definitely had moments where I was tearing up a little. The writing was strong, beautiful and engaging; from the first words I was swept up in David’s and Leo’s stories. I really felt like I was there, alongside them, or experiencing their situations first-hand.

The plot developed so well. I don’t think I’ve ever found an apt situation to use the phrase “the pages practically turned themselves” – but with The Art of Being Normal I can deifnitely use that. I never go through a book of this length in a day, but I literally couldn’t put it down. I was reading to and from school; during class; all through the evening. So many aspects just captured me: From the interesting social divide between characters, to the familiar UK school setting, to the very unexpected twists.Williamson has an unbelievable talent for storytelling and I’m very eager to see what she writes next.

Leo and David are characters whose stories I think I’ll always remember. They’re both in secondary school, of different social classes and circumstances, but they’re both struggling to cope with many issues. They were incredibly relatable & real feeling, and I was rooting for them all of the way. They develop so much over the course of the story. My favourite thing about the book was David and Leo’s chemistry and how it changes especially at moments like that reeeally big plot twist that I did not see coming…

Overall, The Art of Being Normal is most definitely one of the most powerful début novels I’ve ever come across. It was riveting, eye-opening, and had some perfectly crafted characters. I can tell we’ll be hearing a lot more from Lisa Williamson in the future; her writing voice is incredible. I’m so glad a story like this has gotten so much attention because stories like this need to be read by everyone.

My Rating:

I received a copy of The Art of Being Normal from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

Book Review: The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

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Published 23rd February 2015 by Harper Voyager.

23849652 Goodreads Synopsis: When Zach and I were born our parents must have counted and recounted: limbs, fingers, toes. We were perfect. They would have been disbelieving: nobody dodged the split between Alpha and Omega.
Nobody.
They were born together and they will die together.
One strong Alpha twin and one mutated Omega; the only thing they share is the moment of their death.
The Omegas live in segregation, cast out by their families as soon as their mutation becomes clear. Forced to live apart, they are ruthlessly oppressed by their Alpha counterparts.
The Alphas are the elite. Once their weaker twin has been cast aside, they’re free to live in privilege and safety, their Omega twin far from their thoughts.
Cass and Zach are both perfect on the outside: no missing limbs, no visible Omega mutation. But Cass has a secret: one that Zach will stop at nothing to expose.
The potential to change the world lies in both their hands. One will have to defeat the other to see their vision of the future come to pass, but if they’re not careful both will die in the struggle for power.

My Review: From her début novel, I can already tell that Francesca Haig is already a rising star of fantasy: I’m sure I’ll be reading a great many more books from her. The Fire Sermon was an incredibly inventive and original work: I’ve never read anything quite like it.

The world-building was stunning. I found the idea behind the novel actually plausible – after a nuclear war, dubbed ‘the Before,’ the leftover radiation has tampered with the evolution of the human race, and now newborns always come as twins – one stronger Alpha and one weaker Omega. It was such a great premise.

I’ve been really interested in reading about dystopian societies recently, and The Fire Sermon has such interesting politics on the Mainland, where the book is set. I found the way the Alphas and Omegas interacted very thought provoking; as not only is the segregative behaviour very shocking, but it can be compared and related to real life past – and current – situations, and I think that brings a further sense of realism to the novel.

I really enjoyed the plot of the novel, for the most part, as Francesca Haig wrote some awesome plot twists. I can’t wait to see how the situation develops further in the next book. The beginning and the ending were enthralling, but I did feel like parts, especially towards the middle of the story, got a little dragged out – much of the book was the protagonists just running!

The main protagonist, Cass, was really likeable and I did enjoy her story but I don’t think I warmed to her as much as I thought I would. Her background was so interesting; Cass was born the Omega, but she suffered no visible affect. Instead, she has a different kind of mutation… and it made the story so so tense and gripping! The other main character of the story is Kip: and though the reveal of his past was really great I got so tired of his dialogue. I’m not sure if this was just me but he seemed to almost always talk in a really sardonic way. His frequent sarcastic remarks towards everything did irk me a little.

Overall, I think The Fire Sermon was a very stunning début novel. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of fantasy – or if you’re like me and love a book with an inventive world and a societal focus. Admittedly I did find some parts a little repetitive where it was just walking/running away/etc etc… But The Fire Sermon was most definitely an incredible and thought provoking debut.

My Rating:

Also: In this post I wanted to take a moment to highlight the amazing Advanced Reading Copies / publicity campaign for The Fire Sermon! It was so cool. The premise of the book is that people are born as twins, either Alpha or Omega – so proof copies were labelled as one of the two, and numbered. It was really fun finding my twin Shannon!

I received a copy of The Fire Sermon from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

Book Review: The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie & Matthew Wilson

Book Review: Catalyst by S. J. Kincaid

Book Review: So Jealous X by Tegan and Sara Quin & Emy Storey

2014, a crazy year: In words and pictures

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I hope Christmas was awesome and bookish!

It feels incredibly weird to be writing this post. Last December feels like it was only a month ago… But while this year has gone by so ridiculously quickly, so much has happened! This is a round up of some highlights of the year, blog wise and personal.

In January I did some experimental posts: I started playing around with creative online tools and decided to start making infographics, to present blog posts differently. Admittedly, my first ones looked pretty weird! However, I’ve grown to really like making them and I think they’ve livened up my blog (and definitely let me enjoy writing some posts even more), so I hope readers feel the same!

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In February I decided to make a huuuuge blogging leap, which I had been thinking about doing for months and months. Up until ten months ago, this blog was called Books and Writers JNR, because my dad’s blog was Books and Writers… Though it didn’t make sense any more because my dad’s blog stopped running. For a couple of weeks, I went back and forth, debating how a complete blogging change might affect the blog. In the end, I changed my title to The Bibliomaniac Book Blog, and completely redesigned the look of the blog. I got some really positive feedback about it and I’ve gotten used to it the way it is now: It feels more personal to me.

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I feel very honoured to have been able to take part in multiple blog events and blog tours this year. Some of my favourites include the Blue Peter Blog Tour, and the Indie Bookshop Crawl! As well as taking part in online events, I’m really thankful for being invited to a few publisher’s events too, such as the Random YA Crime event. Thanks to publishers, I was able to meet many fantastic authors. A particular highlight was meeting Emily Murdoch when she flew over for the Waterstones Book Prize. It was the most amazing thing to meet Emily IRL after being touched by If You Find Me, and talking with her on Twitter so much!

[link to event recap: meeting Emily Murdoch, plus some other bookish events]

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Speaking of meeting authors: Through lots of events this year, I was able to meet so many amazing bloggers, and bookish people, too! Some awesome events took place this year, like YALC: The first YA Book-dedicated convention ever in the UK. It was so lovely to meet up with so many like-minded people – and, YALC was a slightly chaotic but pretty brilliant convention that I’d love to see come back again many more times in the future.

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Over the Summer, I took on two voluntary jobs-of-sorts. For the last week of July, I worked on a school project, at a summer camp for the new incoming year sevens; making a mosaic from scratch for the playground. Along with a local artist, a teacher, and some friends, I spent around six days getting covered in cement, smashing tiles, designing patterns for segments of the mosaic and teaching workshops. It was crazy but fun!

Over August and the start of September, I volunteered at my local library, too, for the Summer Reading Challenge 2014. It was a really unique opportunity to get working with kids, though handing out stickers and printing certificates for excited little readers was crazy hectic at points. But it was so great to see kids so excited about reading, and I found it really rewarding to be a part of that. I’ll definitely be re-applying to volunteer next year!

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…Year Ten started. September marked the start of my homework/revision levels starting to rise, and the start of proper GCSE prep, and the warning about upcoming real GCSEs… and it’s been a lot busier than I thought it would be. I’ve had lots of mock exams for science and… ah… I just realised I was supposed to be revising over these holidays for a GCSE in a few months. And that my science textbook is lying neglected in my satchel. Ah.

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I got into a new hobby this year! I started dabbling in photography and though my attempts aren’t that great, I’ve really enjoyed doing it. I’m currently taking a photography course online, with the Institute of Photography – and you can have a look at my Flickr here if you want to see my experimentations.

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As well as trying out new hobbies, I’ve tried out new blogging endeavours on new platforms. I started using Tumblr properly at the beginning of this year and ~~I’m helplessly obsessed~~ I love it. I’m tumblring on multiple accounts but my biggest one is The Bookishness, which I was surprised to get a few hundred followers on, in a few months!

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A very recent highlight of the year: I woke up to a tweet by the Guardian Children’s Books Twitter account, mentioning me. I clicked on the article, titled Top 10 Best Books Bloggers, and was very shocked and surprised to see a mention of The Bibliomaniac on there, along with many blogs I know and love! Thank you so much to Megan / The Guardian for the mention. (I really recommend checking out the other blogs on the article, too – they’re all awesome.)

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And last but not least, I want to say…

… to everyone! Everyone who reads this nonsensical blog, and everyone who retweets and reblogs and comments on my blog posts, and everyone who fangirls with me online and IRL; other bloggers, authors, and readers. (Also, of course, a highlight of this year is watching other friend’s blogs develop!) Last but definitely not least; a huge thank you to the many lovely publicists and authors I have worked with, who have sent me books, and who have organised interviews and unforgettable events. Love you all ❤

This blog isn’t a very big blog ~~(or a very organised blog…)~~ but running it and doing awesome things because of it this year has made 2014 awesome. So… I hope 2015 is even awesomer. And I hope I stop myself from over-using “awesome” next year too.

(N.B.There has been a lack of reviews this month, right?? D: New year’s resolution: Write more. Reviews and generally more frequent posts soon… Have an great new year’s. I’ll be back in 2015 – ha, that’s sounds far away, instead of a couple of days away – with some sort of a schedule! x)

Book Review: Vendetta by Catherine Doyle

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Published January 1st 2015 by Chicken House Books.

22317508 Goodreads Synopsis: When it comes to revenge, love is a dangerous complication.With a fierce rivalry raging between two warring families, falling in love is the deadliest thing Sophie could do. An epic debut set outside modern-day Chicago.

When five brothers move into the abandoned mansion in her neighbourhood, Sophie Gracewell’s life changes forever. Irresistibly drawn to bad boy Nicoli, Sophie finds herself falling into a criminal underworld governed by powerful families. As the boys’ dark secrets begin to come to light, Sophie is confronted with stinging truths about her own family, too. She must choose between two warring dynasties – the one she was born into, and the one she is falling in love with. When she does, blood will spill and hearts will break.

My Review: I was so excited to read Doyle’s début, Vendetta, when it came through the letterbox! All of the online buzz described it as a tense and gripping retelling of Romeo and Juliet, in suburban Chicago, with a Mafia twist. And if that doesn’t sound like the most insanely awesome idea for a book, then you’re wrong. 😀

I loved the beginning chapters of the story. From the first sentence, there’s a strangely chilling mystery. I found myself completely sucked into the story; I started Vendetta on a train, and somehow got through sixty pages, then (reluctantly) put it away. It was difficult to stop reading!

During the first chapters I had grown to really like the main character, and really feel for her; the mysterious, vague foreshadowing about her father’s story kept me reading, as I was sure it was somehow linked to the new family that moves into the town.

Sophie felt realistic for a lot of the story… though, I did get really annoyed at a lot of parts, where the she is too busy swooning over the dudes even after she’s seen REALLY SCARY STUFF relating to them. Like… I would have run far away at some of the things that happen based around the new boys in town: Not gone running to them. ~~Maybe that’s just me…?~~ I just found her reactions so weird and at a couple of points I just wanted to yell, because seriously, stop swooning for a sec and look PROPERLY at these dudes.

Anyhow, minus some of Sophie’s actions which confused me: I did really enjoy the story. It had the perfect setting, and everything was revealed in really clever ways. There were lots of unpredictable moments and I was up all night finishing Vendetta. The story has that chilling, foreshadow-y feeling throughout and the story spiralled very quickly into a dark and violent crime story. The new family that move in, including the five mysterious new brothers, were so interesting to read about. The story made time to build a great back-story for each one of them, which was brilliant; while maintaining a good enough pace to keep me engrossed.

Overall, I am very mixed about some bits of the book, but in general it was an enjoyable book and an exceptional début. I finished it thinking, whoa. I adored Catherine Doyle’s writing, and I would love to read more by her in the future. Some things were left unsolved in Vendetta, which I know will be explored more in the next two books (Vendetta is the first in a trilogy). I think I will carry on with the trilogy, as I’m just very interested to see what direction Doyle will take her daring, action-packed story in.

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart bibliomaniacheart1

I received a copy of Vendetta from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

Book Review: Shiver The Whole Night Through by Darragh McManus

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Published 6th November 2014 by Hot Key Books.

22554125 Goodreads Synopsis: After months of bullying and romantic heartbreak, seventeen-year-old Aidan Flood feels just about ready to end it all. But when he wakes up one morning to find that local beauty and town sweetheart Sláine McAuley actually has, he discovers a new sense of purpose, and becomes determined to find out what happened to her. The town is happy to put it down to suicide, but then one night Aidan gets a message, scratched in ice on his bedroom window: ‘I didn’t kill myself.’ Who is contacting him? And if Sláine didn’t end her own life… who did?

(First things first, let’s just stare at the cover for Shiver for a while. Whoa. That is the coolest thing.)

My Review: I dived into Shiver The Whole Night Through as soon as I could after receiving it, as there’s been a lot of hype around this book, and of course, I’m always eager to read new début YA titles!

From the first page, I was completely absorbed the story, with the shocking event it opens with. I was also a little surprised by the narration of the book: I’ve tried to collect my thoughts about it properly but I honestly don’t know how I feel about it! I think Darragh McManus has captured a very unique and real-feeling voice, though I felt at quite a few points that the narration sounded too cocky, which bugged me a little.

As I am with the narration, I’m a little mixed on the main character. I really loved the author’s character building skills, as Aidan Flood felt like a very realistic person to me. I liked him as a protagonist, especially at the beginning, but he did seem a little strange, in terms of his actions and feelings… He seemed eerily okay with some terrifying, and grim, things that happened in the book!

I really enjoyed how the plot progressed; there was lots of great foreshadowing and little hints as to what was coming – I thought I had the ending completely correct, but when I got to it, I was just completely wrong! The story begins at a very grim point, but it spirals into an even darker state with each chapter.The horror elements were really great and chilling; I definitely got shivers (no pun intended) up my spine while reading.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Shiver The Whole Night Through, though it wasn’t what I’d expected and I’m a little mixed on some things. I was, well and truly, hooked – There was never an uneventful chapter. It’s a brilliant read for those who want to curl up this winter with a thrilling and chilly story! I’m probably in the minority though, but there was a few parts I didn’t really enjoy, or thought could have been written differently – though I do applaud Darragh McManus for writing a really creeeeepy début.

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart bibliomaniacheart1

I received a copy of Shiver The Whole Night Through from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.