Okay. A bit of a random post here, about lots of random things! I’ve been to a few events over the past week or so, so this is like a wrap up post of various cool things.

Awesomeness #1 and #2: Friday, 4th April

We had a half day at school for the end of term- so luckily, I was able to get up to London easier in the afternoon, for two events! The first one: A late lunch/ afternoon tea with some lovely bookish people, and Emily Murdoch- author of If You Find Me. I love, love, loved, If You Find Me when I read it last year, and so I jumped at the chance to be able to meet Emily on her first trip over to the UK! She came to the country to attend the awards ceremony because her début novel was short-listed for the Waterstones Children’s Fiction Prize, which is amazing. At the tea, I didn’t know many people, but I did get to meet Alix from Delightful Book Reviews. She’s really lovely! Then, lastly, I had the chance to have a little one-one-one talk with Emily about If You Find Me, and its inspirations, and more. I have the recorded interview ready and I’n currently in the middle of writing it up- so watch out for an interview post soon! Thank you to Orion/Indigo for the event.

Me and my brother hung around the same Waterstones the tea was held at for an event later in the day, which was a talk with three children’s illustrators- Nick Sharratt, Alex T Smith, and Chris Haughton. We were lucky enough to be able to sit in as there were few seats left- I think there were cancellations of reservations and things. The talk was really, really fun, and I enjoyed hearing about the careers and inspirations from three fantastic illustrators. I also got a book illustrated by Nick and the first Claude book by Alex T Smith signed. Thanks, to the illustrators, and to Waterstones for the events! (:

Awesomeness #3: Monday, 7th April

Dawn O’Porter recently had her UK tour for her new book, the sequel to Paper Aeroplanes (review here!) – GOOSE (Review here!). I was so excited about getting to meet her after reading and loving both of her YA books. The event I went to was at Waterstones Piccadilly and it was a conversation between Dawn and editor of Glamour mag, Jo Elvin- plus a signing afterwards. the talk was really great, with a lot of laughs too. Dawn is such a brilliant person, she’s hilarious and also gave some really great answers to lots of things. My mum emailed hot key books before the event to ask if Dawn could wish me a happy birthday *dies* *omgwhat* and so Dawn singed my book with a happy birthday message. That was very awesome. It was also nice to chat briefly to some of the lovely Hot Key people- especially Sarah Benton. I was sad to hear abut her leaving. wishing her luck in her new job! ❤

Awesomeness #3: Tuesday, 8th April

I turned fourteen Yay and stuff. My brother made me an epic card photoshopping my face onto Katniss‘ so that makes my birthday worthy of a mention on this random awesomeness post. Also, a Loki themed cake, because my obsession has reached a new level 😀

Awesomeness #5 and #6: Thursday, 10th April

I went on another trip to London to go and see an exhibition at the Museum of Childhood! When Nick Sharratt was signing my book the Friday before, he let me know about the exhibition, as it opened this week. I haven’t read Jacqueline’s most recent books, but that’s not saying I wasn’t an obsessive. I still am, really… I grew up with Jacqueline Wilson’s books so an exhibition talking about them, and her life, sounded awesome! The place is really worth going to; the museum itself is small but really cool and full of various cool things. The exhibition, titled Daydreams and Diaries, is really great. There are loads of interactive things, and what I got really excited about was all of the original artwork by Nick Sharratt! Photos weren’t permitted but seriously, if you’re a fan of Jacqueline or Nick or both, it’s definitely worth going to (:

I HIGH FIVED ANDREW GARFIELD. Yup. Omg. Yes. I ALSO SCREAMED A LOT. 😀 ME, my brother and cousin went along to Leicester Square to see if we’d be able to see any actors for the Amazing Spiderman 2 World Premiere. Somehow, we managed to get seriously near to the front of a barrier just off the red carpet, so the main actors all walked straight past us. It was so cool. I made a Tumblr post with pictures and things, which you can see here!

So, the last week or so was pretty cool and resulted in signed books and things and a hand that’s been touched by Andrew Garfield which I’m STILL obsessing over. 😀 Thanks to everyone who organised the bookish events. I loved them!

This post wasn’t actually planned but I felt like I really needed to write it! So, I went to see Dawn O’Porter talking about Paper Aeroplanes and Goose last night (more on that next week, hopefully!) and she was in conversation with Jo Elvin. A really important point came up in the discussion: about Celebrities writing. There wasn’t a huge thing about it, but they mentioned an article written in the Guardian, titled “should celebrities stop writing?” You can read the article here.

I was really interested in it so I looked it up and found it this morning. I’m really mixed about it. The article discusses how celebrities are not giving publicity space to smaller authors who don’t have the fame they do to give them leverage. But whilst they collect so much evidence, of sorts, against celebrities writing books, there are way too many good things that haven’t been touched on so much. There have been articles about this kind of thing before- A Huff Post writer wrote recently about JK Rowling, and how she should stop writing books and give other authors the limelight (it was a pretty spiteful sounding article, but I won’t talk about that too much now!). I just want to point out some of the great things that are caused by publishers selling books by celebs. This isn’t an angry response to the article- I don’t want to write things like that because I’ve seen that happen before and they could cause arguments and things- but I just want to point out how celebrities can help the Children’s fiction market… and, really, all fiction markets.

-Money will boost the industry

If a celebrities’ book makes lots of money, then it’s helping publishers, a lot. I don’t know completely how everything works, but I do know that money made from bigger books in a publishing company can help other author’s books with funding. It means publishers can have more money and then they’re able to publish books by people who aren’t famous, too.

-More people will start reading

I’ll use Frank Lampard as an example here! I haven’t read his new book, Frankie’s Magic Football, and I’m not sure I ever will, but despite having some bad reception from people, it’s going to encourage so many more kids to read. Let’s say a seven or eight year old is a football obsessive, but hates the idea of reading for pleasure- then let’s say they discover that a footballer on the team they support has written a book, about football. It’s likely the child will pick the book up. Maybe said child won’t like it- but there’s a possibility it’ll be well received and loved. Then, maybe that seven year old will discover more books from that- and now you have another child who loves reading! 😀 The same goes for celebrities who write for adults.

-Celebrities can be amazing writers, too

I can’t really say huge amounts on this, because I have not read that many books from celebrities. But I’ve seen a lot of talk of celebrities who have written books being dismissed, that they’re only doing it to increase publicity, that someone’s ghost writing for them so they have even more money, etc., etc. I don’t know if some of them are true or not, so I’m not going to agree or disagree with them. But I do know of some amazing authors who happen to be famous, and on TV, etc., too. Dawn O’Porter’s Paper Aeroplanes was a fantastic and realistic debut. It would’ve done brilliantly whether she was famous or not. David Walliams’ voice in his writing is so memorable. I’ve read a couple of his books and I love them, they have a modern classic feel to them! I’m not saying every celebrity is going to be a mind-blowingly awesome author, but I am saying that generalising celebrities, in my opinion, isn’t cool.

So, those are my main points! If you have any other thoughts I would really love to hear what you think. Just to point out- this in no way is a post attacking the Guardian article- I’m just adding my opinion to the debate, in a way- I thought this would be an interesting point to make as some people do overlook the positives in this topic!

It’s a Review Graphic for today! I was sent this last week by Curious Fox and, well, I normally read the first page of an ARC then I put it on the TBR (I don’t know, it’s a weird thing I do) but I actually physically couldn’t stop reading this. And, I had this idea layout for a graphic about it. I hope it’s cool. Enjoy! If the text is a little too small, click on the image to bring yourself to a larger version.

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

Published by Marvel NOW!, February/ March 2014.

Ms Marvel had a lot of hype surrounding it, so while I was in a comic shop the other week, I spotted it and decided to check it out and see why! I bought issue 1 and 2 together, which was a good idea, I don’t think I could have waited to but the next instalment, after finishing the first.

Ms Marvel is a new hero for a new generation of comic readers; she’s a new version, technically- now, she is Kamala Khan, a Turkish character, living in America and it’s visible that she’s disliked for her culture and her family’s traditions. Kamala is such a great protagonist- a bit lonely, and a huge fan of Marvel’s Avengers (so it’s easy to relate to her!), so she’s gob-smacked when she inherits superhero powers from supernatural mists on the way home from her first night out at a party. I’m really looking forward to reading more about her as well. Her family’s shown largely in the issues, and I really liked that because through just two issues of the comic, I feel like I know so much about her and her background!

The artwork is… flawless. I really loved it. I’ve always been a bit of a fan of Adrian Alphona’s work, because he illustrated some of the volumes of the Runaways comics- probably my favourite series. I didn’t recognise his name when I bought this, though, but I realised it was him halfway through reading. I’m so glad he’s drawing these comics. His art style is so gorgeous- as were all of the colours! I think it suits the comic really well. A lot of the time I read comics with great stories but not my favourite art work… so I’m glad that I love the art in Ms Marvel as much as I’m loving the story.

The story is brilliant so far. So is the artwork. And the main character. Ms Marvel so far has been so enjoyable; contemporary themes weaved around an epic superhero origin story. I can tell that this comic is going to only get bigger and more popular than it already is, and loved by anyone and everyone who reads it. The first issue was probably one of the best and most enjoyable starts to any series I’ve ever started (And I’ve started about fifteen in the past year, whoops…). I really recommend it, whether you’re a fan of comics or not.

My Rating:

I purchased copies of Ms Marvel from a local comic store.

NOTE: I’m going to try and review more comics on my blog now, because why not? 🙂 The first comic review I wanted to do was Ms Marvel: I read this on Sunday and… I HAD to talk about it! Mostly in the future I’ll be doing wrap ups of comic series every now and then, because I’m reading so many different series that reviewing 2 issues of everything at a time will be a bit much… Please let me know if you’d like to read more comic reviews or not! 🙂

I was blown away by Tess Sharpe’s debut novel, FAR FROM YOU, when I had the chance to read it! It’s truly amazing- and I’m recommending it to all the people I know. Because it’s just… heartbreaking, heart-warming… everything. I’m so thrilled I’ve had the chance to interview Tess on her debut… so I hope you enjoy all of the answers- I did! 😀 First, a little bit about Tess:

Born in a backwoods cabin to a pair of punk rockers, Tess Sharpe grew up in rural Northern California. Following an internship with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she studied theatre at Southern Oregon University before abandoning the stage for the professional kitchen. She lives, writes and bakes near the Oregon border. FAR FROM YOU is her debut novel. 

1-  Hi Tess! Firstly, can you give a quick explanation of your book?

Hi! FAR FROM YOU is a love story tied in a murder mystery bow. It’s about 17-year-old Sophie, who is fresh out of rehab and on the trail of her best friend’s killer, all while trying to hide their relationship from their oblivious friends and family.  

2- FAR FROM YOU is told in chapters alternating between the past and the present. Did you write everything chronologically first, then re-organise it, or did you write the book in the order it’s in now? (If that makes any sense!)

Oh, that totally makes sense! Except for one scene, I wrote the book entirely in the order it is now. Which made me deeply suspicious of it, because I usually hop around a lot when I draft.  But in this case, it worked out well, I think.

3- Do you base any of the characters on people you know or other favourite book characters?

I don’t base character’s personalities on specific people, but I draw a lot from my own experience growing up in rural Northern California for setting, place and cultural tone.

4- What was the easiest scene to write in FAR FROM YOU, and what was the hardest?

The opening and closing scene of the book were the easiest, and they changed very little throughout the entire revision process. The hardest was the dreaded Chapter 17 (which is actually Chapter 14 in the published version) that I swear was cursed—it even magically disappeared in one translated version for awhile! I wrote at least a dozen different flashbacks for that chapter, trying to find the right one. But I finally landed on the one that (I hope) works the best.  

5- Did you plan the plot for FAR FROM YOU out, or did you simply write to see where it led you?

I create a lot of rules and patterns for myself when I write non-linearly, so plotting and outlining is essential. I always like knowing where I’m going—though you’ve got to be open to change when something you planned isn’t working!

6- How did the idea for FAR FROM YOU appear?

It was born out of a combination of things: my desire to write about very intense, very different kinds of love and the way grief can fuel and consume a person.

7- Handwriting or typing? 🙂

Typing unless I’m not in front of a computer. Then I’ll use anything. Once, I wrote an entire chapter of a book on a pair of jeans with a Sharpie!

8- Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring contemporary or thriller writers? 

Read a lot and write a lot—but also live a lot. Get out there and experience as much as possible (hopefully not murderous things, though!)—it’ll inform your work.

A huge, huge thank you to Tess Sharpe for being kind enough to answer some questions for the blog! I really enjoyed this, and of course, the book- which you can read my review of here. FAR FROM YOU is now out in stores in the UK, so make sure to pick up a copy- this is going to be a big YA debut and I can tell it’s destined for awards!

This is this week’s and last week’s book haul! I’m so excited about everything… but, seriously, I have no more room for my TBR. It’s a problem now. I doubt that’ll stop me from buying, though… ‘Scuse the blurry pictures (:

Split Second by Kasie West: I’ve been looking forward to reading this ever since I finished Pivot Point last year! Thank you so much, to Harper360 for being lovely and sending me a copy of this to review. I’m looking forward to it, and even though I have a big ARC pile at the moment, this may have to go near the top…

Various John Wyndham Books: Thanks to ze dad for spotting these in a library and taking them all out for me! I read the Day of the Triffids last year and loved it, and I read The Chrysalids earlier this year and I loved that even more. I’m really looking forward to reading more of John Wydnham’s books. I really want to try and read all of his titles this year and so maybe I’ll do a fortnight challenge, or something…

SHIFT by Jeff Povey: I’m really excited for this! It sounds really action packed and awesome. A huge thank you to Jenny @ Wondrous Reads- who I won the book from! Thanks :3

Writing in the Sand by Helen Brandom & Pivot Point by Kasie West: A huge thank you to Usborne and Harper360 for these titles! I’ve been looking forward to both of them for ages!

I also bought a lot of comics over the past fortnight, but haven’t had time to take photos and things- but from now on, hopefully, I’ll include any new ones I get in my hauls, too! (There should be a review of a comic I’ve recently discovered and loved up this week, too…) What’ve you bought of received this week? Leave a comment! (: