*Falalalalaaaah* My Winter ‘16 TBR pile

 It’s curl-up-with-a-book,-mulled-wine-and-a-log-fire season. Hurrah!
I said I was going to do something a bit different this time. Only a bit. Not much. The pile looks like this;

Small, no? But Christmassy, yes?
They are;
Maybe this Christmas by Sarah Morgan (Romance)

The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Lisa Dickenson (Romance)
I will marry George Clooney (…By Christmas) by Tracy Bloom (Romance)

The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan (Romance)
Christmas at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan (Romance)

For Christmas, El Hubby is replacing my lost kindle machine. (Hallelujah!!!) On my kindle account are a bazillion books that I haven’t read yet, and have been steadily adding to, in spite of being kindle machine bereft. (Mad, right? I know, I know…) So. In addition to the mini-pile above (how many of something constitutes a pile?), I shall also be reading at least the following, plus as many others as I can hoof through.

Mistletoe on 34^th Street by Lisa Dickenson (Romance)

Christmas at Lilac Cottage by Holly Martin (Romance)

Christmas under Starlit Sky by Holly Martin (Romance)

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider (YA)

I was here by Gayle Forman (YA)

Me being me is exactly as insane as you being you by Todd Hasak-Lowy (YA)

Seeds of Deception by Linda Castillo (Amish Crime. Niche, right? Suspect that after all the Christmassy schmaltz I shall be ready for a bit of slaying, -neither pun in that sentence intended.)

Have a lovely winter! What are you reading?

Autumn '16 Gut Reactions

  AAARGH! I forgot to write notes about this season’s books as I went, and now, having just been fully immersed in a rewrite of my story, I have forgotten most of my thoughts. So this is going to be a scant reactions blog I suspect, and it’ll be based on me staring very hard at this picture:

 and then trying to remember what I thought a while ago.

I’m giving Book of the Season to the Lockwood & Co series (MG), which I belted through, one after the other and Son One did exactly the same. He’d gone off reading for a bit, much to my woeful lamenting, but these books brought him back to the light. It’s ghosthunting essentially, but as only kids can see the “visitors”, they are employed to catch and eliminate them. Stroud doesn’t dumb things down, the tension and scenes can be properly scary. Normally, my boys can be utter wusses when it comes to anything frightening – reading or viewing-, but I rather neglected to mention the ghost bit to Son One when I started him off, and he was hooked before he could get scared.

My only whinge is that it took until book four for the narrator and the actual main character (girl) to make it onto the front cover, as opposed to her colleague Lockwood (boy). Shows that marketing depts. still won’t risk putting boy readers off a series by having a girl on the front. So I'm going to put a bigger picture of it here, just because I can.

  Jackaby (MG) was a similar set up; girl narrator, quirky boss, facing the supernatural, but set in Victorian times, on the east coast of America. Lockwood & Co was more punchy, but it was still a fun adventure.

Another day (YA) – I love books where you get an alternative view. This didn’t disappoint, I might even have liked it more than the original -, but then I could only do that having read the first one first, if you see what I mean.

 The Widow (Thriller) was a gripping read. One of those books where really the action isn’t high octane by any means, but the tension grows and grows.

  And the other stuff;

  One of these books, by a writer I admire, seemed well… a bit pointless in the plot. Made me think that had it been their first book, it wouldn’t have been taken on.

  One of these books was a deep disappointment. It’s been a bestseller, raved about everywhere, and the setting was interesting, but the end was dire. It made me want to shout. So many unresolved issues, and maybe it was so it could be ‘deep’, but it just felt half-arsed and weird.

  That’s it. That’s all I can remember. My small brain is full of other stuff – my own plot for example.


  I’m doing something slightly different this year for the Winter TBR pile. You’ll have to wait and see.

A agent-hunting we shall go...

If you’ve seen the post below, you’ll know that I’ve managed to convince an agent to represent me and my Women’s Fiction/ Romantic Comedy story. 

 I finished it in June and sent out the submissions (the first three chapters and a one page synopsis) in July, then spent the summer holidays trying not to think about it. We’re supposed to wait eight to twelve weeks for responses. Patience is not really my thing, so on my return home I sent out another to an agent who represents one of my must-reads. Really, I sent it just to feel I was being proactive; she’s a long established agent with an extensive list already, the chances were very very slim. She emailed back. She really enjoyed it. It was pacey and funny. She really thought I had something here…. (My heart started belting…) but that said, it wasn’t quite right for her. (That’s an email-load of rollercoaster emotions, right there.) But BUT, she had an agent friend who had just set up her own agency and would I like her to recommend me? Well, YES actually, yes please, that would be lovely, thanks.

   And so my story went to Federica Leonardis, and she really really enjoyed it. We met, we discussed the story and our plans and she made me an offer of representation. Hurrah! Her list is still building and she has more time for me, which as a newbie is exactly what I need. There’s still lots of work to do before the manuscript can go out on submission to editors at publishing houses - it’s definitely a marathon not a sprint- but with an agent I feel I’m on the starting line and can face the hurdles with more confidence and clout.
  
  But that’s not really what this post is about.  I wanted to go back a bit, to the point where I sent out that first round of submissions. They weren’t to names I picked randomly, I had a full ‘Agents Hitlist’ drawn up, with various levels of approach, and in phases. Three years ago I posted about Agent Hunter, a site that makes compiling a list like this so much easier. In ye olde days you had to trawl through the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook, but this is online and has filters, so The Fast.

Agent Hunter has just been updated, and so in exchange for an honest review, I got a free limited membership, which was perfect timing for me.
   I’d recommend this site to anyone who is about to start a submissions cycle. I took a day to bend and flex the site, compiling a list pinpointing agents who represent Women’s Fiction and are also still open to submissions. (Some agents have closed their lists, which is fair enough as too many clients would mean less time to spend on each.) The site is clearly laid out making searches very simple and it allowed me to save my searches in their various permutations, so I could return to them later. You can see images of which agents belong to each agency should you choose to search by agency first. I would have liked to have their names pop up as I held the cursor over the pictures as this would have made it easier to flip between agents within an agency who might both rep a genre, but perhaps that could be a later change. I did use the new ‘favourites’ function to highlight some agents, but then for the life of me couldn’t find a field that listed all my favourites. (That could just be my computer-lemmingness.) I’d still like to have a clear ‘shopping basket’ where I can drop in all the relevant agents, so I have an exportable list at the end of my session.
   The profiles of the agencies have a wealth of information on both the agency and the agents, it links to their websites and in some cases their Twitter feeds. And that part is crucial, because the Agent Hunter site is the first port of call, but it shouldn’t be the only port of call. Every time I homed in on an agent, I’d then take the link to their agency website and carry on my research there, looking at their company profiles and the submission requirements, working out a specific plan of action for that agent. I checked their Twitter feeds to get an idea of what they were like. Ultimately each covering letter could be tailored to the specific agent, with exactly the right information, in the way that they want it.
 

If you like to work from something spreadsheet-like when it comes to a plan of attack for your submissions cycle, Agent Hunter is absolutely the place to start when building it. Writers' & Artists' Yearbook costs £13.60, whereas subscriptions to Agent Hunter start at £5 for 1 month (£12 for 6 months, £18 for a year). (I researched and planned numerous levels of approach in one go, so I had more batches to send out should I need them.) 
    Of course, the on-going strength of the site will depend on Agent Hunter’s ability to keep on top of the changes, whether new recruitment, agent moves, new agencies (you need to get Martin Leonardis Literary Management on there, guys) or address changes.  But for now, it's an excellent starting point that will comprehensively set up any submitting writer for their cycle. 

That thing that was afoot...

So, here I wrote about Rejection Chocs, my not-yet-patented-but-I-really-should-get-around-to-it method for taking the sting out of agent rejections when on a submissions cycle.

The box started out looking like this. The Yummy.

Now it looks like this. The Sad, yes?

BUT NO. That is a box of chocs that have been part scoffed in celebration.
I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!
I am now daftly happy to say that the lovely lovely Federica Leonardis of Martin Leonardis Literary Management represents me and my writings. Of course I had to horse the rest of the chocs...

There is something afoot...

...but I can't say what it is yet.

Annoying, right?

I know. It's killing me.

I want to be like this;

*Cue fanfare of rustling leaves* My Autumn '16 TBR Pile

I had planned for a smaller pile this season as I really need to be writing, but then this happened; 

The Widow by Fiona Barton (Thriller)

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton (Historical Fiction)

Jackaby by William Ritter (MG)

Lockwood & Co (X 3) by Jonathan Stroud (MG)

Dinner for Two by Mike Gayle (Commercial Fiction)

Café Tropicana by Belinda Jones (Commercial/Women’s Fiction)

Picture me gone by Meg Rosoff (YA)

Another Day by David Levithan (YA)

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (YA)

Plus there are two incoming;

End Game by Alan Gibbons (YA)

and another Lockwood & Co title.

Ok, so there are four titles in the same series there, the Lockwood & Co bunch. I’ll confess I've just finished the first, hence my need to read all the series. (I know it wasn't officially Autumn yet, and technically beyond the rules, but as I set the rules and was without a book then it’s been keenly negotiated and allowed.)

Everyone is talking about The Widow at the mo, so I want to know why.

Everyone was talking about The Miniaturist last year, so I want to know why.

Meg Rosoff writes really interesting books, so the latest jumped off the shelf at me.

Jackaby got a good review somewhere that I now can’t remember, but it had made it onto my “look for” list.

David Levithan is a YA god (FACT), and Another Day is an alternative view of his book Everyday, and I LOVE books that are alternative views. Win, win! I stumbled across it in the library and got very excited.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was made into a film that I haven’t seen. It won the Sundance Audience Award in 2015, which is very commendable, but I still have no idea what it’s about, other than what the title suggests. See how On the edge I live…?

The blurb for End Game reminds me of the story I have in my head that I am still too chicken to write. I thought I should investigate it, either to scare me more or to encourage me.

Café Tropicana & Dinner for two are my token Commercial Fiction books in this pile, which looking at it is unusually male-author heavy; like 9/13. That hasn’t happened in a very long time. I’m often looking to make up the male quota. Perhaps this will balance things out.

Gut reactions to follow at the end of November.


Have a great Autumn. What are you reading?

Summer '16 Gut Reactions

Wow, that season went fast. There was Pimms, there were bare feet, there was lots of reading.

The pile looked like this,

 With the addition of these;

And on the e-reader I read
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K Rowling
The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran – This woman! Honestly this woman… She gets the Book of the Season, and it isn’t even a story. She comments on life and events, and her ideas seem so common sensical, and she writes with such gusto and enviable turn of phrase, that I can’t help but want to make a mahousive neon banner agreeing with her on all things.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (YA) – I had really high hope for this, because I loved the idea of it, that in the background of the paranormal teen stories, there are normal high-school kids, with normal names, who are also surviving their own (normal) issues. Ness had some delightful touches (or pokes at the paranormals), but then, for me at least, he kind of spoiled it, and I couldn’t get past it. It felt like he couldn’t play his idea out to the end, when I really think it must have been possible somehow. Perhaps I missed the point.

Atlantia- I’m generally not a fan of Dystopian. They make me feel icky and uncomfortable, which I guess is their point. (I like exciting stories with happy endings. And kissing. And no ambiguity. And zombie stories are definitely out – Zombie heroes cannot be hot.) This one though, pleasantly surprised me, to the point where I’m actually thinking of looking up her Matched series, which many many have raved about and I have always avoided, because of the dystopian thing.

 Which brings me onto Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess which I picked up immediately afterwards. It took me a couple of pages to suss that this was dystopian too (Atlantia had perhaps put me in the right frame of mind), but it was far far harsher and frankly brutal. It shocked me in places, but I couldn’t put it down. I’ve read a couple of other books by Burgess and what strikes me is the audacity of his writing; he doesn’t write so much to shock, but to show reality without seeming to give a toss about what others might think or what society considers too much.

Summer Days, Summer Nights was the follow up to Stephanie Burgess’s winter anthology My True Love Gave to Me, which I read in the Winter ‘14 pile. It was perfect summer reading, and I particularly liked revisiting some of the characters form the first book.

Tiffany Reisz is an excellent excellent writer, but she generally writes books that you wouldn’t discuss with your mother, so I won’t mention them here. This one though, is sassy and dark, full of twists and not totally X-rated.

The Raven King. Being the last in a series of four, there was a lot riding on this, and I had been waiting for it for some time. Specifically, I had been waiting for Kissing. There had been a distinct lack of kissing. Without spoilers, this is in fact integral to the plot, and perhaps Maggie was trying to convey the frustration of the characters to the reader, in which case she succeeded. But at last they came. Hurrah! And yet… the book left me feeling… well, that there should have been a wee bit more tidying at the end. I had questions and they hadn’t been answered and won’t be, either. And then there was my usual issue that some of the sentences are so ethereal and poetic, that I can’t quite work out what is going on. I have the same issue- possibly more so- with Melissa Marr’s books. I think I might be too thick.


 The other thoughts;

·         One of these YA books was so very very clichéd, I could predict the turns as they came. I know it was a short story, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have an original plot.

·         One of these books has been the bestseller of the summer. HUGE.  And while I loved revisiting the characters, the language just felt clumsy and I just wasn’t convinced by the crucial plot point. Controversial, I know, but there you go…

Am building the Autumn pile, but lamenting the loss of my Kindle Paperwhite, which disappeared at Aalborg airport during my holiday. I MISS IT!! Suspect there will be fewer ebooks featuring in the piles until Amazon puts Kindles on sale again…

The Sweet, Sweet Sting of Rejection

I wrote a long time ago about Rejection Chocolates – my method of taking the hurty edge off the submission cycle. Essentially, I get a fab box of chocs, which I hide from all others, and scoff one when I get a rejection on submitted work. It sort of provides a little something to look forward to, in the event of something I’m not looking forward to, happening.

 I just started submitting my Rom-Com story to agents. So, Ta-dah!- my chocs…

 (For the record and the chocoholics out there, this season I am sponsored by Prestat and they are exquisite. Thankfully Waitrose had them on sale :) ) 




*Post script; To see how that submission cycle went, check here*

Sneaky entries to the Summer '16 TBR Pile

I got more books! More to the point, they are books that I have no intention of waiting until next season to read. Courtesy of my Lovely CP, I present the following:

 Atlantia by Ally Condie (YA Dystopian)
 Summer Days & Summer Nights ed. Stephanie Perkins (YA Anthology) (This is the follow up to My True Love Gave to Me, the winter anthology, which was my Star of The Season for Winter '14)
A Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan (Romance)



and the gorgeous macaroons? Yummy yummy, already in my tummy....

*Cue drumroll* My Summer '16 TBR pile

 IT’S SUMMER!!
 Pimms and Books, Bare feet and Books, Sunloungers and Books. Hurrah!
The pile looks like this:

They are:

After the Storm by Linda Castillo (Crime)

The Boy in the Smoke by Maureen Johnson (YA)

Spot the Difference by Juno Dawson (YA)

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell (YA)

Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan (Women’s Fiction)

Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess (YA)

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (YA)

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (YA)

The Graveyard of the Hesperides by Lindsey Davies (Historical Crime)

Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran

And on the way I have this:

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.(YA)




The Raven King is the last in Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven King Cycle and I’m both excited to read it (I have a gorgeous signed copy care of my Lovely CP) and apprehensive, as I read Maggie's blog when it released, and her plan was that when closing the book the reader should be left ‘wanting’. While it’s great to just-couldn’t-get-enough of a writer, I’m really hoping she doesn’t mean it has an open ending. I hates the open endings… And there had better be kissing, as she’s been V tight on the kissing in these books. Just sayin’.

Three of these books are World Book Day specials, from March. (They are the skinny ones.)

I have a male writer in there in the form of Melvin Burgess, who I am expecting controversial things from, and I also have my first transsexual writer in the mix in the form of Juno Dawson.

Caitlin Moran for those who don’t know her, writes social commentary but regards herself as a professional 'pointer'; she points at things and has an opinion on them. That she is mad as a box of frogs in her writing is the exciting bit. Her phrasing is fabulous and funny.

Patrick Ness wrote the truly fantastic Chaos Walking trilogy. The first, The Knife of Never Letting Go made me feel like I had been running nonstop through the book. The Rest of Us Just Live Here is his latest and I’m amused by the premise already; a YA story set amongst the regular kids who live in the background of paranormal/SciFi YA stories, where ‘indie kids' called Finn and Satchel must face their earth-threatening destinies. I suspect that there might be some mickey-taking going on…

The Jenny Colgan book I’ve had since Christmas, but couldn’t bring myself to read a summer book in the cold. Just like I couldn’t read a book set in snow while I was lying on a sunlounger.

The two crime books I am chomping at the bit to get to, but they are in fact part of my Mum and Dad’s birthday presents, so I’ll have to wait until they are done. One is set in Ancient Rome, the other in Amish country. I have a fascination with both.

I’ll let you know how I got on at the end of August.

What are you reading with your Pimms, bare feet on your sunlounger?
(* For those in the southern hemisphere (Hi Maggie!), what are you reading with your hot chocolate, thick slippers in your blankets on the sofa?) 

The Spring '16 Gut Reactions

It feels like it’s been a long season, in so far as reading some of these books feels like a very long time ago. Thank God I scribble notes as I go along, or else I’d be screwed at this point every quarter. These were the books:

In addition, I also read Lisa Dickenson’s You had me at Merlot and Kirsty Greenwood’s The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance, both of which were charming and pretty much epitomise what Chicklit is about. Both had great voices and fun plots.

Book of the Season is Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)’s Career of Evil, the latest instalment in the Cormoran Strike series. It was thrilling, as it should be, however it’s the running romantic subplot that has me hankering for the next book. I’m such as sucker for a love story. (And, now I’m on my vicious hunt for the overuse of the word ‘That’, this book had too many, but I’ll let it slide…)

I think I’ve come quite late to The girl on the train, but have managed to keep my ears shut to people talking about it. Trying not to give away too many spoilers, it built the anxiety skilfully, to the point where I was still anxious about it the day after. The MC wasn't particularly likable; not that you despise her, just that you constantly feel pity for her, with her alcoholism and how she keeps falling at the hurdles- and you sit there thinking ‘Noooo don't do that, that is a BAD plan’ and then she can’t help herself but do it, which gets you riled up.

 I’m pretty sure the train line depicted is my local line into London too. I’ve looked at those houses and back-gardens just like she does…

 The Reunion was written by the same author, albeit under a different name. I knew this when I read them, but didn’t really spot any similarities, other than I thought they were both smoothly written and well-constructed. It isn’t a thriller, but it is one of those stories where the truth is revealed in small increments along the way.

Riverkeep- This was a free ARC given away on Twitter, first come first served. I was in there within six seconds, ensnared by the map in the inside cover. LOVE a book that starts with a map, because you instantly know you are about to be swept off somewhere. The writing is gorgeous; phrasing that is beautiful to the point of sometimes being almost too ethereal, so I’m not sure what is going on. The plot is a classic quest by a character who isn’t happy with his appointed future (Hero’s Journey/Star Wars anyone?), the characters are delightfully original and bonkers. Pure fantasy all the way. It is set up and ready for a sequel, although, I almost wished that it hadn’t, as the end felt slightly rushed and too dispersed. If you, or someone you know, have read and enjoyed Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap books, then I’d still heartily recommend this.

The other reactions-

One of these books was written by a writer who I consider one of my sensai, but she left the love interest out of the action for far far too long. I raced through the story, not digesting it properly, wanting to get to ‘his’ bit, and then the romance was too short lived. Still, I guess I learned something about plot structure in sequels…

One of these books I ditched after two chapters. I was so bored, in spite of it being written by a known comedienne.

Two of these books I can’t remember reading, let alone the plot. Oh dear.

Roll on the Summer pile…

Book Temptation

 *Fairview, you are banned from reading this post. Your reading pile is still too high. Avert your eyes, please, madam*

If you are an ebook user, and like me storm through books at an outrageous speed (and potential perilous spend) may I recommend this site; BookBub?

You sign in, you tell them all the kinds of bookage you enjoy and they’ll email you daily tailored suggestions of free and discounted books. Some are debuts, some older bestsellers, some are the first in a 14 part series that you end up reading all of in a two week window, so be warned that it can get a bit addictive, but your e-reader should be filled to bursting in no time.

Temptation done. 


Mischief managed.


You’re welcome.

That that that that that that

I have been culling. Viciously and mercilessly. I ripped 13k words out of my current MS, which still wasn’t enough - but it was a decent sizable chunk.

  To be honest, most of them were the word “that”, which clearly I overuse when writing. Still, knowing this now makes the first sweep a lot easier. “Really” and “actually” were up there too.
I tried to load the full MS into a word cloud programme to see if it would highlight the words I overuse, but they seem to automatically take out the basics, “that” being one of them, which rather defeats the object. If anyone can recommend a good (free) world cloud generator, please let me know.

  Now I guess I need to bite the bullet and ‘kill some darlings’. I’m too much of a wuss to kill them outright; I place everything in the outtakes file, telling myself it is only temporary, I’m just trying it out to see what it will look like without, of course it will always be welcome back into the fold – and then promptly forget the passage as soon as I return to the main text. So much for loyalty to the words. So fickle…
  
A side effect has been that I am now the “That Police” with every published novel I currently read. Every time I see one, I question whether it is necessary. And don’t get me started on contractions in dialogue! We all know that when culling, contracting words is a starter for ten, but not only that, without them dialogue can be so very stilted. I just struggled through what would otherwise have been a perfectly decent novel, because I was gritting my teeth every time the author failed to contract them words.

 So I am seeing that this is one of the pitfalls of being a writer – you totally screw up your reading by deconstructing all other writing. (The ‘that’ in that line should go…)  

*Cue Birdsong* My Spring '16 TBR Pile

It’s Spring, and I’m feeling re-energised and raring to go on this new pile;

A small but balanced pile this month with a fairly equal blend of YA, Romance and Thrillers. Three of these books are at least part-written by men (and no, I haven’t counted Robert Galbraith as that would be cheating), so my equality points are up on last month.

Losing it by Helen Lederer (Contemporary Romance)

The best thing that never happened to me by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice (Contemporary Romance)

A Girl’s Best Friend by Lindsey Kelk (Contemporary Romance)

The Reunion by Amy Silver (not sure, Contemporary Fiction maybe)

Never evers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison (YA)

Geek Girl – Picture Perfect by Holly Smale (YA)

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart (YA Fantasy)

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Thriller)

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Thriller)

Riverkeep is an ARC I’ve been sent. It’s a debut and has maps in the front, which I LOVE in a book. It says straight away that you're about to be taken off somewhere.
Career of Evil is a book I’ve been waiting for for ages. (In case you don’t know Robert Galbraith is JK Rowling, and every time there's a swear – and there are plenty- I can’t help but think “oooh JK, naughty.”)
The Girl on the Train everyone is mentionning so I thought I’d see what the fuss is about.
Lindsey Kelk is one of my writing role models, so this was a given.
The rest are fairly random picks, to be honest, but I’ve had some great surprises from random picks before.


I’ll post again if I add more, and as there is still room, feel free to recommend any you've recently loved.

Winter '15 Gut Reactions

Diving straight in, the pile looked like this,

with the addition of three Christmas books (see previous blog entry).

Book of the Season immediately went to If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, which blew me away.  It’s the story of a girl brought up in the woods for ten years. I don’t want to give too many spoilers away, because much of the skill in this book lies in the information unfurling. The book starts as she’s coming out of the woods and covers her initial rehabilitation into normal life while keeping a dark secret. I loved it and had to reread it straight off. It had me on the brink of tears at various times, it was heart-breaking and tender without resorting to any melodrama. I’d say it was a YA mix of Emma Donoghue’s Room and Sara Dessen’s Lock and Key.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven looks at teen suicide and bipolar disorder. It was touching and sad, but more than that it really brought across the mystified feelings of grief and loss that those left behind experience in cases of suicide, while sympathetically showing that those who choose to leave us are unable to help themselves do otherwise. Again it's hard to write about without spoilers but the excellent dialogue meant I genuinely loved a key character, and couldn’t feel angry at them for doing what they do, which conflicted with my previous feelings on the subject. That is very vague- sorreee- but The Spoilers!

Being Billy by Phil Earle. This one did actually make me cry. Set in a children’s home, it’s a whole book of anger and frustration, yet has you rooting for the MC; despairing with him at the unfairness of his situation and cheering with him in his small victories. Utter rollercoaster.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell was a pleasure to read. She gives a snap shot of what is the scenario for many 40-something women, who get to reflect on their marriages and see that they have slipped, provoking them to consider what they really want. On top of the accurate observations, she writes and details sooo enviably well.

The Anatomy of Curiosity by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff is a book I’d recommend if you have any interest in creative writing yourself, especially short stories. I’d suggest reading its predecessor, the short story anthology The Curiosities first, as you'll get a feel for the varied style of these three writers. Here they each have just the one story, but they deconstruct them to show how they got the ideas and what they focused on during writing. All good stories in themselves, but with an added layer of writing craft which was fascinating.

The other thoughts;

 One of these turned me off in chapter one. My negative reaction was to the premise of the book. I did read to the end, as the form was interesting; one half being one character’s POV and the second being the other character’s POV taking the action forward, but I couldn’t get past finding the story line itself unappealing.

 One of these books I wanted to love very very badly, because I think the writer is a goddess with a turn of phrase to die for. But I didn’t love it and I’m still trying to work out why. The POV wasn’t always consistent and that felt kind of sloppy.

One of these books has had a lot of hype in the UK but I found it an uncomforatable read, partly because I felt I’d read the same kind of thing before and partly because I felt I’d lived some of it before. The familiar story was personally painfully familiar.

The Spring pile is building and I’ll post it next week. Anyone read anything good lately?