Bookclub January 2013

Hi there, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I'd like to start off, as per usual, by saying thank you to all of those who came last night, and a huge thank you to Kim Curran too! :D

Last night we had our first meet of 2013, and what a good one it was! There was loads of chatting, laughing and tweeting! Yes, that's right, Tweeting!  Our book this month was Shift by the awesome Kim Curran. We were joined by Kim via twitter, for a Q&A session throughout our meeting. Here's what we asked her...

Event - YA Author Book Signing

Photo by Liz de Jager.

Hi there you guys!!

Yesterday in the store we hosted a multi author book signing. Thank you guys for coming!!! Also thank you everyone who turned up to meet and chat with them :D
The turn out wasn't as big as I had hoped, but fun was had by all! We even had some yummy fudge and cakepops too! lol

So here are the authors...

Strange Chemistry Book Signing!

I am very excited to say that we will be hosting a multi-author book signing on the 7th October with some of the Strange Chemistry authors!!! I am so excited about this, can you tell?! lol

We will have Sean Cummings, author of Poltergeeks and Kim Curran, author of Shift. They will both be in store from 12pm signing their book's on that Sunday. It is also Sean's birthday on that day too, so I will be making some cake-pops!! I will make as many as I can, so I hope there will be enough to go around! lol  We will have more copies of both books as we draw closer to the event, as well as Gwenda Bond's Blackwood, so make sure you keep an eye on instore, and you keep your receipt as proof of purchase may be required.

Did I mention that I am SUPER EXCITED!! lol

Feel free to leave a comment, and be sure to spread the word!

See you next post,

Kaylie :0)

Review - Shift by Kim Curran

SO the lovely people at Strange Chemistry recently sent me a bundle of proofs. I was so excited that I literally jumped up and down in front of the postman! lol They all looked brilliant but there was one that I was chomping at the bit to start reading and that was Shift by Kim Curran. I couldn't start it straight away though :( but as soon as I could I did.,and I loved it! It did not disappoint. So here is my review....

Author Interview - Kim Curran

Hi there!! Here is another excellent interview for you guys! ( I spoil you lot don't I? lol)
This one is with the awesome Kim Curran. She has her debut book out in September, it's called Shift and I can't wait to read it!....



With the release of your debut book Shift later this year, how are you feeling about life as a writer?

Terrified pretty much sums it up. But incredibly excited as well.Knowing that in a matter of weeks people around the world will be able to walk into a shop, or go online, and buy my book, it’s the dream come true. But that comes with lots of anxiety. Will they like it? Will anyone other than my mother buy a copy? But one thing is sure: I know that I don’t want to do any thing else with my life.

 

Book Club July 2012

I want to start off by saying thank you to all the people who came to our second meeting last night. There were a few new faces, which is fantastic, and a few more familiar faces too! We had a great time talking about all things YA. This month we were discussing Shift, by Em Bailey.

Overall it scored a 4/5 from us. As a whole we liked it, a few of us loved it! One of us didn't.

We liked the sweet romance between Olivia and Lachlan. It was nicely underplayed. It wasn't the instant soul altering attraction that has become almost commonplace in YA. It grew slowly. Lachlan didn't try to change Olivia, he accepted her for who and how she was, and was happy. It's nice to read for a change. Instead of one person have more 'power' than the other, they were both equally clueless as to how to behave with one another. To have two normal teens discover slowly who they are separately, and together was real and refreshing to read. That being said we felt that the romance was rather superfluous to the plot. As the main themes of the book were friendship and trust, we felt that it would have been better if Olivia and Lachlan had developed a platonic relationship instead. They obviously had a real connection, and it would have been a great opportunity to show teens that people of the opposite sex can be great friends too. We felt that Olivia needed a friend more than a boyfriend.

Sneak Peak

So there are a lot of exciting things on the way! Here's a little taster of whats coming up in the next few weeks.

Want to know more about the world of YA from a male perspective? Watch out for the upcoming interview with author Chris Farnell. We will be talking about YA books for guys and his debut novel Mark II.

Thank you!!

I would like to start off by saying a huge thank you to all of those who came to the reading group last night.

Thank you!!!

We had a great time talking about all the things we love about YA fiction, in particular this months book Divergent by Veronica Roth.
The group raised some interesting points about the similarities and differences between this book and other YA titles. We all agreed that the way Tris and Fours relationship was portrayed was one of the the things we loved most of all. The way that it grew and developed throughout the story felt authentic and true to life. If you haven't read this book yet then you must stop right now and go and get your self a copy! I promise you that you wont be sorry you did. If you have read it but couldn't make it to our meeting last night why don't you tell us all about it in the comments below. W would love to hear your thoughts on Tris and Four. Or maybe what faction you think you would have chosen.

We also chose our book for next months meeting.....