The #YAtakeover 2.0 Schedule

The #YAtakeover takes place from the 19th August until the 21st August 2016. All of the times are in BST (British Summer Time). Times will differ depending on country. +1 hour for GMT.

19th August 2016

Bullying in YA

 

Time: 7.00pm-7.45pm BST

Interview panel: E.R. Murray, Eve Ainsworth, Jenny McLachlan and Susin Nielsen

Host: @ChelleyToy

 

Some of your favourite YA authors will be discussing the various kinds of bullying from different viewpoints and the affects on the victim. 

The Big Fat YA Quiz

Time: 8.00pm-10.00pm BST

40 questions on YA lit including book cover questions, quotes, emojis and more. Be the first to reply to the question with the #YAtakeover hashtag, answer the most questions and you'll win a bumper YA prize (UK and Ireland only) which will include copies of:

• C. J. Skuse's The Deviants,
• Taran Matharu's The Novice,
• Manuela Salvi's controversial Girl Detached (advance copy),
• Leo Hunt's 13 Days of Midnight,
• Sarra Manning's London Belongs to Us and
• Lucy Saxon's Take Back the Skies

20th August 2016

LGBT: You Be Who You Want to Be

 

Time: 9.00-9.45am BST (+1 hour for GMT)

Interview Panel: Lisa Williamson
Host: @YAundermyskin

Lisa and Robin discuss sexual identity and being true to yourself as well as some of key themes in their award-winning books.

Supernatural Seduction

Time: 10.00am-10.45am BST

Interview Panel: Julia Gray, Katharine Corr and Lu Hersey

Julia, Katharine and Lu discuss the myths in their stories and how these shape their writing.

  

Where do you read?

Time: 11.10am-11.50am BST

Where do you read? Post pictures of your favourite reading spots across Instagram and Twitter, using the #YAtakeover hashtag. Bookshops, parks, beaches and more - we want to know! There will be a book prize for the most unusual reading spot and the most creative picture. We may throw in another spontaneous prize or two on the day. You can post as many times as you like. 

'It's Behind You': Horror in YA

Time: 12.00pm-12.45pm BST
Interview Panel: Alex Bell, Danny Weston and Dawn Kurtagich
Host: @HowlingReviews

Our panellists discuss the different kinds of horror and what inspires them to write for the genre.

Peer Pressure in YA

Time: 1.00pm-1.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Claire Hennessy and Patrice Lawrence
Host: @Jenny_books_art

Debut authors Claire and Patrice discuss peer pressure and the impact it has on their characters and stories, exposing and exploring issues that include body image, crime and drugs.
   

Unheard Voices

Time: 2.00pm-2.45pm BST
Interview Panel: Alex Wheatle, Jon Walter and Robin Talley

 
Two acclaimed authors discuss representation in YA fiction, covering the challenges and obstacles they have faced in their careers and those that exist in the wider field.

YA Thrillers 

Time: 3.00pm-3.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Emma Haughton, Liz Flanagan and Sue Wallman
Host: @ohhiimjosh

We unearth the relationships between friends and family and the emotional aspects of Liz's and Sue's stories and how they channel this into pulse-pounding, thrilling narratives.

Let's Talk Depression in YA

Time: 4.00pm-4.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Jay Asher
Host: @HowlingReviews

'13 Reasons Why' was published almost a decade ago and it's never been more relevant. We'll look at depression in this panel and try to unearth why this iconic book has stood the test of time. 

Hope and Resilience

Time: 05.00pm-05.45pm BST
Interview Panel: Eliza Wass and Jeff Zentner
Host: @HowlingReviews

Eliza and Jeff explore hope in their stories and the resilience of their characters.

Blood is Thicker than Water
 

Time: 6.15pm-7.00pm BST

Interview Panel: Clare Furniss, Ellen Hopkins, Liz Kessler and Sarah Crossan
Host: @AnnaliseBooks

Our panel discusses four very different family portraits.

'To Infinity and Beyond'
 

Time: 7.15pm-8.00pm BST
Host: @yablooker

 

Join us for a Twitter chat on Sci-Fi in YA with our special guest, Meaghan McIssac.

21st August 2016
 

Dazzling Debuts

 

Time: 9.00am-9.45am BST

Interview Panel: Alwyn Hamilton and Lauren James
Host: @demoniqueshadow

 

Alwyn and Lauren take us through 'Rebel of the Sands' and 'The Next Together',  their writing techniques and their experiences as debut authors.

 

 

Growing up and Moving out

Time: 10.00am-10.45am BST

Interview Panel: Alexia Casale and Keris Stainton

Host: @ChelleyToy

Alexia and Keris explore university and beyond (and the challenges their protagonists are faced with) in this discussion on coming-of-age YA.

Tech in YA

Time: 11.00am-11.45am BST
Interview Panel: Amy Alward and Keren David

Our panel discusses technology in their work and how this impacts on their stories and themes.

Rude, Crude and Uncouth: The Shouldn'ts, Couldn'ts and Wouldn'ts of YA Lit
 

Time: 12.00pm-12.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Jess Vallance, Manuela Salvi and Moira Fowley-Doyle

Our panel looks at taboo and censorship in YA.

Ha ha ha: The Funny Side of YA
 

Time: 1.00pm-1.45pm BST

Join us for a Twitter chat on humour in YA; why it's important and reading recommendations with special guest

Everybody Say Love!
 

Time: 2.00pm-2.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Joss Stirling
Host: @cityofyabook

Our panel discusses love in YA.

#SundayYA book club

Time: 3.00pm-3.45pm BST

Host: @_babblebooks

Rachel leads this joint book club with the YAfictionados. Our first YA read is 'Paper Butterflies' by Lisa Heathfield. Join in using the #SundayYA hashtag (just for this book club segment).

Keep your Friends Close

Time: 4.00pm-4.45pm BST

Interview Panel: C. J. Skuse and M. G. Reyes

C. J. and M. G. discuss lies, betrayal and friendship in this nail-biter panel.

The Affects of War

Time: 5.00-5.45 BST
Interview panel: Brian Conaghan and Michael Grant
Host: @ChelleyToy

Our panel looks at war, the affects and the scars it leaves behind.

What is Normal?

Time: 6.00pm-6.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Eric Lindstrom, Louise Gornall and Siobhan Curham
Host: @zarinatweets

Is there such a thing as 'normal'? And if so, what does it mean to be anything but 'normal'? Join our panel as they provide insight into an incredible deconstruction on the idea of 'normal'.

Fantastic Fantasy

Time: 7.00pm-7.45pm BST

Interview Panel: Melinda Salisbury, Samantha Shannon and Taran Matharu
Host: @Lottie_LovesB

Why fantasy? What inspires you? How do you create your worlds? Join our panel as they share their passion and enlighten us to some of the challenges associated with writing fantasy.

There will be tons of giveaways throughout the event across Twitter and Instagram. To be in with a chance of winning, follow us on Twitter @YAfictionados and on Instagram yafictionados. We will feature blog posts, giveaways, Twitter chats and interviews so be sure to mark this event in your calenders.

I'm So Starstruck: 'Star Struck' Review

'Star Struck' by Jenny MacLachlan
Review by Christopher Moore

Summary:

Following on from Flirty Dancing, Love Bomb and Sunkissed, Jenny McLachlan's next book is perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison.

A spotlight shines down on the two of us and everyone drifts into the shadows...Pearl is destined to be the star of this year's school musical. Being the lead is all she wants - especially as it means kissing super-hot Jake Flower.

Then a new girl walks into the audition...Hoshi can sing, she's an amazing dancer and she's seriously cute. Before Pearl knows it, she's stolen her part, her friends and Jake's attention! But this girl doesn't know who she's messing with. Pearl's used to battling every day and she's not going down without a fight. Sparks are going to fly!
 

Review:

Star Struck is the last in the Ladybirds series. I should probably point out now that I haven’t read the others but that didn’t take away from my reading enjoyment.

If I’m being honest, I thought that Pearl was an absolute cow. She came across as a complete rhymes-with-witch but I get it. MacLachan crafts her characters on two levels; their characteristics and outer appearance and their internalised problems like Pearl's home life where we get to see her softer, more vulnerable side. So yes, on the outside, Pearl isn’t a very nice person but when we get a 360 view of her life, we begin to understand the complexities that drive her and make her act the way she does.

Domestic abuse haunts her home life. Pearl has to lock her bedroom door to prevent her brother from invading her personal space and finding new ways to torture her. There were parts where I was actually scared for Pearl; where I experienced her panic and fear as if there were some sort of fictional-real-world, psychic link tethering us together.

I don’t think the book covers do justice to the stories. When I picked it up, I wanted to put it down again because the cover gave the impression that this was going to be a girly, all-frills kind of book when it’s more than that. It’s a book that touches on some really strong issues like abuse and there's a nice surprise towards the end. Pearl, as the narrator, is funny and cruel but she demands your attention and makes you want to read her story.

Is this the best book I’ve ever read? No. Is this a book I’d recommend? Certainly. It’s an ideal beach read. The only drawback for me was the way the abuse was handled; I don’t feel like there was any sense of resolution and for younger readers, that’s a bit dangerous, hence why I knocked off a star.

Rating: 4/5 Stars  ★ ★ ★ ★

 

Christopher Moore:

  

Christopher is a co-founder of the YAfictionados blog and is best known as the YAblooker. He is a twenty-five year old book blogger who has previously worked in marketing and consumer insight for various publishing houses and writes in his spare time. He loves to travel and will read anything YA-related and some general fiction and fantasy.

LBOY2015 Shortlist Review #3: 'Only Ever Yours' by Louise O'Neill

'Only Ever Yours' by Louise O'Neill

Review by Sarah Nuttall

Summary:

freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions - wives to wealthy and powerful men.

The alternative - life as a concubine - is too horrible to contemplate.

But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty - her only asset - in peril.

And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.

freida must fight for her future - even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known...

Review:

Only Ever Yours is the debut novel of the talented Louise O’Neill. A satirical novel on society’s obsession with female beauty and the pursuit for physical perfection, it was well received by the YA community as well as being shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and winning the inaugural YA Book Prize.


freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives; born from the same batch of eves they are genetically engineered women designed to be the right standard of physical beauty and perfection. Along with their sister eves for twelve years they have attended The School awaiting the day of The Ceremony, the day were they will finally discover which role they will receive on leaving school – companion, concubine or chastity. The greatest of these is the companion; a role which allows the eve to be owned by a husband and the possibility of having sons. Next, are the concubines; designed for sexual pleasure. And lastly, is the common chastity; remaining at the school to develop the future generations of eves to attain their futures. The chastities teach the eves the rules; be pretty; do as you’re told; don’t be different; and don’t break the rules. They eves are drugged with pills to help them sleep and keep their weight within target. Their classes revolve around learning skills that men will find useful and critiquing the beauty and weight of their fellow eves. The pressure is immense and when the boys arrive to claim their brides the eves descend into the final rounds of their high pressure game of "'win or lose"; for this is what they were designed for; this is why they were made. 


I was absolutely floored the first time I read Only Ever Yours and having read it a second time it still has had a strong emotional effect on me. Although the story is fiction, it comes from such an honest core, using our society’s obsession with physical beauty so that it offers more of a reflection on modern society that, on the surface, may resemble a standard YA dystopian novel. The eves are trained to analyse, critique and manipulate each other all in the name of beauty and by conforming to one type of beauty, the eves are faceless; mere clones encouraged to have no personality. The eves viciously attack each other’s physicality; the eves with the highest beauty rankings setting the standards and implementing a self-perpetual cycle that cannot be broken. The onslaught is relentless.


Social media and TV offer no reprieve to the eves; instead, it is used to reflect back to them the standards and ideals they must achieve. It’s a frightening parable but one which will resonate with most. Who amongst us hasn’t witnessed someone’s physicality described negatively? Hasn’t seen a magazine label a woman too skinny, too fat, or simply labelled a bitch? Read a description of a woman’s age and beauty rather than her profession achievements? A mere glance on the internet can bring up the worst and nastiest comments from faceless commentators, with users hounded off social media by taunts of weight, beauty or accusations of stupidity. The most popular cosmetic surgeries across the world are breast augmentation, nasal surgery and eyelid surgery as women across the world alter their faces and bodies to achieve one goal. Butt implants are the fasting growing surgery. It’s a vicious onslaught and although it’s a personal choice and, for some, surgery may have a positive life change, perhaps some would feel happier with their perceived imperfections if there were more standards of beauty than what’s currently reflected.


The desire for physical perfection is summed up perfectly by O’Neill. The standards don’t make our eves happier or healthier, indeed they make them less so; physically and spirituality they are stupid, dull, insipid and mean. The eves are constantly pulling each other down but are never content or happy. Indeed, our happiest characters are those that have accepted themselves and their bodies. It’s a positive and much needed message and one I hope younger women will see and champion because there is beauty in everyone and to deny your beauty to fulfil another’s standard is a loss to the world.


Only Ever Yours is a truly remarkable book, not only for its positive messages, but for introducing us to the wonderful O’Neill who I’m sure will continue to create wonderful books and interesting books. For a debut author, her writing is exceptional; great dialogue, complex and interesting characters and an uncanny ability to understand and connect with her characters. I understood the motivations and could empathise with the characters in the book; from isabel’s attempt at defiance to freida’s overwhelming desire to be a companion; megan’s drive to be Number One and Darwin’s confusion at the eves' interlocking love/hate relationships. A truly wonderful book and one that deserves to be in every school library.  

Rating: 5/5 Stars  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Sarah Nuttall

Sarah is an active contributor for the YAfictionados blog site. She has written posts for the Waterstones blog and has worked as a bookseller (for 9 years), a Children's bookseller (for 6 years) and is now a manager at her local bookstore. Needless to say, Sarah is a valued member of the YAfictionados team - a true Children's and YA literature expert.