UKYA Blog Tour: Chatting With C.J. Skuse

The UKYA blog tour has been created by the lovely Lucy at Queen of Contemporary who's dedicated a whole month to celebrating UKYA with the help of other book bloggers across the UK. Today I'm getting my fangirl on as I'm delighted to have one of my favourite UKYA authors C.J. Skuse (Pretty Bad Things, Rockoholic and Dead Romantic) on the blog chatting about her books as well as the UKYA genre. C.J writes hilarious contemporary stories with a flare for the wacky and strange (in a good way). If you're looking for a fun read with lovable characters I couldn't recommend her books more.

 Chatting With C.J

Hi C.J, thanks for stopping by the blog today! I love your books and I’m trying not to fangirl too hard at the fact that you’re on my little corner of the internet. 

In the theme of the UKYA blog tour I’ve decided to include some UKYA related questions as well as some general ones... 

General Questions: 
1.) Why do you write Young Adult novels as opposed to books for Adults?
I started writing for teens when I was a teen myself and it’s just something that’s sort of stuck with me. Whenever I conjure up a new character, they’re always the age I was when I began to write seriously - seventeen.
2.) Out of all of your characters which are you most like?
The main characters in all of my books contain a slice of me. They are kind of like my Horcruxes; the different chunks of my soul. Paisley in Pretty Bad Things is Angry Me on a very bad day. Jody from Rockoholic is Obsessive Me. She has the same fixations, same attitude to most things and she is probably the one who most resembles me in my day-to-day life. Camille in Dead Romantic is Romantic Me. The next two characters in the two books I’m currently writing represent the Sensible Me and the Childish Me.
3.) Where do you get your story ideas from?
Anywhere and everywhere. Conversations, films, books, people I meet. I fixate on subjects and want to know more about them, so I research them to death and want to build books around them, like when I was writing PBT it was Hansel and Gretel and Bonnie and Clyde. With Rocko, it was Stephen King, rock stars and The Rocky Horror Show. For Dead Romantic it was teenage graverobbers and Herbert West: Reanimator. At the moment I’m fixating on imaginary friends, riots and mythical beasts.
4.) Describe your books in three words.
Unbelievably fucking cool

UKYA Themed Questions:
1.) What is the best UKYA book that you’ve read this year? 
 The Savages by Matt Whyman.
2.) Who are your favourite UKYA authors?
 Lucy Christopher, Rachel Ward, Melvin Burgess, Kevin Brooks, Malorie Blackman, Holly Bourne, Holly Smale, David Massey, Tabitha Suzuma, Patrick Ness. The UK has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to top quality YA fiction.
3.) What would you like to see more of in UKYA?
Quality stand alone fiction that speaks to real contemporary teens
4.) What upcoming UKYA books are you most looking forward to reading?
Monster and Sam and Delilah, both by C.J. Skuse funnily enough ; )

Thanks for chatting with us C.J! I love that your characters are Horcruxes of yourself. You obviously have excellent taste in UKYA authors, and I'm really looking forward to Monster and Sam and Delilah!

For more from C.J follow her on Twitter and check out Pretty Bad Things, Rockoholic and Dead Romantic on Goodreads.

I'd love to know what your favourite UKYA book of 2013 is? What upcoming UKYA books are you excited to read in 2014? And what would you like to see more of in UKYA?

All I Want For Christmas Is...Books!

The nights are drawing in, the jumpers are coming out, the Christmas adverts are on the telly and I'm starting to hear the same question over and over again "What do you want for Christmas?" So to help any friends or family looking for the perfect gift (and also for my inner child who gets nostalgic to write those letters to Santa!) I decided to create a bookish Christmas wishlist post! In no way do I expect to get all of these things for Christmas but I wanted to put some ideas out there so that I can direct anyone who asks to this list. I’d love to know if you have read and enjoyed any of these, maybe your comments could persuade someone to choose one book over the other? ;) Here's what I'm wishing for this Christmas...

Dear Santa's Helpers,

I'd really, really, really love any of the following for Christmas...

All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry

Legend Trilogy Boxed Set by Marie Lu

Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Past Perfect by Leila Sales
Jasprit from The Readers Den has snatched up this one! Thank you lovely!

Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil 

Any of the above will be received with much love and thanks! Or a good old Amazon Giftcard to go towards some of these beauties would be perfect! I've been very good this year.

Love, Jess x

Review for The Reunion by Amy Silver

The Reunion by Amy Silver 
Publisher: Arrow
Release: 12th September 2013
Genre: Fiction, Friendship, Women’s Fiction
Source: Received via Netgalley




Goodreads Summary:

"They thought they'd be friends forever.

Jen, Andrew, Lilah, Natalie and Dan were inseparable at university, but in the seventeen years since they left they have hardly seen each other. Until Jen invites them all to stay at her house in the French Alps. The house where they once spent a golden summer before tragedy tore them apart.

When a snowstorm descends, they find themselves trapped and forced to confront their unresolved issues, frustrated passions and broken friendships. And as relationships shift and marriages flounder, the truth about what really happened years before is slowly revealed. And Jen realises that perhaps some wounds can never be healed..."

Review 
Amy Silver is one of my favourite authors for women’s fiction and I don’t think that her books get nearly enough attention as they deserve. If you enjoy character driven stories about realistic, and at times difficult, topics then Amy Silver is the author for you – I love unravelling the messy tangle of her characters’ lives! The Reunion is moving and compelling and it makes a nice change of pace from the happy festive reads that you can find in abundance at this time of year whilst still being an ideal read for cosying up with by the fire.

This story of betrayal, friendship and secrets begins with five old friends who haven’t spoken in years being thrown together in a remote cottage in France during a snow storm. Best friends at University until tragedy tore them apart Jen, Dan, Nat, Andrew and Lilah haven’t spoken since that fatal day. With news to share Jen invites them under false pretences to spend a weekend at her home in France that’s haunted by the happy and sad memories of the summers the group shared there. When a snow storm hits, the group are trapped and are forced to confront the past and untangle the messy and complicated relationships they have with one another as well as confront the blame and guilt they feel over the part they played on that life changing day. Amy Silver doesn’t give up all of her secrets at once; everything is slowly revealed in chapters that are set both in the past and present so that we get to thoroughly examine each character and their actions and the revelations that add vital pieces to the puzzle keep on coming until the very end.

Each character is so well developed. They’re all incredibly human with both good and bad traits. By the end of the book I felt like I knew every one of them inside out from what makes them tick to what brings them happiness. Each character had their flaws but I couldn’t help but love all of them because I could always understand where they were coming from and the thought process behind their actions. Each character has a place in the group and holds a piece of the puzzle and I loved seeing how one characters actions would then go on to influence somebody else’s decisions and so on until that heart-breaking final.

The Reunion is such a hard book to review because I don’t want to give away any of its secrets but if you enjoy books that give you plenty to chew over and characters who you can’t stop thinking about once you’ve put the book down then this is the book for you. Amy Silver has delivered an emotional and enthralling read and I’m already looking forward to what she comes out with next.

Review for World After by Susan Ee

WARNING 
This is the second book in the Penryn and the End of Days series. Although this review will contain no spoilers from World After by talking about the plot there may be unintentional spoilers from the first book in the series.

World After by Susan Ee
Publisher: Hodder
Release: 21st November 2013
Genre: YA, Angels, Romance, Dystopian
Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review




Goodreads Summary: 

"When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken. 

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

 Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?"

Review 
Angelfall was a book that I read and fell in love with only a few months ago and so I had the advantage of not having long to wait for World After. I started it as soon as it arrived and read the entire book in a day because I could not put it down. Like Angelfall it was gritty, romantic and exciting and I loved it just as much.

In World After we’re introduced to some new characters and some new places as well as catching up with old characters and re-visiting familiar areas. We get to find out more about the creepy Scorpion creatures and more about the children like Paige and what the Angels plans are for them. We were left with all this new information at the end of Angelfall and I loved learning more about the Angels’ creations and finding out the extent of their apocalyptic plans for our world.

I’m sad to say that there is less Raffe in World After and although I did miss him it only made the chapters with him in even more special and there are some gorgeous moments between him and Penryn. In Raffe’s absence Susan Ee keeps him as a central part of the story in a unique and clever way. Penryn is left with Raffe’s sword and early on in the book Penryn starts receiving visions from the sword as it shares Raffe’s memories from key moments during Angefall that I absolutely loved getting his thoughts and feelings on. We also get to see memories from Raffe’s past which is something that I was always curious about in Angefall. I loved this aspect to the story and thought that it was a clever way to still keep Raffe involved whilst he wasn’t physically present.

Now that Penryn and her family are reunited there is more from her mother and Paige in this sequel and I loved getting to know them better. Paige actually plays quite a big role in this story and we find out exactly what she went through in the time that she was missing which made me cry on several occasions because it was so heart-breaking to read. My heart broke for that poor little girl and everything she’d been through. We also get to find out what Paige has become and what her abilities are now that she’s not entirely human.

With any beloved book there is always the worry that the sequel won’t be as good or that it’ll suffer from the dreaded “second book syndrome” but World After is just as extraordinary as its predecessor and looking back I think I might have loved it a tiny bit more than Angefall - which I didn’t think was even possible! World After made me laugh and it made me cry and I literally couldn’t put the thing down. It also finished on a nice solid ending and I applaud it for relying on its gripping storyline and lovable characters to leave readers desperate for the third book instead of an unresolved and abrupt ending which seems to be all too common in YA these days. I am already anticipating the third book and I think that speaks volumes about Susan Ee’s talent as an author and the quality of this stunning series.

October Round-Up and Book of the Month!

October's Book of the Month is This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life is one of those books that hit me straight in the feels! It's about being different and finding the place you belong in the world and music and friendship and bad relationships. It's the kind of book that I wish was around when I was a teenager. I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did and it being book of the month is a really pleasant surprise. If you'd like to know more about this book and what I thought check out my 5 star review here where I also shared some of my favourite quotes from the book.

*** I think that these two GIF's sum up this book perfectly! *** 

 Read in October
87.) Red Hill by Jamie McGuire (4.5*)
88.) How to Love by Katie Cotugno (3.5*)
89.) The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (4.5*)
90.) Amelia Grey's Fireside Dream by Abby Clements (4*)
91.) This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales (5*)
92.) Allegiant by Veronica Roth (3*)
93.) The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher (4*)
94.) The Reunion by Amy Silver (4.5*)

October Book Awards
Best Plot: The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
Best Writing: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Best Cover: Amelia Grey's Fireside Dream by Abby Clements
Best Characters: The Reunion by Amy Silver
Best Ending: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
Best Romance: Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Most un-put-down-able: Red Hill by Jamie McGuire
Most Memorable: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
Best Moral: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Top 3 Most Recommended Books: This Song Will Save Your Life, The Dream Thieves, Red Hill

Books I’m Looking Forward to Being Released in November
Just For Christmas by Scarlett Bailey
Crash into You by Katie McGarry
The Edge of Always by J. A. Redmerski
Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan

There aren't that many books being released this month, which is nice because it means I can catch up on some older releases I missed out on earlier this year. I'm pretty excited for November's month in reading because as you can see I've read 94 books which means that all going well I should reach my 100th book read this month! I've always wanted to read 100 books in a year and this will be my first time achieving that goal (I've come so close the last few years!) so I will be absolutely thrilled! Is it sad that reading 100 books in a year was actually on my bucket list!? Keep your fingers crossed for me!

What was the best book you read in October? And what are you looking forward to reading in November?