Six of Crows Blog Tour: Six signs you have what it takes to join Kaz's crew!

Today I am so excited to be hosting "Six signs you have what it takes to join Kaz's crew" as part of the Six of Crows blog tour. I'm sure a lot of you know that I am a massive fan of the Grisha trilogy and Six of Crows and it is always a pleasure to have Leigh on the blog! This is a joint tour so make sure you check out Reading Teen as well for the sister part to this post!

Here is a special message from Six of Crows author Leigh Bardugo herself about today's post...

"Hey, Jess! Thank you so much for being a part of the Six of Crows blog tour. I've been living with the members of Kaz's crew for so long that it's hard to remember exactly how they all came into being and developed their particular skills, but I can at least tell you who arrived first: Matthias, Nina, and Kaz. 

A few years back, my agent Jo and I were on a bus in Ireland (long story), discussing possible bonus content we could offer fans of the Grisha trilogy. I realised that I really wanted to write something from the point of view of a Fjerdan drüskelle, one of the deadly witchhunters who pursue Grisha. Because as frightening and brutal as they are, I could still understand the fear that would drive them. I wanted to put a Grisha soldier and drüskelle into a survival situation and see what might happen. But was it a short story? A novella? I wasn't sure. Then I got the idea for Six of Crows and I had my answer: Nina and Matthias, two people with some serious history and plenty of prejudice between them, would be part of the team forced to band together to pull off an impossible heist. 

As for Kaz, the leader of the crew, his story began with an idea for a character known as Dirtyhands, a boy for whom no deed was too low, no job too dangerous. He's the criminal you go to when you're out of other options, the person you don't want to be indebted to, the guy you never want to hear knocking on your door. As soon as I knew who would be leading the team, the rest of the characters began to take shape."

Six Signs You Have What It Takes To Join Kaz's Crew 

To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Resilient 

A big theme throughout Six of Crows is resilience and to be part of Kaz's crew you need to have it in buckets. The crew is made up of characters with horrific pasts but what's important is that you bounce back from the horrors of the world time and time again and be stronger for it.
Most Resilient Crow: Kaz 

To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Cunning

This crew has an impossible heist to pull off so you need to be ruthless and willing to do anything to see the mission through. Each crew member needs to be cunning enough to make sure that nothing stands in their way.
Most Cunning Crow: Jesper 

To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Calm 

With all the craziness that comes with being a crow crew member you need to be able to keep your cool in situations where chaos is going on around you. You need to be able to stay calm and focused to complete what needs to be done.
Most Calm Crow: Nina 

To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Intelligent

To be part of Kaz's crew you need to think outside of the box. Heist's take a lot of planning beforehand but you also need to be somebody who thinks on their feet to save yourself and your crew from tricky and unexpected situations.
Most Intelligent Crow: Wylan 

To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Courageous 

Being a crow means willingly putting yourself in dangerous situations as part of the job but as well as risking your life daily you're also going to have to face and overcome some of your most personal demons.
Most Courageous Crow: Inej

To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Strong 

Whilst it's good to have physical strength, as a crew member it's more important that you're mentally strong. To live life as a crow you need to have incredible inner strength in order to face a life of trickery, deceit and risk.
Most Strong Crow: Matthias 

Giveaway 
From 24/9 - 29/9, bloggers in the US and UK will be paired up to share their own Six of Crows-inspired lists, such as six tips for surviving the Grishaverse, six signs you do/don't have what it takes to join Kaz's crew, and more.

But wait. There's more! Enter to win a Six of Crows prize pack full of US AND UK swag by commenting on all 12 blog posts by 11:59pm EST Friday, October 2.

See Leigh on Tour!

For more of my thoughts on Six of Crows check out my review here.

What I Want From YALC 2015

If you're part of the UKYA community then you have probably heard by now that YALC is returning for another year this year between Friday 17- Sunday 19 July at Olympia, London.

Although I was a little disappointed to hear that it is returning beside LFCC it's going to be in a bigger venue and the YALC team are well aware of last years crowding issues and are putting things in place to help YALC run as smoothly as possible.

Ray and I have booked our hotel and will soon be purchasing tickets for the event itself, however, I'm really sad to only be attending Friday and Saturday this year as I have to be home on the Sunday for my dad's 50th birthday celebrations.

Some fantastic authors have already been announced with more to follow and so that got me thinking about who I'd personally love to meet. I wanted to share with you my dream author lineup just for fun because I love making lists and a girl can dream right? This list doesn't include any of the lovely wonderful authors I have already met but rather new to me authors who I'd love to meet someday.

Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen is the Queen of Contemporary YA and is largely the reason why I love the genre after discovering it in my early teens. I know this is true for a lot of people and although I doubt she'll make an appearance at this YALC I really hope that she does a UK tour some day soon. She has such a large fandom over here and we are desperate to meet her!

Lucy Ivison and Tom Ellen 
I met Lucy briefly at YALC last year but didn't get the chance to get my book signed because I didn't know she would be there. With Lobsters up for The YA Book Prize I think that they make an obvious choice for YALC 2015!

Marcus Sedgwick
Marcus was at YALC last year but had to leave early I think because he had taken ill? I was really sad to miss him and would love the chance to meet him this year.

Robin Stevens
Although the Wells and Wong books are Younger YA/ Middle Grade the UKYA community LOVE Robin's books. After reading them myself this year and falling head over heels in love with Hazel and Daisy I NEED to meet Robin (even though I already have my book signed). Also First Class Murder is due to be published at the end of July. Perfect time for promotion, no?

Melinda Salisbury
Because we can't have Robin without Mel really can we? The Sin Eater's Daughter has been the biggest UKYA Fantasy release in 2015. Melinda is an exciting new talent and I would love to meet her (even though I already have my book signed)

Virginia Bergin
The Rain had a lot of promotion at YALC last year and with both The Rain and The Storm now out I think that Virginia would make an ideal fit for YALC. I'd love to hear her talk about creating an authentic teen voice which is something she does brilliantly with her main character.

Sarah Rees Brennan 
Sarah was another author who was at YALC last year with her friend Holly Black. Sarah has so many fans and with Cassandra Clare already confirmed it makes sense to book Sarah too with the two being good friends and their work together on The Bane Chronicles.

Susan Ee 
Susan is an international author who has a large audience over here and with End of Days the last book in the Penryn and The End of Days series coming out in May, July would be a perfect time to meet fans of the series.

Zoe Sugg (Zoella)
With Girl Online breaking her into the UKYA world Youtube star Zoe Sugg would be a perfect choice for YALC. With Carrie Hope Fletcher also confirmed to attend the two together could draw in huge audiences outside of the book world reaching out to target audiences about UKYA and introducing them to similar books and authors.

Sophie Kinsella 
Adult Fiction author Sophie Kinsella has her first UKYA novel releasing in June so promoting at YALC in July would be perfect. A lot of older YA fans are also big fans of her current works so I'm sure she'd get a lot of attention.

Francesca Haig
The Fire Sermon is another big release for 2015 making UKYA author Francesca Haig a rising star. I think that one of the biggest UKYA releases of the year so far deserves a place at YALC, don't you?

Lisa Williamson 
The Art of Being Normal is Diverse UKYA at its best. Again, this has been a huge release of 2015. It's such an important book that YALC can shine a spotlight on.

There are so many authors that I could include on this list but these are just a few of the big names for me that I have my fingers crossed for! I'm excited to see if any of them are announced!

As well as meeting lots of brilliant authors I'm really looking forward to some thoughtful talks and inspiring workshops like last year. Some of the topics that I'd personally love to see discussed are...

 * Mental Health in YA
This is a topic close to my heart and is something I'd love to see being discussed. James Dawson (Mind Your Head) Matt Haig (Reasons To Stay Alive) Zoe Sugg (Girl Online) Holly Bourne (Am I Normal Yet?) and Sophie Kinsella (Finding Audrey) I think would make brilliant speakers with all of them having books out, or coming out, that deal with mental health.

 * Diverse YA
Nobody does Diverse YA better than UKYA in my opinion and this year more than ever has been fantastic for it. I'd love a talk about the importance of having characters that represent every type of person and situation ready and available in YA.

 * Book Blogging/ BookTube 
Book bloggers have had some much needed love showered on them this year with the two book blogger awards and I'd love to see some of my friends up there sharing their love of books and the industry and shining some light on what goes into being a blogger/vlogger.

So there you have it. These are some of my hopes for YALC 2015. I'm sure that no matter who and what is lined up it's going to be brilliant!

Let me know if you're planning to attend YALC this year and what you're hoping to get from it.

Find out more about YALC 2015 here.

Meeting Gayle Forman

On Saturday 7th March 2015 I met Gayle Forman. I’ve met so many amazing authors over the past year but this was a particularly special event for me. Just One Day was one of those rare and special books that went beyond simply being what I’d consider a favourite book. Reading it literally changed my life.

When I was diagnosed with Anxiety my world became very small. It was easier to not go out and do things because then I wouldn’t have to deal with the sickening fear that occurs even when I do the most basic things like, walking to the top of my street, for example. For a long time my house became my safe place and even leaving my house was a big deal that would make my heart race with panic. Even though Just One Day isn’t a book about mental health it is about doing what scares you and the good that can come out of it. It made me realise that life waits for no one, that it is happening now. I closed the book feeling braver. I started saying “yes” to life even though I was terrified of it. Just One Day is so much more than a favourite book. It gave me my life back. It opened up the world to me.

“It's funny the things you think you're scared of until they're upon you, and then you're not.” ― Gayle Forman, Just One Day

Being able to meet Gayle Forman felt like my journey with Just One Day had come full circle. Here I was, a girl who was too afraid to even leave her house, going out into the world to meet the person who made life feel like a possibility again. I’m usually quite relaxed when meeting authors these days (although there is excitement there, of course) but I felt very nervous during her talk to the point where I’m not sure exactly how much I took in! Whilst I was waiting in line to meet her I kept running over and over in my head what I wanted to say to her. How do you explain the momentum somebody has had on your life in a few short minutes?

When it was my turn to meet Gayle I sat down and kind of blurted out the outline of my story all at once. I told her about how my life used to be controlled by Anxiety and how Just One Day changed my outlook on how I view the things that make me scared. It made me realise that just because you’re afraid of something, even terrified, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. That life waits for no one and if you’re not out there living it, you miss it.

“Or maybe it's not a miracle. Maybe this is just life. When you open yourself up to it. When you put yourself in the path of it. When you say yes.” ― Gayle Forman, Just One Day

Gayle was so lovely and even got emotional and teary eyed as I told her what Just One Day has given me. We high fived and hugged and she took a selfie of us together on her phone. In a few minutes I got to thank someone I’ve never met before who has had a massive impact on my life and being able to do that was so cathartic. Meeting Gayle Forman was more than another author event to me. It was a hugely important moment that I’ll cherish forever. It’s not every day that we get to thank the people who, without realising it, shaped our life in some way and I’m thankful that I got the opportunity.

Event Diary: Leigh Bardugo and Moira Young's Writing Workshop and Signing

Last week saw me catching the train to Birmingham again with Ray, this time to attend the writing workshop with Leigh Bardugo and Moira Young hosted by the lovely team at Waterstones high street. This particular event took place at noon instead of the usual evening time which was nice because this time we got to hang out with some blog friends before and after the event instead of rushing off to get the train home. Before Leigh and Moira came out we got to catch up with Jasprit from The Readers Den and Lily from The Whispering of the Pages in which we admired Jas’s signed proof of Talon by Julie Kagawa and some girls behind me got pretty excited when I pulled out my then read Heir of Fire which lead on to me explaining about book blogging which is always fun!

Rachel, Me and Jasprit

Before long Leigh and Moira took to the front and were asked all sorts of questions about writing from early drafts to finding an agent. I have no real aspirations to become an author but even from a fans perspective the interview was very interesting especially as Leigh and Moira had very different approaches to the writing process. Rach on the other hand has been writing a YA Fantasy book this year and so I was really proud when she plucked up the courage to ask her question about world building. As her Alpha reader I surprisingly also picked up some good tips on how to help her as best I can.

Moira and Leigh

After the interview there was a signing and it was so lovely to meet both Leigh and Moira. I’m part of Leigh’s Grisha Army and have supported this series since I read the first book as a proof copy. I was thrilled that Leigh knew my blog and she gave me a hug and thanked me for supporting her books which is always so nice to hear! Moira’s books I only started reading a few months ago in preparation for this event but I completely fell in love with Blood Red Road and am still kicking myself for not reading it sooner! Both ladies were lovely and I’d recommend going to meet them if you ever get the chance. I also got to see Leigh’s UK publicist the lovely Nina again and have a chat with her and I was given a signed postcard, a bookmark and badges.

Me, Leigh and Jas

Moira, Me and Jasprit

Ray and Lily having their books signed

After the event Ray, Jas, Lily and I went to get a late lunch where I tried sushi for the very first time and really loved it. We then went book shopping because that’s what we book bloggers do and when we get together we can be terrible influences on each other! Jas couldn’t decide on a book to make up her buy one get one half price offer so instead of choosing just one book I helpfully convinced her to buy another two in their own offer. Ooops! We also got chatting to two girls Kate and Marriam who’d also been to the event about books and writing. I love meeting new bookish people and events like this one are great for bringing people together.

Super proud at learning how to use chopsticks

My book loot!

Before long it was time to say our goodbyes and get the train home. After a day of helpful advice and inspirational chat Rach and I had an intense plotting session on the train home discussing the what ifs? and plot twists to her story. The creative light bulb was well and truly on for both of us after such a fantastic day.

Sadly this was the last book event planned for the summer but I’m hoping there will be more awesome bookish things to go to and meet ups before the year is over.

In case after reading this any of you are interested in checking out Ray’s story that I’ve been Alpha reading the prologue and first chapter can be found on Wattpad here.

YALC Diary: Sunday Day Two

After being convinced that I’d sleep like a baby after the mania of yesterday I of course had another rubbish night’s sleep and woke up with a headache. I wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep and I would have if we didn’t have to check out of our hotel before 11am. Turns out this was a blessing in disguise as I had the most wonderful day at YALC today.

Before another day at YALC began I was invited to a blogger breakfast. The first wonderful thing to happen today was that lovely Debbie saw my tweet of pain and brought me in some paracetamol from home. After something to eat, lots of water and some medication I started to feel more human and really enjoyed the breakfast. Having our names on a guest list to get in meant no queuing and the book zone was lovely and quiet first thing in the morning so I had lots of time to chat to authors, bloggers and publicists and I could actually hear everybody, yay! I also had time to catch up with my friend Jasprit who came down for Sunday which was really nice.

We had authors Holly Black, James Dawson, Matt Haig and Non Pratt as guests at the breakfast and they each spoke about their books new and upcoming alike and signed our copies. We were also given an awesome Grisha tote bag full of swag and copies of This Book is Gay by James Dawson and Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I was only saying before the event how much I was looking forward to This Book is Gay so to have early copies there was amazing!

Queen of Teen James Dawson looking regal and wise

Once again there were so many lovely authors that I finally got to meet today. Comic Con was so much quieter and the showmasters team were there to structure queues and make sure there was some order which was so much better.

My author highlights for Sunday had to be James Dawson, Sarra Manning and Cat Clarke. James is doing wonderful things for LGBT teens and I’m so glad that he won Queen of Teen because he’s providing a much needed voice in UKYA. I’ve been reading Sarra Manning’s books since I was twelve years old and so I got all emotional when she knew me and my blog, if that wasn’t enough she then went on to give me two rare early editions of her books as a thank you for your support gift which meant so much to me. Cat Clarke was so lovely to talk to and gave me a hug and thanked me for supporting her books which was so nice. As for actors today I spotted Sibel Kekilli and Kristian Nairn AKA Shae and Hodor from Game of Thrones and had a little fan girl moment over that.

Meeting Sarra Manning

Cat Clarke hug

The only negative thing that I have to say about YALC day 2 was the lack of monitoring for the panels. They didn’t appear to be supervised at all and being right next to the Stan Lee booth meant that LFCC people would just sit there taking up seats for a break and something to eat or to wait for friends to finish seeing Stan. Not only did this take up seating but they’d chatter away to one another and once again I couldn’t hear what the authors were saying. As I stressed yesterday next year we really need our own hall!

At 5pm on the last day of YALC an event that shall forever be remembered as ‘The Great Book Giveaway of 2014’ took place. Basically the YALC team took down all of the books from the book wall and posters and gave them away for free. There were so many amazing books to choose from from YA classics to brand new releases that aren’t even out yet. Luckily I was there when the queueing began and so ended up being 5th in line and after a lot of consideration picked up Red Rising by Pierce Brown which I’ve heard amazing things about and am so excited to read.

After the great book giveaway it was time for Rach and I to say our goodbyes to people and catch our train home. It was actually really sad saying goodbye to all of my bloggy chums not knowing when I’ll next get to see everyone and when we will all be together again.

Me with the awesome Michelle

Me with lovely Faye 

I feel like YALC really picked a lot of bloggers up – myself included- and motivated us. There was a lot of love between everyone and it reminded me of how special our community is. Each of us is different and we all have something to offer but all of us together as a community makes our voices even louder.

I came away from YALC feeling like I’d found my people. It was a truly special weekend and despite all of my bad experiences I still walked away with some amazing memories. I only hope that if there is another YALC next year that the people behind it take on board what everybody is saying to ensure that YALC 2015 is an even bigger success.

Missed day one of my YALC diary? Check it out here.

YALC Diary: Saturday Day One

It’s Saturday which means it’s officially day one of YALC! Rach and I travelled to London last night and I have to say that the weekend didn’t start well for me.

After a hot and sweaty tube ride that involved carrying bags of heavy books up and down flights of stairs I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep so I’d feel rested and ready for a busy weekend. Unfortunately I had no such luck.

Our hotel is great in itself however I was given an unfortunate room located on the ground floor of a busy street. There’s no air con so if I don’t want to boil myself alive I have to sleep with the window open which not only lets in all of the street noise but all of the smoke from the guest smoking pit outside too. That along with my neighbours and their kids checking in next door to me at 4am left this asthmatic insomniac with only a few hours’ sleep. Needless to say this morning I was tired, flustered and running low on patience.

The first thing I saw before Earls Court itself was swarms and swarms of people queueing to get inside. I was immediately overwhelmed. We were standing in line and being moved around for what felt like forever under the beating sun and to make matters worse we had a group blatantly push in right in front of us. Luckily Rach and I had this nice guy and his young son behind us who wasn’t having any of it and told them so but unfortunately that led to them getting the hump and shouting at us which really put me on edge with my PTSD.

Me (left) and Rach (right) waiting to get in

When we finally got in thousands of people were literally packed in like sardines in a tin, there was no air con, sweat was dripping from people and I basically felt like I’d made a huge mistake in estimating how well I could handle this.

YALC itself was a roaring success there’s no doubt about it but I have to be honest and say that I don’t think that LFCC was the right place to host it and I know that pretty much everybody I spoke to felt the same way. The majority of readers are quiet, introverted people and I know that for a lot of us Comic Con was too much.

Not only was LFCC ridiculously overcrowded but the Book Zone was placed in a small corner of the venue right next to Stan Lee’s event which were obviously massively popular. I attended one panel and one workshop and after that gave up on them because I couldn’t hear a thing that was said over the noise of the crowd which was really disappointing as I’m sure what the authors had to say was very interesting.

Another issue I had was that there was no clear queue’s for signings and nobody was monitoring them which lead to more than one queue waiting for one author and a lot of pushing in which was very annoying after waiting for a good hour for some guests.

To be honest it was absolute chaos which is completely understandable being the first ever YALC. I don’t think anybody was prepared for the popularity of the event but now that they know that there’s a big audience for it I hope that these issues can be resolved next year and I think the biggest change needs to be a YALC only venue.

The Book Zone had this lovely little chill out area with a book wall and beanbag chairs. It was the perfect place to escape to catch a breather and talk to other book lovers. I’m being completely honest in saying that I don’t think I would have stuck around all day if I didn’t have such good people around me. I was so touched by everybody who came up to me asking how I was finding it and I loved that so many of you shared your own experiences with anxiety, panic attacks and OCD with me. It was so cathartic to share stories and get through this crazy day together.

My biggest convention lesson learned is to talk to the people around you. After all you obviously share the same interests which are a great ice breaker! It was so lovely to not only finally meet blogger friends but to also meet new bookish people. Rach and I were queueing to meet Rainbow Rowell for a good hour and got chatting to some lovely girls in front of us which made the time pass really quickly. Funnily enough after that we kept bumping into each other in different queues completely by chance and so we dubbed ourselves “queue buddies.” What was even more surreal was when I gave Charlotte my Twitter handle only to find out that we already follow each other! Small world!

Queue Buddies!

A really random moment for me was when I accidentally bumped into somebody and turned around to apologise only to see that that person was Lena Headey who plays Cersei in Game of Thrones. Turns out that the Book Zone being right next to the Green Room definitely had its perks!

I met so many wonderful authors and bloggers today both at YALC and The Fringe afterwards. I’d love to give a shout out to every single person I met but there are just too many of you and I’m bound to forget somebody which I’d feel terrible about. I will say that everybody I met was absolutely lovely and if I met you please know that I had such a great time talking to you!

UKYA book bloggers at The Fringe

Today’s author highlights for me were C.J. Skuse, Holly Bourne and Natasha Ngan who all made plenty of time to chat to their fans. I also really enjoyed meeting Patrick Ness and Rainbow Rowell although due to their MAHOOSIVE queues it was only a quick “hi” and “bye” which is completely understandable. I was just so happy to meet them at all!

Rainbow Rowell signing books

The lovely Holly Bourne signing my books

Overall Saturday was a rollercoaster of emotions with plenty of highs and lows. It was chaotic and stressful but also wonderful and exciting. The lovely people around me really made today what it was and that has made me love the UKYA community even more, if such a thing is possible.

Check out Day Two of my YALC Diary here

For more of my Saturday adventures check out Rach's write up here

YALC Readathon Guest Post: My Big Fat Imaginary Production Company by Cat Clarke

I can't believe that this little readathon project that I've been plotting for months is nearly over! But fear not! We have a whole weekend of reading ahead of us and I intend to make the most of it.

I hope that by now you've all had chance to read some excellent books and that you'll be trying to squeeze in as many more pages as you can during this last leg of the readathon. No matter how much or how little you've read I hope that you've been having a lot of fun!

My YALC author guest today is Cat Clarke. With YALC taking place at London Film and Comic Con, Cat is going to be talking about which books she'd choose to adapt if she owned her own production company. I'm always casting actors as characters in my head as I read so it's nice to know that authors do this too with their own books and other peoples!

MY BIG FAT IMAGINARY PRODUCTION COMPANY by Cat Clarke 

I often get asked if I’m going to turn any of my books into a movie, and every time I get this question, I sigh a little wistful sigh. I wish it were that easy. I think most writers would love to see their books on the big screen, but unfortunately it’s completely, totally 100% outside of our control. But now that I’m in charge of an imaginary production company, the power is MINE, ALL MINE. MWAHAHAHAHA.

Obviously I’ll have to start by adapting one of my own books into a film. The first one that springs to mind is a novel that’s coming out next year, but that’s cheating, right? So I think I’m going to go with TORN. There are a couple of scenes in particular that I would love to see on film, but I’ll be vague to avoid spoilers: the scene in the cave and Tara’s demise (and immediate aftermath). Oh, and I’d love to see Jack on the big screen, mostly because he’s the most adorable character I’ve ever written.

OK, now that the TORN movie is in the works, there are a few YA books I’d like to tackle right away. Some of my favourites have already been/are already being made into movies (Grasshopper Jungle springs to mind), but there are some gems I’d love to get my hands on…

1.) THIS IS NOT A TEST – Courtney Summers. I recently saw Courtney describing this book as ‘The Walking Dead meets The Breakfast Club’. If that’s not enough to make you want to see this movie, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.
2.) FIREBRAND – Gillian Philip. I reckon I’d need a big budget to do this one justice, but I think this could be the first in an epic fantasy series.
3.) CRUEL SUMMER – James Dawson. This movie would be a total riot. Definitely one for a raucous late night showing on a Friday. I suspect I’d also like to make a movie of SAY HER NAME, but I’ve yet to get my grubby little mitts on a copy so I can’t say for sure. I’ll definitely be nabbing this book at YALC.
4.) IMAGINARY GIRLS – Nova Ren Suma. Oh boy, this would be SUCH a cool film. Creepy as hell and achingly beautiful too.
5.) Every single Christopher Pike book ever written. Nuff said.

Would anybody like to volunteer to be my Imaginary Casting Director? Because if the casting were left to me, I’d somehow find a way to shoehorn the entire cast of Game of Thrones into every one of these movies. Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) as Jack in TORN, perhaps? (OK, don’t answer that.)

Sigh. Now I feel sad that my production company is just a figment of my imagination. If any high-powered, fancy-schmancy movie-making people happen to be reading this … PLEASE MAKE THESE MOVIES NOW! I promise I’ll come and watch every single one on their opening weekends.

Thanks for sharing Cat! Personally I would LOVE to see This Is Not a Test and Cruel Summer on the big screen. It's a real shame that we don't have ALL OF THE POWER and can't turn cinema into one big YA love-fest *sighs* maybe one day. I'm sure there's got to be *someone* we can talk to about this at YALC.

Cat will be appearing at YALC on Sunday 13th July 

Free this weekend? It's not too late to sign up for the YALC Readathon! Why not join us for the last two days and read some fantastic books? Sign up here!

YALC Readathon Guest Post: When authors meet other (more famous) authors by Holly Bourne

Hi guys! We're on day three of the readathon now and I hope that you're all making great progress with your TBR piles. If not, no worries! We still have another four days to go which includes a weekend so keep calm and read on!

Speaking of keeping calm my YALC Readathon guest today is the lovely Holly Bourne who is going to be talking about her experience meeting an author she admires and sharing some tips on how to keep your cool.

I'm going to be meeting some of my all-time favourite authors during YALC. It'll only be my third book signing and so some tips on how to not get too overwhelmed by it all could not be more welcome!

Here's Holly to talk about her experience including what it feels like to be on the other side of that signing table...

When authors meet other (more famous) authors by Holly Bourne 

I don't want to sound anti-social but... I find meeting readers scary. Like, really scary.

I LOVE it, but I also spend the build-up to any author event hyperventilating into a bag and sweating all over the floor.

There is SO much to worry about. In my case:
• Swearing
• Spelling someone's name wrong when signing a book
• Spelling my own name wrong when signing a book (this has happened three times)
• Not being 'nice' enough - if people have gone to all this trouble of meeting you, what if you're not the person they want you to be?
• Etc...etc...etc... thus all the sweat.

It never occurred to me that it's equally nerve-wracking to be on the other side - the reader side. That was, until, I got to meet one of my own writing heroes recently.

EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert is a marmite book. If you love it, perhaps that's because it's like a heat-seeking missile that finds its way into your life exactly when you need it. When I was 24 and a miserable news reporter I picked up an old copy in an Oxfam shop and read it within a few days. It changed my life.

Within a month or two, I'd quit my job to go travelling, just like she did. While travelling, I stood on top of a mountain, feeling all deep and meaningful and a bit like Kevin Spacey at the end of American Beauty, and had a very profound thought I'll never forget:

"Holly, go home and write that book you've been thinking about writing."

Four years later, that book is on bookshelves. My life has changed considerably and for the better. Last month I got to meet the woman partly responsible for all that happening. Elizabeth Gilbert was coming to London to do a talk, and I got tickets to see and meet her.

Holly meeting Elizabeth Gilbert

It was so weird going through the process from the other side after only ever being on the 'author' side of these events and it came with its own set of anxieties:

• How early do you need to go to get a good seat?
• Whereabouts do you even sit? Isn't it too keen to go right at the front? But you ARE KEEN!
• Do I look too much like a crazy fan? Oh God, I'm at the front of the queue, I do!
• What the hell do I say to her? Do I tell her I'm a writer too? Or will that annoy her because I'm making it about me? Will I come across OK? Will she even remember me?
• Will it annoy her that my book is a secondhand copy?
• What if her talk is crap? What if I don't like her? Will that ruin the book for me?

It was oddly surreal when she walked into the room - suddenly I was sharing the same breathing space as the person who wrote those words. This person, who has no idea I exist or how her words and story have touched me, was now inhaling the same oxygen.

Of course, Elizabeth was WONDERFUL and her talk was everything I wanted it to be. Then for the really scary part, actually meeting her. WHAT DO YOU SAY?

For me, it all happened in a rushed blur. I blurted out: "Your book changed my life, and now I'm an author too. Thank you so much."

I waited for her to roll her eyes, or look at me as if I was bonkers, or both. Instead, she asked all sorts of questions: 'What's it called? What's it about?' And she looked pretty darn happy when I said her other book, COMMITTED, provided a lot of the research for SOULMATES. She finished by high-fiving me and saying 'ROCK ON.'

It's fair to say, my literary crush is now fully fledged. But despite the good vibes, I still left in a state of worry. Had I made a fool out of myself? Should I have said what I did? Should I have asked for a photo? Damnit! I should've asked for a photo! Did she enjoy meeting me? Will she remember me? Or do I just fade into the long line of fans?

That's when I remembered what it's like on the author side of the table, and how it feels to meet your readers. Here is the essence:

• The author is just as nervous as you are, I promise.
• If you love their book, TELL THEM. That is why they wrote the book - spending thousands of hours alone in their jimjams - for people like you to tell them they loved it. You won't sound gushing, or like a strange sad fan. To the contrary, you will be making their day/week/month/year.
• Please do write your name down beforehand so the author can see it and spell it correctly. A lengthy queue of Catherines and Katherines can easily produce some embarrassingly mis-signed books.
• But that should not suggest that we won't remember you. Anyone who has ever come up and chatted to me at a signing is etched on my memory forever in the section marked 'happy place'.

So, with all that in mind, my advice to anyone coming to YALC this year to see your favourite authors is this - don't panic, enjoy every moment, and make sure you take that photo if you want one!

 Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today Holly! I think I'm going to print these tips off and take them along to YALC with me!

 Holly will be appearing at YALC on Saturday 12th July

For news on Holly's new book The Manifesto on How to be Interesting check out my exclusive reveal post here. 

 Only just heard about the YALC Readathon? There's still time to sign up here.

YALC Readathon Guest Post: Katherine Woodfine talks YALC behind the scenes

Good morning readathoners! It's day one of the YALC Readathon and I hope that you're just as excited as I am to read some amazing books this week!

Throughout the readathon myself and my co-hosts Carly, Vicky and Michelle will be sharing guest posts from the YALC authors but today to kick the readathon off I have a very special guest post from Katherine Woodfine who works at Booktrust and is part of the team putting YALC together. She's here today to talk about how YALC came about and to give us an insiders look at what it takes to organize such a big book event. Without further ado it's over to Katherine.

YALC: the story so far by Katherine Woodfine

I’m lucky enough to manage the Children’s Laureate programme at Booktrust – which currently, of course, means working with the fabulous 2013-2015 Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Malorie Blackman.

But if that alone wasn’t enough of a treat, I’m also currently organising Malorie’s major Laureate project – the UK’s first Young Adult Literature Convention! Today I’m here to tell you the inside story of YALC, and how the event came about.

When Malorie was appointed as Laureate in June 2013, one of the key things she wanted to do was ‘make reading irresistible’ to young people. With research showing that only 3 in 10 young people read daily out of class, and a fifth of young people saying they’d be embarrassed if a friend saw them reading, she knew she wanted to change perceptions and get ‘more young people reading more’ – but how?

As it happened, the UK’s Young Adult publishers had already been talking about an exciting new idea to put a spotlight on books for young people. Inspired by events in the USA, they wanted to hold the UK’s first YA Lit Con, and had even had some conversations with Showmasters (the organisation behind London Film and Comic Con) about hosting it – but they were short of someone to take the project forward.

As the first Laureate primarily known for writing for teens and young adults, Malorie was the perfect person to step in – and the Children’s Laureate team were on hand and ready to help make the event happen!

Our first job was to go along to LFCC and conduct some ‘research’. We went along for the day with Malorie and had a brilliant time – celebrity spotting in the Green Room, admiring the incredible outfits, and Malorie even had her photo taken in the Iron Throne. We all loved it and knew that LFCC would be the perfect home for the event, where books could sit alongside films, TV and comics.

So far, so good. But to get an event as ambitious of YALC off the ground, we knew we would need a lot of help. Enter the Young Adult publishers – as well as getting lots of advice from them, we also recruited a fantastic YALC Committee of publisher enthusiasts to help us with all the planning. Our brilliant Children’s Laureate PR agency Riot Communications came on board, and Laureate sponsors Waterstones confirmed they would be able to provide a bookshop for the event. We were also delighted to be able to secure additional support for YALC from Prudential Plc, as well as the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society.

We got the ball rolling by inviting all the UK’s YA publishers to suggest topics and authors, and then we started work with Malorie to put the programme together. This was the really hard part - there were so many brilliant ideas and fantastic authors put forward that we could easily have planned a whole week of events, never mind just a weekend!

We announced plans for YALC at the Winter 2013 LFCC, with a special event with Malorie and three other YA authors - Anthony McGowan, Lucy Christopher and Meg Rosoff. The event was great, but it was even more exciting to see the explosion of excitement about YALC from authors, bloggers and readers.

Several months, many meetings, and an insane number of emails and spreadsheets later, we’re now (whisper it…) just a few weeks away from YALC itself!

Our full schedule for the event has been revealed, including 50 amazing authors and a host of industry experts. We have panel events covering everything from fantasy to horror to how to get published; workshop sessions where you can get tips on writing, creating comics, and even pitch your work to agents; and of course, book signings with all our participating authors. There will be lots of books to buy in our YALC bookshop provided by Waterstones – and of course there will be all kinds of other fun book activities and surprise goings-on to enjoy throughout the weekend!

We hope that YALC will offer something for everyone, from the chance to meet megastar authors to the opportunity to hear from new voices and discover exciting debuts. We want the event to be an amazing experience for all those who love books – but also a great way to show those who might not currently be keen readers just how exciting and inspiring YA books can be!

All you need to come along to YALC and join the fun is a pass to LFCC – find out more here. But if you can’t make it, don’t despair – we’ll be photographing, filming and live-tweeting throughout the event, and sharing as much as we can online. Follow us on Twitter @yalc_uk for all the latest news.

Planning the event has been a real learning curve – but one that we hope will conclude with an amazingly fun and memorable event for everyone, which will help create a buzz around reading for young people, and shine a spotlight on YA books.

 Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today Katherine! 

Only just heard about the readathon? No worries! There is still time to sign up here.

Exclusive Reveal! The Manifesto on How to be Interesting by Holly Bourne‏

So if you've followed the blog for a while you'll know that I've been a huge supporter of Holly Bourne's since before the publication of her debut novel Soulmates and so it's such an honor today to be exclusively revealing the title, cover and synopsis for her upcoming book *drum roll...*

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting

I absolutely love this bright coral neon cover and sprayed edges! It's definetely going to catch eyes in bookshops! And here's the synopsis for the book which sounds just as fab as the cover!

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is a fearlessly frank take on school cliques, crushes and fitting in.

Bree is a loser, a wannabe author who hides behind words. But when she’s told she needs to start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is born. Six steps on how to be interesting. Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set, fall in love with someone forbidden and make the biggest mistake of her life.

Sounds great, right? So I bet you're wondering when you can get your grabby hands, that I just know you're all making at the screen, on a copy. Good news! The publication date has been brought forward to 1st August 2014.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL! 

If you're a fan of Holly's then you probably already know that she'll be at YALC on Saturday 12th July and I'm excited to reveal that copies of The Manifesto on How to be Interesting will be joining her! The book will be on sale early so fans attending YALC will be the first people to be able to buy and read the book.

 Do let both myself and Holly know what you think either in the comments or on Twitter @Jessheartsbooks and @holly_bourneYA 

Find out more about Holly and her books on her website www.hollybourne.co.uk

The YALC Readathon Sign Ups: Read the books before you meet the authors!

The YALC Readathon is a brand new readathon being hosted by myself, Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea, Carly at Writing from the Tub and Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies that will take place between the 23rd-29th June 2014 starting and ending at midnight in whichever time zone you’re in.
 

What is the YALC Readathon?
If you haven’t heard of YALC yet where have you been!? It’s the first Young Adult convention happening in the UK and in case you haven’t heard about it you can find out more here.

There are so many fantastic authors attending and I wanted to try to read as many of their books before I meet them at YALC. I noticed on Twitter that a lot of people felt the same way and so the idea of hosting a readathon was born.

The YALC Readathon is dedicating a week to reading as many books by YALC authors as possible. A list of the authors attending can be found here. We’re also planning plenty of fun stuff during that week and are collaborating with the authors and people behind YALC to bring you guest posts and a Twitter chat which will take place on Thursday 26th June at 7pm UK time.

If you’re attending YALC this is a great opportunity to read the books before you meet the authors and to discuss their books with other readers. However if you’re not attending YALC but would like to join in anyway then please do feel free to take part!

Sounds great, how do I join in? 
To sign up share your intention to join us along with our image on your blog, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Goodreads etc; then post the URL in the linky below.

If you have goals and a TBR in mind feel free to share them! This isn’t mandatory.

When talking about the readathon on social media please use the hashtag #YALCReadathon so we can all follow each other’s updates and progress.


That’s it! I hope that you’ll join us! If you have any questions feel free to ask me in the comments. In the meantime here is my own TBR, I doubt I’ll get around to all of these but I have an amazing pile to choose from and I’m looking forward to seeing how many I can read!

Event Write Up: Laini Taylor talk and signing at Waterstones Birmingham

On Thursday 1st May Waterstones on Birmingham High Street hosted an evening with Laini Taylor to celebrate the release of Dreams of Gods and Monsters and I was lucky enough to be there. I went with the bestie (Rachel for those of you who don’t know) we’re both huge Laini Taylor fans who fell in love with her stunning writing way back when we read early proof copies of Daughter of Smoke and Bone in 2011 so we literally bought the tickets as soon as we heard about the event. We don’t get many YA author signings local to us and so this news was super awesome. This was only our second time meeting an author (our first was John Green) so we were ridiculously excited!

We arrived just before the event started at 7:30pm, we wanted to get there sooner but there was traffic and our food took what felt like forever to arrive in Nandos. Luckily we still managed to get two seats on the second row right behind the lovely Jasprit who it was so great to finally meet! By the time we’d had a quick chat and grabbed a copy of Lips Touch and some bookmarks for signing Laini was ready to come on for a Q&A. I’m just sad that we arrived a little later than planned because I saw a few other bloggers there that I sadly didn’t get a chance to talk to. If there are more events like this one in the future then hopefully next time.

Laini talking

The Q&A part of the event went on for quite a while which was great! We got to hear Laini talk about her involvement with the Daughter of Smoke and Bone movie, how travel has influenced her writing and most interestingly to me how she loves playing with language. Anybody who’s read Laini’s books will tell you she has a beautiful way with words. She also told us that she likes to perfect each scene as she writes. Rather than writing a rough first draft of a book and editing it all later on she likes to edit as she goes.

Afterwards the fans were asked if they had any questions for Laini and my hand went straight up! Mine was the first question called on and I got to ask her if she has any plans to write a spin off series set in the same world as the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (is it just me or is anybody else craving an Eliza series!?) Unfortunately the books she’s working on at the minute are not but she did say there’s a possibility in the future. Either way she’s working on a few different ideas for a novel right now and I can’t wait to see what she writes next. As a shy person I was quite proud that I struck up the courage to ask my question!

Free goodies!

After the talk Laini and the host went downstairs to get ready for the signing and while we waited we were given tattoos, bookmarks and the most amazing cakes (Zuzana would totally have approved!) They had cake pops that we could take away and blue cupcakes for Karou and orange ones with feathers for Akiva – I had a blue one which was delicious!

Before we knew it it was our turn to meet Laini. We had plenty of time with her to chat and get our books signed without feeling like we were getting rushed along. Laini signed and dedicated my books and we spoke about how awesome books with maps are, how pretty the foiling effect is on her UK covers and how Rach was live texting me her reactions as she read Dreams of Gods and Monsters.

My signed books

After all of that it was 9:00pm so we had to rush off to get our train home. The time absolutely flew by but I had such an amazing time. Laini was such a sweetheart and was a very interesting lady to get to know better. I want to thank Waterstones for giving me the chance to meet one of my favourite authors and for being so helpful and friendly. I’m hoping that they’ll be hosting lots of other amazing events like this one in the future!

Marissa Meyer UK visit! Find out about her next book Cress in my interview, and win some signed Lunar Chronicle goodies!

Hold on to your androids UK Marissa Meyer fans! As I not only come in peace but revealing exciting news! Marissa (author of Cinder and Scarlet - books one and two in the Lunar Chronicles) will be visiting the UK for the first time at the end of this month! Hurrah! The time and place? March 26, 6:00p.m., at Waterstones Bromley. There will be an author talk, signing, and Q&A and she’d love to meet you guys! Marissa asked for my help spreading the word on my blog and she was kind enough to take the time to answer some of my burning questions and put together a giveaway for you guys too but more on that later. For now I’d like to welcome Marissa to the blog as she talks about the next book in the series Cress, planning the end of the series and her favourite character to write about…

Click on the image to go to the facebook page!

 

Interview with Marissa Meyer 

1.) Your books feature a lot of different characters, who is your favourite to write about? 
Probably Captain Thorne. He's this great mix of suave and arrogant, hilarious and obnoxious, and I'm never entirely sure what he's going to do or say next, which is always fun for a writer. I also like to think of him as a mix of Captains Mal Reynolds and Han Solo, so writing him is like paying homage to some of my favorite characters of all time.

I love Captain Thorne too! He's so funny.

2.) What is your favourite fairytale and re-telling?
It's so difficult to choose just one! I love Disney movies, but I'm also fascinated by the dark, eerie versions of fairy tales that don't show up in many of our movies or retellings today. So while I ADORED Tangled, I also love the Grimm version of Rapunzel in which the prince gets his eyes stabbed out by thorns. I feel like there's a place for both types of tales in our storytelling.

I'm always so shocked to see how morbid and dark the original tales are compared to the Disney re-tellings!

3.) Is it difficult to take such a well-known story and make it your own?
I think for me the most difficult part was finding a way to retell it that would make it my own. I'd tried writing retellings before this but they were always too similar to what other authors or creators were already doing, so I never finished them. But when I finally landed on the concept for The Lunar Chronicles, taking popular fairy tales and giving them a futuristic spin, I knew that was the story I wanted to tell. I love how I can use the basic story archetypes to craft something that seems familiar, while still writing a story that, to me, feels brand new and unique. I hope readers feel the same way!

We certainly do! It's so clever how you create a new spin on these old tales that have been re-told countless times. 

4.) Do you know how the series will end? Do you write towards it? Or see how the story unfolds?
Oh yes, I've had all four books planned out since before I wrote a single word. I'm one of those neurotic planner types! And I've had a draft of Book 4: WINTER written since early 2011, so while there's still a LOT of revision that needs to happen, I do have a very good idea of where everything is headed. It helps a lot with foreshadowing and set-up.

*Fan-girls and try's to think of a way to bribe the ending out of Marissa* 

5.) What can readers expect from the next book in the series?
Book 3: CRESS is my retelling of Rapunzel, but instead of being stuck in a tower, Cress is trapped in a satellite orbiting Earth. She also happens to be a master computer hacker and she's been forced to spy on the leaders of the Earthen Union and report back to Queen Levana for years. However, she's become an Earthen sympathizer and is now working to find a way to escape her imprisonment and help Cinder in her plot to save the world.

I am excited! I LOVE the sound of this one already.

 Thanks for stopping by the blog Marissa! 

As if all that excitement wasn’t enough Marissa is providing ONE swag pack for ONE lucky UK winner (sorry International people but with the visit being in the UK we wanted to keep the emphasis on that! We still love you :) ) which will include bookmarks, stickers, temporary tattoos, and signed book plates. To win this fantastic prize simply read the rules and fill in the rafflecopter, good luck!

Rules 
*  To enter please fill in the Rafflecopter
*  Open to UK residents only
*  End date: Sunday 24th March 2013
* Winner will be contacted by email and will have 1 week to reply else another winner will be selected.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Fault in Our Stars Tour Live: Meeting John and Hank Green

Despite being a book blogger and getting invited to a lot of cool events I’ve never been able to actually attend one with them all being based in London and more importantly me having anxiety and panic attacks over traveling alone. I’ve always said that if I could meet any three authors they would be J.K Rowling, John Green or Richelle Mead, heck meeting any admired author would be fantastic, but these guys would be a dream come true. So when my best friend and fellow Nerdfighter Rachel text me all of a quiver because John Green and his brother Hank were touring the UK and did I want to go? My excitement and the prospect of traveling with a trusted friend far outweighed the anxiety and so we got straight onto booking tickets praying we’d get through to a busy box office and we did! The tickets were booked, the time and place Cadogan Hall, London, February 3rd 2013, 12pm.

The day came around and on the train to London Rach gave me some amazing Nerdfighter birthday presents (it was my birthday the week before) a ‘This Star Won’t Go Out’ bracelet, Nerdfighter Pin and Let it Snow the only John Green book I didn’t own as well as paying for my ticket to the event, needless to say I was spoiled! As our luck would have it our train was delayed by 1 hour so we we’re really worried we’d arrive late and wouldn’t be allowed in. It was a proper Cinderella moment as we flanked a cab and rushed to the other side of London before the clock literally hit 12 o’clock we got there just in time and sat down with moments to spare before John came on stage.

Maureen, Hank and John on Stage

The event itself lasted about an hour or so and was a mixture of John talking about The Fault in Our Stars, Hank singing his wonderfully dorky songs, the brothers teasing each other, answering questions and goofing around like in their Youtube videos. There was also a guest appearance from the wonderful Maureen Johnson who happened to be in London and is an author friend of John’s – as if this day wasn’t perfect enough already! I pretty much stalk John so knew a lot of the answers to the questions he was asked and I found myself mouthing the answers along with him but it was so brilliant to see him talking in the flesh about his incredible book which I already read when it was released in the US last year and loved. Hank sounded amazing live and I had his songs in my head for days after particularly “Accio Deathly Hallows” which is one of my favourites. It was so funny to see John mouthing along to “The Anglerfish Song” in the background; he knew all of the words! Maureen was so much fun and I loved how all of them were just as quick, intelligent, brilliant and funny in real life as how they appear online.    

Meeting John Green

The show ended with us all singing “The Proclaimers- 500 miles” which was an amazing experience. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to that song again without being reminded of that day. I knew from following the Twitter feed from the Swindon event that waiting to meet them could take hours but Rachel and I were determined not to leave the building without meeting our heroes and I think we waited for about an hour and a half which wasn’t all that bad. We passed the time talking with nerdfighters in the toilets and squeeing over what we’d just seen. Up until that point I was feeling pretty calm, I think because it felt familiar to me, it was kind of like watching another one of their vlogs but without the screen between us. When our row got called up and I edged closer to John and Hank and could hear them talking that’s when it really hit me that they were there right in front of me and I was about to meet two people I greatly admire and that’s when I started to get the sweaty palms, can’t stop shaking, is this actually real life? Feelings of nervousness and anticipation.

Meeting John Green went as follows…

Me: It’s nice to meet you Sir (why did I call him Sir!? *headdesk*)
Him: *Shakes hand* Hey thanks for coming along and waiting *noticing me wearing Esther bracelet* I like your Esther bracelet.
Me: Thanks *nods at Rach* my friend got it me for my birthday.
Him: Pretty awesome birthday present right?
Me: Yeah.
Him: *Hands books back signed* thank you.
Me: Thanks it was nice to meet you. *Shuffles off*

I then went on to meet Hank who I didn’t end up saying that much to which I regret because all that was buzzing through my head was I JUST MEET JOHN GREEN AND HE SHOOK MY HAND!!! I was also watching Rachel’s reaction to meeting him. With Hank it went a little like this…

Waiting to Meet Hank

Me: Can I get these Hanklerfished please?
Him: Of course! *takes books*
Me: Thank you it was great meeting you.
Him: You too sweetheart, thanks for coming.

After that me and Rach moved off to the side and fawned over our books and compared our signatures and what our hanklerfishes looked like. Then on the way out I bought one of the tour t-shirts which I wanted to get before but the line was MAHOOSIVE there wasn’t anybody there by the time we came out so I decided to snatch one up and also found some tattoos of Maureen Johnson which she randomly dispersed around the venue because she is awesome.

J-Scribble and Hanklerfish

We came out at half three and had enough time before our train to get some dinner in London and go to Foyles - a bookshop I’ve always wanted to visit. I was pretty sad that Maureen wasn’t available to sign books so you can imagine my glee when I found a signed copy of The Name of the Star in Foyles which I happily purchased along with some other bookish goodies.

Maureen Tattoo and Signature 

With achy feet, full tums, and happy hearts we caught our train home and the next day I woke up sad that today was just a normal day and every day couldn’t be like yesterday, I couldn’t hang out in one of my favourite cities with my best friend, oodles of Nerdfighters and our nerdy rockstars every day. Then later on I signed into Youtube and found videos of the day and new vlogs from John and Hank, and then I realised that the beauty of what John and Hank have created is that I *can* hang out with these awesome people who share the same interests as me and the same morals. Even with time and space between us the Vlogbrothers have created a safe and happy place for us nerds to talk and create and inspire one another to do awesome things and be true to ourselves and that was the beauty of it, of us, of them. I clicked on a video, and re-lived one of the best days of my life all over again.

Goodies from the Day!