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Kerry Drewery!

19/8/2016

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Kerry lives in Lincolnshire between the countryside and the sea, in a house filled with books, films and dogs.  Before writing full-time she was a BookStart Co-ordinator for BookTrust and got to read picture books to children all day.  She was also a finalist in a BBC ScriptWriting for Children competition and has a first class honours degree in Professional Writing.  She leads young people’s writing groups for Writing East Midlands and is the co-organiser of the UKYA Extravaganza events.
Her first YA novel, A BRIGHTER FEAR was published in 2012 by HarperCollins in the UK and Callenbach in the Netherlands. 
Her second YA novel, A DREAM OF LIGHTS
 (2013), was also published by HarperCollins and Callenbach.  It was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, awarded Highly Commended at the North East Teen Book Awards and shortlisted for the Hampshire Independent Schools Book Award.

​TWITTER - WEBSITE


Interview

1. Can you tell me a little about Cell7?
Cell 7 is set in a society where the death penalty hasn't been abolished but has evolved into a system where everyone gets to vote on whether the accused is guilty or innocent. It follows Martha Honeydew who's admitted to shooting Jackson Paige, a celebrity millionaire, as she makes her way down death row. With seven cells - one for each day - the public follows her every move on a live TV show - Death is Justice - and as doubt is cast on her confession, the question 'should she live or die?' is on everyone's lips. 

2. Who are some of your favourite authors?
I'm a massive fan of Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I loved his book 'Shadow of the Wind' and then went on to read everything of his I could find. I'm also a fan of Scarlett Thomas, in particular her novel 'The End of Mr Y' which was just so different to anything else I'd read. There's loads of very talented YA writers out there too, lately I've particularly enjoyed Julie Mayhew's 'The Big Lie', and am really looking forward to her next one. Also, Rhian Ivory's 'The Boy Who Drew The Future', and I've just started reading Kathryn Evan's 'More Of Me'.

3. Who inspires you?
Lots of people, and for lots of different reasons. People who overcome adversity in some way, or people who've seen failure and picked themselves up and carried on. Failure, of some kind, is unavoidable, it's how we deal we it that counts. 

4. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I've just finished line edits for the sequel to Cell 7, and I'm now working on the final book. It's been lovely to be able to spend a bit longer with characters, but it's also presented other challenges that I hadn't expected - like trying to remember things a character was thinking two books ago! 

5. What do you love about writing?
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I suppose it's the pure creation, the chance to explore something from the smallest grain of an idea to a fully formed story. To make these characters in your head and follow through their actions and watch them on their journeys. 



Books

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A beautiful love story and contemporary fairytale set against the backdrop of the Iraq war, this stunning and moving novel will break your heart, only to put it back together again...This is the story of Lina, a teenage girl from Baghdad. It starts in 2003, as the bombs begin to fall on the city. In it, Lina fights to survive, to find a life for herself amid the chaos of war, to find what happened to her mother in the years before the war, when she was taken away by the secret police. She also falls in love, with the one person she should never have fallen in love with. It is many things. It is a love story, both for a country and for a person. It is about an amazing girl, growing up in the worst circumstances imaginable. It contains a necklace, that was lost but might still be found. And that is all we can say, without ruining this extraordinary and beautiful modern fairy tale...

BUY HERE!



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A powerful and moving stand-alone novel for anyone who loved A GATHERING LIGHT or BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY, in which a teenage girl struggles against the odds for survival in a North Korean prison camp...From the author of A Brighter Fear. Yoora is a teenage girl living in North Korea, dreaming of the lights of foreign cities while eking out a miserable existence in a rural northern village. But then she makes a mistake: she falls in love. With someone far removed from her social class. Someone dangerous to know. When tongues start to wag, her father is executed and she is taken to a prison camp in the mountains. There, escape seems even further from her grasp. But Yoora is about to learn an important lesson: love can surprise you, and it can come in many forms..

BUY HERE!

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A world where justice and the fate of those accused of murder is decided by the public, but has moved on from the Roman Gladiator 'thumbs up or thumbs down' public vote, to a public vote by telephone. If you are voted innocent you are set free; if you are voted guilty you are committed to death by electric chair. Those awaiting their sentence reside in ever decreasing cells, getting smaller each day, until Day 7 and Cell 7, where they hear their fate. Sixteen year old Martha has confessed to killing a famous celebrity. But has she done it? And if not, why has she claimed the murder? Perhaps she wants to show up the flawed and brutal system by sacrificing herself in the hope of a better world...Or perhaps she is protecting somebody else...A heart-rending, thought-provoking tale of doomed romance.

BUY HERE!


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Chris Russell!

19/8/2016

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At the age of thirteen, Chris Russell formed pop/rock band The Lightyears with his best friends from school. Since then, The Lightyears have toured all over the world, trashing a grand total of zero hotel rooms and performing everywhere from Wembley Stadium (which Chris talks about rather a lot) to a cow shed in Belgium (which he talks about less - it was a booking error).

In 2013, after a three-month stint ghost-writing for a One Direction fan club, Chris developed an obsession with boy bands and came up with the idea for Songs About a Girl: a heart-thudding YA trilogy about first love, pop music and the power of teenage obsession. Chris has written a number of the songs that feature in the story, and if you’re not careful, he will threaten to play them to you.

Chris has a first class degree in English & Drama from Bristol University, and a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do, which he isn’t afraid to use. He is currently busy writing the sequels to Songs About a Girl, gigging with The Lightyears and fanboying in the general direction of Harry Styles.

WEBSITE - TWITTER


Interview

1. Can you tell me a bit about Songs About A Girl and where the idea came from?
Songs About a Girl is a novel about heartbreak, pop music and teenage obsession. It tells the story of aspiring photographer Charlie Bloom, an ordinary teenage girl who finds herself taking backstage photos for chart-topping boy band Fire&Lights, and becoming ever more tangled up in their extraordinary world.

It was fairly inevitable that I would end up writing a music novel, as music has always been a huge part of my life. When I was thirteen I started a band called The Lightyears with my best friends from school, and we went to tour all over the world (in fact, we’re still together to this day). I experienced life on the road and learned about the strange and wonderful realities of being in a band, and I channeled much of this experience into the novel. Oh, and the other inspiration point for the book was a three-month period I spent ghostwriting for a One Direction fan club in Australia (no, really!). Basically, I fell in love with 1D, developed an incurable man-crush on Harry Styles and said to myself: “Hmm. I think there might be a story in this…”.
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​2. What do you do when you're not writing?
If I’m not writing novels or gigging with The Lightyears, there’s a pretty good chance I’m watching documentaries. I’m a documentary fiend. I hoover them up. Yesterday I watched one documentary about baked beans and another about the evils of global capitalism. Yeah, that’s right. That’s how cool and hip I am.
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​3. 
Songs About A Girl is based on a band, what bands do you love?
All-time favourite artist? Michael Jackson. There will simply never be anyone else like him - that staggering combination of great songs, eye-popping dance moves, ground-breaking production and raw talent only comes along once in a blue moon. As a piano player, I’ve stolen pretty much everything I know from Ben Folds, not least my tendency to leap around a lot onstage. And as for current bands, I’d recommend Bear’s Den (beardy folksters in the Mumford mould) and an American power-pop trio we used to gig with called Jukebox The Ghost.

4. Who are some of your favourite authors?
Like many readers, Tolkien was the first author that really consumed me. I then moved on to Bill Bryson and Douglas Adams, and looking back on it, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is probably the book that defined my adolescence. Books I have recently read and loved include My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend by Eleanor Wood, Remix by Non Pratt and Love Song by Sophia Bennett… all of whom I got to meet at YALC!

5. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I’m currently working hard on the sequel to Songs About a Girl. Book One was the first of a trilogy, so there’s a fair bit of road still to cover! This is the first time I’ve written a book under contract which, I have to say, makes me feel like a proper grown-up. Also, knowing that there are readers out there who enjoyed the first book and are waiting for the second one is really exciting… if a little nerve-wracking. Just have to make it a good one then, eh?!


Songs About A Girl

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Heartbreak, romance, fame and pop music - for anyone who's ever dreamed of saying 'I'm with the band'. Charlie Bloom never wanted to be 'with the band'. She's happiest out of the spotlight, behind her camera, unseen and unnoticed. But when she's asked to take backstage photos for hot new boy band, Fire&Lights, she can't pass up the chance. Catapulted into a world of paparazzi and backstage bickering, Charlie soon becomes caught between gorgeous but damaged frontman Gabriel West and his boy-next-door bandmate, Olly Samson. Then, as the boys' rivalry threatens to tear the band apart, Charlie stumbles upon a mindblowing secret, hidden in the lyrics of their songs ..

MY REVIEW
​BUY HERE


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Author's Liz and Kate Corr!

30/7/2016

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Authors


​We are sisters and best friends (try writing a book with someone else and you’ll see why that last bit is kind of important). After spending our childhood in Essex, we now live ten minutes away from each other in Surrey. We both studied history at university and went to work in London for a bit. Then we stopped working to raise families, because somehow we missed the memo explaining that children are far more demanding than clients or bosses. When we both decided to write novels – on account of fictional people being much easier to deal with than real ones – it was obvious we should do it together.
Stuff Katharine likes: playing instruments badly; dead languages; LOTR; loud pop concerts; Jane Austen; Neill Gaiman; Loki; the Surrey Hills. Killing off characters.
Stuff Elizabeth likes: sketching, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cinema, long baths, kitchen discos, Terry Pratchett, Thor, London. Saving characters.
Stuff we both like: YA / non-YA fantasy and science fiction,Star Wars, Star Trek, each other (most of the time).
Come chat to us on Twitter and Instagram!


Links:
Website: www.corrsisters.com
Twitter: @katharinecorr @lizcorr_writes
Instagram: @katharinecorrwrites @lizcorrwrites
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Interview
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1. Where did the idea for The Witch's Kiss come from?
At the start of June 2013 we were reading a lot of fairy tales and thinking about how they could be re-imagined, and we came up with the idea of a male sleeping beauty. We knew we wanted him to wake up in the modern world, so we decided to set the 'fairy tale' part of the story way back in the past: Anglo-Saxon England is both mysterious (on account of it being the Dark Ages, obviously) and fascinating. A lot of fantasy has a sort of medieval vibe, so we really wanted to do something a bit different. We also think witches are awesome - they're amazing symbols of female power, who can choose to do good or bad - so we knew we wanted to include a family of witches who have to deal with what's happened to our sleeping beauty. A final ingredient to mention is Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts, which we were both listening to around the same time, but you'll have to read the book to find out how it feeds into the story!


2. What made you want to write a book together? Was it fun?
We've both written separately since we were children, but neither of us ever did anything with it (or really finished anything, which is obviously a major stumbling block). Then in 2012 we decided to try working on something together, and it turned out to be a LOT of fun - so much fun that we finished our first novel (yay!). Although we didn't get representation with that novel, it inspired us to keep going, and we signed with an agent (the lovely Claire Wilson at RCW) at the start of 2014. The great thing about working together is that we force each other to carry on when things get difficult. We edit each others work and bounce ideas around and because we're sisters even the big disagreements (Kate: "But I want to kill that character really horribly? Please?" Liz: "This? Again??") never turn into anything too serious. Writing can be a lonely occupation, especially for anyone prone to self-doubt; writing together just makes everything easier. 


3. What are some of your favourite books and have they inspired you two?
Liz: I love Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series; it's my most re-read set of books and they are now falling apart as I've dipped into them so often. Susan Cooper is an absolutely brilliant writer and creates a wonderfully rich world based in part around Arthurian legend. I also love anything by Terry Pratchett as he is not only incredibly funny but also an expert on human behaviour. He's sort of the Dickens of fantasy.


Kate: I love Lord of the Rings because of its epic sweep and staggeringly awesome world building. Neverwhere (Neill Gaiman) is a favourite because of the way it subverts the ordinary: the whole concept of London Below is brilliant. I'm also a big Austen fan; I think Austen's ability to capture character is unrivaled. 


4. Are you working on anything at the moment? Together or separately?
We just got the first lot of edits back on The Witch's Tears, which is the sequel to The Witch's Kiss. It's due out in January so we're going to be pretty busy over the next few months! We've also got some other joint books in the pipeline: a ghost story, a fairy tale-based fantasy and something that re-works a dark English classic, among others. 


5. If you could live in any fantasy world which would you choose and why?
Liz: Terry Pratchett's Disc World. There are just so many fabulous characters! I love Granny Weatherwax and would love to have dinner with her and Susan Sto Helit (Death's granddaughter).

Kate: Middle Earth. But in the peaceful period after Sauron was disembodied and before the Ring showed up again. I'd love to hang out with elves and visit Rohan and Gondor (especially if Sean Bean was there. :))


The Witch's Kiss

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Can true love's kiss save the day...? Sixteeen-year-old Meredith is fed-up with her feuding family and feeling invisible at school - not to mention the witch magic that shoots out of her fingernails when she's stressed. Then sweet, sensitive Jack comes into her life and she falls for him hard. The only problem is that he is periodically possessed by a destructive centuries-old curse. Meredith has lost her heart, but will she also lose her life? Or in true fairytale tradition, can true love's kiss save the day?

WORDERY
AMAZON
​WATERSTONES
GOODREADS

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Author Melinda Salisbury!

14/2/2016

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Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, in England. As a child she genuinely thought Roald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, photography, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian.
Melinda’s debut novel, THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER was the bestselling UK YA debut novel of 2015, and rights have sold in 13 countries to date. THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER has also been nominated for the Carnegie Greenaway Medal 2016, the Branford Boase 2016, The MWA’s Edgars 2016, and shortlisted for the North East Book Awards 2015. On February 11th 2016, it was announced that THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER had been shortlisted in the teen category for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, 2016.
THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER was published by Scholastic in the UK in February 2015, and the second in the series, THE SLEEPING PRINCE was published in February 2016. Salisbury is also the author of short story FLAMINGOES, written exclusively for Booktrust’s Letterbox Club. She is represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge and White.
She tweets. A lot.

Website


Interview


I was going to start of the questions by asking how you could ruin me like you did with The Sleeping prince aha!
Because I can :)

 
1. Can you tell me about your new book!
My latest book is called The Sleeping Prince and it’s the sequel/somewhat companion novel to my debut, The Sin Eater’s Daughter. It tells the story of Errin, who is the younger sister of Lief from TSED. She is living in Tregellan, in a not-very-nice place, caring for their mother, when the Sleeping Prince invades Lormere. As war approaches the border and threatens to spill over into Tregellan, Errin realises she’s going to have to take control of getting her and her mother to safety, but her resources are limited and her situation dangerous. So she puts all of her trust in the only friend she has, Silas Kolby, who refuses to tell her anything about himself, or his past, but insists on getting involved in her business. But Silas isn’t all he seems, being a friend of his is a dangerous thing to be, and Errin learns this the hard way. There’s poison and curses and fairy tales and monsters, an epic journey and a lot of surprises for everyone.
 
2. Who inspires you?
Writing wise, authors like Jenny Nimmo, and Diana Wynne Jones, J.K Rowling and Neil Gaiman. They all tell stories that reek of magic, and that’s what I want to do. I want magic in my life, as much and as often as possible. I want to tell stories like they do, tales that feel as though they’ve always been part of our culture and life.
 
Life wise, I’m very inspired by my late Nana, who was just the best person that ever lived. My friends are pretty inspirational too, they’re the coolest, most supportive, funny, clever and brilliant people on the planet right now. 

3. Have you read any books lately that you couldn't put down?
Oh yes! I’ve not long finished a re-read of Sara Barnard’s Beautiful Broken Things in preparation for her launch. It’s an incredible debut, a love-story between friends and I can’t wait for everyone else to read it. I got an early read of another debut, Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Girl of Ink and Stars and adored it, it’s a classic waiting to happen. It’s MG, about a cartographer’s daughter who has to go off-map to save her friend and it is gorgeous, so lush and vivid, like nothing else I’ve read recently. And I read Pierce Brown’s Morning Star and am still having mild palpitations because of it. I read it in two very tense sittings and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for it. It was brilliant.
 
4. If you could be a character in any book who would you choose and why?
I would either want to be in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha ‘verse because I’d want to try and make Nikolai Lantsov fall in love with me. He’s an absolute dream. I adore him. Also I’d quite like to be a Grisha. A Heartrender, I think. 


Books

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Twylla has a gift - or a curse. She can kill with a single touch. Now she's the court executioner, compelled to do the queen's bidding - and marry the prince. But when she meets a rebellious guard, Twylla starts to question everything she's been told...

​BUY HERE!

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Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater's Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified ...and desperate for more. Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin's life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep. When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won't reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help Errin, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds splits the world as she knows it apart, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom...

BUY HERE!


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Author Alison Goodman!

2/2/2016

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Alison is the author of the upcoming Lady Helen series, a trilogy of historical supernatural adventures set in the Regency. The first book–The Dark Days Club–is due for release in January 2016. Alison is best known for her New York Times bestselling fantasy duololgy EON and EONA, and her ability to dance a mean English contra-dance. She also writes award winning science fiction and crime fiction, and lives with her lovely husband and their machiavellian Jack Russell Terrier in Melbourne, Australia.

Website
Twitter



Interview


How did you get your inspiration for writing 'The Dark Days Club?'
The idea for the book came to me while I was on a tram coming home from  a writers’ conference. I had been to a session about researching the  Regency era, and as I sat looking out of the tram window, I idly asked  myself what kind of Regency novel would I like to read now? The answer  came in a rush: a mix of everything I loved about Jane Austen and  Georgette Heyer together with the excitement and delight of a  supernatural adventure. I scrabbled for a pen and paper and by the time  I got to my tram stop, I had the outline of The Dark Days Club.

Did you have any difficulty keeping up motivation while writing?'
I love all aspects of writing a novel––researching, planning and the  actual writing—so my motivation is good most of the time. However, I  sometimes get a tough patch around the 40,000-word mark in a manuscript.  It is a kind of limbo point where I am past the excitement of the  beginning but I’m not quite at the big moment in the middle. I am  aware of it now, so I know that the feeling will pass if I keep steadily  writing and finding the delight in each scene.

Sum up your career as an author in 3 words?
Writing, waiting, Huzzah!

Have you always wanted to write?
I have always written stories; my mother still has a storybook I put  together when I was in Grade 1. By the time I was in Grade 4, I wanted  to be a writer, but then, in my teenage years, I changed my mind and  wanted to direct films. I started to study filmmaking at university and  part of the course was to write a short film. Mine got chosen to be  made, and during that process I realised that I enjoyed writing the film  more than I did directing it. So, I changed my course to professional  writing and discovered that my real love was writing novels.

What are your next writing plans?
Book 2 of the Lady Helen series—set in Brighton during the summer  social season––is already with the publisher and is set to come out  next Christmas/New Year. I am now working on Book 3, which is set in  Bath during the winter social season. I am also getting ready to tour  the USA with The Dark Days Club in March. I think it is going to be  about nine cities in eleven days so that will be full-on fun!


​THE DARK DAYS CLUB IS OUT NOW!
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Author Sophie Cleverly!

2/2/2016

1 Comment

 
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Sophie Cleverly was born in Bath in 1989. She studied for a BA in Creative Writing and an MA in Writing For Young People from Bath Spa University. Now working as a full-time writer, Sophie lives with her partner in Wiltshire, where she has a house full of books and a garden full of crows.The first two books of her Scarlet and Ivy series are out now from HarperCollins, with book 3 coming in June 2016. Aside from writing, she can often be found blogging about symphonic metal, watching fantastical TV and struggling to find her way out of her ever-increasing pile of books.

Twitter
Website



Interview

1. Tell me about your books.
My Scarlet and Ivy series of books are mysteries set in the creepy Rookwood boarding school in the 1930s. In the first book, The Lost Twin, shy Ivy’s troublemaking twin Scarlet goes missing and Ivy is invited to ‘take her place’ in secret. Ivy already looks just like her sister; but she must think like her, act like her, become her, in order to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Her only hope is to find the pages of her twin’s secret diary, hidden throughout the school.
The second book, The Whispers In The Walls, continues the story into the winter term at Rookwood, and a third book called The Dance In The Dark will be published in June.
 
2. Why did you want to write MG books?
I think children’s books are some of the most important books we’ll ever read in our lifetimes – books that teach us, that shape how we think and feel and see the world. I also think they often have the most gripping stories, because kids demand that you hold their attention, and you don’t get caught up in the flowery prose you sometimes see in adult books. And simply – because they’re fun!
 
3. What do you do when you're not writing books?
I’m a huge fan of symphonic metal music (think heavy rock with orchestras), so I go to concerts whenever I can, and I also write reviews and blog articles on the subject. I love to relax at home with books, TV, games or movies – I think it’s important to absorb all kinds of different stories when writing your own. I especially love fantasy, historical and mystery stories, and my favourite authors are Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I also love to chat about reading and writing online, especially joining in with Twitter chats like #UKMGCHAT and #UKYACHAT.
 
4. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I just finished the big edits on The Dance In The Dark. I’m quite excited for this book, since it has a bit of a different atmosphere to the previous two. There are themes of deception, theatrics and smoke and mirrors. The readers will also get to unveil more of the secrets from the twins’ past.
Aside from Scarlet and Ivy, I have several other writing projects that I occasionally work on when I have the time. My two favourites are a MG Victorian mystery and a YA fantasy.
 
5. If you could be any character from any book who would you choose and why?
That’s a tough question – there are so many I could pick! I think I will go with Lyra from His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, because I’d love to have a dæmon to accompany me on my travels. My animal companion would definitely be a red panda.
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Author Eleanor Wood!

1/2/2016

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​Eleanor Wood lives in Brighton, where she can mostly be found hanging around in cafes and record shops, running on the beach, pretending to be French and/or that it's the 1960s and writing deep into the night. She used to make a photocopied fanzine, moved on to embarrassingly personal blogging and has written for magazines like Elle, Time Out and The Face. She has a fringe, is fond of eyeliner and wishes she had a dog.

Twitter
Website


Interview


1. I loved your book! Where did the idea come from?
Thank you so much! The book stemmed from a few different ideas. I’ve always wanted to write a story set at a music festival – when I was a teenager I had some of my best and most dramatic times at festivals; it was always an adventure. Most notably, when I was 17 and my friend Russell and I had a fake wedding at Reading Festival (and got in terrible trouble with our parents when it was in the newspapers)!
 
I have also always been really interested in blogging and wanted to bring that into the story as well. A few years ago I got into a Twitter conversation with one of my favourite 90s popstars, and this got me thinking about how social media has changed the relationship between ‘normal’ people and their idols. I wanted to look at what it means to be a fan, as well as how hard it is to be a celebrity these days.
 
So, the result was My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend!
 
2. Are you working on anything at the moment?

I’m currently working on my new book, which is about girls in bands, a battle of the bands contest and a major makeover. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about it yet, but I’m really excited about it.
 
3. Who are some of your favourite authors?
Just off the top of my head, I love Rainbow Rowell and Non Pratt and Sarra Manning. I am currently very excited about books by Harriet Reuter Hapgood and Sara Barnard. All-time favourites also include Emma Forrest, Blake Nelson and Esther Freud.
 
4. If you could live in one fantasy book world, what one would you choose and why?
It’s not strictly speaking a fantasy world, but my dream is to be Topaz from I Capture The Castle – looking glamorous while wearing dresses made from potato sacks, telling stories of my mysterious past as an artist’s muse and living in a derelict castle all sounds pretty ideal to me.
 
5. Do you have any advice for new writers?
For me, I always start with an idea from my own life and experiences, which develops into a fictional story.  MSRB started off based in reality but then my imagination took over. It seems to work for me, so my advice is to start off with what you know and then go crazy with it, basically!


My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend

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Geeky girl meets famous boy ...what could go wrong? Tuesday Cooper is happy being normal -doing her a-levels and indulging in her twin obsessions: buying weird vintage clothes in charity shops and writing her beloved music blog (which nobody ever reads). Her love for music started when she was thirteen and had a massive crush on Jackson Griffith, teen rock god and SUPER HOT LOVE OF HER LIFE. Now Tuesday's eighteen and has moved on to fancying boys in real life and Jackson went off the celebrity radar years ago. So it can't be him that's messaging her on her blog, can it? From one girl's computer to the pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival, this is a love story for anyone who has ever wished that someone would sing a love song just for them. Dreams can come true ...

BUY HERE!


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Author Katey Lovell!

1/2/2016

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Katey Lovell is the author of The Meet Cute series, published by Harper Impulse and One Night in Los Angeles published by Harper Impulse.  She lives in Sheffield in a house crammed full of books.

Twitter
Website


Interview


1. Can you tell me about your new book.

My most recent release is One Night in Los Angeles, a hot romance about A list film star Aaron Halliday and Hollywood hopeful Abbi Devine's meeting.  It's got some steamy (and explicit) scenes, but it's most definitely a love story at heart.

2. What do you love about writing?
There's something incredibly therapeutic about allowing your mind to run away to somewhere imaginary, and on the days when writing's going well it's the best thing in the world!  I love it when a story I've planned takes a new direction, it keeps me on my toes and stops me becoming complacent. And I love how writing, and words, connect authors and readers. What can I say?  Writing's my passion.

3. Where did the idea come from for your Meet Cute series?
I never set out to write a series, originally writing just one story (The Boy with the Board) to enter into a short story competition.  Then a group of friends suggested writing more along a similar theme and The Meet Cute series was born!  I wrote seven stories fairly quickly, envisaging an anthology of sweet romantic connections, but Harper Impulse thought they'd work well as a series of coffee break/commuter reads.  The rest, as they say, is history!

4. What do you do when you're not writing?
I'm a complete and utter bookworm so I have to say if I'm not writing I'll probably be found with my nose in a book.  I've been reviewing on my blog Books with Bunny since 2013 and can't imagine a world without books.  I'm also a big fan of live music and theatre, so I try to go to as many events as I can.  Last year I saw Take That, One Direction, Johnny Marr, McBusted, Olly Murs, Frank Turner and Shed Seven live, plus interpretations of Rebecca, Matilda, and Romeo and Juliet.


Books

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It takes a lot to distract Jade from her books. But from the moment she spots Marwan browsing the shelves, she can't concentrate on anything else...

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It's not the deliciously sweet cakes drawing Lily to the bakery every day, it's the person selling them...
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Can you fall in love with someone before you've even met them? Toby and Lauren think you can...

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After working a busy Christmas Eve shift at her family's flower shop, Chelsea can barely keep her eyes open for her Gran's annual festive get-together. Can her Christmas dreams come true under the mistletoe?
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​Abbi Devine never expected Hollywood to be like this... 

Leaving her small town in northern Maine for Hollywood was always going to be a gamble, but she's finally got her chance- a speaking part as a burlesque dancer in a movie starring A list actor Aaron Halliday. 

However, when she's thrown off her stride and ends up in a heap on the floor, Aaron's the one to come to her rescue. There's an undeniable attraction between them which comes as a surprise to Abbi, who has sworn off men following a bad experience. 

Is Aaron really the unfeeling playboy the press make him out to be? And can Abbi let go of her past to enjoy her present?


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Author Laura Lee Anderson!

31/1/2016

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Laura Lee Anderson is a writer, actor, and urban youth mentor who grew up in Westfield, NY. She now lives with her husband, son, and dog in Pittsburgh, PA. Most of her time is spent Mom-ing, writing, and creating semi-professional Shakespeare shows with teens. Not enough of her time is spent drinking lattes or eating at Burgatory. Too much time is spent binge-watching Leverage or Suits. Tweet her at @LLAWrites or check out her website at lauraleeanderson.wordpress.com.


Interview


1. Can you tell me about your debut novel?
My debut novel, a Young Adult Romance called SONG OF SUMMER, is a love story between a girl who loves music and a guy who is Deaf. It's told in first person alternating POV, so the reader gets to see both sides of the story, and it takes place over one summer vacation in the small town where I grew up. You can read more about it here: https://lauraleeanderson.wordpress.com/song-of-summer/
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2. What made you want to write YA?
I have always been a huge fan of YA! Like many authors, I was an early, voracious reader, and read my way through high school. When I was in college, theatre took up most of my time and friends took up the rest, so reading fell to the wayside. After I graduated, I went back to the shelf in the library that I had loved in high school and was surprised to find it so expanded! Soon back to my old YA reading habits, and now with a four-year degree in acting (or "storytelling" as I like to call it), I decided I'd like to give writing a shot in the summer of 2011.


3. Who are some of your favorite authors and have they influenced your writing in any way?
Wow, like many authors, it's quite a list! When I was growing up, my very favorite author was Gordon Korman. To this day, I love his early, zany work (as well as his later stuff!). He wrote his first published book when he was in seventh grade, and has been awesome ever since. Although my books aren't as funny as his (yet!), I like to think I have his style of dialogue. As an adult, I've discovered John Green (of course), Sarah Dessen (of course), and Maggie Stiefvater (of course). I can only hope that my books are as sweet and real and exciting as theirs.
(here's my well-loved Gordon Korman collection)
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4. What do you do when you're not writing?
A lot! First and foremost, I'm the mommy of a little toddler boy- my Twitter followers are very familiar with "Toddzilla"'s escapades. I'm also a freelance editor for fiction manuscripts and query letters. (https://lauraleeanderson.wordpress.com/editing-and-critique-services/). I still act in the occasional play, using my theatre degree. Most of my theatrical training, however, goes towards the semi-professional Shakespeare company composed of urban teens that my husband and I created. Last summer we did The Merchant of Venice for an audience of around 1000 people as we performed here in Pittsburgh, then toured to Ohio and New York! Those teens are so talented and their souls are so beautiful- my favorite thing about the SONG OF SUMMER launch party was that they drove three hours to just to be there!
(Here's me in my most recent play- Prussia: 1866 by Gab Cody, as well as the poster for Urban Impact: Shakes. The Merchant of Venice)
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​5. Are you working on anything at the moment?

I'm working on a couple of projects! One is a YA contemporary novel that's unrelated to SONG OF SUMMER. It's in its second draft and I have big plans for it *waggles eyebrows.* The other is a very, very, very, very, very, very early start on a sequel to SONG OF SUMMER. Who knows if anything will come of it, but it's been really fun to revisit Robin and Carter!

Thank you so much for hosting this interview, Beth! It's been a blast to be at The Reader's Corner!


Song Of Summer

The thirteen qualities of Robin’s Perfect Man range from the mildly important “Handsome” to the all-important “Great taste in music.” After all, Westfield’s best high school folk musician can’t go out with some shmuck who only listens to top 40 crap. When hot Carter Paulson walks in the door of Robin’s diner, it looks like the list may have come to life. It’s not until the end of the meal that she realizes he’s profoundly deaf.
Carter isn’t looking for a girlfriend. Especially not a hearing one. Not that he has anything against hearing girls, they just don’t speak the same language. But when the cute waitress at Grape Country Dairy makes an effort to talk with him, he takes her out on his yellow Ducati motorcycle.
Music, language, and culture sing back-up as love takes the melody, but just how long can a summer song last?
Song of Summer is a YA Contemporary novel told in alternating first person perspectives. It was published by Bloomsbury Spark July 7, 2015.

BUY HERE!

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Author Nick Bryan!

27/11/2015

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About Nick


Nick Bryan is a London-based writer of genre fiction, usually with some blackly comic twist. As well as the ongoing self-published detective saga 
Hobson & Choi, he is also working on a novel about the real implications of deals with the devil and has stories in several anthologies.Full details of his published stories, as well as links to buy the ones that can be bought, can be found on the Works page of this website. He is also on Twitter as @NickMB, where he updates with perfect and reasonable regularity.
When not reading or writing books, Nick Bryan enjoys racquet sports, comics and a nice white beer.

AMAZON PAGE


​Interview

1. Tell me about your books.
My books are the Hobson & Choi series, a darkly comic crime series starring a pair of mismatched detectives in a London where every innocuous business hides yet more dark deeds. It’s fun, one of the detectives is a teenage girl so there’s a bit of angst and lightheartedness to offset some of the grimmer crime moments. The first one is The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf (free in ebook format), two others have followed.

2. Who inspires you?
The direct inspiration for my stuff tends to be a combination of playing off tropes in crime/YA/fantasy fiction and a vaguely cynical view on the world. I try not to collapse into total pessimist nihilism, but after a while on Twitter reading about the advantages of having money, the things people get away with, the patriarchy, the suffering that exists, etc, it’s hard not to feel there’s some bad stuff out there.
And that rolls out in the H&C series, turning the level up to ALL IS CRIME. It’s a heightened reality, which might be offputting to some who want heavy realism in their crime fiction, but the people who like it seem to really like it.
Chuck Wendig also posts some excellent writing advice on his blog, which has pushed me through some slow days.

3. If you could have dinner with any 2 authors, dead or alive, who would you choose and why?
Definitely Pratchett, he was a huge influence on me growing up and now he’s sadly no longer with us, I’d be a fool to pass up the opportunity. The second would probably be comics writer and novelist Warren Ellis, I love a lot of his work and his weekly newsletter Orbital Operations is always interesting.
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4. Are you working on anything at the moment?
At the moment, I’m slowly working out a fantasy book about magic toasters as a little break project while my first draft of Hobson & Choi Case Four sits in a drawer for a while. Once we enter 2016, my plan is to pull H&C4 out of that drawer and start editing with a vengeance.

5. What are some of your favourite books?
It varies depending on mood (and on whether I’m allowed to include comics) - I’m a big fan of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London books, Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, Simon Spurrier’s A Serpent Uncoiled, Chuck Wendig’s Miriam Black series, Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens and others.
If comics are permitted, we need to build in Preacher by Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon, Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis/various artists, Chew by John Layman/Rob Guillory, Saga by Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples and many more. I did a guest post for YA Yeah Yeah a few months back which digs into this at more length.

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    Hi! I'm Beth, 25 and from the UK. I love, love, love reading. This is a blog to share my love of books and my thoughts on books etc!

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