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Lucy Powrie

Discussion

5 Bookish Snapchats You *NEED* To Be Following Immediately

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I’m just a teeny tiny bit obsessed with Snapchat – I love how personal it feels and also how less scary it is than other social media platforms because the numbers aren’t so glaringly obvious and I feel like I’m sitting down to have a chat with a good friend.

Louise O’Neill, author of Only Ever Yours and Asking For It – oneilllouise

I had to include Louise first on my list because she is the QUEEN of Snapchat. Often she is the reason I log in because I love scrolling through her Story each day and hearing her thoughts on things such as books, feminism and, of course, seeing her amazing writing uniform – a bear dressing gown.

The best thing about Louise’s Snapchat presence is how honest and unashamed she is – she isn’t afraid to talk about her books and sing her own praises, but she also talks about the things lots of us are too afraid to talk about or show. I think she’s a wonderful person and this really shows on her Snapchat.

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Photo credit to the-book-ferret.tumblr.com

Sanne, booktuber at booksandquills – booksandquills

As one of my favourite booktubers, I love getting a behind the scenes looks at Sanne’s life – as she navigates London talking about the books she’s read and exciting things she gets up to.

Whenever I see new additions to Sanne’s story, I rush to grab my headphones so I can watch them and hers was one of the first book-related Snapchat accounts I followed and really solidified my love of Snapchat, so it is a must-follow!

Meredith (and Quigley and Diggle) from The Book Ferret – bookferretsnaps

If you’ve never spent hours at a time looking through all the adorable pictures on The Book Ferret Tumblr, what are you doing with your life? Meredith runs one of my favourite blogs and has made me fall head over heels in love with her ferrets, Quigley and Diggle.

Meredith’s Snapchat has extremely cute ferret pictures with added books and sometimes sneak peeks at how she runs her Tumblr – taking the pictures and all about books.

Lucy, booktuber at The Book Belle – thebookbelle

Lucy is another one of my favourite booktubers whose videos I love watching and her Snapchat Story is no different. I found Lucy’s Snapchat again in my earlier days of getting into it properly for bookish purposes (and not taking stupid selfies to send to people) and I’ve loved seeing snippets from events and getting a look at her upcoming videos.

Also, if you haven’t watched any of Lucy’s YouTube videos yet, you definitely should! Her videos are the BEST.

Kate Ormand, author of Dark Days and The Wanderers

I’ve been a fan of Kate ever since I started reading her blog years ago, so I love that’s she jumped on board with Snapchat. We have quite similar tastes in books so it’s good to pick up new recommendations, as well as taking a peek behind the scenes of her writing process as she works on her next novel.

Kate is an all-round lovely person whose Snapchat Story brightens up my day – I love spotting books we’ve both read!

Which bookish Snapchats do you love following? Leave recommendations in the comments!

You can add me on Snapchat where I’ll be starting new daily book recommendations – lucythereader

Don’t forget to click the ‘heart’ button at the bottom of this post if you enjoyed it!

Book Review

REVIEW: Ctrl Alt Delete: How I Grew Up Online by Emma Gannon

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I’ve been a massive fan of Emma’s blog, Girl Lost in the City, for a while back now and would even go so far as to say her blog is in my top 5 favourite blogs of all time – I love it that much! When I heard that Emma was going to be releasing a book, I became very excited about it and I desperately hoped I would love it as much as I anticipated reading it. If it was half as good as her blog, I knew, it would be AMAZING!

Ctrl Alt Delete is a hilarious but thought-provoking insight into Emma’s life as she grew up alongside the Internet. Full of anecdotes dating back to the days of MySpace and MSN (oh, how I don’t miss the Messenger days), Ctrl Alt Delete offers hope and advice to anyone growing up on the Internet now and will also have you nodding your head as you remember all the times you did something exactly like Emma.IMG_3208

In Ctrl Alt Delete, Emma takes on Internet dating, the porn industry, what it’s like to get an Internet job and lots, lots more. After listening to Emma’s podcast fanatically, it was really easy to imagine that Emma was in the room reading it to me because her writing style is so natural and true to how she is off the page. I’d love to give the audiobook a go now that I’ve finished it because Emma narrated it herself!

I’ve always loved the Internet and think I could write a book of my own about my experiences on it, so it was great to read about Emma’s own experiences, which echoed some of my own and were very relatable. I loved how honest and unashamed Emma was in it because I know if I had to publish a book with all of the embarrassing things my younger self had done, I’d have to hide for the rest of eternity!

“If I were to give Virginia Woolf’s quote a little millennial update I’d say ‘a woman must have money and an online space of her own’.”

The sections I loved the most were the ones where Emma spoke about starting her blog; I couldn’t stop going back over them and absorbing her advice and words of wisdom. As someone I admire so much, it was great to read Emma’s thoughts about things I’ve thought about the blogging world and I find that I can’t help myself agreeing with everything she says; Emma gets what it means to be an online content creator and I wanted to applaud her constantly as I was reading Ctrl Alt Delete.

Ctrl Alt Delete is a refreshingly honest Internet Bible for all teenagers and anyone who has ever spent time on the Internet. You won’t be able to help falling in love with Emma as you read it and want to be best friends with her, but it will also make you think about the way that you use the Internet and what it means to you.

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Have you read Ctrl Alt Delete or do you love Emma’s blog? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Let me know an embarrassing Internet memory you have!

 

Book Haul

I Am Incapable of Only Buying One Book | A Book Haul

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I’ve recently taken the effort to actually do something with my summer. So far, this has involved going outside of my comfort zone and getting outside of the house. On my own (or with my dog). I don’t find it easy to get out and walk around where there are other people because my anxious brain thinks of every bad scenario and I’d much rather be inside reading, but I did decide to offer an incentive at the end of it, so yesterday I decided to go book shopping.

I walked down to my local Waterstones and WH Smith’s branch and scoured the shelves from top to bottom to search out some new books. At the moment I’m loving discovering new books that I maybe haven’t heard of before, or haven’t read anything by the author previously, so there’s a lot less YA but most of the books have huge crossover appeal. Varied tastes are good!

The List by Siobhan Vivian

The List is the only YA book on my pile and I decided to pick it up on a whim after reading the blurb and thinking it would be a great feminist read. It’s about a school where every year the prettiest and ugliest girl is chosen from each year group and the book then details how the girls respond to this. I think it will be interesting to see how Siobhan Vivian discusses body image and the relationships between the girls.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

It’s been described as a modern classic, so why haven’t I read it yet?! I’m going to be rectifying that as soon as I possibly can. The Handmaid’s Tale is a staple book for any feminist’s collection and I’ve heard amazing things about it, so this summer will finally be the time I put to rights the wrongs I have committed by not reading any Margaret Atwood. I also have a poetry collection to read by her for when I’ve finished it. I’d love to know what you’d recommend I read next by her too!

“One and one and one and one doesn’t equal four. Each one remains unique, there is no way of joining them together. They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each other.” – The Handmaid’s Tale

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

Alice Walker’s Poems at Thirty Nine was one of the poems I had to study for English Literature at GCSE and after reading about her, I decided a while back that I definitely wanted to read The Colour Purple sometime in the future. I’m trying to read more diversely and part of this will include reading more books by women of colour – I’ve realised that the majority of books I’m reading at the moment are written by white, English people so it can give quite a limited view of the world. The Colour Purple will be one of the books that contributes to my personal challenge.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I read Maya Angelou’s And Still I Rise poetry collection earlier in the year which I found incredibly empowering and immediately went to her Wikipedia page after I’d finished and started reading about her. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is her first autobiographical instalment in a collection of seven, and from reading her Wikipedia I know she’s lead a very interesting life. I think it will be a must-read that I’ll be recommending lots!

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Quiet Power by Susan Cain

Quiet Power is the follow up to Susan Cain’s first book, Quiet, and is aimed at kids and teenagers. In it, she explores what it’s like to be introverted and making your mark in the world in a quiet way. I’m a very introverted person and I watched Char’s review of it a while back and was intrigued then, but finally bought it after hearing Susan talk about it on BBC Radio 2.

I’ve always relished doing things quietly – reading on my own, getting lost in the thoughts and worlds that occupy my head – so I’m going to be starting this one right away as I can’t wait to dig in.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

I am not one of those people that hate Shakespeare. In fact, I would marry Shakespeare’s works if I could, so I think the modern retellings of some of his best plays that Hogarth Press are publishing are brilliant. Vinegar Girl is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew which is a play I’ve wanted to read/watch for a while now. I’m late to the Anne Tyler bandwagon because I’d never actually heard of her before, despite her being a prolific author, so hopefully it will lead to me reading more by her in the future.

I’m hoping to start a new project where I read and watch the original play and then read the retelling, so keep an eye out for this series soon!

On The Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher

I love watching Carrie’s YouTube videos and recently read her first book, All I Know Now. Whilst I enjoyed it and found it very informative, I don’t always love non-fiction so I’ve been looking forward to reading On The Other Side because it’s her first work of fiction. For those of you who don’t know who Carrie is, she’s a YouTuber but also played Eponine in Les Miserables in the West End up until recently and is currently touring with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the UK. I think she’s incredibly talented and so I really hope I enjoy this.

What books have you bought recently that you’re excited to read? Are there any on my pile that you think I should read right away? Share the bookish love in the comments!

If you loved this post, don’t forget to hit the ‘heart’ button at the bottom of the post to show your appreciation!

Other

Re-launching Queen of Contemporary!

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If this post wasn’t part of the Internet and was actually happening live, this would be the moment I’d cut the red ribbon and declare the new Queen of Contemporary website officially open! Although knowing me I’d probably drop the scissors on my feet or trip over the ribbon…

*cuts ribbon*

I’ve gone through quite a lot of personal changes so far this year, the most notable one being that I’ve finished with secondary school! My exams are over and all I’ve got to do now is wait for my results and it’s been great waving goodbye to that part of my life – whoever says your school days are the best part of your life is obviously lying! I’ve grown up with my blog and so I wanted to re-design it to reflect who I am now – and after slaving away at my computer for a few days and even coding (gasp!) I’ve finally got it to how I want it.

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I’ve missed out on a lot of blogging time through school but now that I have the summer ahead of me, writing posts is going to be my priority. It’s been strange not updating as much as I’d like!

A new feature I LOVE is that you can now click the heart at the bottom of the post to show your love for it! This will help me to know which posts you’re loving the most so that I can write more just like it. Go on… give it a go now!

So what can you expect to see?

Queen of Contemporary will be used as the base for all my online projects – my YouTube channel, #ukyachat on Twitter and of course book discussion. This means that I’ll be cross-posting videos that are posted on my channel here with added content and there will be summaries each week for each #ukyachat.

As well as this, I’ll also be posting weekly book reviews, book discussions and recommendations, as well as interviews with authors, bloggers and book industry insiders, and even more!

It’s more important than ever to support your favourite blogs – coverage of children’s and YA books is down and has taken a major blow in the past month with the closure of the Guardian’s Children Books site. Your continued support means the world to me – thank you for reading my tiny book-filled corner of the Internet!

Happy reading!

What do you think of my new design? Are there any posts you’d like to see me write? Spread the bookish love in the comments below!

Writing

Writing Validation & “Not Being Good Enough”

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I’ve reached to a stand-still whilst working on my manuscript at the moment. I didn’t realise fully, until now, how solitary writing can be, how it’s just me typing away at my laptop – I’m the only one writing the words, developing them in my brain to put onto paper. These collected thoughts add up to create a greater picture – a story – that I hope one day people will read, but for now it’s just me. For the first draft, it is my thoughts alone that craft the world.

In the digital age we are in, it’s easier to rope other people in that can make us feel like this solitary environment isn’t so lonely after all. We can tweet about our word counts (usually when they’re high, but sometimes when they’re low), we can call on people for motivation. I don’t like to think I need the validation, to rely on other people to make me feel good about my writing even if they’re not actually reading the words I’ve written, but lately I’ve been forgetting the enjoyment of writing and doing it to one-up myself and then tweeting about it to prove my point.

I love social media but I’ve realised that the numbers game (the striving for more followers, a bigger reach, etc.) has walked over to my writing and taken over big time. Instead of writing a scene because I want to, because I’ll enjoy getting it written, I’ve been thinking about it in terms of numbers – how many words will this add today, how fast can I write it? It’s blurring the lines between writing because I’m passionate about it and writing because I feel like I have to do it. 

I’ve also currently been finding company in other books. I can simultaneously avoid working on my novel and try to glean writing advice from within the pages of timeless classics, but I have discovered that this has the potential to be harmful to my productivity and self-esteem. You see, I’ve come to realise that I can read as much Virginia Woolf as I want but I’ll never write like Virginia Woolf because I am not Virginia Woolf. I find her stream of consciousness so beautiful and lyrical but comparing my writing to her writing in the process will not help anyone – if I tried to replicate it, it would be just that: a replica of Virginia Woolf’s writing.

I sometimes wonder if I didn’t occupy this corner of the Internet, if I didn’t keep up with this blog and involve myself in the writing community, if I would still write. It’s the demon lurking in the depths of my head – “You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t know other writers.”

So I try to remind myself now – I have always loved writing. I take comfort in leaking words out through my typing fingers and making sense of them once they’re in front of me. Writing to me is like breathing; I can’t live without writing, just like I can’t live without breathing.

Here is my advice to myself: Write because you love it, because if you don’t you’ll go insane with the words building up in your head. Write for YOU – anyone else is a bonus.

UKYA UKYA Book Club

#READUKYA Book Club – July Titles + GIVEAWAY!

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After the inaugural Read UKYA Book Club in June (click here to see the titles!), it’s back in July with two more titles! Both books were voted for on the UKYA Facebook page, so you can join to be able to vote on next month’s title. Everyone’s welcome – you don’t have to live in the UK to join in or be a certain age (as long as you can legally be on Facebook), but it’s a must that you love books!

Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield

Lisa’s second novel after her début, Seed, was published last year, Paper Butterflies tells the story of June who faces daily abuse from her stepmother and stepsister at home. No one knows about it and June feels trapped until she meets a boy called Blister who sheds some hope on her terrible home life. The thing is, everything comes at a price, and what is the price of freedom?

Lisa Heathfield writes beautifully, with every point she makes 100% believable. Prepare many boxes of tissues for this one, as it’s bound to make you cry!

Add on Goodreads | Order here

The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

The Sin Eater’s Daughter was one of my favourite books of last year and the stunning first part of a trilogy that will take your breath away. Melinda Salisbury has created an intricate fantasy world in The Sin Eater’s Daughter in which the main character, Twylla, can kill with a single touch. Twylla is betrothed to the prince of Lormere, where she lives, and is made to kill the enemies of the Crown each month.

The Sin Eater’s Daughter will leave you on the edge of your seat whilst you’re reading it as it’s incredibly fast-paced but still complex, and you’ll become so attached to the characters that you’ll never want to let them go. Believe me, I haven’t since I finished reading it.

Add on Goodreads | Order here 

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There’ll be a discussion on Twitter at the end of the month on Wednesday 27th July at 8pm BST as part of #ukyachat on the theme of both books – so do join in to chat all about The Sin Eater’s Daughter and Paper Butterflies!

GIVEAWAY

Starting from this month, I’m giving you the opportunity to win a set of August’s (as yet unnamed) titles. There are a number of different ways you can enter and each way you do counts as an entry, so it’s possible to enter multiple times:

– Buy a copy of either The Sin Eater’s Daughter or Paper Butterflies during the month of July from an independent bookshop OR borrow either from a library and tweet a picture of your copy(ies) using the #readukya hashtag or share on the UKYA Facebook group.

– Write a review of either The Sin Eater’s Daughter or Paper Butterflies and post to your blog/Amazon/Goodreads during July and share using the #readukya hashtag on Twitter or to the UKYA Facebook group. Each review counts as TWO entries!

– Write a review of The Sleeping Prince or Seed and post to your blog/Amazon/Goodreads during July for ONE entry.

Happy reading!

Have you read The Sin Eater’s Daughter or Paper Butterflies already? If not, what are you most excited to read about in them? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Writing

My Writing Recipe

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Something absolutely incredible happened last night: I reached 10,000 words on the novel that I’m currently working on. It might not seem like a huge deal and I still have a long way to go – and it’s just my first draft! – but I couldn’t be more proud.

If you read my previous writing post, you’ll know that I’ve been struggling to pass 2,000 words on any of the projects I’ve been working on, so after a big writing kick on Sunday with the help of some of my lovely friends on Twitter (extra big thanks to Sally!), I pushed past the 2K barrier and wrote 3,500 words in a single day. I don’t think that’s ever happened before!

There were a few things that contributed to this, which I’ve decided to call my Writing Recipe!

One: An OUTLINE!

I’ve always had a rough idea of plot, but never taken the time to sit down and actually write a step-by-step plot outline, with character details and a basic idea of what the final scene will look like. Now that I’ve got one it’s so easy to see the direction I’m heading in and my character arcs. I wish I’d started outlining sooner!

Two: Determination and Motivation

I had to give myself a serious pep talk by telling myself that I CAN DO THIS. It’s okay wanting to write, but wanting and actually doing are two entirely different things when you’re facing a blank word document.

I’m constantly setting myself new targets and working with my project, rather than fighting against it. I know I can’t write 3,000 words every day, but I can still try to write as much as I possibly can. Being prepared to rework targets is always a good skill to have when it comes to writing!

Three: Write in short bursts

I’ve been setting myself challenges of writing for 15 or 20 minutes at a time, which seems to have worked. This has worked best when I’m beginning a new chapter or scene so that I can initially splurge all the words down, but as I progress through a scene I try to spend more time on crafting the scene in my head to try to follow a general direction. I’ve tried to work in bursts of half an hours but I spend too much time procrastinating when I do this. All the baby steps add up!

Four: Writing partners!

On Sunday morning, my friend Sally and I started a hashtag on Twitter called #SundayWritealong where we held writing sprints and it was so much fun to work with other people – having other people as motivators can really help because you can feel as if you’re working towards something more… and my competitive streak comes out too!

Five: I really, really, really love this project.

I initially wrote a list of everything I wanted to include in a novel and tried to incorporate all of them into this project… which has meant that I basically get to write all day about books!

I’m also super in love with my characters, especially two of my secondary characters who are lots of fun to write. I’m especially looking forward to the parts later on when I can mess them up and set them against each other. Mwahahaha! 😉

Six: RESEARCH.

I’m researching as I go along, but research for this project is especially fun because it has meant actually going to the settings and getting to walk around, seeing the places as my characters would. I’ll have a few more blog posts on this coming up in the next few weeks!


I’m planning on doing Camp NaNoWriMo in July, which I am incredibly excited for. I’m aiming to write 35,000 words during the month as I’d like to finish my first draft by the end of the summer, but it would be nice to reach the full target of 50,000 – just to see if I can do it! I’ve never won NaNoWriMo before so it will be a challenge but I am ready to BRING IT.

How do you write best? Share your advice with me in the comments!

Book Review UKYA

REVIEW: The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

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You know when you read a book and you feel so satisfied when you’re reading it because you know how good it is? This is how I felt when I was reading The Square Root of Summer! Every single word of it was brilliant and I’m so glad that I read it. 

In this perfect summer read, Harriet Reuter Hapgood mixes contemporary with a sci-fi/time travel twist. It has everything needed for a beach read, whilst also being exciting and fast-paced. The Square Root of Summer tells the story of teenager Gottie Oppenheimer who is struggling with the death of her grandfather, Grey, as well as dealing with a secret-breakup. This summer, past and future collide as the boy who broke her heart returns, as well as Gottie’s old best friend, Thomas.

I fell head over heels in love with the characters. Harriet’s ability to make each one feel individual and real made them so enjoyable to read about and I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know more about Gottie and the other characters. I always use an indicator of “Would I want to be friends with these characters?” to see how much I loved a book and I would LOVE to hang out with Gottie and her friends.

One of my favourite touches in the book was Gottie’s German mannerisms and sayings. Her dad being German, I liked how this was shown to have developed her character and was also fun for an ex-German-learner to read about. I love special touches!

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The feelings of grief that Gottie feels – towards losing her grandfather and her break up – came to life on the page and I felt that I could empathise with her because her feelings were written so subtly but also so realistically – the plot isn’t inundated with Gottie’s emotions but they are ever-present and help to expand the narrative.

It was super amazing to read about a female character who is interested in science. It can be particularly hard for girls in STEM subjects, as I’ve learnt from experience, so to read about the physics was great and I hope it inspires other girls to take an interest in science.

Harriet certainly proved with The Square Root of Summer that she can WRITE! It felt so well-crafted and I 100% believed everything that was being written, even though it does stray into science fiction and magical realism grounds. I loved how, even though the time travel was there, it was almost as if I could feel the summer heat when I was reading it and it had the contemporary feel that I love.

The Square Root of Summer is a title I’m going to be shouting about all summer. It’s a standout debut that you can’t help but love and I hope that readers love it just as much as I did.

Read this if you loved…

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The time travel and science elements of All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

The feeling of summer and romance in The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Book in a Tweet:

 @hapgoodness has written one of my favourite books of the summer – time travel, summer romance and brilliant characters – what’s not to love?!

 

Have you read The Square Root of Summer? What did you think about it? Let’s chat!

Discussion Points:

  • If you could travel back to one point in your life, where would it be and why?
  • What other time travel books have you read and loved?
  • What are your favourite summertime books to read?