Periods, poverty and perceiving empathy – Walker YA Blog Tour

blue cover artwork of don't stop thinking about tomorrow by siobhan curran

Today I’m sharing a guest blog by the lovely Alice from Reading, Writing and Blogging, in celebration of the recent release of Sibohan Curham’s new novel Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow*. We were invited by Walker YA to write posts relating to the central theme of the book, empathy, and to share them on each other’s blogs in the spirit of seeing things through somebody else’s eyes. Here, Alice shares her thoughts on period poverty, and how it’s shaped her views of the world.

“I’ve been asked to write about a topic close to my heart or something that I think we should be talking about more, with the theme of empathy in mind. At first, I struggled to think of anything to write about so, instead, I thought I’d write about a topic that has been on my mind lately. It is something that has caused me to stop, think and look at things from a different perspective; and, now it’s been brought to my attention, I’m surprised that it isn’t talked about more.

And that is period poverty. View Post

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“Self-Published Authors are Human, too” – Guest Blog by Tes Mekonnen

hand holding happy land book with legs and socks visible in background

Today we have a guest blog from author Tes Mekonnen. Here, Tes shares with us his experiences of self-publishing his book, Happyland: A Modern Fairytale in two parts and how his own experiences influenced the story. You can check out my review of the original book here, download a FREE copy of the new Children’s Edition here, and see our recent Q&A post for your chance to win a signed copy (and other fabulous bookish goodies) of your own. Enjoy!

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Interview with Happyland Author Tesfahiwet Mekonnen

hand holding up black cover of happyland with rainbow bookshelf in background

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to read and review Happyland: A Modern Fairytale. In doing so, I not only discovered a new favourite read but also got to know the human responsible for it, Tes Mekonnen. Tes is here again today to answer some of my questions, and to launch a rather fabulous new giveaway: your chance to win a signed copy of Happyland, and an original illustration from the book by Anthony Resto.

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Books You Need In Your Life: April – June 2018

flatlay of four YA books on a white background, along with sunglasses and wooden coaster

It’s that time again! Put down your book, grab yourself a cuppa, and get cosy: I’ve read some absolute crackers this quarter, and I’ve been looking forward to telling you alllll about them. As always, everything is linked by the title (affiliate links- see bottom of post for more information), so have a browse, let me know if anything takes your fancy, and a suggestion or two for what I should be reading next wouldn’t go amiss either. Past experiences have shown that you guys have the BEST taste in YA reads!

Paris By The Book by Liam Callanan (HarperCollins)

“… I didn’t miss him. And part of me, I confess, did not. But the reader in me, the makeshift muse, word-drunk and bereaved, she suffered. And yes, the rest of me, my fingers and mouth and hair and stomach, I missed him like air, like water, like a second skin, like a book you love, you need, but is no longer on the shelf when you go to look because it turns out it was never written”.

I’ll be honest, I completely misjudged this book. Before reading, my first impression was that this was going to be yet another chick-lit romance where a woman having a midlife crisis moves to Paris, has life-affirming realisations about her childhood, and just so happens to meet a handsome stranger who conveniently turns out to be the love of her life. I began reading this book expecting nothing other than for it to follow this set pattern I’m bored to the back-teeth of seeing in romance novels over and over again. However, these first impressions couldn’t have been more misguided, and I rapidly found myself completely taken-in in this beautiful, beautiful book. View Post

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