Hey guys! Welcome to my stop on the Freshers blog tour. This book is hilarious and so much fun and I'm so excited to have Tom and Lucy on the blog today! Here's Tom and Lucy's offering for today! As soon as we started writing FRESHERS, we knew we wanted to go back to York university.  We spent three years there between 2001-2004 (Lucy) and 2002-2005 (Tom), and we knew that if we wanted to write a realistic campus novel, we had to go back to the campus we'd once called home. So, back in February 2016, we did. Here's a photo of Lucy reminiscing outside the big central hall building (which features quite a bit in FRESHERS).  While we were on campus, we managed to sneak into our old corridors and have a look around, and it was comforting (and horrifying) to find out that students today are still as gross as we were back in 2001/2002. The corridors were sticky and smelly, and the kitchens were basically pasta-sauce-spattered bomb sites. We also s...

Hey guys! I'm so excited today to share this guest post from author Katy Cannon, whose new book And Then We Ran publishes this week! I've read and really enjoyed this book (see previous post for a review!) and I'm sure you guys will too! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sometimes it feels like the world runs on coincidence. There are 365 days in a year, and slightly fewer people in my immediate family, and yet we all seem to end up sharing birthdays. My childhood best friend and maid of honour never actually saw me get married, as she gave birth on the morning of my wedding day. Wherever I travel in the world I always end up bumping into someone from home. And then there’s my friend James. James has three gorgeous children with his wonderful, patient and generally awesome partner. They’re very happy. But James has always said - ever since I met him over twenty years ago - that he would never get married. He didn’t need a piece of paper to make him commit, a wedding was a waste ...

Title:  Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines Author:  Katy Cannon Series:   Companion to Love, Lies and Lemon Pies Pages:   368 Publisher:  Stripes Publishing Date of Publication:  2nd February 2015 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: Grace: This was supposed to be Grace’s starring year, until she opened the door to a family secret that changed everything. Now she’s stuck making costumes in Sewing Club and watching someone else play the lead role – unless she can find a way to win it back. Connor: Far from home and exiled to a new school, all Connor wants is to keep a low profile and get through the year. But agreeing to help his step-dad out with the school play means he’s soon caught up in Grace’s schemes. Grace had a plan for this year – and it didn’t involve learning to sew. But being out of the spotlight isn’t the disaster she imagined, even if Connor is convinced she’s still a diva extraordinaire. Can ...

Title:  Belzhar Author:  Meg Wolitzer Series:   n/a Pages: 266 Publisher:  Simon and Schuster Children's Date of Publication: 1st October, 2014 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: If life were fair, Jam Gallahue would still be at home in New Jersey with her sweet British boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield. She’d be watching old comedy sketches with him. She’d be kissing him in the library stacks. She certainly wouldn’t be at The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in rural Vermont, living with a weird roommate, and signed up for an exclusive, mysterious class called Special Topics in English. But life isn’t fair, and Reeve Maxfield is dead. Until a journal-writing assignment leads Jam to Belzhar, where the untainted past is restored, and Jam can feel Reeve’s arms around her once again. But there are hidden truths on Jam’s path to reclaim her loss. My thoughts: When I got back from holiday and found Belzhar waiting f...

Title:  Eren Author:  Simon P Clark Series:   n/a Pages:   208 Publisher: Constable & Robinson Date of Publication: 18th September, 2014 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: People are keeping secrets from Oli - about where his father is, and why he hasn't come to join them at his uncle's house in the country. But Oli has secrets too. He knows what lives in the attic. Eren - part monster, part dream, part myth. Eren who always seems so interested, who always wants to hear more about Oli's life. Eren, who needs to hear stories to live, and will take them from Oli, no matter the cost. My Thoughts: I purposely did not read up about Eren before I started reading it, in order to avoid any preconceptions or expectations. I went in to the novel knowing very little, just knowing that it was a story about stories. I think that this made the book better for me - I enjoyed the mystery and the intrigue, so to keep that ...

Hey everyone! Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick, which is the novelisation of the hugely successful Lizzie Bennet Diaries webseries on YouTube! If you haven't watched them yet, you simply must, for they are BRILLIANT! You can watch the first video below or on the Lizzie Bennet website itself, and enter a giveaway to win one of five copies of the book . Synopsis from Goodreads: Based on the Emmy Award–winning YouTube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Twenty‑four‑year‑old grad student Lizzie Bennet is saddled with student loan debt and still living at home along with her two sisters—beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. When she records her reflections on life for her thesis project and posts them on YouTube, she has no idea The Lizzie Bennet Diaries will soon take on a life of their own, turning the Bennet sisters into internet celebrities seemingly overnight. When rich and handsome Bing Lee comes to town,...

Hello! Today I have a great guest post from Sarah Alderson telling us all about her favourite things, as part of the blog tour for  Out of Control , Sarah's her latest novel for young adults. The book's out now and I'm halfway through - I definitely recommend that you pick it up. I hope you enjoy the guest post! __________ My favourite things… Favourite City… New York! Where Out of Control is set. I love the food, the energy, the fashion, the characters, the smell. I love the village and I love Brooklyn. I love how many nationalities there are there and how intense it is. Favourite book… this changes all the time. This year it would have to be The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I adored it. Also Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. She always blows me away with her writing. Favourite TV show… Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s so brilliantly written. I just adored it. It was also one of the first shows to depict a really awesome female protagonist who knew ho...

Welcome to my stop on the Countdown to 5th June blog tour! Today I've got an interview (with a twist!) from Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison, authors of LOBSTERS, which, just like all the other books featured on the blog tour, is coming out on 5th June! I've been lucky enough to read it already and it's FAB and so funny, and this post will give you a taste of what to expect from the book itself (you can also read an extract here ).   I gave the authors five awkward situations that one might find oneself in at some point. Each author wrote an answer, sharing how they would react. You fall over in public. There is underwear on show. Everyone saw, but no one helps you. What do you do? LUCY: Style it out. Pretend you totally meant to fall over. Roll around on the pavement a bit for good measure... and then when there is a lull in spectators get up and RUN. TOM: Jump up immediately and start confidently speaking to an imaginary cameraman 'hiding' in t...

Hey everyone! Sorry I've not been posting much, again... Anyway, today I've got another awesome guest post from Katie Dale to celebrate her new book, Little White Lies ! __________ LITTLE WHITE LIES Gorgeous Christian is a mystery. Why does he dye his hair, clam up whenever Lou asks about his past, and have no family photos? But when Christian’s secret is publicly revealed, Lou finds herself in terrible danger – and keeping secrets of her own… As lie follows lie, nothing is as it seems, and soon Lou finds herself ensnared in a web of deceit, her loyalties torn, her emotions in tatters as she faces a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she shatter the lives of those she holds dearest, or betray the guy who, against all odds, she's fallen in love with? LITTLE WHITE LIES by Katie Dale Published by Simon & Schuster UK August 2013 Website: katiedaleuk.blogspot.com Twitter: @katiedaleuk __________ A lot of things that have happened in my life have somehow ma...

Hey everyone! Today I have an excerpt from Spy Society by Robin Benway for you to read, which is publishing tomorrow by Simon and Schuster in the UK. Hope you enjoy! It's a really great book. __________ Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . al...

Title:  Spy Society Author:  Robin Benway Series:   Also Known As, #1 Pages:   320 Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Books Date of Publication:  18th July 2013 Source:  Publisher* Synopsis from Goodreads: Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential ...

Hello! Today I have an awesome blog post from the author of The Hanged Man Rises , Sarah Naughton, talking about ghosts! Do you believe in ghosts, and can you still be scared of things you don't believe in? __________ When their parents are killed in a fire, Titus Adams and his little sister Hannah are left to fend for themselves in the cruel and squalid slums of Victorian London. Taking shelter with his friend and saviour, Inspector Pilbury, Titus should feel safe. But though the inspector has just caught and hung a notorious child-murderer, the murders haven't stopped. Now everyone is a suspect, even the inspector himself, and unless Titus can find a way to end the killings, he will lose all that is dear to him. For this evil cannot be contained, even by death. __________ The Hanged Man Rises is my first book and it’s about two of my favourite things: London and ghosts.  London’s an old city and it has a lot of ghosts: you’re walking their streets, trav...

Hello! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts! It's the second book in the awesome Dark Inside series , and today I have a guest post from Jeyn for you to read. It's her imaginary cast for the four main characters in the book: Mason, Aries, Clementine and Michael! I think she's picked great actors and actresses for the parts, and I can't wait to hear what you think about each one! __________ After the earthquakes came the infectious rage, turning friends into deadly enemies. For survivors Michael, Aries, Mason and Clementine the battle to stay alive is about to get even tougher. The new world is organising itself, with camps that promise protection for the uninfected. But the reality of the sites is far more sinister. Besides, nobody is safe from the rage within their own soul... __________ Cast List Mason - Jeremy Irvine There’s just something about this guy’s expression that screams Mason to me. He's got a very ...

Title:  Rage Within Author:  Jeyn Roberts Series:  Dark Inside, #2 Pages:  406 Publisher:  Macmillan Date of Publication:  30th August 2012 Source:  Publisher* Synopsis from Goodreads: After the earthquakes came the infectious rage, turning friends into deadly enemies. For survivors Michael, Aries, Mason and Clementine the battle to stay alive is about to get even tougher. The new world is organising itself, with camps that promise protection for the uninfected. But the reality of the sites is far more sinister. Besides, nobody is safe from the rage within their own soul... "The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy." ~ John Green  My Thoughts: Rage Within was very different to Dark Inside . It was still the same series, obviously, but the super frightening action of the first book was replaced by a more subtle and creepy undertone in Rage Within . The characters are hiding from the Baggers, and they risk their lives ev...

Hey! Welcome to my stop of the blog tour for Debutantes  by Cora Harrison! I have a great guest post from the author herself, and I've also posted my review here. (will link once posted!) __________ It’s 1923 and London is a whirl of jazz, dancing and parties. Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away. Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the perfect Debutante, so that she can go to London and catch the eye of Prince George, the most eligible bachelor in the country. But a house as big and old as Beech Grove Manor hides many secrets, and Daisy is about to uncover one so huge it could ruin all their plans—ruin everything—forever. _______...

Title:  Debutantes Author:  Cora Harrison Series: N/A Pages:   320 Publisher:  MacMillan Children's Books Date of Publication:  2nd August 2012 Source:  Publisher* Synopsis from Goodreads: It’s 1923 and London is a whirl of jazz, dancing and parties. Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away. Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the perfect Debutante, so that she can go to London and catch the eye of Prince George, the most eligible bachelor in the country. But a house as big and old as Beech Grove Manor hides many secrets, and Daisy is about to uncover one so huge it could ruin all their plans—ruin ev...