Review for A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke

A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke 
Publisher: Quercus
Release: 3rd April 2014
Genre: YA, Contemporary, UKYA
Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review




Synopsis: 

"When Alex meets Kate the attraction is instant. Alex is funny, good-looking, and a little shy - everything that Kate wants in a boyfriend. Alex can't help falling for Kate, who is pretty, charming and maybe just a little naive... But one of them is hiding a secret, and as their love blossoms, it threatens to ruin not just their relationship, but their lives."

Review 
Cat Clarke has struck gold yet again with her latest book A Kiss in the Dark. Her stories feel like they come straight from teenager’s hearts and A Kiss in the Dark is no exception. The synopsis for this book is very vague not really giving anything away about this story so I’m unsure of how much to say in this review so I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

In a nutshell A Kiss in the Dark is a tale of first love gone wrong. It’s about love and hate, betrayal and revenge, secrets and lies, boy and girl and how they’re not all that different. They are each a side on the same coin and A Kiss in the Dark shows two sides to the same love story.

Reading A Kiss in the Dark is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You know it isn’t going to end well for the characters and you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the impact that is inevitable and will change the characters’ lives forever. Needless to say I couldn’t put this book down and read it in a few hours.

At its heart A Kiss in the Dark is a story about identity and loving blindly. It was such a beautiful and powerful read and yes I had a little cry over the ending. Alex and Kate’s story touched my heart; they are two characters whose journey will stay with me for a long time to come. Despite my brief review I hope I’ve said enough to get you interested in picking this book up. If you love complicated love stories that blur right and wrong I couldn’t recommend this book more.

March Round Up and Book of the Month

March's Book of the Month is A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon

So last month I didn't get as much read as I wanted to. I caught a cold I couldn't shake off and then I was really busy so my reading took a back seat during the last two weeks of March. Although I didn't read much what I did read was FANTASTIC! Everything got a 4 star rating or higher and there were a couple of books that could rightfully be March's book of the month but in the end I decided to go with A Hundred Pieces of Me. I'm really loving women's fiction this year and this book was so emotionally captivating and offers something really different too. It was such a beautiful, hopeful story about living for now and I know that it's going to have a special place in my heart for the rest of the year. To read more of my thoughts on this book check out my review here.
 

Read in March
19.) Spare Brides by Adele Parks (4*)
20.) A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon (4.5*)
21.) Far From You by Tess Sharpe (4*)
22.) Split Second by Kasie West (4*)
23.) A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke (4.5*)
24.) Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira (4*)

Monthly Book Awards
Best Plot: A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke
Best Writing: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
Best Cover: A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon
Best Characters: A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke
Best Ending: A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon
Best Romance: Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Most un-put-down-able: A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke
Most Memorable: A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon
Best Moral: A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke

Top 3 Most Recommended Books: A Hundred Pieces of Me, A Kiss in the Dark and Love Letters to the Dead

Books I’m Looking Forward to Being Released in April
The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel
Precious Thing by Colette McBeth
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

 What was the best book you read in March? 

And what are you looking forward to reading this month?

Author Cammie McGovern Guest Post: Writing a Character With OCD

Last month I had the pleasure of reading an incredibly special book a month before its release date and ever since then I've been trying to persuade everybody to pre-order a copy. That book is Amy and Matthew. It's a beautifully written YA Contemporary with realistic characters that is absolutely perfect for fans of Eleanor and Park. But what really stood out to me was Matthew a character who has crippling OCD. Having OCD myself I really connected with his daily struggles of managing mundane tasks that other people may not think twice about. Cammie wrote one of the most realistic fictional portrayals of OCD that I've ever read so I invited her on to the blog today to talk a little bit about her experience writing a character with OCD to celebrate the release date for Amy and Matthew which is out in the UK today. If you'd like to hear more on my thoughts about Amy and Matthew check out my review here.

Writing About OCD by Cammie McGovern 

The most interesting discovery I made in writing Matthew, a character with OCD, is how many people read a little bit about OCD and think they have it. As I researched, I diagnosed seeds of it in myself as a teenager. I also recognized it in my oldest son who is seventeen and has autism. For me, though the real surprise came when my fourteen-year-old son read Amy and Matthew and came into my room afterward. It was late at night and he whispered softly, “You based Matthew on me, didn’t you?”

Of our three children, he is our most outgoing and most social kid. In his group, I think of him as the relatively easy-going one who navigates the moodiness and hilarity of his friends with an even keel. “God no,” I said, stunned. Where had this idea come from? Most nights, as I lie on my bed reading, he leans into my bathroom mirror, examines his face for new patches of acne, and tells me stories about his crowd that get me laughing so hard I get tears in my eyes. “I do all that stuff,” he whispered that night. “I make deals all day long—if I make it to my locker in ten steps, my test will go well…If I don’t step on any lines, I’ll get an A…”

He’d never told me this before. In fact, I’d never thought of him as particularly anxious or as someone who would dabble in the—I’m not sure how else to put it—the illogical comforts of OCD deal-making. I remembered doing it all the time when I was a teenager, but I was far shier and less social than he. I didn’t travel school hallways with a pack of friends, so I had plenty of time to walk on blue tiles only and touch certain heating vents.

When my youngest son, the ten year old, overheard us talking about it again the next morning, he cornered me that afternoon and whispered, “Those things you and Charlie were talking about, I do them too. All the time—"

By this point, it was slightly less of a surprise, or maybe I’d learned something, not about my children, but about OCD. In my research, it’s often described as the mental illness that afflicts the otherwise sanest people you’ll ever meet. Frequently very bright, people with OCD nearly always recognize the irrationality of compulsive thoughts. They know the stove has been turned off; still their brain insists on checking. They know step counts won’t effect a test score; still their brain insists it will.

Perhaps in the chaotic pressure of navigating adolescence and all the changes one has no control over, OCD thoughts provide the comfort of some illusory control. I know they did for me without becoming too obtrusive later in life. They kept me busy as I navigated hallways filled with people who weren’t my friends. I don’t mean to equate an adolescent propensity toward mild OCD with the more serious, more debilitating form that Matthew and so many others experience. I only mean to say that if you have it and talk about it, I suspect you’ll be amazed at how many people recognize immediately what you are saying. It’s not as illogical or ridiculous as you suspect it might be. It’s a complicated bargain with the abstractions we have all wrestled mightily with: perfection, luck, safety, hope. It’s our brain playing games to keep us well. If I do these things, everything will work out. Maybe it’s a kind of creative faith, or a tool. Or maybe it’s a way for a fourteen year old kid with a lot on his plate to seem easy-going. I’m not sure. I just know you’re not crazy and you’re not alone.

END 

Thank you so much for this wonderful post Cammie! 

 If you'd like to hear more from Cammie follow her on Twitter @CammieMcGovern 

 Amy and Matthew is available to buy in all good bookshops across the UK as of today

Half Bad Blog Tour: Sally Green's Writing Day

Hi guys! Today I'm super excited to be the stop on the Half Bad blog tour. You guys know how much I adored this stunning UKYA debut novel but in case you missed my rave review you can check it out here. Half Bad is the book that everybody is talking about at the minute and I'm honoured to have the author Sally Green on the blog today talking about her writing journey and how a short story ended up becoming Half Bad.

 My Writing Day by Sally Green

   

Oh dear, I can’t even get past the title of this piece without feeling a bit panicky, because my writing day is hardly ever the same and thus is hard to describe. Perhaps I can try to give a flavour of the different types of writing days that I’ve had over the last few years, since I began writing in 2010.

1. Birth of a writer (June 2010 to December 2010)

The days of innocence. I began writing one afternoon with the idea (I thought) for a short story, but by the end of the week I realised I was writing a novel and that I didn’t want to (and couldn’t) stop. I wrote mainly in the evening (as I still prefer to do) until 2a.m. if it was going well. When I wasn’t writing my novel I was thinking about my novel - it really did take over my life 24/7. It may have looked like I was driving/ironing/cooking/gardening/running-on-the-treadmill but really I was working on the next scene. I would work all out in my head before writing it down. I wrote a lot by hand in those days too.

2. Student writer (January 2011 to February 2013)

Ah yes, I have fond memories of these days. I was a student of Creative Writing with the Open University, trying to improve my writing, finish my novel and get an agent. So I was writing short stories, poems and even scripts for my OU course, writing/editing my novel, reading as many books as possible, ironing, shopping, doing the school run, making dinner. There were lots of burnt meals I seem to remember as I was writing whilst cooking and forgetting about the sausages in the frying pan bit.

For most of this time I did have a routine of getting up half an hour earlier than normal to keep a writing diary (as the OU suggested we students do), but as I was staying up much later than normal to write my novel in the quiet midnight hours I was a wreck (and living on burnt sausages).

3. Writer - Post-publishing deal/pre publication (March 2013 - January 2014)

This seemed hard at the time but actually it was a doddle. I got an agent in February 2013 and a publishing deal in March 2013. For most of the period I was working on the edits of HALF BAD. This was not too painful (no red marks slashing across the page - but more ‘I really like this but’, which actually is the polite equivalent of red marks across the page). I would sit in a room at home, in the sun and work out the changes I needed to make. My husband had taken over a large part of the cooking - he never burns the sausages. In September 2013 I started writing HALF WILD, the second book of the trilogy and was dismayed that there was still some editing to do on HALF BAD. It seemed quite difficult to juggle the two (now I laugh at trying to juggle just two different aspects of writing). Generally I did either one or the other on a given day.

By November HALF WILD had taken over my life. I set myself goals of 1,000 words a day. I didn’t mind if these weren’t perfect words, I just wanted to get the story down. I was relaxed after I was over 10,000 words but didn’t want to let up on the pace of writing. I was word count fixated. I finished the first draft (80,000 words) in December and took a break for Christmas, before starting to edit in January.

4. Published Author - (January, 2014 to today)

My desk is in utter chaos

HALF BAD was published in the UK on 3rd March, but this period really started at the end of January when the PR began. I had a few weeks away from editing HALF WILD for a 8 night tour of the USA and 4 night tour of the UK and then a lot of PR in the week of the launch of HALF BAD. I thought I might write as I travelled but was usually too tired and really just not in that zone. I was worried that it was too long a time away from HALF WILD but I think it might have helped to step away and see it all a little clearer.

Now, I grab time where I can to write whatever I need to (this piece, numerous Q&As, writing tips, blog posts etc.) and I edit HALF WILD in equally short or longer bursts as the mood takes me.

I’ve got my deadline for HALF WILD looming, so I’m trying to establish a routine of writing/editing in the evening, usually until about 1am, when it’s quiet. I try edit in my head as I do other things too - so, for example, at the moment I’m not happy with the plot at the end of the book and I’m working out various possible solutions usually as I drive somewhere.

End

Thanks for stopping on the blog today Sally! I absolutely loved reading about the evolution of Half Bad and how your writing habits changed along with it!

Half Bad by Sally Green is published by Penguin £7.99 www.halfbadworld.com 

Be sure to stop by the other posts for the blog tour! Info in sidebar.

Review for A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon

A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon 
Publisher: Hodder
Release: 27th February 2014
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Netgalley/ Bought




Synopsis: 

"Letters from the only man she's ever loved.
A keepsake of the father she never knew.
Or just a beautiful glass vase that catches the light, even on a grey day.

If you had the chance to make a fresh start, what would you keep from your old life? What would you give away?

Gina Bellamy is starting again, after a difficult few years she'd rather forget. But the belongings she's treasured for so long just don't seem to fit who she is now. So Gina makes a resolution. She'll keep just a hundred special items - the rest can go. But that means coming to terms with her past and learning to embrace the future, whatever it might bring..."

Review 
A Hundred Pieces of Me is my first book by Lucy Dillon. The stunning cover and unique synopsis pulled me in for this one and I’m so glad it did because this was an absolute gem of a book!

A Hundred Pieces of Me is a simple story in plot. It’s about Gina a woman who has been dealt more than her fair share of sadness in life. But being a breast cancer survivor she knows she is luckier than most and looks at the recent separation from her husband as a chance at a fresh start. The book follows Gina’s new beginning as she leaves her old life behind and just keeps one hundred special items to build her new future with.

It’s Gina’s character that keeps you turning the pages. Gina leads a small but precious life. Her life has not turned out quite how she imagined it would with great loves and opportunities lost. I loved how real Gina’s story felt. It isn’t one of whirlwind romances, endless possibilities and joy but it isn’t a bleak and depressing read either. Instead Gina’s story has a quiet happiness to it and a longing for something more which is how I think most of us feel about our lives.

We get to know Gina incredibly well as we follow her in the present day but also get glimpses of her past as she sorts through her belongings and we see the memories attached to them and why they’re important to her. I loved experiencing the highs and lows of Gina’s life from childhood to where she is now. This book really made me think of my own cherished belongings and why they’re important as the book raises the question is it the object itself that we love? Or rather what the item represents and the feeling it gives? In many ways this book is about leaving our mark on the world and how we cling on to happy memories by having physical reminders of them around us.

Beautiful, hopeful, thoughtful and moving A Hundred Pieces of Me is a book about letting go of the past, not worrying about the future and grabbing the present with both hands. I was emotionally rapt from start to finish and believe that this gorgeous novel will propel author Lucy Dillon to new heights.