Della says OMG! - Keris Stainton

The Blurb

Della's over the moon when she kisses her long-standing crush at a party - but then she discovers her diary has disappeared...

When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della's distraught - how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets?

The Review

I'm a bit late to the Keris Stainton love-in, but I'm making up for a slow start by binge-reading all her books now! 

Della says OMG! was Keris' debut novel and was first released in 2010, and that does show in some of the pop culture references (although as a McFly fan, I don't know how ANYONE could think having It's All About You as a ringtone would be embarrassing!).  I loved the plot - as a diarist during my teen years I'd have been mortified at the thought of someone taking my diary - and with the continual rise in the use of (and bullying over) social media, the themes are powerful and believable. 

Della's relationship with her friend Maddy and love-interest Dan were the highlights of this book for me, and Stainton conveys the intense emotions of teen relationships perfectly and the sexual energy as Della and Dan's relationship progresses was both highly charged and realistic for the target audience. 

I devoured this book and although I preferred Keris Stainton's latest YA release Counting Stars, Della says OMG! is a young adult novel with plenty of oomph.  It's got romance, mystery and a wonderful cast of characters (Della's parents - fabulous!) and I can see why this book is still gaining new readers almost six years after first hitting the shelves.

I'd love to know what happened next for these characters, especially the likeable Della!

Della says OMG! is out now, published by Orchard Books.

Counting Stars- Keris Stainton HOT KEY BOOKS WEEK

The Blurb

A new life in a new city - would could possibly go wrong . . . ?

When eighteen-year-old Anna leaves school and moves to Liverpool, she feels like her life is finally beginning. She's landed her dream job at a theatre, and she's moving into an exciting (if not slightly run-down) houseshare on a buzzing street lined with shops, bars, and buskers. Best of all, her new flatmates are kind, welcoming and a lot of fun - what more could she ask for?

But her new life is also a little overwhelming. Anna's job quickly falls through, and then she realises that although her new friends are great, they're also a little mixed-up... and it's not long before Anna starts using her blog to talk about her experiences, from the hilarious to the ridiculous to the little-bit-scary. But when Anna spills a bigger secret than she can handle, suddenly the consequences are all too real. She'll have to prove she has the mettle to make it in the big city, or risk losing everything she thinks she wants.

The Review

I can't get enough of books about tight-knit friendship groups at the moment and newfound friendship is the basis for Counting Stars.  Anna excitedly leaves home to start afresh in Liverpool, and quickly settles into life in a shared house in the city centre.  Her housemates are her new best friends and she's open and honest with them about so many things- the fact the job she moved to Liverpool for has fallen through, that she's not used to drinking, that she's a virgin... but she doesn't mention her online alterego as vlogger Anna Sparks. As time goes on it seems harder to share this secret, but Anna can't stop vlogging, it's s deeply ingrained in her life. 

I thought the characters in this one were brilliant; all likable and believable for their age group.  Sean, who's hung up on a boy called Charlie who doesn't know he exists. Alfie, the sensible and sensitive one who knows he doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps as a moneygrabbing businessman.  Molly, who's unreliable and flighty and lives in the moment without fear for the consequences. And finally Nina, who's dropped out of performing arts college and is chambermaiding at a hotel, although her and bootycall Jack find themselves on the job rather than doing their job pretty regularly.  Each bring something different to the book and they all have their own storylines and subplots, which I felt added depth to the book. 

There was always something happening which ensured there was never a dull moment, and as soon as one situation was resolved another challenge was laid down for the characters to overcome.  This did mean some parts felt a little bit hurried and I'd have gladly found out even more about the characters and their life and had a book double the length!  I was talking to my friend Laura at Blabbering About Books who said she'd have loved this to be a series, and I can understand what she means as it's so moreish and there's so much contained in the plot and subplots.  Ultimately, I think we both just longed for more!

This book took me back to the heady days soon after leaving home where freedom is both liberating and downright scary.  It's a challenging time and Counting Stars portrays that perfectly.  I can't say how much I loved it and I'm so glad I got my copy signed at YALC (you can read about that, and my meeting Keris here) as it's a definite 'keeper' for me.

Keris Stainton has come up trumps again!

Counting Stars is out today, published by Hot Key Books.

Waiting on Wednesday- Lily and the Christmas Wish- Keris Stainton

As it's Hot Key Books week on my blog, I had to choose one of their upcoming releases as my Waiting on Wednesday!  I love Christmassy books and Lily and the Christmas Wish looks like the perfect heart-warming seasonal read.

 

The Blurb

When a town's Christmas wishes get mixed-up, can one little girl and her dog put them right? The little town of Beechwood can't wait for Christmas this year. They're going to celebrate by putting up a giant Christmas tree in the town square, and asking all the townspeople to hang a Christmas wish on its branches. Everyone is feeling very festive - everyone except for nine-year-old Lily. She's only got one thing she wants for Christmas this year, and she's not sure it can ever come true. But she's determined to try - and so when she sees a shooting star just as she hangs her wish, she wishes as hard as she possibly can...and wakes up the next morning to a bit of a surprise. Bug, her adorable pug puppy, can talk! It's magic - and a wish come true! But it's not Lily's wish...Lily and her little brother James soon discover that something happened last night at the wishing tree - the wishes have been granted, but to the wrong people! They'll have to work out which wish belongs to who, and sort everything out before Christmas Day - otherwise no one will get what they want for Christmas.

Lily and the Christmas Wish is released on November 5th, published by Hot Key Books.

YALC 2015

I'm a bit late getting around to posting this YALC round-up.  After a long, long day on Saturday I headed off to Scarborough for a few days with my family so blogging took a backseat for a while.  But I'm back with a vengeance now and excited to share all my photos and news with you!

 

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It was just before 6am when my alarm went off.  TOO EARLY, but necessary in order to get the train from Sheffield down to London to head to Olympia for day two of the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC).  Having missed out on 2014, I was full of both nerves and excitement about going.  Workshops, panel events, the agent area, signings, plus of course the multitude of stands from a whole host of YA publishers...I couldn't wait to get there.

 

Arriving at Olympia's overground station, I was already hot, sticky and exhausted.  And once inside, it was even warmer- the humidity made my hair unenviably frizzy and I was so thankful I'd had the foresight to pack a can of Impulse!  So these photos- especially as the day wore on- don't show me in my best light!

 

I started off exploring the stalls, grabbing freebie bookmarks, badges and sample chapters and perusing the books on offer.  And the tote bags...honestly, if you want to double/triple/quadruple your tote bag collection, you just need to go to YALC.  Publishers are literally thrusting them at you.  It's amazing. 

 

It was as I was browsing the Hot Key Books stall that I stumbled across my first author of the day.  Robin Stevens, creator of Wells and Wong, was stood right next to me and I very excitedly introduced myself-having spoken on twitter many times it was great to be able to see her in the flesh and have a quick chat before each of us went back to snaffling books!

 

Meeting Robin Stevens

 

I bought a copy of Keris Stainton's next release Counting Stars (publication day is September 3rd, so to say I was chuffed to bits with my purchase is an understatement), turned to decide where to head next and ended up almost falling over Keris as she was stood right behind me.  Having recently taken part in the Writing YA course that Keris runs online, it was fabulous to give her a real hug as a thank you and get my book signed.  Liz Kessler was also there, telling us how she got to the event on a horse (not really- she rode a bike, but her mime of cycling was a bit ambiguous...) and we were debating where my twitter handle @katey5678 came from.  It was suggested I was a Steps fan, which was then misheard as being a sex fan, which left Keris wondering what a 5678 could involve...

 

FINALLY meeting my fellow directioner and all- round fangirl Keris Stainton

I quickly got Alice Osman to sign my copy of Solitaire before scooting off to my first panel of the day, Being a Girl, where Malorie Blackman, Holly Smale, CJ Daughtry, Laura Dockrill and Hayley Long were talking feminism with Anna James.  I loved this discussion, especially how Holly spoke of books being able to be subtly feminist and that Laura said she wrote real girls because she knows real girls. 

It also struck a chord when CJ Daughtry said some men never read books by women, and when Holly pointed out many words used to describe fiction by women, such as 'light' and 'fluffy' actually mean 'insubstantial' or 'of little weight'- thought provoking stuff!  The time flew by and I could have happily listened to them debating and sharing their experiences of being women writers and creating female characters for much longer.

 

Impossible to look good stood next to Holly Smale, who's gorgeous inside and out!

 

As I tweeted a few comments from the Being A Girl panel I noticed James Dawson- yes, the James Dawson I fawn over like crazy (see my Waiting on Wednesday for All of the Above if you need proof) - was also tweeting comments.  After the panel I saw him heading out and then made a very crap attempt at a joke which I'm now cringing over...I can only apologise profusely and say I was starstruck! James was heading off to get some lunch, but did say he'd be at the Hot Key stand later, so with that in mind I headed to the Writing YALC workshop led by Anna Mckerrow.  Anna put us into groups, and using flyers, comments people had made about YALC and freebie promo materials we created a piece of writing about the event.  Taking a less than serious approach, our group morphed the text from a flyer advertising a dystopian novel with the joy of finally meeting favourite authors to create this masterpiece...

 

 

One of the highlights of this workshop was meeting the lovely Blondie Camps -such a sweetheart!

 

Embarrassed by my earlier fangirlling, I skulked back to Hot Key Books (yes, they are one of my favourite YA publishers, in case you hadn't guessed!) to get my copy of Cruel Summer signed by James Dawson and he very sweetly wrote 'Thank you for all your support'-I can't have made TOO much of a fool out of myself.  I was delighted to get a taster sample of All of the Above (publication date September 3rd)- having read that twice already I'm itching to get my hands on the full book- I have a feeling it could be his best novel yet. 

Trying to rein in the fangirlling whilst meeting James Dawson- hard to do with a favourite author!

 

 The next panel I went to was Carrie Hope Fletcher's YALC Book Club, which had a very different feel to the Being A Girl talk.  Malorie Blackman, Holly Smale and Samantha Shannon, along with host Carrie, chatted openly about both reading and writing.  It was interesting to hear that Holly had always wanted to be a writer but had it drummed into her that 'people like us don't do jobs like that' and Carrie noted how no one ever tells you 'you could be a writer' when considering careers at school.  Both Holly and Malorie said they make an effort to visit schools as often as possible to show how writers are normal people, and also that they too fangirl over authors- Carrie said she was fangirlling at being amongst the authors she was with, Shannon admitted crying when she met Margaret Atwood, and Malorie said the first time she met Philippa Pearce she got tongue tied.

 

After this panel I got books signed by Carrie (another fangirl moment as I'm a huge fan- I saw her in Les Miserables back in April and when I read All I Know Now I found it packed with reminders of how I want to live my life).  She's just as cute in real life as she is in her vlogs and has this wonderful ability to put everyone at ease.  When I asked if her hand was hurting from all the signing, she said it was her face that ached from smiling so much!

In a smile-off with Carrie Hope Fletcher

I then braved the lower floor where the London Film and Comic Convention was happening because there was no way I was missing out on seeing Judy Blume in conversation with Patrick Ness!  This was a really enjoyable 45 minutes, especially as Patrick Ness seemed to be as big a fan of Judy as the rest of us!  I loved how he said 'No one is ever going to be as important to you as the people you meet as a teenager'- it absolutely says why Judy Blume is so revered by so many. It's hard to believe that Forever is forty this year, and Ness marvelled about how candid it is- having recently reread it (read my thoughts here) I could only nod in agreement.  I'm still planning my Judy Blume week on here and I'm extra excited for it following on from YALC.

 

After the panel I was fortunate enough to meet Judy and have a conversation about sanitary towels as she signed my copy of Are You There, God?  It's Me, Margaret.  This book had a huge impact on me as a teen, and talking about it with the author was mindblowing!  The version I first read back in 1990 still had Margaret experimenting using sanitary belts, whereas the version I have now has been updated to her placing a sanitary towel in her knickers to see how it feels- in terms of nostalgia, even though the belts were before my time I was sad they'd been changed, but Judy said when the UK publisher suggested it be modernised to pads she agreed outright.

 

A lifelong ambition- meeting Judy Blume

Before heading home I was honoured to meet both the previous Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman and her successor Chris Riddell.  It was wonderful to be able to tell Malorie how her much-told story of 82 rejections prior to publication have kept me writing and that when she followed me on twitter I squealed!  Chris was fabulous too, and after he ran out of art paper he happily doodled in my notepad whilst revealing he enjoyed drawing on different types of paper.  It was brilliant to be able to look at his sketchbook too- I'm still thinking of a wonderful 'Chasing Cars' illustration in it that Chris had done to match the lyrics of the Snow Patrol song...I want it as a poster, it was perfection.

 

Chris Riddell- Children's Laureate 2015-2017

My own personal Chris Riddell doodle!


 

Before heading home with my bookish loot I had a quick meeting with fellow blogger Faye, and when I finally arrived home at just before midnight I was seriously in need of my bed.  Every part of me ached with exhaustion, however, I wouldn't have swapped it for the world.  YALC 2015 was a wonderful experience and I can't wait for next year and what it'll bring!