Sacha Black's Blog, page 26

How To Fall In Love With Reading Again – The Red Queen by @victoriaaveyard #Tuesdaybookblog

[image error]The thing about reading a particular genre is that at some point, you go blind. You’ve read all the stories, know all the plots, seen all the worlds. So, you grow tired; maybe you even try a new genre. But one thing’s for sure. Your love of that genre gets a smidgen weary. But this book. THIS book is one of those books that wipes the slate clean. It cleanses your palette like a sniff of coffee beans after too much perfume. It will give you back your love of YA dystopian fiction and boy will you love every second of it.

Amazon Book Blurb

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like

Image from amazon

superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart . . .

 You can buy the book here: Amazon UK, AmazonCOM[image error]

 

My Review: FIVE STARS

Plot

I picked up this book and threw it back down three times. THREE TIMES! Can you believe that? The problem was, I couldn’t get past the first page, I wasn’t hooked, or engaged or much of anything. Thank god I read Shelley’s review and realised the catastrophic error of my ways.

On the fourth reading, I got past the first page and ploughed on. By the time I was two or three chapters in, I was completely hooked. Like anchor off a boat, buried in the seabed hooked. I made myself resident on the couch and didn’t move.

The plot was relatively basic; poor girl meets rich boy. Poor girl discovers she’s special, gets swept into the rich world and ignites a rebellion. If it wasn’t for the quality of the characters and rich world building, I might have found myself feeling like I’d read this story before. But I didn’t. Because it was amazing.

There were two things that sold the plot to me:

The first was the way Aveyard wove the intricate and yet simple dystopian constructs into her plot. The dystopian world in some ways was driving the plot, and I love world driven plots, especially when they are dystopian.

The second was the plot twist. Honestly, I saw the character twist coming, but only a little bit before it happened. The subtle foreshadowing and tiny clues Aveyard gives are the perfect level to make sure we’re shocked but don’t feel cheated. Personally, I can’t wait to read the second book.

Characters

On occasions, YA female protagonists can grate on me. I much prefer the rebellious teen who refuses to fall for a boy than the lovesick teen who can’t stop thinking about them. Mare was the latter, so I loved her.

What I also liked was the fact she genuinely started to have feelings for both brothers. At first, I worried this might not play out in a believable way, but it did. Maybe too believable. One of my only criticisms was that when she flipped back to the first brother and made out like he was always the one, I wasn’t sure I believed that because Aveyard had made the relationship with the second brother entirely believable. But the ending, in particular, the way the relationship between them was left certainly took away any criticism I had.

The minor characters are all great and rounded and full of depth and also unique enough I remembered them – just. The royal system was intricate, and the number of royal houses made it hard to keep up, and although we don’t see characters from all the houses, there were times I couldn’t remember exactly who was who.

The bad guys were superb. I love a female villain, and this one was done well, perhaps edging a little close to the cliché line, but far enough away that I loved her. Evil, sadistic, manipulative. God, I love a manipulative villain.

Romance

I’ve covered the romance already, suffice to say, I loved how the book ended, it’s not your bog standard run off into the sunset, although I suspect it will end that way by the end of the trilogy.

The young love aspect was perfectly pitched, the descriptions, sensations, and emotions all captured me, and were beautifully written.

World Building

The world building was my favourite aspect of the book. I adore dystopian novels. I love how writers can envisage entirely new worlds that are based on the premise of our own, only twisted and distorted and royally messed up.

I always think the mark of a good dystopian writer, is one who can capture all that complexity and yet distill it in a way a reader would be able to tell another in two sentences. She does that, and it’s the first sentence in her blurb: “The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers.”

I loved the landscape, the descriptions and stark contrast between rich and poor, and of course, my favourite part of dystopian novels is the uprising and growing rebellion. I’ve read books recently that didn’t place enough emphasis on this aspect. For me, it’s  important. If you’re writing dystopian fiction, then write dystopian fiction, the rebellion is critical. Aveyard NAILED it.

Cover

There’s that phrase, less is more. Well, less certainly is in this case. What a stunning cover. I love the white and silvers and then the stark contrast of red blood. And really, all that’s on the cover is a crown. Beautiful, symbolic, amazing.

Love. Love. Love it.

Summary

I read a lot of YA fantasy books, and most of them are the same story – but that’s good, it’s why I read them. But it does end up giving me a feeling of lethargy, and occasionally I get bored because a lot are clichéd or cheesy, some even cringe worthy. But this book was not one of them. Despite the first page, I adored it. So much so I immediately brought all her others. The intricacy with which she creates her dystopian world is divine. The details, the twists (although I saw it coming) were exquisitely done. The romance was refreshing to read, and I loved the protagonist. The Red Queen is one of those books that makes you fall in love with the genre all over again.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Don’t forget you can check out my other blog here. And if you want to sign up to hear about my YA fantasy book releases, you can sign up here. 

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Book Review – The One Memory of Flora Banks by @Emily_Barr #tuesdaybookblog

There are some books you stay up until 2 AM (on a work night) to read. This was one of those books.  It was one of the weirdest books I’ve read in quite some time, with a unique protagonists and a fantastic plot.

Not your usual YA  read for me, as I tend to focus on fantasy, but I do like high school and life-themed Young Adult books too, and this was truly one-of-a-kind. I think this is one of those books, that you wouldn’t have to be a genre reader to enjoy. This is one of those books that anyone from any genre would love because it is just that well-written.

Amazon Blurb

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO TO TRUST WHEN YOU CAN’T EVEN TRUST YOURSELF?

I look at my hands. One of them says FLORA BE BRAVE.

Flora has anterograde amnesia. She can’t remember anything day-to-day: the joke her friend made, the instructions her parents gave her, how old she is.

Then she kisses someone she shouldn’t, and the next day she remembers it. It’s the first time she’s remembered anything since she was ten. 

But the boy is gone. She thinks he’s moved to the Arctic. 

Will following him be the key to unlocking her memory? Who can she trust?

Buy it here: AmazonUK AmazonUSA

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Plot

The plot was fantastic, a new concept, to me anyway. Flora has retrograde amnesia, her parents have lied to her her whole life and when they’re called away suddenly everything starts to untangle.

The central concept is of a girl living her life with retrograde amnesia when she can only remember things for a couple of hours. It was amazing and made me grapple with the question of how someone would live like that. The story depicts her life in an extremely plausible way. The author comes up with believable and authentic coping methods and tactics Flora uses to prod her memory. All in all, it was a beautiful portrayal of how someone with that type of amnesia might live.

Characters

The characters are fantastically unique. Each one gave me something to either love or hate about them. I particularly liked the mother of Flora and all her complexities. It was almost a shame I didn’t get to see more of her. The main love interest (without giving too much away) was a dick! Flora was brilliant, despite her disability, she was fantastically strong, capable, and independent. I did feel that in her mind she thought she was incapable at the end, which was a strange kind of character arc. But thankfully on the very last page she came back to herself. But I would have liked to have seen a bit more of that, or at least seen a bit more of the story. But that’s a good thing; the author left me wanting more… SO, SO MUCH MORE.

Language

The language was at first, quite difficult to get to grips with. This is not because it was poorly written, quite the contrary, Barr has a beautiful stylistic prose and one that I devoured rapidly. But the language was difficult because of Flora’s amnesia. This meant that Barr used a lot of repetition to create Flora’s unique character. After a while, you sink into the flow of Flora’s mind and the repetition is both a comfort and part of her unique character and in fact helps add depth to Flora’s character.

The Ending

I liked the ending. I like where it went; I like what happened to the characters, and I liked the style in which she ended it. But because I liked it, I would have liked a little more from the final couple of chapters. Conveyed through letters, much of the ending and the big reveal is given away in those letters which are told from another character’s perspective. I understand why Barr did this, but for me, I would have liked to have seen a little more of the reveal and what happened to Flora from Flora’s point of view. That’s not a criticism, more of a ‘the author smashed it; I wish it hadn’t ended’ type comment!

The very last page had the perfect amount of showing you what happened and leaving a little to the reader’s imagination. A fantastic read, four stars from me and a book that I will recommend to anyone from any genre.

My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for this review copy.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Don’t forget you can check out my other blog here. And if you want to sign up to hear about my YA fantasy book releases, you can sign up here. 

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Wintersong by S Jae Jones A Book Review #Tuesdaybookblog

I wanted to like this book, really, I did. But I just couldn’t. There were so many trope faux pas, and not in a good way. Sometimes an author breaks a trope and its great, and refreshing, but not in this instance.

This book is quite hotly anticipated, but for me, it completely missed the boat.

To the author’s credit, I can see some beautiful writing in there, some of her descriptions are lovely, and I think, give her a bit more time and she will be a stunning author. But for me, this one didn’t hit the mark. 

Amazon Blurb

“All her life, Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, dangerous Goblin King. They ve enraptured her spirit and inspired her musical compositions. Now eighteen, Liesl can’t help but feel that her musical dreams and childhood fantasies are slipping away. But when her sister is taken by the Goblin King, Liesl must journey to the Underground to save her. Drawn to the strange, captivating world she finds and the mysterious man who rules it she soon faces an impossible decision. With time and the old laws working against her, Liesl must discover who she truly is before her fate is sealed.”

Due for release 7th February. Buy from: AmazonUK, AmazonUSA

The book was set in and around the German/Bavarian area what felt like a few hundred years ago, which meant quite a lot of the language was ‘old’. For me, it didn’t work, it made the prose stilted and often I didn’t understand what was going on because there weren’t always translations of the phrases. But this is personal preference and not something that detracts from the overall book.

Characters

The characters for me were bizarre. I had quite a lot of trouble differentiating at the start, but eventually, when Lisel went underground I adapted as the cast shrank.

The main character was unfortunately quite irritating. She placed a LOT of prominence on the fact she was ‘plain’ and ‘ugly’. One or two references would have been fine, but she went on, and on, and on, and on, and on to the point where I struggled to connect with her at all.

The method in which the Jae-Jones described her thoughts jarred me, the main character was all over the place. One minute she hated the Goblin King and his spiky teeth and skinny appearance, the very next sentence she wanted him. This switch happened a LOT. I didn’t connect to that. It was too changeable without enough justification on the characters part. I didn’t believe the romance at all.

The other thing I didn’t really connect to, was how she described the sex, it was a little too abstract for me. While I appreciate YA books don’t go there, there was something archaic about it. Some of the phrases made me cringe, ‘valley between her legs’ or something like that. I think YA sex is always better described through the emotion of the moment rather than the physicality.

Plot

There wasn’t much of one. I am not sure what the change was in the main character – sure ‘she found herself’ but is that it???? I still couldn’t tell you how she was different.

One of my biggest bugbears was the challenges the Goblin King set her. She had to complete three challenges, which she said were ‘hard, sister” but she seemed to complete them easy enough, and two were the same – ‘find her sister.’

The ending. *grits teeth* Jae-Jones committed one of the worst literary faux pas by not telling us something she had foreshadowed like Chekov’s Gun. We never learn the Goblin Kings name. WHAT THE FUDGING FUCKLE? Don’t do that. Seriously. Don’t. It’s not okay to leave the reader with that much of an unknown. I just felt unsatisfied.

Music – there were a lot of references to music, one of the key things she was doing was writing a movement of her life – but she never finished it. Annoying. That’s like leaving the story unfinished. Speaking of, the ending. Just no. The way it was left between them… three simple words and it would have been a beautiful ending, but no. I don’t get it.

Overall

It was slow. Like painfully slow, I just wanted it to end, but it went on and on. I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t like the main character, I spent a lot of the book confused. I didn’t like the stilted language and I really did not like the ending. The description was beautiful for the most part, and you can tell the writer is talented, I just think she should have studied the YA genre a bit more to fit at least some of the tropes in there. Not sure I’d recommend this one.

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Dunne for the advanced copy.

Have you read the book? What did you think?

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Our Chemical Hearts by @Km_Sutherland – 5* Book Review

 I love YA. But mostly, I read YA fantasy or dystopian fiction. That was silly. I won’t be restricting myself like that again. I’d forgotten there was an enormous field of books in the YA genre and I nearly missed out on this little gem of a book. That would have been a mistake.

This book is for anyone who’s felt like a weirdo, or who doesn’t understand strange people.

Amazon Blurb

A bittersweet, funny, sad story of friendship, first love, and heartache, all rolled into one spellbinding tale, from a stunning debut novelist. For fans of John Green, Rainbow Rowell and E. Lockhart.

Henry Page, a hopeless romantic and film buff, is smitten as soon as Grace Town walks into his classroom. But Grace – who looks in need of a good bath, is dressed in guy’s clothing, and walks with a cane – is unlike any leading lady he’s ever obsessed over. And when Henry and Grace are both offered positions as editors of their high school newspaper, the mystery of Grace begins to captivate him. Why does she visit a graveyard every afternoon? What secret does she keep locked away in her bedroom? Above all, why is Grace Town so deeply sad? Before he knows it, Henry is sure that he is the one to unlock her happiness. But Grace is capricious, changeable, infuriating, and, above all, damaged. Henry will need to be the strongest he has ever been to survive this particular love story.

You can buy the book here: AmazonUK, AmazonCOM[image error]

My Review

Image from Amazon

Some books change you; others give you philosophical and emotional revelations because the protagonist has them and you realise that you too are just like her. I like to think of those things as moments of truth. But this book, while it did many of those things, also did something else. It made me feel okay to be weird. See – this book is about two weird kids in high school and their love story.

But the portrayal, the weird quirks which were totally normal and acceptable in the book reminded me that I am not alone. That there are weird people in the world and it’s okay to be unique, to be individual. Some people are weird because they’re processing grief, or loss or love, others are weird because they have beautiful minds. But the reason why doesn’t matter, the point is, it’s all okay.

What I loved about this book, were the characters. So unique in their everything. Their dress sense, their quirks, their mannerisms and dialogue. The book was so refreshing. I don’t know if that’s because it’s been a while since I read anything that wasn’t dystopian or fantasy, but either way, I adored it. I rooted for the characters because I saw myself in them, I felt their emotions their pain, because I’d felt it before. There was so much truth, and love, and hurt, and pain, and grief in this book and all of it was beautiful.

Summary

Be warned, only read this book if you have a free day or free evening. I sat down to read at 8 pm thinking I’d read for an hour or so, and at 1 am I closed the book having eaten every carefully placed word from the story. This book is compulsive, fast-paced and as addictive as heroin. In fact, it is book heroin, and now I have an almighty hangover.

I’m hooked a converted Krystal Sutherland fan. I’ll read everything she ever writes, because man, can she weave a good yarn. Her characters are so life like, so real, so emotional, I dare you not to be hooked by this book.

Forget genre recommendations, or putting it on your list because you like YA. If you’re weird, you need to read this book, end of. And even if you’re not weird, you still need to read this book to understand weird people.

You just need to read this book. Go. Buy. Read. Why are you still here? Be gone book monkeys.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

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Word Artistry – Delirium by Lauren Oliver – A Book Review #TuesdayBookBlog

Some books are just beautiful. It doesn’t matter whether the story is slow, or not quite rollercoaster enough, they are written with such intricate beauty, it’s like staring at a work of art. Utterly breathtaking. Delirium is one of these books.

 

Amazon Blurb

They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now.

There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it.

But now love has been declared a dangerous disease.

Everyone who turns eighteen must be immunised with a procedure called the Cure. Lena Haloway is looking forward to being able to live the safe, predictable life the government claims the cure will bring. But meeting Alex, an enigmatic boy from the Wilds, might just make her question everything she’s been raised to believe.

You can buy the book here: AmazonUK, AmazonCOM[image error]

My Review 4*

Image from Amazon

I’d wanted to read this book for a while; it was one of those books I’d seen everywhere. But it always got shoved to the bottom of the pile in favour of other things. But I was determined to get through it. I’d heard a lot of positive reviews so I couldn’t help but stick my nose in.

It was good, excellent even. But it was a little slow, and if you’re planning on writing a thick book, it’s best not to make it slow. If you’re a YA reader who loves fantasy, but the far fantasy kind of writing, instead of this new slicked-clean dystopian style, then it’s definitely for you. Oliver’s style is stunning. I can honestly say I don’t recall the last time I read a book, that beautifully written. It’s poetic, a piece of art painted in words. It’s worth reading just for the rich tapestry of images she creates.

Her style has a particular rhythm and pace to it. It’s smooth like cream and flows like a river and so individual I know I’d be able to identify another book written by her with my eyes closed.

There were only two things that lost her the fifth star; the first was the pace I’ve already mentioned. The second was the ending, with the exception of the penultimate paragraph and the protagonist reaction, which I hadn’t expected, the ending was predictable. I know, I know. I come to YA for a reason; I know what to expect from the ending, and yet there are plenty of YA books publishing endings that feel fresh and new.

That being said, there was a fantastic twist near the end that I hadn’t expected, and the characters were fab. I loved Lena’s cousin, Gracie, and I liked the lead male, he could perhaps have talked a little more as I didn’t feel we got to know him as well as we could have.

But despite all that, I adored the world Oliver built, and I had that book hangover feeling. That bereft sense of loss after you finish a book.

If you like Dystopian YA plots and worlds that have a descriptive style more like far fantasy, then I say give it a whirl.

I wrote another post about this book, deconstructing the magic of her description. You can check it out here.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

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Hinting At Shadows by @Sarahbrentyn Book Review

There are just some books that when you read them, you can’t help but be astounded at their magic. The way they weave words, paint pictures, make you really feel emotions. Sarah Brentyn is one of those authors. Here’s my review.

Amazon Blurb

No One Escapes Life Unscathed Delve into the deeper reaches of the human condition and the darkness that lives there. A girl haunted by her sister’s drowning. A boy desperate for his father’s affection. A woman forced to make a devastating decision. A man trapped by his obsessions. Experience tales of love, loss, murder, and madness through this collection of flash and micro fiction. Take a peek behind the smile of a stranger. Get a glimpse inside the heart of a friend. Scratch the surface and discover what is hidden beneath. These stories will open your mind, tug at your thoughts, and allow you to explore the possibility that, even in the brightest moments, something is Hinting at Shadows. Author’s Note: Each selection is approximately 100 words, with a bonus section of Microbursts in which each story is told in 50 words or less.

You can buy it here: AmazonUK AmazonCOM[image error]

You can find her blog here.

My Review

Image from Amazon

This is a book of short stories, really short stories, micro flash and microbursts. Perfect for a reader with no time. I read this entire book in about an hour, and boy was it a delightful hour. Brentyn has this magical ability to cut to the source of humanity. To exquisitely examine truths, but not the ones filled with light and joy, oh no, her skills lie on the more twisted side of the line. She cuts to the dark truths were all harbouring deep in our psyche. The secrets we don’t want people to know, the choices were terrified we might make. This book is a beautiful portrayal of the half of humanity we don’t discuss. Her descriptive skills are frankly ridiculous. I wish I could write like that. Her words sing off the page with the poise of a ballerina and the skill of a world-class opera singer.

If you fancy something different, something that will challenge you, change you, scratch the darker side of you, I highly recommend Brentyn’s book.

I only have one criticism. It wasn’t long enough. She needs to write a novel… Now that would be spectacular.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

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RoseBlood by A.G Howard Book Review

A.G. Howard’s Splintered series is quite well known and on my list of TBR. So I expected good things, and although my rating isn’t that high, I did really the book. For me, there were some specific things that could have been worked on that would have got her a higher star rating.

I love the concept of synesthesia, having studied it in my Psychology degree, and I’ve never read a book with energy sucking powers, so this was new to me. YA readers will love this book.

Amazon Blurb

A.G. Howard returns with a creepy, clever novel that will thrill readers. Rune has a mysterious affliction thats linked to her musical talent. Her mother believes creative direction will help, so she sends Rune to a French arts conservatory rumored to have inspired The Phantom of the Opera. When Rune begins to develop a friendship with the elusive Thorn, she realizes that with him she feels cured. But as their love grows, Thorn is faced with an impossible choice: save Rune or protect the phantom haunting RoseBlood the only father he’s ever known. Fans of Daughter of Smoke and Bone and the Splintered series will adore this retelling of one of the most famous stories of all time.

Released TODAY, Happy Launch Day A.G Howard! You can buy it here: AmazonUK, AmazonUSA[image error]

Review

A.G. Howard was a new author to me; I haven’t read her Splintered series, but I’d heard good things about RoseBlood, so I was hoping for a good book, and I got it. RoseBlood was a cracking read. Howard has a beautiful voice and is reminiscent of Lauren Oliver. If you liked her Delirium series, I suspect you would like RoseBlood too. Howard’s voice is dominated by her beautiful and detailed descriptions that are perhaps a little heavy for what I am used to in YA fantasy, and remind me a little more of an older school fantasy style, but I am seeing more and more YA fantasy authors writing in a heavy descriptive style.

Nonetheless, I adored her style of writing, which were particularly suited to describing the synaesthesic-like powers the characters have. Her style creates rich images in my mind, and that very quickly drew me into the story. I adored the characters powers and the concept of drawing energy from different living beings. That’s not a power I’ve seen done before, so it felt fresh and novel.

The characterisation was good. I was a little confused about the twins in the book especially early on. I don’t think there was enough clarity on their relationship and at one point I almost thought the siblings had incestuous feelings. Clearly, I’d misunderstood, but it’s something to note.

The other thing that confused me initially was that the book is written from two different Points of View. When in chapters written from the protagonist’s POV, it’s written in the first person. When from the love interests POV it’s written in the third person. At first, I struggled with the swapping about, but after a few chapter swaps I soon got used to it and found it very easy to jump between the two. Perhaps my only real criticism is that when writing in the third person, I did find myself occasionally confused between who things referred to: Thorn or Erik.

I liked all the characters; I think they were unique and individualised and with the exception of the twins, I remembered them all and quickly distinguished them all. I also liked the complexity, depth and rich detail to the history of the antagonist; this was quite exceptional.

For me, the end didn’t quite live up to the rest of the book. I’m trying not to add any spoilers here, but while I loved how it ended between the two main characters, the third main character kinda just rolled over and played dead and after 460 odd pages of doing the exact opposite I was surprised, to say the least. I might well read the follow ups to this book if there are any as I’d like to see whether there are some consequences to the rollover and play dead reaction of this particular character.

This is a 3 out of 5 for me. Although my personal rating isn’t that high, don’t let it deter you, this was a great read with beautiful vivid images, it’s just a reflection of my personal taste on book endings.

My thanks to Netgalley and Amulet Books for a review copy.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Don’t forget you can check out my other blog here. And if you want to sign up to hear about my YA fantasy book releases, you can sign up here. 

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Let The Publishing Journey Begin

It’s been a long time since I had to introduce myself, my other blog is five years old. Practically ancient in blog years when you think about how many blogs are littered in the online cemetery.

But here I am, five years on, adding to my stress levels by starting a new blog. Why? Because 2017 is the year I publish my first book. And while the first one is non-fiction and will technically be launched on my other site, the rest of my books are fiction, and it just didn’t seem right to mix the two.

So who am I?

I’m Sacha Black. Cut me, and I bleed words. Do a post-mortem on me, and you’d find a cocktail of the following:

25% Sarcasm
25% Bad words
25% Other words
25% Coffee
25% Gym related endorphins
25% Philosophy and curiosity (and yes I know this doesn’t add up to 100! :p) 

I’m a writer, reader of books, breaker of rules, maker of food, looker afterer of small humans (singular, one terror tot aged 3) and a wife. I live, breathe and sleep writing. It is more than my everything, and I won’t rest until I can write full time.

I stopped aging at 16, although I’m several years past that…*cough* I’m the sort of girl your parents raised an eyebrow at if u took me home and befriended me.

I don’t lie, ever. I’m brutally blunt; I have a strong aversion to people, seeking refuge in late nights and my MacBook. I’m often mistaken as an extrovert because I think aloud. But you can be assured I’m socially awkward.

I founded the Bloggers Bash along with my awesome committee: Ali, Geoff, and Hugh. If you don’t know what that is, you should. It’s an annual get-together for bloggers of all kinds, from any platform, in London, every summer. You should come.

*waves* Hi world!

I write YA fantasy and dystopian fiction with a hint of love thrown in for good measure, as well as non-fiction writing craft books, the first of which is called 13 Steps to Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains.

Stick around and on this blog, you’ll find: my book launches, as well as updates on my book publishing progress, book reviews, photography, stuff about me and who I am, fiction related chattering, and the odd post based on where I find my inspiration, which could be anything from beautiful imagery and photography to bizarre conspiracies.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest

If you’re interested in following my book publishing progress, you can sign up here.