Thursday, December 19, 2013

Free ebook (short story) from Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth's Free Four, a short story set in the Divergent world is currently free as an ebook at Kobo and Sainsburys (ie epub). It's 49p at amazon.co.uk at the moment.

Fans of the Divergent series by No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be thrilled by the knife-throwing scene from Divergent, now told from Four’s perspective. This brief story explores the world of the Divergent series through the eyes of the mysterious but charismatic Tobias Eaton, revealing previously unknown facets of his personality, backstory and relationships.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Publishing Deal - Holly Smale

A new publishing deal was announced yesterday for Holly Smale:
Roald Dahl Funny Prize finalist Holly Smale, the author of the biggest children's debut of 2013, GEEK GIRL, has signed a new three-book world rights deal with HarperCollins. Negotiated by Elizabeth Clifford, Commissioning Editor at HarperCollins Children's Books,  this new deal sees Holly's publishing extending to six titles.

The GEEK GIRL series champions loveable self confessed geek Harriet Manners as she struggles to navigate the glamorous yet ridiculous world of fashion. 

The best in the business at launching home-grown talent, HarperCollins Children's Books has seen GEEK GIRL off to a flying start. This trendsetting debut coined a new sub-genre 'clean teen' in the children's market. 

First published in March, GEEK GIRL is 2013's highest-selling UK debut in the children's and teen market. The hotly anticipated sequel , MODEL MISFIT, followed in October and series sales in the UK total over 100,000 copies.

Elizabeth Clifford said, "Holly has conquered the market with her fresh funny 'clean teen' series and looks set to dominate the charts for many years to come. I'm absolutely thrilled to sign up more GEEK GIRL books with the brilliant Holly Smale."  
Read the whole article at Book 2 Book.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Review: Lawless by Jeffrey Salane

Lawless by Jeffrey Salane (May 2013, Piccadilly Press, ISBN: 1848123213)

Twelve-year-old M Freeman has been home-schooled up until now but is then sent on an interview to the secretive Lawless school. She passes the interview and is immediately thrown into a new life. She barely has time to say goodbye to her mum (her father having died in a plane accident) and home before being whisked away in a limousine with her “guardian”, a teenager called Zara.

The journey to the Lawless School is very eventful and introduces M to the concept of the Fulbrights – a group opposed to Lawless and who attack the pupils at every opportunity.

After a headlining-grabbing few days, M settles down to learn along with her small group of friends. But Lawless is not just a private school, it's a private school for offspring of criminals who want to keep the family business going. This is all news to M but she soon feels at home and wants to learn about her mysterious father who is well known at Lawless.

Thus begins a twisty adventure tale with M not knowing whom she can trust, including Zara and one of the teachers - Miss Watts - who had been close to M's father. The school setting gets left behind as M runs her first heist - in Europe – and it's action all the way, the ending leaving you wanting more.

Lawless is billed as book one so I hope there's a sequel as there are many loose ends*. M is a resourceful, clever main character – perhaps too clever for her years – and the villains a bit megalomaniacal, but this was a fun read and with no bad language or even romance this is a suitable read for younger teens and below.

*breaking news - Justice is out in April 2014.