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The Paper & Hearts Society

Read with Pride The Paper & Hearts Society

Introducing… The Paper & Hearts Society: Read With Pride!

I am so excited to be able to share that my second book, the sequel to The Paper & Hearts Society, is called… The Paper & Hearts Society: Read with Pride!

I’m having so much fun writing this book and working on the next adventure for The Paper & Hearts Society, which I hope you’ll enjoy just as much as TP&HS.

What is Read with Pride about?

Read with Pride follows Olivia as she accidentally starts a secret underground book club at school for LGBTQ+ students. There’s a national school book club competition, an online #ReadwithPride campaign, and new characters who I already love so much and hope you’ll love too.

But don’t worry: all your favourite Paper & Hearts Society members will also be back! We’ll catch up with Tabby as she starts therapy and tries to get her life back on track, find out more about her and Henry’s relationship, and also find out just what Ed is getting up to by inviting Felix into The Paper & Hearts Society. And there will be more Mrs Simpkins, of course ..!

Why Read with Pride?

In writing Read with Pride, I was (and am) very conscious that I didn’t want this to be solely a story about coming out. It’s also a book about staying in, not having to reveal who you are and how you identify before you’re ready, and finding people just like you for maybe the first time ever.

I don’t want to feel like I have to “come out” before I’m ready and comfortable, but I hope you know that there are many #OwnVoices elements in Read with Pride and it’s a book very close to my heart.

When I was in school, it only ever felt acceptable to be cis and straight. The students who weren’t were made fun of, and this made it even harder for those of us who weren’t straight, like me, or cis, to understand that it was okay to be gay (or bi or asexual or queer, or however you identify). It wasn’t until I went to college and realised that most of my friends weren’t straight that I managed to shake off a lot of the fear and self-hatred I’d been keeping inside me, because I didn’t realise it was okay to be attracted to boys and girls and also feel very confused at the same time.

So when it came to thinking about Olivia’s story and the journey I wanted her to go on, the idea for an underground book club for LGBTQ+ students wouldn’t leave my mind. Just as in The Paper & Hearts Society, which is all about finding your people, I wanted to write about a group of people brought together by a common interest, but I also wanted to explore how it feels to know that it might not even be safe to be loud and proud about yourself and your new friends. Those people who were open and honest about their sexuality helped me feel comfortable with my own, and I hope that I can do the same in Read with Pride.

I am incredibly scared, still, to be writing this. It feels terrifying to be so open and honest and raw, but I am writing Read with Pride for 16 and 17 year old me, who desperately wanted someone to tell her that she didn’t have to be scared, not all of the time. And if anyone thinks differently of me for sharing this, that is their problem and I won’t hide or cower from who I am. 

What else?

One of the other major things I wanted to explore in Read with Pride was the “after” part of “happily ever after”. I’m very lucky to be able to write about The Paper & Hearts Society over the course of three books, and so something I’ve loved being able to delve deeper into is what happens once the girl has got the boy, once the girl has got the girl — how do teenagers make relationships work? What are those beginning stages of being in a relationship really like, especially when you identify on the LGBTQ+ spectrum? It’s not easy, it can be very complicated, but it’s not something I ever see written about in YA. 

And it wouldn’t be a Lucy Powrie book if there wasn’t a big helping of mental health discussion somewhere in there. It’s GCSE year, Olivia is running two book clubs and trying to make her relationship work … One word: BURNOUT. 

When will it be (coming) out?

If all goes to plan, The Paper & Hearts Society: Read with Pride will be out in May 2020, so less than a year to go! I’m busy writing it at the moment and then there will be lots of editing, but I am so, so excited to share it with you, and hope you’ll be as supportive of it as you have been with The Paper & Hearts Society.

There will also be a cover reveal and more brilliant stuff to share at some point, but not quite yet. In the meantime, I’m always talking about my writing over on Twitter and Instagram, as well as YouTube. 


Olivia Santos is determined to win the National School Book Club Award for her school. Luckily, she’s the mastermind behind The Paper & Hearts Society, a book club that she runs for her friends.

But when Olivia discovers the need for more LGBTQ+ titles in her school library, an idea forms which has the potential to inspire a new book club, encourage more students to read, and make the library as inclusive as possible.

With two book clubs to run, exams to prepare for, and a girlfriend, just how long will it be before Olivia burns out? After all, creating a book club and trying to get the #ReadWithPride hashtag to get noticed is going to take a lot of energy.

Sometimes, when you’re in too deep, it’s up to your friends to look out for you …


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The Paper & Hearts Society

Revealing the cover of The Paper & Hearts Society!

It’s time for a Friday treat! I am SO HAPPY that I finally get to share the cover of The Paper & Hearts Society, my debut novel out in June, with you all.

Honestly, I must admit that I cried as soon as I saw it. It’s everything I could have hoped for and more, and I have wasted many a day staring at it when I should have been working.

So would you like to see it?!

Are you ready?

Are you sure?!

Here we go… I give you, The Paper & Hearts Society!

 

The cover was designed by Alison Padley from Hachette Children’s Group, who has done an amazing job of bringing Tabby, my main character to life.

I love everything about it – but especially the gorgeous Paper & Hearts logo, the BOOKS under the ‘O’ in my name, and the mini Paper & Hearts Society book that Tabby is reading!

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What’s it about?

Tabby Brown is tired of trying to fit in. She doesn’t want to go to parties – in fact, she would much rather snuggle up on the sofa with her favourite book.

It’s like she hasn’t found her people …

But Tabby joins a book club that promises to celebrate books. What could go wrong? EVERYTHING. Why did she think she could make friends with a group of strangers while experiencing AWKWARD BUZZING all over her body?!

But Olivia, Cassie, Henry and Ed have something that makes Tabby come back. Maybe it’s the Jane Austen themed dance parties, Ed’s fluffy cat Mrs Simpkins or, could it just be Henry himself …

Can Tabby let her weird out AND live THE BEST BOOKISH LIFE POSSIBLE?

 

Questions you may have!

When – and where – is it going to be published?

The Paper & Hearts Society will be released on 13th June 2019 in paperback and eBook in the UK and Ireland, and the 11th June 2019 in Australia.

I can’t promise anywhere else for now, but if you are living somewhere other than the UK/Australia and would like to read it in English, you can order it on The Book Depository who offer free worldwide shipping to lots of international countries!

I’m a blogger/reviewer/Official Book Person, how can I receive a proof copy?

Proofs are going to be available reaallyyy soon (which is very scary!!), and the best way to get your hands on one is by contacting the lovely people at Team BKMRK if you’re in the UK, who are handling everything to do with proofs.

How do I know if The Paper & Hearts Society is for me?

Officially, The Paper & Hearts Society is a book for teenagers, but I like to think that anyone can read it! Its main themes are friendship, fitting in, the perils of social media, and learning to believe in yourself. 

Will you be sharing anything else with us?

Yes! More announcements, news, and sneak peeks coming soon!

I hope you love the cover just as much as I do! What do you think?!

The Paper & Hearts Society Writing

Introducing… The Paper & Hearts Society!

The call came as I was waist-deep in books. Literally.

“Are you okay to talk?” my agent, Lauren, asked.

I surveyed the pile of books, taking note of my lack of exit route. “Yes, of course!” After all, I’d read the blog posts and the stories, watched all of the videos about what it means when your agent rings you when your book is out on submission to publishers. My heart began to race.

Then I heard the words offer and pre-empt and, three book deal and, even now, I haven’t fully recovered.

I remained fully professional on the phone but after that, I burst into tears and spent the next week bawling my eyes out at the most mundane things.

Because it was real. I had a book deal. The one dream I’d had since I was small, the one dream I’d had since I finished my book last summer and then got an agent, had come true.

It was ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

I HAVE A BOOK DEAL!!!

In June 2019, Hodder Children’s Books will be publishing my debut novel, The Paper & Hearts Society. It’s the book of my heart, about a book club, a literary road trip, the highs and lows of friendship, and there’s even a bit of romance too.
And it’s going to be a series! There will be a second book out in 2020, and a third in 2021, and I’m over the moon that I get to stick with my characters (who are all my best friends) for the next few years. I hope you’ll love them just as much as I do!

Hodder are part of the much larger Hachette Children’s Group, who publish so many of my favourite authors, like Cat Clarke and Chris Russell, Juno Dawson and Leigh Bardugo… Need I go on?!

The past few months have been a blur of signing contracts, coming up with a new title and preparing for the reveal, amongst my exams and trying to act as if everything is normal. It’s been very hard keeping this a secret!

I’m so excited to begin working on edits and then I’ve got the mammoth task of writing two more books. I will, of course, be documenting the entire process on my blog and my YouTube channel, and can’t wait to share more details as we get closer to publication next year.

Thank you so much, dear blog readers, for supporting me over the years. I’m so excited to start this next chapter of Queen of Contemporary with my new author hat on, and I of course can’t wait for you all to read The Paper & Hearts Society next year.

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