13 Books For 2013 (And Beyond)

It's almost Christmas! Hooray! And it's almost the end of 2013, too, so to round off the year on my blog, I thought I would share 8 books I've enjoyed over the last 12 months (it was so hard to choose!), and 5 books I can't wait to get my hands on when they're published in 2014 (again, so hard to narrow it down – I could have chosen 50!).

In no particular order, here they are:

THE FLAME IN THE MIST by Kit Grindstaff

A thrilling middle-grade adventure set in the mist-cloaked land of Anglavia, which is ruled by the wicked Agromond family. The hero, a flame-haired girl called Jemma, must fight the evil that surrounds her and bring light to the people of Anglavia once more. But the Agromonds are the family who brought Jemma up – and they will do anything to stop her. 

I read FLAME in just a couple of days, and absolutely adored it! Jemma is instantly likeable, and the various members of the Agromond clan are brilliantly sinister. My favourite characters, though, have to be Jemma's rats, Noodle and Pie. There are some heart-stopping moments involving these rodents that will have you on the edge of your seat! Oh, and you must follow them on Twitter – @NoodleandPie1. They are one of the best things on there!

MY FRIEND THE ENEMY by Dan Smith

It's 1941. For Peter, the war is a distant threat, until the night a fighter plane is shot down over the woods his dad used to look after before he went missing in action. When Peter goes to the crash site to hunt for souvenirs, he finds more than he bargained for: the enemy, in the form of an injured German airman. When Peter decides to help him, his actions have far-reaching consequences he could not have possibly predicted. 

I'm a big fan of Dan Smith's adult novels, so I was really excited when I heard that he was releasing a children's novel this year. This book is beautifully written with well-rounded characters and a moving plot line that leaves you asking questions long after you've finished reading. If you ask me, it has all the makings of a classic.

THE NIGHT ITSELF by Zoe Marriott

Mio only steals her grandfather's katana (an ornate Japanese sword) to jazz up a fancy dress costume, but her actions allow an ancient evil from another world to escape onto the streets of London. When a fearless warrior boy, Shinobu, arrives, Mio realises she must not only learn to use the katana's powers to fight the terror she has unleashed, but also to save the boy who's stolen her heart.

Even if I wasn't already a huge fan of Zoe's books, I would have picked this one up on the strength of the cover alone. It's absolutely gorgeous – and the writing inside is just as exquisite. It was vivid and visual and I couldn't put it down. I can easily see it being made into a film by a company like Studio Ghibli.

DUALED by Elsie Chapman

In West Grayer's world, everyone has an Alt – a cloned copy of themselves which, when they come of age, they must fight… to the death. With all her training, West thought she was prepared, but then a tragic accident leaves her doubting her own abilities. As she becomes both the hunter and the hunted, she must decide whether she deserves to live or die.

DUALED is cool, smart and utterly kick-ass, offering a chilling and all-too-plausible scenario for a chilling dystopian future. I loved the gritty urban setting and the breakneck pace, too. This is another book I could see being made into a film – I would LOVE to see this on the big screen! 

THE ART OF FORGETTING - RIDER by Joanne Hall

Foundling Rhodri has been blessed (or cursed, depending on your way of looking at it) with the ability to remember everything that happens to him. Struggling to fit in, he joins an elite cavalry unit where he begins to discover the truth about his past, and about himself.

As well as being one of the Nicest People in Writing (and fellow hound minion), Joanne Hall is an incredibly skilled writer. The world building in AoF is amazing, and while the book touches on some very serious issues – self harm, sexuality, gender identity – it never gets bogged down. This is a highly original coming-of age fantasy tale and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW by Amy McCulloch

In Darhan, when you make a vow, it's bound by magic and tied into a promise knot which you wear until the day you die. 15-year-old Raim has worn one since he was born, although he doesn't know why. But when he makes an Absolute Vow to become the protector of Prince Kareh, the promise bound into the knot is broken and Raim is outcast as a traitor. He's thrown into a desperate struggle to find out the truth behind the mysterious promise that has changed his life forever.

From the first sentence of THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW, I found myself immersed in Raim's world. The description is so vivid, you can almost feel the sand trickling through your fingers, and the heat of the desert sun pounding onto your head. A hugely original fantasy which has left me waiting impatiently for the next instalment!

ONE by Leigh Ann Kopans

All Merrin Grey wants to do is fly. But to do that, she would need to be a Super, and she's not. She's a half-super. A freak. A One. All she can do is hover. Then she meets Elias VanDyne, another One, and discovers that when she's with him, something incredible happens. Together, they can fly. But her happiness is short-lived when she discovers a terrible threat not only to her and Elias, but their families as well.

I ADORED this book. Merrin is an amazing character – feisty and independent with a wonderfully distinctive voice. Sometimes her stubbornness made me want to shake her, but at the same time, it only made me like her even more. This was one of those books that, when I was away from it, was constantly at the back of my mind. I'm now 2/3 of the way through the sequel, TWO, and the story just gets better and better!

THE POISON BOY by Fletcher Moss

Dalton Fly is a poison boy, tasting food for the rich residents of Highlions. One night, his friend Bennie meets a nasty end after the boys taste K poisoned wine, and Dalton finds himself on a search for answers with the help of aristocrat Scarlet Dropmore. But someone seems determined to stop them. Will Dalton find out what's going on before that someone finds him?

THE POISON BOY, which won the Times/Chicken House Prize in 2012, is a proper, old fashioned, rollicking adventure that whisks you breathlessly from start to finish. It's another book I read in just a few sittings and I was blown away by the quality of the writing and in particular the world building, which is just incredible. I don't think I've read anything quite like it before or since, and I can't wait to read more books from Fletcher Moss!

And 5 I'm excited about?

DARK DAYS by Kate Ormand

June 2014

DARK DAYS is a dystopian action-romance telling the story of Sia, who lives in a city divided into sectors. A clock counts down the days until a cyborg army breaks through her sector's walls, destroying everything and everyone inside. Sia has almost given up hope until she meets Mace, who makes her decide she wants to live…

I had the honour of beta-reading DARK DAYS for Kate, and I can't wait for it to officially be published! It's a brilliant, exciting novel, deftly written with just the right balance of action, adventure and romance. If you're a fan of Veronica Roth or Ally Condie, you will LOVE this.

SOLVING FOR EX by Leigh Ann Kopans

February 2014

Ashley Price had to leave her old school and move in with her aunt and uncle after being badly bullied, but she's slowly putting her life back together with the help of her neighbour Brendan, a camera and the Mathletes. But when new kids Sofia and Vincent turn up at school, the fragile pieces of that world threaten to shatter.

This is another book I've been lucky enough to get an early look at. It has the same carefree style as Sarah Dessen (an all time favourite author of mine), yet it deals deftly with important issues – bullying, depression, jealousy, relationships and first sex. Just like Leigh-Ann's previous novels, it's addictively readable, and possibly my favourite one yet.

BANISHED by Liz de Jager

February 2014

Blurb from Amazon:

Kit is proud to be a Blackhart, now she's living with her unorthodox cousins and sharing their strange lives. Especially since their home-schooling includes spells, fighting enemy fae and using ancient weapons.But it's not until she rescues a rather handsome fae prince, fighting for his life on the edge of Blackhart Manor, that her training really kicks in. With her family away on various missions, Kit must protect Prince Thorn, rely on new friends and use her own unfamiliar magic to stay ahead of Thorn's enemies.As things go from bad to apocalyptic, fae battle fae in a war that threatens to spill into the human world. Then Kit pits herself against the Elder Gods themselves - it's that or lose everyone she's learnt to love.

I just received an ARC of this from Tor today, and will be reading it over Christmas. Liz is absolutely fab, and I'm so excited to get an early read of her debut novel. 

WEREWOLF PARALLEL by Roy Gill

March 2014

Blurb from Amazon:

'His arms kept stretching, as if they were somehow getting longer. His fingers clenched in, then spread out again like claws. The shape of his head was changing impossibly too, the ears becoming pointed and growing upward, his jaw pushing and thrusting out...The wolf threw back its head and howled.' Cameron's life of shifting between the humanian and daemonic worlds is under threat and the magic that once protected him and his friends is failing. His best friends Morgan, a werewolf with an attitude, and Eve, ex-prisoner of a vicious weaver demon, discover that they aren't the only ones in danger: the very existence of their worlds is at stake. Two sinister figures want to destroy the Parallel -- the void in between worlds populated by a dark mixture of the humanian and daemonic -- and everyone in it. What will Cameron sacrifice to defeat the demons and save the Parallel? The nail-biting, claw-clenching, fur-raising sequel to Daemon Parallel.

I LOVED Daemon Parallel, so I can't wait to read this! And that cover is absolutely amazing.

MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE by Robin Stevens

May 2014

Blurb from Amazon: When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't, really.)

But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident - but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls know a murder must have taken place . . . and there's more than one person at Deepdean with a motive.

Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning, scheming and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test?

This sounds like so much fun. I love stories set in schools, especially murder mysteries! I can see this being a curling-up-and-ignoring-the-world-for-a-whole-day-while-I-read-it kind of book. 

What are your favourite books of 2013? And which ones are you looking forward to? Share them in the comments – and have a very happy Christmas!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Hello! I've been so busy recently, this blog has been getting a bit neglected. Sorry, blog. It's not you, it's me. Really.

Anyhow, this is what I've been up to...

You might remember my last post about the Totally Random Blog Tour with Amy McCulloch and Karen Mahoney. Well, it was fantastic! The Goodreads and Facebook chats were my favourite bits - I loved finding out more about Karen and Amy's writing processes, and we were asked some great questions on Facebook.

A few weeks ago, I took part in Literally Coventry Literature Festival. In the morning, I gave a talk at Tile Hill Wood School - my first talk ever, so I was very happy that no-one fell asleep or threw things, and that the students asked loads of brilliant questions at the end. Even better, my PowerPoint worked! Then I was whisked off to Coventry library for lunch and had time for a wander round and a look at the cathedral before being taken to King Henry VIII School to run a writing workshop. It was a lovely day, and I'd like to say a huge thank you to Joy Court and everyone involved with the festival, the staff at the library and both schools, and especially to Tracy and Sophie Lynch for looking after me so well. 

Next up was a workshop and talk for the Teen Book Group at Chesterfield library. They produced some great work, and I really enjoyed chatting to them about writing and books!

After that, I led a day of novel writing workshops at Alfreton Library for Derbyshire County Council and Writing East Midlands. I was a little nervous as it's the first time I've done anything like this, but the day absolutely flew by, and I was so impressed by the standard of work that everyone produced. 

I also did a panel at Ashbourne Library with INFINITE SKY author CJ Flood, which was chaired by former Derbyshire Poet Laureate River Wolton. It was a fun evening and we were asked some really interesting questions about our work and what it's like to be debut authors.

Then, this week, it was off to Brookfield Community School in Chesterfield, where I led 3 workshop sessions for Year 9 through to 6th form. I've done some work with the school before, and once again was struck by the enthusiasm of the staff and pupils, and the commitment the school have to nurturing creativity.

I've also recently found out that ACID is going to be an audiobook - squee! It will be released as an audio CD and download from The Listening Library on 11th March 2014, which is also now my official release date for the US edition of the book... which is going to be a hardcover! Double squee!

And FINALLY... Since before Christmas, I've been helping Cathy Grindrod, who's been writer in residence in a school in Nottingham for a charity called First Story. First Story place writers in secondary schools where they run after-school writing clubs, which results in the work the students produce during these sessions being published in an anthology. The whole experience has been brilliant, and last night, the school launched their anthology at Waterstones in Nottingham. It was a proud moment to see the students get up to read their work - they have worked so hard, and sharing your work with a room full of people takes a lot of courage, whatever age you are. I'm not ashamed to admit that afterwards, I got a bit emotional and had to go and hide in the loo for 5 minutes to compose myself!

Actually, that's not quite it, because before I go, I have to tell you about a fantastic book I read recently. It's called MY FRIEND THE ENEMY and it's by Dan Smith, who's already written three thrillers for adults, DRY SEASON, DARK HORIZONS and THE CHILD THIEF. Now he's turned his pen (or rather, his laptop) to writing for children, and if this book is anything to go by, I predict that by the end of the summer, Mr Smith is going to be well on the way to world domination… now that's a scary thought. 

Anyhow, the book is out from Chicken House today - hooray! - and here's the summary from Amazon:

Summer, 1941. For Peter, the war is a long way away, being fought by a faceless enemy, marching across places he's never seen. Until the night it comes to him. A German plane is shot down over the woods that his Dad looked after, before he went off to fight. Peter rushes to the crash site to find something exciting to keep. But what he finds instead is someone: a young and injured German airman. The enemy. Here. And in trouble. Suddenly, helping him seems like the right thing to do.

 This book opens with one of the most thrilling opening chapters I've ever read. I loved the main characters, Peter and Kit, and found the depiction of their developing friendship touching and realistic. The character of the German airman, Erik, was also skilfully drawn. The book has obviously been thoroughly researched, but the story is so well told that the historical details fit seamlessly, never getting in the way. The pace is fast and the writing vivid and exciting as the plot twists and turns all the way to the nailbiting finale. MY FRIEND THE ENEMY reminded me of a childhood favourite, Robert Swindells's THE MACHINE GUNNERS, and I'm sure young and adult readers alike will love it.

If you want to read more about Dan, and why and how he wrote the book, head over to Author Allsorts, where you can read my book birthday interview with him. 

Annnd... That's a wrap, folks!