C.K. Robertson's Blog, page 12

AGCW: RELEASING SEPTEMBER 1st

Hello Readers & Friends,

If you got my newsletter, you'll know that A Girl Called Whisper is set for release on Amazon on 1st September. I am so excited!

I wanted to take a minute to introduce it all properly, and explain how it has all come about.

THEMES & INITIAL CONCEPT

I really, really wanted to write a book for teenagers where the main character was a boy, struggling with mental health. Why? Because I've never read one before. It's always females and young girls struggling through anxiety, depression, and an array of illnesses. Where is the representation for males? Cooper Nelson came to me very early on. Initially, he was actually written to have aspergers syndrome, but in time he changed to be struggling with social anxiety. This was because the storyline and narrative is so dark that for me it was essential to use humour to keep it light and fun. As it was written in the first person (this was never up for negotiation in my head), the easiest way to get a dark and dry sense of humour across was through Cooper himself. If I had written him to have aspergers this would have been more difficult, as people with aspergers struggle with social interactions but also with reading situations and dialogue that uses a lot of sarcasm and irony is often tricky for them. Cooper drips sarcasm, so it came apparant very early on for me that giving him aspergers wasn't going to work if I wanted to represent it accurately.
Most of all, I want boys to know that it's okay to struggle, to worry, to panic and to be afraid.

THE CHARACTERS

We have three main characters in the story.
Cooper, the protagonist obviously. He's 16, born 'n' bred in the suburbs and enjoys painting, fantasy novels, comic books and staying at home. Check out his moodboard here. 
Cooper is a really intelligent, funny, witty and dry character who despite being quiet is very analytical and very much a wallflower. He takes in everything going on around him and draws accurate conclusions about people quickly. I love Cooper.

Unfortunately for me, he's obsessed with new-girl, Whisper. (See her moodboard here. )  Whisper has just moved to the suburbs from the heart of London and is struggling with the bores of their small new town. A rollercoaster of emotions, she's up and down and all around and finds herself striking up an unlikely friendship with Cooper after an incident at the school. Whisper loves spontanaeity, adventure and dreaming.
 
 
THE PLOT

The story is told through the eyes of Cooper who is struggling with crippling social anxiety.After meeting wild-child Whisper, she begins to bring him out of his shell until he discovers she is struggling with her own mental health disorders - triggered by a dark secret she holds. Weighed down by the enormity of her dangerous secret, Cooper must fight through his own anxieties to help his new friend escape her own demons. It’s a story about mental health, abuse and first loves.I would describe it as Perks of Being a Wallflower meets Looking for Alaska.   "AGCW explores important themes that people don’t like to talk about. Heartbreaking and uplifting, it is a story that you won’t forget." - @BrontesBookshelf"

WHY SELF-PUBLISH?

I've written a post about this before, but for me it's all down to the darkness of the storyline. I didn't want to sugarcoat or to shy away from discussing mental illness and abusive relationships, and this is something that publishers would likely want to avoid in a book that is otherwise quite funny and playful. It would be difficult to market and isn't what is trending currently in the market.
I wanted to keep the story true to it's intentions and the easiest way for me to do this was to self-publish.

DID I GET ANY HELP?

Yes! I used the same editor as I did for Enmity, Melissa Kaye, who really helped bring it all together and ironed out some character creases before I put the final draft together.
Whereas before on Enmity it was all comments I understood, I hadn't realised how wide the gap is between UK and US culture. A few of her comments (Would this really happen at a school?) I found interesting. Having grown up in a suburb that mirrors Cooper's home, of course we bunked off to smoke weed in the woods and get up to terrible mischief at house parties. (Haven't you seen Skins?) Maybe the US is more well-behaved as the drinking age is older, but I definitely noticed the cultural difference using an American editor haha.
For the cover, this time I designed it myself. I would not do this again! It was a shitemare! I don't have photoshop so I was trying to build it all together using free online programmes and the sizing for trims and bleeds was a nightmare. But I'm a broke bitch so I did what I had to do. (Hint: buy my book.)
The cover art was comissioned though, and created by the wonderful Dodo. He really made Whisper look as badass as I envisioned.

I hope this helps you to understand more about AGCW and I can't wait for it's big release! Paperback out on the 1st too :)

Pre-order for Kindle Now
Love,
C x

Plots & Shots - The Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

 

Hello Readers, Friends & Listeners,

Today's Wine Wednesday brings you our newest episode of Plots & Shots, where Bronte & I go through the Unpopular Opinions book tag. (And we have a lot of unpopular opinions.)

We got drunk and slagged off everyone's favourite books, including Harry Potter, the Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, Caraval, Shatter Me, Catcher in the Rye, Hunger Games and more.

Big spoilers for: Harry Potter, Divergent and The Infernal Devices.

As always, 0 professionalism, drunken swearing, rambling and shouty nonsense.


And if you missed it last week, we filmed some funny behind-the-scene bloopers, which you can watch here.


Love, C x

Favourite Film Kisses

Hello Readers & Friends,

I have a super fun post for you today.
I love YA romances, because I love the nostalgia it brings me. Romance isn't like this any more - I don't know if it's because as we get older we get cynical and don't enjoy the excitement any more?
I can remember all the feelings of being a teenager and fancying a boy so clearly, it was such a fun exciting time. Getting ready for a party with your friends and hoping they would speak to you, discussing who fancies who, worrying about a kiss for weeks and weeks... everything about it is so innocent and calculated and cute and special. When they would lend you a jumper you'd feel on top of the world.

I picked up It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne at random, not expecting much. It's amazing. I'm close to finishing but I love it - full review to come. I love how it's completely a cliche YA romance whilst having a main character who is so self-aware that she's a cliche, who hates romance and all the ideals of it and wants something more meaningful than all those stupid teenage flirty things. It's been great. Anyway, in part of the book she analyses all the best film kisses of all time, and this got me thinking. What are mine?

So, here we go. My top favourite film kisses.

To All The Boys I've Loved Before.I will never not ship LJ Covey and Peter Kavinsky and this whole scene is perfect. "You gonna break my heart, Covey?" SHE'D BETTER NOT!




The Mortal InstrumentsI love when film couples become real-life couples because it makes their romance scenes feel more special and real. Needless to say, Jamie CB made the character of Jace for me in The Mortal Instruments and this kiss with Lily was almost ruined by terrible flower CGI's but I still like it a lot. It's so cheesy and tacky and lame but I just like it because of the actors and the fact it's at least a little bit real.




AfterI'm such a creep these children are only 21 but I don't care I like this kiss scene and I like his face and I like her face. HOWEVER, I hate the fact he says 'we can't just be friends' when he met her exactly 0.4 seconds ago.




AfterAnother Lily Collins film I'm obviously obssessed with her. I cried my eyes out watching Love, Rosie but this ending was great, especially after such a long and frustrating build up between this couple.




The NotebookObviously this kiss is the best in cinematic history. We all know the one I mean, by the boat and the crying and the "I wrote you every day for 365 days" scene. So I'm not sharing that. Instead I'll share their recreating at the MTV Awards, because it's just as great. Also, they dated in real life too. Also, Lindsey Lohan's reaction.



The First TimeThe most underrated teen romace in the history of teen romances. Love Britt's character and everything about how this film goes. It's so authentic to teenage life I love it.



TitanicDoes it get any more classic than this?



Dear JohnChanning Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, heavy rain, everything cliche is just great. I loved this couple. Hated the ending, needless to say lol.



Gossip GirlOkay, I'm cheating. I know this isn't a film but surely this is the moment all Gossip Girl fans were waiting for? And it was great. Serena and Dan know nothing.



What are your favourite movie kisses?

Love,
Cx

Book Review: S.T.A.G.S by M.A Bennett

Hello Readers & Friends,

A new book review for you today. I gave S.T.A.G.S. by M.A Bennett 4* on GoodReads. The tagline reads;

Nine students. Three bloodsports. One deadly weekend.

 And it hooked me. Described as Gossip Girl meets The Hunger Games by the lovely lady who sold it to me at YALC, it brought everything I hoped for. (Also, I got a prospectus that went with it and loved that additional touch!)

In summary, our protagonist, Greer, is attending a privilidged and exclusive boarding school on scholarship. She has no friends, so is interested when an invitation turns up at her door inviting her to go huntin', shootin' and fishin'. She spends a weekend at the most popular boy at school's house, along with a possey of his friends and a couple of other outcasts. They soon learn the weekend has a dark motive, and by the end, a lot of twisted corruption and deadly secrets begin to unwravel and expose themselves. 

On the very last pages, I had legit shivers as everything came together. I love a good teen thriller, and throw in some conspiracy theories, deaths and posh British class warfare and I'm sold. It also threads seeds throughout to do with reliance on technology, which I liked as a thought-provoking subcontext. 


I actually made a little moodboard for the main character as I've been enjoying my moodboarding recently but don't like posting them on my Instagram because I'm a loser and care about the feed theme too much. *Cringe.*



Why did it not get 5 stars? 
- It was a little slow to kick off with everything exciting in the second half of the book. 
- I don't like the way you're told a big part of the ending right at the start as it loses it's shock value, and is actually a little misleading. There's no anticipation for how the weekend will end, as you're told on page one! Why did they choose to do this? 
-  Lastly, I don't particularly like Greer, finding her quite annoyingly passive, not particularly bright, fickle, materialistic and a little unlikable at times. Chanel and Shafeen were much stronger, intelligent and likeable characters and I actually thing Chanel had fantastic character development when compared to Greer. Also, I can't get past what a horrible name Greer is!

What did I love?
- The world created around this school. The creepy undertones threaded throughout, the Savages vs Medievil ideas, the Friars and the way I could really imagine it all so clearly. The bullying and dialogue was also very spot on. Having gone to both a private and public school I can definitely imagine the type of people Henry and his possey would be and their depiction was very accurate.
- The whole corruption and how deep everything ran was really exciting at the end, almost making up for the fact that we are told who will live and die on page 1. (Again, why!?) 

All in all it very much reminded me of The Riot Club, a film which I only watched because Douglas Booth was in it (I used to date one of his best friends when we were at school) and I was intrigued to see him act, as I never had before. I have to say, he was brilliant. Not to go off on a tangent but his character in that film was abhorrant and the opposite of the Doug I knew back when I was 17. But the whole class division idea and horrible upper-class, elitest murderers vibe definitely mirrored this film, which was of course based on the Bullingdon Club.




All in all, I really enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel, D.O.G.S release. Hopefully Greer gets more personality!

Love,
C x

Plots & Shots - NEW SEASON

Hello Readers, Friends & Listeners,

Exciting times here at Plots & Shots!
We're relaunching for season 2 with a new, more inclusive approach. Whilst Season 1 focussed on a single book per episode, season 2 will tackle broader YA-based questions and tags, so that Bronte and I can continue to argue but keep things more general. Hopefully this means everyone can enjoy it, not just people who have read the same books as us.

Our first episode we're chatting through the Mid-Year Book Freakout tag, arguing about all of our choices.

And, we've also put together a Youtube preview of what goes on behind-the-scenes of our extremely unprofessional podcast. I hope you enjoy it and find it as funny as we do!




Love,
C x

Creating Characters

Hello Readers & Friends,

Today I wanted to share any tips I have for writing strong characters.

When I did the first draft of Enmity, my characters were very weak. It was my first book and story and I hadn't really thought to make them 3-dimensional. My editor taught me so much about writing and building my characters up, and it made such a difference. I took her advice when writing A Girl Called Whisper and I think Cooper and Whisper are the strongest characters I have written to date. I hope this post will help any of you with brainstorming and writing!

Coming up with the basics.I draw inspiration from so many places for my characters. I take little quirks, habits or beliefs from my friends and merge them together to create a whole new person a lot of the time. Sometimes I'll see people walking past me on the street and make up where they're going and why, and it will spiral into a whole new character idea.
Same with pictures - I'll be scrolling through Instagram and see a picture of someone I find interesting and save it down into a Character folder I have where I build up a personality around their look. Coming up with the basis for my characters is one of my favourite things about story planning.


I wanted to share with you a moment I had just this week. I was on the tube and looked up and opposite me were four girls, none of whom knew each other. What struck me was how different they all were, from what they were wearing to how they were sat. Their legs alone told such a huge story about who they were! I ended up snapping a sneaky photograph and on my walk to work I began to wonder about who these four girls were, where they were heading and why. Their characters came to me and then I started wondering about what would happen if they never reached their destination. A whole story idea came to me which I wrote down as soon as I got into work. And it was all based on just looking up and seeing these four sets of legs!


So my biggest idea for coming up with the basics is to open your eyes and question everything. Let the people around you inspire you. Read them for all their stereotypes and then break those stereotypes away to make them unexpected and interesting.

  Img Src
Moodboarding & Visuals.Once I have the basics down, I'll moodboard. I use Pinterest and WeHeartIt for this, but I'll start building up an idea of who my character is. What do they wear, where do they shop, what do they put in their hair? What does their bedroom look like? What do they carry in their bag? I think about all of this and put them together to form an overview of a person.
If you want to practice, make one for yourself first! Create a moodboard that gives your friends a snapshot of who you are.
This is mine, and I made one for my two main characters from AGCW here. 



If you have budget you can also find artists on Instagram or Fiverr and give them a description of a character. Let them design your character for you and bring it to life in a way you may not have imagined before. I did this with my first book, Enmity, which you can see here.


Their Voice.The voice is something that can really make or break a character. The first time I read a really strong, defined voice was Holden Caulfield  Catcher in the Rye. It really stuck out. Then it happened again, reading Looking For Alaska. Every character, Alaska, Pudge and The Colonel all had such distinct and strong voices.
The last book I read where I loved the voice and dialogue was The Hate U Give.
Think about your character's dialect and lexicon. Where are they from, how did they grow up, where did they go to school and how has this affected how they speak?
This was something I thought about a lot in AGCW, because I wanted Cooper to sound more introverted and educated, whilst Whisper was much more urban and streetwise.

Getting 3-DimensionalThe best piece of advice my editor gave me was to always make sure each character's goal is center-front, and don't forget it. When I wrote and finished Amity, Enmity's sequel, the main reason the story didnt' work was because I had written Maia without a goal, and she was aimless throughout the story. This is why Amity was scrapped, and is now being entirely re-plotted. (Sorry!)

Thinking about all the character backgrounds, even if they don't come up in the story at all, will really help when thinking about how they react to situations. Everyone reacts differently.
For example, Cooper would clench his fists when nervous, Whisper would chew her lip, and Prince would smoke. Everyone has their differences and it's important to think about where they've come from.
Body language is just as important when making sure your character writing is 3-dimensional.
Here is a character worksheet I found on Pinterest which helps when thinking about your character goals.



I hope this helped. Happy writing!

Love,
C x 

I opened a bookish t-shirt shop!

Hello Readers & Friends,

I have a super exciting update for you today. I have launched a t-shirt shop!
Yes, I know this seems random, but I have some backstory.
Actually, not too much backstory other than I love fashion and the struggle has been real when trying to find cute, bookish t-shirts.



There are so few places to buy cute, aesthetic merch that isn't tacky or brash. I don't want cheapy looking vinyl graphics planted on a bright red t-shirt, and the few that I've found have been sold in the US, meaning that by the time I've added on shipping it's costing me about £30 for a t-shirt. It's madness!



So I took a little time researching production places. I don't have the time or the facilities to make my own products, and I eventually found a good UK-based company that print t-shirts on demand, so every time someone orders a tee it will get shipped out to them by my producers. I'm really hoping that when orders start coming in the company is able to get them sent out nice and smoothly and there aren't any hiccups!



The designs have been created by myself, and obviously, I'm not a designer. I've just created things I would like to wear, and hoped that you guys will too. My designs for this reason are very basic and minimal, which suits my taste to a tee (pun intended) anyway.

I want to make sure that there's price ranges for everyone, so I start from the very basics and then work up to higher quality made from recycled and organic fabrics. I hope that you guys can find something you like, and if not then let me know what you want to see! I'm happy to create styles that are requested. The only thing I'm not doing is creating things for fandoms I hate, because I'm trying to keep it real :( So I know everyone in the world loves Caraval, but I won't be making a Caraval t-shirt anytime soon because for me this isn't about profit. It's just about making cute stuff I can wear and sharing the option for other people to have it, too.



On this note it's important to say I won't be quitting my job and making a living off this anytime soon. The production compay I have paired with set their base price for each style, which includes the trouble they go to with printing and shipping out to all you lovely customers. I have only added on the smallest amount to these t-shirts to balance out the cost of hosting on Etsy to sell. I wanted to keep them a reasonable price for everyone and as I said, I'm not a designer, I'm working with very basic online design programmes and just trying to make cute things for myself to wear. If you guys love them too, that's just a bonus!


This post features images of my current favourite, my Antisocial Reading Club t-shirt.  I unfortunately don't get free products to send out to influencers or even for myself, so I'll be ordering more of my designs as and when I can to photograph them and continue checking quality. As of right now I only own my favourite handful and will be posting images of them soon :)

Hope you love them as much as I do, and please feel free to send me design/fandom suggestions! It's all quite Grishaverse-heavy right now!

Find Your Favourite

Goodbye, Summer | Playlist & Moodboard

Hello Readers & Friends,

I was inspired by this blog post by my Bookstagram friend, Tara, for today's post.
I loved her idea of pulling together a moodboard and playlist, and hers was really beautiful. The perfect way to share an of-the-moment feeling with your readers.

Obviously, Autumn is my favourite time of year, but it's too sunny in London at the moment for that type of post. So I figured instead I would do a goodbye to summer ode. Perfect for listening to with a great book.

Here are some of my favourite cosy summer reads to accompany this playlist, stories that are playful, fun, easy and lighthearted with a little romance:
1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
2. The Selection by Kiera Cass
3. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
5. Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella

The Playlist
Vibes - Upbeat, mellow, relaxed and acoustic.



Open Road by Roo Panes - This makes me think of dogwalks through fields
Us by Regina Spektor - Obviously I discovered this song in 500 Days of Summer, one of my favourite movies.  What better film title for this playlist?
Summer by Jose Vanders - Jose Vanders doesn't even exist any more. I discovered her on Youtube like a decade ago and this song just makes me think of summer romances and happiness.
There She Goes by the LAs - A classic! I have no clue why, perhaps it was featured in a film scene (?) but it makes me think of walking down the street with an ice cream?! It was also in The Parent Trap and Gilmore Girls, both of which make me think of happy, summery thoughts.
Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton - I associate this with summer because of the music video. It's got Vanessa in a summer field playing piano and surrounded by couples on picnic blankets. It builds really nicely to a really uplifting crescendo.
Made Up Love Song #43 by The Guillemots - This will always be one of my favourite songs. I discovered it when I was 16 at college, and it was summer at the time. I basically listened to it on repeat that entire summer so I have really nice and happy sun-filled memories attached to this song.
Wool by Korantemaa - Another Youtube artist who writes amazing acoustic music. A little slower of a song but it reminds me of summer evenings and bonfires.
Party Tattoos by Dodie - Another summer evening song with a slightly slower melody. Think evening's out on a porch looking out to a field of flowers with a notebook.
In The Middle by Dodie - A song about being young, dumb and having a good time which is what the end of summer is all about.
Times Like These by A&J - I always associate this with happy summer memories because it's the song Acacia Kersey wrote with her husband to announce their first pregnancy. It was a home-video style film of all their happy sunshine days.
She's Got You High by Mumm-ra - When I was 16 I went to my first music festival, Reading, and listened to this song on repeat in the summer months leading up to it as I was so excited to hear it live. Reading Festival is at the end of August, so it always makes me think of summer coming to a happy close.

What's your favourite end-of-summer song?
Love,
C x 


** I do not own the images in the collage, they were all sourced on Pinterest. **

10k Followers | Ten All-Time Favourite Books

Hello Readers & Friends,

I can't believe this. We hit 10k followers!
When I started blogging and bookstagramming I never, ever thought we would grow this fast in just a year, but here we are! (If you want tips on growing your IG, I did a post here to help.)

To honour this momentous occasion, I thought I'd go over all the books on my GoodReads (I only joined GR last year as well, so it's not every book I've ever read but all the main ones I could remember) and list my top ten.

I'm going to count series and duologies as a single entity, because narrowing it down to 10 favourite books will be too difficult otherwise. How people have only one favourite, I'll never know.
So, here we go. Naturally, all of these I gave 5 stars to. In no particular order...

1. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline Described in one sentence: Set in the future, everyone lives in the Oasis, an online virtual world. The founder dies, leaving his legacy to whoever finds the golden egg first, and a race begings.
Why it's a favourite: Dystopian world, virtual reality, 70s references, corrupt government... this book has all my favourite themes all rolled into one.

2. On Writing, by Stephen KingDescribed in one sentence: Stephen King's memoir with a heavy dose of inspiration, advice and motivation for wannabe writers.
Why it's a favourite: I was given this from my dad as a gift and straight after I finished it, I started my first novel. Needless to say, it really inspired me.

3. Noughts & Crosses, by Malorie BlackmanDescribed in one sentence: A world where classic race divisions are flipped, where whites are fighting oppression and two young friends find themselves being forced apart.
Why it's a favourite: This is the first book I ever remember reading that made me cry. It really hit home for me.


4. Lolita, by Vladimir NobakovDescribed in one sentence: An adult tendant begins a relationship with his landlady's 12 year old daughter, Lolita.
Why it's a favourite: It's use of metaphors is incredible, and it really makes you think. It plunged into a taboo subject equisitely, and is controversial in all the right ways.


5. Starry Eyes, by Jenn BennettDescribed in one sentence: A girl goes on a camping trip and ends up stuck with the last person she wants to be stuck with.
Why it's a favourite: It's a heart-on-your-sleeve teen romance, easy to read, fun and uplifting.
 6. Animal Farm, by George OrwellDescribed in one sentence: Animals on a farm begin to form hierarchies and laws after overthrowing their farmer.
Why it's a favourite: I just love the politics behind the idea, and the twist ending. It's just so creative and intelligent.

7. Harry Potter, by J.K RowlingDescribed in one sentence: The greatest series of all time, you all know what it's about.
Why it's a favourite: Why would it not be?

8. The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra ClareDescribed in one sentence: A young girl discovers she is a shadowhunter, and is thrown into a world of demons and angels.
Why it's a favourite: I'm a sucker for the supernatural parties, the sappy romance and the witty dialogue in this series. It's my favourite of the Shadowhunter lines.


9. Six of Crows, by Leigh BardugoDescribed in one sentence: A band of criminals are forced to break into the world's most dangerous fortress.
Why it's a favourite: The writing and dialogue are great, but it's the characters that make this book a winner for me. They are the best group of characters I've ever read.

10. The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie KinsellaDescribed in one sentence: A high-flying lawyer f*cks up royally and runs away, pretending to be a house cleaner to escape her old life.
Why it's a favourite: I read this when I was at school and nearly cried with laughter. I always remember it for that reason alone.


What are some of your favourites?

Love,
C x

YALC Haul: 2019

Hello Readers & Friends,

It's a little late, but I finally have my YALC book haul to share with you all.
I went with Bronte and we both ended up with sore backs from carrying such a heavy load around all day. I'm really happy though - nearly all the books I purchased were on my TBR anyway and because we went on the Sunday, many of the stalls were offering great deals and promotions.

For anyone who hasn't been to YALC before, it's the Young Adult Literature Convention in London. It's always quite an intense and tiring day, but you always get some great book deals and it's a good opportunity to network with publishers, agents and other bookish folk.


Last time I went, I got so overexcited I took every freebie going and finished up with a bunch of things I didn't want or need that ended up in my recycling bin, so this time I was more selective. The only three samplers I picked up were Gemma's Not Sure which was mostly because the girl at the stall was nice to me and I felt awkward saying no haha.
I picked up Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett because she's one of my favourite YA Contemporary authors, Starry Night and Night Owls are two of my favourites. And, of course, I was super excited to get The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black, the third in her Cruel Prince series which I eagerly await with baited breath.

Speaking of The Cruel Prince, as for prints, my beautiful Jude and Cardan print pictured on the right here was free at the Fairyloot stall, which I was really excited about as they are two of my favourite characters so I may frame it for my reading room. And then we found a lovely artist on the comic con floor who did such cute little prints. This one at the top of the picture was my favourite, and luckily she had one left in her bargain bucket so I picked up a little ghost girl. I've actually messaged her and commissioned her because I loved her style so much.

ONTO THE BOOKS.

S.T.A.G.S by M.A Bennett Nine students. Three blood sports. One deadly weekend.
 I hadn't heard of this book before, but the girl who described it was very enthusiastic and did a great job selling it in. It sounded a bit like Hunger Games, where a group of rich elitist kids hunt the outcasts from their school. Right up my street, I love a bit of teenage murder.

Queen of Ruin by Tracy BanghartI got Grace & Fury in a Fairyloot box last year and really enjoyed it. I somehow missed the release of the sequel, so was happy to pick this up. In the first book we follow two sisters, one who is selected to be a Grace - a depiction of the perfect woman beside the heir of the throne. The other finds herself thrown on an island of female prisoners who must fight to the death to survive. (Again, Hunger Games-esque.) I'm excited to read the sequel to see how the story progresses.

Heartless by Marissa MyerAlice in Wonderland was one of my favourites growing up. It's just so weird and scary and trippy. So when I read the back of this book and saw it was a twisted retelling, I thought I'd give it a go. The only other thing I've read by Myer was Cinder, which I gave a dissapointed 2 stars to. I'm not giving up on Myer just yet, as I know she's a popular author. I figured Heartless was a good chance to redeem her in my Goodreads ratings.


Penguin Bingable BoxsetThis is a compilation of the first few chapters from 50 different YA books by Penguin. I think this will be a great little taster before deciding which books I should add next to my TBR. This was free, of course :)

Siege & Storm / Ruin & Rising by Leigh BardugoI didn't love Shadow & Bone as much as Bardugo's more recent works, but I still want to finish the trilogy! Of course it's the beginning of Bardugo's Grishaverse series, where a young girl finds out she is a sun-caster. As a result, her world is tipped upside down and she has to learn how to survive amongst the powerful magical Grisha.


The Language of Thorns by Leigh BardugoA collection of short stories, beautifully illustrated, by Leigh Bardugo. I don't usually read short stories but I'd buy Bardugo's dirty bathwater if she was selling it.

Six of Crows collectible edition by Leigh BardugoWe all know how I feel about this duology.  I had wanted the collector's edition for a while as it has the beautiful illustrations inside, and it was on a great discount at YALC so I was super excited to pick it up. The collectors edition of Crooked Kingdom is out next month, so I'll be sure to complete my set when it's released! For those of you who have missed my constant plugging, the Six of Crows is about a group of ruthless criminals forced to undergo a great heist, set in the Grishaverse.


The Binding by Bridget CollinsThis was the first book of the day I bought, and obviously I'm just a sucker for a pretty cover. It's about a magical book binder who leaves secrets, memories and past stories locked away within his magical books. One day, he finds a book with his own name on it though, and uncovers a dark secret. I was hooked. I can't remember the second title, but the girl definitely described it as a cross between Harry Potter and something else, so I was on board straight away.


Obviously, Leigh Bardugo is a favourite of mine.
Anyway, it was a great day and I can't wait to get some of these read.  Did any of you guys go to YALC?

Love,
C x