YALC 2015 Line-Up Reaction

So, unless you've been living under a rock these past few months, you will know that YALC is back for 2015! The ace Booktrust team have been announcing the authors on the line up in stages, but now the full line up has finally been revealed. Here's what I'm really excited about: 

• Malorie Blackman - I worship at the shrine that is Malorie, so not only am I incredibly excited that YALC is back under her steerage, I'm very happy to see she will be actively taking part again. Is it wrong to have her sign all my signed copies again? 

• Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison- I set out to read the whole YA Book Prize Shortlist this year and made it to 6, Lobsters being one of them. I think it's absolutely wonderful and does a great job at capturing what it is to be a teenager. Can't think of better attendees for a Young Adult event than these two... excited to hear news about their new projects too. 

• Moira Fowley-Doyle- The Accident Season's tarot card teasers were incredibly intriguing and to say I'm curious about Moira and this book is an understatement.. 

Were you lucky enough to receive one of these in the post today? #accidentseason by @moirawithatrema pic.twitter.com/W7vXhJowqC
— Random House Kids UK (@RHKidsUK) January 9, 2015

• Alexia Casale - I attended Alexia's workshop on finding your voice last year and (what I could hear of it) was really great and insightful. The YALC team have learned from last year and have said they've sourced separate rooms at the new Olympia location to hold these workshops in. I literally couldn't be happier with this news so hopefully another fantastic Alexia workshop is on the cards. 

• Alice Oseman & Samantha Shannon - a young author panel perhaps... intriguing. Check out Lucy at Queen of Contemporary's post on young authors (there's hope for us all yet).

• Non Pratt - I became familiar with Non through this year's YA Book Prize and Trouble has swiftly become one of my favourite contemporary YA's of all time. She is also a boss at Twitter and makes me die from laughter on public transport on a near daily basis.   

@Rachel90Kennedy pic.twitter.com/6yMKulHUoX
— Non Pratt (@NonPratt) April 23, 2015

• Louise O'Neill - Winner of the inaugural YA Book Prize, Louise is a champion of women's rights, body image and all things feminist. I'm hoping she's going to take part in a girl power style panel on self-love and self-worth. 

• Siobhan Curham - After the whole Zoella ghostwriter thing, I'm really looking forward to learning more about Siobhan and her work. 

• Lisa Williamson & Melinda Salisbury - I saw both these ladies at Oxford on a panel together and they were both ace. I was hoping to wait to buy a copy of The Art of Being Normal in paperback but I just won't be able to hold off after seeing Lisa speak so well again. And Mel is just so endearing, I wanted to give her a hug the whole last time I saw her. Looking forward to these two! 

• Lucy Saxon - Lucy was at YALC last year doing a panel on fandoms, and she cosplayed as Captain America. I'm counting on Lucy to lead the cosplayers this year - I'm already considering my Twylla/Melissandre/Scarlett Witch outfit... 

• Laura Dockrill - Particularly excited about this one and can't wait to get my grubby mits on a copy of Lorali!  I got to hang out with Laura while doing some work experience (we had the best curry I've ever had in Aberystwyth) and I can't wait to hear her speak again. Her energy is so infectious and her lipstick and wardrobe so eye-popping, she's sure to be a highlight. She might even cosplay, if the rumours are to be believed. 

• Carrie Hope Fletcher - I have been a Hopeful for a while now having discovered Carrie through Alex Day's channel back in the day. Anyone who doesn't know of Carrie or why she is YALC material, just watch below! Vloggers will take over the world! 

• Cassandra Clare - Need I Say More?! Gah!!! So excited! I saw her at Hay last year and everyone in the line was covered in Runes. I'm sure YALC will be no different, I'll bring the Sharpies! 

And last but certainly not least, I take huge pleasure in finally being able to say that Judy Blume will be at YALC this year! Fangirl to the extreme. Judy is one of the pioneering authors who carved out a teen book scene. She's incredibly inspiring, just listen to her here talking about her reading experiences as a kid. 

I am also incredibly fortunate that the PR agency I work for is handling the publicity for Judy's new adult book In the Unlikely Event. So with my YALC tickets already booked, I might even be lucky enough to escort Judy to the convention, and I might just die a little bit *fingers crossed she doesn't see this because that's embarrassingly uncool* 

And with all the other amazing authors attending, I can't wait to discover some great new voices and stories. A huge congrats to Malorie and Booktrust for creating such an incredible line-up! Bring on July! 

So who's going to YALC then? Who are you excited about seeing? 

Can't wait to see you all there! 

Review: The Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Lie #1: I'm not afraid. Lie #2: I'm sure I'm doing the right thing. Lie# 3: I don't care what they think of me. 

It's 1959. The battle for civil rights is raging. And it's Sarah's first day of school as one of the first black students at previously all-white Jefferson High. No one wants Sarah there. And certainly not the students - especially Linda, daughter of the town's most ardent segregationist. 

Sarah and Linda are supposed to despise each other. But the more time they spend together, the less their differences matter. And both girls start to feel something they've never felt before. Something they're determined to ignore. Because it's one thing to stand up to an unjust world - but another to be terrified of what's in your own heart. 

First off, my expectations going into reading this were quite high. I had heard a lot about it over Twitter and it was being picked out by booksellers in most of the Waterstones I went into. I'm also a huge fan of Noughts and Crosses and always seek to read something that affected me in that way. Growing up in a small, very rural part of the world, O&X's unique look at race touched me very deeply and made me think hard about the world. I was hoping for a similar experience with The Lies We Tell Ourselves. I won't say I was disappointed, but it didn't quite deliver the hard-hitting punch I wanted it to. 

Reading The Lies We Tell Ourselves was a similar experience to watching Remember the Titans for me: entertaining, interesting and touching at times, but not earth-shattering. It made me aware of what happened during segregation (not that I wasn't before) but it didn't have anything new to give, even with the LGBT element. It's not as powerful as I wanted it to be, but it was a very engaging and page-turning read. 

A lot of that is down to the dual narrative that flips back between Sarah and Linda. Their comparative experiences keeps the plot fresh and quick, despite the fact that I thought their voices weren't overly distinct. That said, there were shining moments for them, such as Sarah's insightful thought that 'Being good means being invisible." This is something that stood out to me as quite astute, as an eldest child myself. 

I did also enjoy the early development of Linda and Sarah's relationship, the animosity they had at the start and the barbed conversations between them were lovely. I really enjoyed watching Sarah break down all Linda's pre-conceptions and seeing Sarah let go of her carefully cultivated control. The same cannot be said for the later stages of their romance which to me seemed very convenient and tidy for a story that was so tumultuous. *Spoiler* their ride of into the sunset on a white horse/greyhound just didn't gel with the rest of the high-stakes goings on for me.  

I did like that the story ends with Ruth's voice. It makes it nicely clear that this isn't just one person's story of struggle and that just because it ends happily in Sarah's case doesn't mean the same for everyone else. It adds a bit of needed bitterness and uncertainty to the oddly Disney-like ending to Sarah and Linda's story. 

There are some production hangups that I can't quite seem to get over as well, mainly because they pulled me out of the story i.e. the small, cramped typeface and the odd additions of illustrations. Also the strange mix of American and UK English. The cover uses coloured while the rest of the book uses colored, a rather odd choice in my book... Or not my book as the case may be. 

Although this review may read negatively, I did actually really enjoy The Lies We Tell Ourselves. It's right up my taste street as I love anything that explores race in an interesting and tasteful way, which this certainly did. I have some criticisms about story, and definitely about the ending, but it is a good, interesting read and I would recommend it. Though I won't go shouting about it. 

I bought this book at Waterstones. Learn more about the book and buy here. 

#TeamSalvage - Keren David Author Q&A

(Collect 1 SchemeScav Point!)

On the run up to the YA Book Prize, I set myself the task of reading as many of the shortlisted books as possible. To date I have made it to 5 (Half Wild, Lobsters, Trouble, Only Ever Yours and obviously Salvage). Not too bad an effort in my books...

Salvage is the one that had the deepest effect on me. This is mainly because:
- I am part-adopted
- I have never met the biological other half of my 'family'
- It is something that I have been mildly curious about over the years
- I identified very strongly with Cass' middle class, good girl persona

I was lucky to meet Keren at the UKYA Extravaganza a few weeks back. At that stage I was only about 50 pages into Salvage, but I was already very interested to have a conversation with Keren about adoption, foster care and what inspired this book. Keren said she was particularly interested to hear my views on it as she had not yet heard a reaction from someone who was adopted. I promised her I would get in touch with my thoughts, and she was kind enough to answer some of my questions. 
So here is our Q&A: 

1. What inspired you to write about adoption and foster care in Salvage?

I read an article in a newspaper about birth families contacting adopted teenagers through Facebook, and immediately thought it was a very interesting subject to explore, but that it would be difficult to write because of all the different viewpoints involved. So I filed it away to think about and wrote a different book (Another Life). Then I was watching my son play football, and talking to another mum of one of his teammates, and she said 'I know what you should write about,' and it was the same idea. It turned out that she was a social worker specialising in adoption, so the perfect person to brief me about the issues involved. 

I'd wanted to write about foster care for a long time, since I was a journalist on The Independent. It seemed to me that so many social issues that we covered -  crime, homelessness, abuse -  had their roots in the poor standard of care that looked-after children often suffered. 

2. What research went into Salvage?

 I talked to my friend the social worker, and to another friend who had adopted her daughter. I read a wonderful book  Family Secrets by Deborah Cohen which includes a history of attitudes towards adoption in the UK. I read a lot about children in care and children coming out of care.  I also watched several excellent television documentaries about adoption.

3. Having not interviewed any foster children, did you have any concerns when writing from Aidan's point of view?

I found Aidan very easy to write. I needed him to have a basic core of love and hope  which hadn't come from his early life, so I gave him wonderful, loving long-term foster parents who cared for him from the age of 8 to 12.  I thought this would also show the positive side of being in care, which should happen for all such children.  Almost everything about Aidan stems from his fragmented upbringing, from his outer charm, to his conviction that happiness can't last. He's damaged, but salvageable. 

I think if I had interviewed foster children I would have got concerned about telling their stories and not Aidan's.

4. From my reading, Aidan has a slight victim mentality, whereas his boss has more of a 'get on with it' outlook. What do you think of these two different reactions to being in care?

Oooh...well, they were different ages, I suppose. Maybe Clive was more like Aidan when he was 18. Clive had had longer to get a grip on his life, build his own family and business, and put the past behind him. Aidan was only two years out of care, and struggling. I liked the way Clive tried to help kids coming out of care by giving them a helping hand and a bit of guidance. He was doing a lot for Aidan -  a job, somewhere to live, driving lessons, and, at the end, encouraging him to do an accounting course.  My hope for Aidan is that in thirty years' time he'll be a bit like Clive -  a successful business -  maybe as an accountant - a secure family, a nice home and no more drinking.  And then he'd be strong enough to help kids coming out of the care system in his turn. 

5. What are your personal feelings about the adoption/foster care system in the UK?

I think the child's needs should be at the centre of any decisions made about its future. Sometimes children get caught in the court system for years, and miss out on the chance of a new family.  For some children though, long term foster care is a better option. Children and parents need a lot of support, pre and post adoption. 

6. If you found out you had a mystery sibling like Cass and Aidan, would you seek them out?

I wouldn't be able to resist.

7. Any other personal comments you have that don't fit into these questions about adoption and foster care.

Salvage opened up so many questions for me about families, and how we build them. I ended up caring so much about Aidan and Cass and all the other characters -  it was difficult to stop myself writing a completely unrealistic sentimental Hollywood ending! I really hope Aidan -  and all kids like him -  gets their happy-ever-after. 

So as you may be able to tell, reading Salvage was a very personal experience for me. The story really hit home for me, particularly the idea of extended families getting in touch and what you open yourself up to. In way of a mini review, I really enjoyed the dual narrative, Aidan's very believable characterisation of someone with no self-esteem and the never contrived or forced portrayal of family dynamics. I have to admit, I wasn't as sold on the ending or on Neil's character but overall I loved Salvage. Although I have never been in the same experience as these characters, I really feel that Keren hit the nail on the head with the mood, voice and that intangible 'rightness' that all the book I really enjoy have. 

So ahead of tomorrow's announcement of YA Book Prize Winner, I have my fingers crossed for Keren and Salvage! 

                                                                                                             

The First Ever UKYAExtravaganza!

So on Saturday 28th Feb I attended the first ever UKYA Extravaganza at Waterstones Birmingham, organised by the formidable Kerry Drewery and Emma Pass. There was a staggering collection of 33 authors with an avid audience of bloggers, vloggers, booksellers, librarians and book enthusiasts of all kinds. 

First off, thank you to @LibwithAttitude for my ticket. I missed out on the sale of tickets, but Lib sadly couldn't attend so she was very kind to send it on to me, with a lovely little note too. My phone died so no tweets, but this write up is for you Lib, and George who I also promised tweets. My bad... 

Sadly I missed the first half hour (traffic in Birmingham... quel nightmare!) but lovely Jim from YAYeahYeah caught me up. There format of the event was mini panels of 5 authors and one minute each to  summarise their books, followed by a Q&A. According to Jim, the first panel attempted short readings each, but it soon became clear this wouldn't work. Which was a shame, because I would have been keen to hear more from all the authors. If the event were to be repeated, I personally think it could have done with either being smaller or longer, giving more time to each author. I really won't complain though, because it was brilliant to hear about so many fantastic books and meet so many booklovers. 

If like me, you looked at the line up and saw amazing authors you'd heard of but never picked up, here were some of my highlights and new discoveries: 

Books I brought along with me

Keren David, author of Salvage 

I am slowly but surely making my way through the YA Book Prize Shortlist, so Keren was the only author I had read before this point. Salvage is the story of Cass and Aidan, brother and sister separated by an adoption. On a personal note, I was adopted by one of my parents and I do not know anything, by choice, about the other side of my parentage. So this subject is very close to me, whilst also being something that I have not really thought much about which makes it a weird but really provoking read for me. I am currently 50 pages in, and I'm really enjoying it thus far. 

Lovely dedication from Keren

I was very keen to meet Keren and was lucky to have a conversation with her about her inspiration. Interesting fact -she didn't speak to any adopted children before writing this story. She spoke to adoptive parents, social workers and other people involved in adoption, but not an actual adopted child themselves. 

As she is not adopted herself, Keren wanted to avoid the story becoming too biographical of any child she spoke to. As someone effected by adoption, I'm curious to see what my reaction to the rest of the story will be and have promised Keren to give her my reaction when I'm finished. I will definitely be reviewing it here in due course. 

Books I picked up on the day (because they sounded awesome 
and I couldn't resist!)

Lovely dedication part 2 from Christina 

Christina Banach, author of Misty
One morning, Christina woke up to a sugary smell. It was exactly the smell her father a baker, would bring home with him every day from work. She then heard the happy panting of her rescue dog. Trouble is, both had been dead for several months. 

And then suddenly, the entire story of Misty where one identical twin watched the other from beyond the grave came straight into her head. Christina's story was so inexplicable and she told it with such conviction that I ran to the table and snapped up one of the last copies.I'm really glad this comes from indy publisher Three Hares Publishing, and it's right at the top of my TBR pile. Check out Christina's full story here http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life

My haul for the day 

  Eve Ainsworth, author of 7 Days 

I've heard a lot about this book and the fact that it's a dual   narrative told both the victim and bully's point of view   made it impossible not to buy. Especially when Eve was the first person I spoke to and she was so incredibly nice. 

Books I wish I could have bought *if it weren't for my self-impossed limit* 

Kerry Drewery, one of the organisers and author of A Brighter Fear and A Dream of Lights
Both of Kerry's books are set in hostile places she has never been able to visit, Afghanistan and North Korea. So I asked her how she could properly represent these places she had never been to. She pointed out that no-one has ever been to the places written about in a lot of fantasy and science fiction, but that as these were real places with real problems she felt a big need to portray them right. So she read lots of different kinds of books on all the places and immersed herself as much as she could into the place. Little writer's note: Kerry writes in an attic room with no windows and a slopped roof. So she covers the slopped wall in front of her desk with pictures of the place she is writing about to really get a feel for it. 

Emma Pass, also an organiser and author of Acid
Acid is a dystopic novel about a girl who is busted out of prison by a rebel group, and our heroine has to find out why, and why she was there in the first place. This sounds a lot like a terrible novel I wrote when I was 14, so this is really a curiosity/self-flagulation thing.

Alan Gibbons, author of Hate
This book to me sounded really interesting as it about the murder of a girl by four ignorant lads because she is a goth. The vilification of subcultures like 'goth' is something I find really horrible and sad, so I'm sure this book is going to touch me. Also, Hate is inspired by Alan's meeting with the mother of a girl who was murdered for dressing as a goth. So this is going to be really raw and truthful hopefully. 

Alan also went on something of a 'middle aged man rant' - his words, not mine - about libraries shutting down in Birmingham. Good to have another warrior on the scene.

Sarah Naughton, author of The Blood List
 This story was inspired by a programme Sarah watched about medieval folk stories, where Sarah heard about how parents used to leave their babies out in the woods in the hope that the fairies would replace them with perfect babies. The Blood List is a story about a family this happens to, and the repercussions afterwards when the 'perfect child''s origins start to unravel. This sounds to me akin to Half Bad, which I really enjoyed, so will pick this up next pay day for sure. 

Swag

Kate Ormand, author of The Wanderers 
The Wanderers sounds like a trippy, YA version of The Night Circus. I LOVED THE NIGHT CIRCUS so I am really looking forward to this, but why is September so far away? Time to read The Dark Days in the meantime I guess... 

Kendra Leighton, author of Glimpse

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.   

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.   

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,   

And the highwayman came riding—

         Riding—riding—

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

Glimpse was inspired by Alfred Noyes's poem 'The Highway Man', which I loved in high

school, so that may just have to go on the TBR pile too. 

Caroline Green, author of Cracks
Cracks is the story of a girl who can see actual cracks forming in the world that no-one else can see and how she deals with this. Caroline had a moment of inspiration when she saw a crack in one of her bathroom tiles while brushing your teeth. Moral of the story, brush your teeth more. That's where the magic happens. 

 Lou Morgan, author of Sleepless
Sleepless is a horror/thriller about what happens when students take performance enhancing drugs. I love the concept, but probably won't pick it up because I am a big chicken and can't read horror without being up for days, rocking in my bed clutching a flashlight. 

Bryony Pearce, author of The Weight of Souls 
Ghost stories seemed a strong theme at this event, and Bryony's 2nd novel fit in very well. I loved the idea of ghosts marking you and having to find the murderer. I'll be keen to give this a read, because I think the balance of darkness in this could be really interesting. 

Sarah Sky, author of Code Red Lipstick 

I didn't get to hear Sarah talk, but I did discover she went to Nottingham Uni, just like myself and Lauren E. James. So it would be just plain rude of me not to pick up her book. Looking forward to this one, and Lauren's The Next Together coming in September. 

Honourable mentions

CJ Daughtery, author of The Night School Series
 I had heard of CJ and her series before but not picked it up. I was very interested to hear it was inspired by the Bullingham Club and a picture she saw of Eaton. 

Rose Mannering, author of Roses
Roses is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and is part of a wider trilogy inspired by fairy tales. I always like the sound of these allegorical sort of books, and intend to read around them quite widely - handy goodreads list in anyone is keen to do the same. 

Author line-up (this is only half of them!) 

Overall, I had a really good time at the event and as you can tell from the above, discovered some fantastic books and authors. I met some great new people, including Olivia who is a fellow newbie blogger - check out her great blog Write for Real here. 

I want to say a massive well done to everyone involved, it was a great day and I would love to go to another event like this. And I'm in luck because... *drum roll*...

There is to be another UKYA Extravaganza event in October in Nottingham! 

My university town, yay! 

Find out all the details of this second event and watch videos of the event on Saturday 

over at Chelle's lovely Tales of Yesterday. 

Bookish love! 

Rachel 

Hello and welcome to Ya-bbering Booklover!

See what we did there... YA... bbering. Yabbering. About YA... I'll stop now. 

Hello all! My name is Rachel and as stated above I am booklover. Fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, commercial, translated, literary... I don't care. Give it to me and I'll read it. 

But my first love is YA! It is a love affair that started with Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman and has continued ever since. One of my lifelong reading goals is to find a book that made me feel the way Callum and Sephie did when I was 11. (Upon reflection, 11 was probably a smidge too young to read O&X. Whoops!) 

A bit about me: I am one of the approximate 55% of non-teens reading YA, but given the fact I very much still feel like a Young Adult (I'm 24), I think that's perfectly alright. I am one of the very lucky people working in publishing, and in publicity no less. So my 'job' is to promote books all day long *pinches self*. I work on adult books, mainly non-fiction, but I want to put a clear disclaimer here saying I will never review/comment on a book I am working on professionally on this blog.  

My mission for Ya-bbering Booklover is to read lots of amazing YA, share my thoughts  on them with you all and fingers crossed start some fun discussions. 

I am a voracious attender of all YA related events and I am going to cover those events here too. So if you can't make it, come here for write-ups, pics, videos etc. 

I will also attempt to take part in reading challenges, tags and maybe eventually blog tours... who knows? You'll also see me over on YAChat, YAQuiz and lots of other Twitter discussions. Look forward to chatting with you all there. 

With some my book reviews, I am going to try something a little different. As a bit of a creative, and because words are sometimes not the best way to express myself, I will also be experimenting with a feature I like to call 'Broodle'. That is: 

Book + Review + Doodle = Broodle! 

A more visual approach to book reviewing. So keep your eyes peeled for those coming soon!

So with all the introductions out of the way, lets get on to the main event. My first review to follow will be The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury (Scholastic, Feb 2015). 

Enjoy!

Rachel