#usborne ya

Hey Guys!! Welcome to my stop on the Theatrical Blog Tour! I've been looking forward to this for so long! I feel so honoured that Stevie @ Usborne asked me to be a part of this! So thank you so much! <3

@usborneyashelfies

The book is out now btw! And here's the synopsis:

Hope dreams of working backstage in a theatre, and she’s determined to make it without the help of her famous costume designer mum. So when she lands an internship on a major production, she tells no one. But with a stroppy Hollywood star and his hot young understudy upstaging Hope’s focus, she’s soon struggling to keep her cool… and her secret.

My Thoughts:

I read this book back at the end of last month, and I enjoyed it so much! The characters were so wonderful and I loved seeing their journey's through the book. The Main characters Hope and Luke are so cute, and it was lovely to see their relationship develop and grow, and it seemed really natural, like how a normal new teen relationship would be. However was expecting the romance aspect to play a bigger role in the book than it ended up doing. I wanted more of them being cute together and getting to know each other more, I wanted more mush haha

The book gives such an amazing insight into the backstage of theatre productions, which is something we don't really get to see very often in books! Books that have a centre around theatre / productions seem to mostly focus on the actors rather than production. It showed me how much work and effort actually goes into big productions and it was so lovely.

My Experiences

I haven't really been to many plays/ theatre productions but I remember being part of a musical production of We Will Rock You at school back in the day! It was honestly one of the most fun things I've ever taken part in, and I would honestly love to do something like it again! It brought everyone together and we all had fun and enjoyed ourselves, and it was a great way to end the primary school era.

I didn't play a major part or anything, but it was just so fun to be part of it, and sing the songs and dance on stage. I don't know if i'd be brave enough to do it now that I'm in my 20's though! Even though it happened about 11 years ago, I still have fond memories! I think I have a cast photo around somewhere in my house too! If I manage to find it, I'll have to upload it sometime! haha

Maggie's experiences of school productions (written by Maggie):

So many actors say the first time they felt they wanted to act was when they were in school productions: I can completely understand this because something very similar happened to me. It was school productions over the years that taught me the very last place I ever wanted to be was on a stage.

In my head, you see, I’m a brilliant and talented natural actor.

In person, I am… not. And I’ve had ample chance to prove it.

Every year, my school put on what was called the “Easter concert”. Really, it was more of a variety show than a concert, and the whole school took part. Over the years I was Hyena in “How the Camel Got His Hump”, Grendel’s Mother (don’t ask), a Victorian girl who no boys wanted to dance with – talk about typecasting - and a village leader in something I don’t quite remember because I got hit by a car two days later and fractured my knee, giving new meaning to the phrase “Break a leg”. Then there was the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Revolting Rhymes” in which I played the starring role of Goldilocks - in head to toe black, DM boots and a blonde wig. I had about two lines, and had to fall off a chair on cue. It was not, shall we say, my best moment.

And then, a couple of years later, just as the running order to that year’s concert was being set, the drama teacher wasn’t paying attention one day and I’m ashamed to say I took complete advantage of her. Which is how I ended up writing and directing a short scene about a group of friends being attacked by a vampire, and how we put that on in front of a theatre full of teachers and the whole school’s families. Actually, I’m probably not quite as ashamed as I should be, and the only reason I’m ashamed at all is because the vampire was called “Darktooth” - which struck younger me as the perfect vampire name. Anyway: there I was, with a script I’d written in my hand, standing at the side of the stage and looking out at it – not on it, looking out at the audience – and for the first time I felt okay about being in that theatre. I felt like I knew what I was doing.

I didn’t, by the way. The whole thing was a complete shambles, and everyone was confused (the friends I’d cast and the audience) and Darktooth the vampire tripped over a mic stand on the way offstage… but I still remember what it felt like when we all bundled together in the wings, and felt like we’d made something. Because we had. Nobody – us included – quite knew what… but whatever it was, it was ours.

And I hadn’t even had to fall off a chair.

Thank you all for reading my post!

Were you ever part of a school play? If so what was it? :D

I'd love to read about some of your experiences :D

Holly Bourne’s blockbuster new novel, IT ONLY HAPPENS IN THE MOVIES, is a scorching takedown of Hollywood cliches. But not all films about love involve racing to airports or kissing in the rain. So what are some of the films that truly make Holly’s heart sing?

Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind After the pain of a break-up, it’s common to think, What was the actual point of all that?” Eternal Sunshine is precisely about this feeling. Clementine and Joel have a turbulent two-year relationship that ends with them both going to a specialist service where they can wipe their memories of the whole love affair. It follows their story backwards, as Joel realizes halfway through the process, that, actually, it is all worth it and he would do it all over again. Can he stop the procedure and save the memories before it’s too late? A gorgeous, quirky, brilliant film.

(500) Days Of Summer Sometimes boys - not all boys, but a lot of damn boys - fall in love with the idea of a girl, rather than the girl herself. This film is all about a boy called Tom doing just that with a girl called Summer, despite her repeatedly telling him she is not able to give him what he wants. Not only is this movie a brilliant takedown of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, it’s also just a stunning piece of filmmaking, with all sorts of random techniques, including surprise musical numbers.

How To Make An American Quilt I mean, this film has Maya Angelou in. What more do I need to say? Reluctantly-engaged Finn spends the summer at her grandma’s house to get her head around marrying Sam. While there, her grandmother’s quilting circle make her her wedding quilt - each elderly lady telling Finn the story of their own love and heartache. The film’s a great examination of the perils of modern monogamy, but I mostly adore it for it’s tribute to female friendship and the power of stories.

On Wednesday, London’s YA readers were queuing to gain entrance to Holly Bourne’s awesome launch event at Waterstone’s Piccadilly for the brilliant It Only Happens in the Movies. 

YA’s hottest star, Holly Bourne, chatted with blogger/author/podcast host/brilliant woman, Emma Gannon, about her latest book, It Only Happens In the Movies, out 5th October, before playing film-inspired, gigglesome games with fellow YA legends, Lucy Ivison and Lisa Williamson. 

(left-right, Lucy Ivison, Lisa Williamson, Holly Bourne, Emma Gannon)

Huge thanks to all the Holly Bourne fans who made the night such a HUGE success (check these movie themed nails), and for making the MASSIVE signing queue so incredibly photogenic!

Speaking of which, the movie-themed photo booth went down a treat!  How Hollywood is Holly Bourne? A STAR is born!

Wish we could say the same for the Usborne Fiction team... We looked so dorky, YA star Melinda Salisbury even stepped in to style us up. Huge thanks to the thoroughly awesome Grace Latter for snapping these pics. 

These pics capture approx 3% of the fun we had on Wednesday - but if you missed it, never fear - Holly is hitting the road! Catch her in Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham and Newcastle next month.

The wait is over, the dinosaurs have arrived...along with the stunning The Extinction Trials cover, which MaximumPop have just revealed here. And, my, doesn’t it look F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.?

Intrigued? Let us tell you more about this epic new series from S.M. Wilson, where Jurassic Park meets The Hunger Games.

Stormchaser wants to escape her starved, grey life. Lincoln wants to save his dying sister. Their only chance is to join an expedition to a deadly country to steal the eggs of vicious dinosaurs. If they succeed, their reward is a new life filled with riches. But in a land full of monsters - both human and reptilian - only the ruthless will survive.

Next month, Usborne are publishing a richly compelling new novel by master storyteller, Geraldine McCaughrean, based on the true story of a group of boys who were left stranded on Stac in Armin in 1727. Below, Geraldine tells us a little more about the inspiration behind this incredible book. 

Sometimes history can be heartless and tight-lipped. It tells us the facts, but not the feelings, and we are left beating on its windows shouting, “Yes, but what were their names? What did they say? What became of them?” Those are the moments fiction swoops on, like a happy magpie. I certainly do. 

The whole fabric of Scotland is a tapestry of ancient stories and histories, suffering and bravery, but the remote archipelago of St Kilda has a particular way of snaring the imagination. Harsh and beautiful, suspended beneath its flocking birds, it asks what YOU would find there – inner peace or terrible isolation? The simple life or a terrible familiarity with death? The lives of its islanders centuries ago are nigh impossible for the modern mind to grasp. But they flicker there on the rim of the imagination, demanding admiration. 

When I came across the story of the boys marooned on Stac an Armin in 1727, it tantalised with its lack of detail. A party of fowlers went out to harvest gannets, feathers and eggs, and no boat came to take them home again. What did they suppose had happened? What explanations crossed their minds? How did they cope? I thought I knew where I meant to take the story, but as usual the joy came in finding out as I went along. The novel is more guesswork than history, but the fact those men, those boys genuinely existed, certainly upped the ante. 

Where the World Ends is aimed at the teenage reader – has more in common with The White Darkness and The Stones are Hatching than Peter Pan in Scarlet. Grim and scary in parts, it aims to make you fret for the protagonists and keep on hoping for the best. Crossings to St Kilda are rough and rarely made. But this one, I hope, is well worth making.

So...people started receiving ARCs for Will Hill’s stunning AFTER THE FIRE last week. You know the one. It’s that book that Usborne YA’s very own Maggie Harcourt calls “powerful and beautiful”.

It’s the book that Queen of Teen, Maureen Johnson, says “will keep you up late until you get to the very end”.

And that Amy Alward, YA author and Zoe Suggs’ editor, thinks is a “masterclass in suspense”. 

And that Juno Dawson remembers as “a gripping story of survival with a big heart”.

THAT book.

Yep, ARCs are out there in the world, and being read by people! Squuueeeee!

People like Sin Eater’s Daughter-YA-author-extraordinaire, Melinda Salisbury....

Top YA book bloggers such as Ryan from Empire of Books:

And uber-cool Pornkitsch editor, @straycarnivore

In fact, so many people were talking about AFTER THE FIRE, it started trending on twitter in London.

Pretty impressive, eh?

So we at Shelfies were wondering...would YOU like a proof copy?

Because we have THREE to giveaway.

All you need to do is REBLOG from tumblr, or TWEET, using #AfterTheFire and tell us why YOU want to read Will Hill’s “magnificent, beautiful, horrible, wonderful” novel about the people we trust, the lies we believe, and the strength we find to survive.

You have until midnight on Sunday 19th March, London time; the winner will be notified on Monday 20th March.