Author: Dillon Khan

Publisher: Puffin (5th April 2012)

Pages: 384

ISBN: 978-0141338040

From Amazon
‘As I stood soaking it all in, my nerves were momentarily replaced by a rush of excitement: I was at the heartbeat of music.’

Jay Merchant has landed an internship for the best job in music television. He has access-all-areas to the biggest VIP parties and the hottest celebrities all over the world. The velvet rope has been lifted – now he’s got to capture it on camera.

But behind the scenes, Jay is thrown into a life of early starts, late nights, blood, sweat and tears. He has six months to turn his intern dream into a real job – but at what price?

It’s time for Jay to face the music . . .

Review
After reading the description for this I had to read it as soon as possible. I’m incredibly nosy about what jobs in the media are like having wanted to work in TV when I was younger. I abandoned this idea a while back but if you are looking to work in the media (particularly music TV) then this book is a MUST read – it will open your eyes to what working in the media is really like wrapped in an engaging story!

As you’ve probably gathered The Intern follows the story of Jay, we learn how he lands himself his dream role at The Beat through to the glamorous life it affords him and the maybe not so wanted side effects of a job which demands so much and the consequences for his friends and family.

I loved how the story doesn’t shy away from technology and how it’s used by people today, the text regularly features text messages and emails which puts us into Jay’s shoes, allowing us to feel the pressure being pilled on by his boss, Max, from his girlfriend, Sophia in addition to demands on his time from his friends. It very much feels like a balancing act and like at any one time one of the plates is going to come crashing down.

The story told is completely believable – I can genuinely imagine everything that Jay goes through as an Intern from The Beat happening in real life to an intern on a show like this and I think the experience and knowledge of the industry that Dillon has really shines through.

Through the story we get to meet a host of other interns, of them my favourite has to be James III (so named because he’s the third James in the office). He’s cheeky, fun to have around and gives the impression that he’s just breezing through his internship (yet we know he’s under the same kind of pressures).

I really enjoyed Jay’s conscience coming out in celebrity voices in his head, giving his inner feelings a character all of their own and giving us an indication of how torn Jay is feeling about the decisions he has to make, decisions that effect the rest of the story. As he makes each one I kind of got an uh oh moment and willing him to change his mind! But at the end of the day it showed him to be a determined character – he had a goal and he went for it.

It sounds like I really enjoyed The Intern and I did (especially the last 100 pages or so) but if you follow me on Twitter you may have seen that I had mixed feelings about the book. It’s not something I can really put down to anything in particular – all I can say is that from time to time I found myself drifting away from the story and being distracted by nothing in particular.

Overall, I really liked The Intern – it gave an insight into what it would be like to work in the media and makes you question if you would have the determination to do it keep at it no matter what is thrown at you – Jay was certainly incredibly determined, I’m not sure I could be as determined! If you’re looking to enter the music TV or media industry this book is one you really need to check out.

Thanks to Puffin for sending me a copy

I am so happy to today welcome Ruth Warburton, the author behind A Witch In Winter (witches = book love to me!) to Books 4 Teens to talk about a day in her life.

Over to Ruth…

Day In The Life Of Ruth Warburton

A day in my life really depends WHICH DAY.

This is because two days a week I write – well, at least, I try to, in between school runs and phonecalls and various chores. Two days a week I work at an adult publishers where I do PR, and one day a week I’m at home with my youngest. So the day unfolds very differently depending on what job I’m doing.

A writing day begins when I get home from the school/nursery run around 10am. I make myself a cup of coffee and then curl up on the sofa with my laptop on my knees. I know I have only a few precious hours before I have to go pick up the kids again, so I OUGHT to get my head down really fast – after all, I’ve had enough time to brainstorm and plot over the weekend. But in spite of the ticking clock, I still can’t resist procrastinating a bit – I check my emails, have a look at my twitter mentions and feeds, potter around on various websites, maybe have a look and see if I’ve got any comments on my own website. It’s usually at least 10.30 and sometimes even later before I finally open my word document and get started.

I always write the same way, which is in one single long document. I start at the beginning and type until I get to the end, then I go back and start again at the beginning with editing and corrections. Some people write out of sequence and then paste all the scenes together at the end, but I can’t do that – I need to feel the arc of the characters’ development throughout, and the pace of the plot. I’d find that too hard to do if I was jumping about. And some people keep a separate document for each chapter, but I’m not organised enough for that. I can barely keep track of which is the current draft of my work-in-progress, let alone trying to track multiple versions of multiple chapters. I just know I’d end up losing chapter 14 and having to try to remember what was it in.

If I’m writing, then I’ll reread the passage I wrote the day before to get me back into the swing of it, and I often do first stage editing at the same time. Sometimes I’ll reread it and decide it’s crap, and it’s got to go. This is bad when it’s a passage I had doubts about even while I was writing, but even worse when it’s one that I was pleased about the day before. If that happens I feel like I’m starting the day on a deficit which is more than a little demoralising. If the passage is just plain bad, I just delete it. If it’s ok but not working for some reason, I cut it out and paste it at the bottom of the document. Sometimes it just hasn’t found the right home and gets chopped up for reuse later in the book.

I tend to have a really quick snacky lunch because by that point the clock is ticking down towards 3pm and I know I haven’t got much time left. Cheese on toast, eaten off my knees in front of the computer, is my standby. My jobsharer from work normally phones in around then, and we’ll talk through everything that’s going on at work. I’ll fill her in on what happened while I was in the office, and we’ll discuss any problems or decisions that need to be made. Then there’s usually time for a couple of hours more writing before the clock hits three and I have to grab my coat and run out the door to collect the kids – usually a minute or two late. After that it’s mayhem for three hours, followed by supper, baths and bedtime.

At about 9pm the house is quiet again, and if I’ve got the discipline it’s time for another hour or two’s writing. If not… trashy TV and off to bed. Yawn.

Further Information

From Amazon
Anna Winterson doesn’t know she’s a witch and would probably mock you for believing in magic, but after moving to the small town of Winter with her father, she learns more than she ever wanted to about power. When Anna meets Seth, she is smitten, but when she enchants him to love her, she unwittingly amplifies a deadly conflict between two witch clans and splits her own heart in two. She wants to love Seth, to let him love her – but if it is her magic that’s controlling his passion, then she is as monstrous as the witch clan who are trying to use her amazing powers for their own gain.

When love is tangled up in magic, how can you be sure what’s real?

A massive thank you to Ruth for taking part in Behind The Books, I am in complete awe as to how Ruth manages to fit it all in – I think I’d be collapsed in a heap in the corner if it was me!

You can find out more about Ruth and A Witch In Winter on her website: www.ruthwarburton.com. You can also follow Ruth on Twitter: @ruthwarburton and ‘like’ her on Facebook

Author: Colleen Houck

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (26th May 2011)

Pages: 498

ISBN: 978-1444734607

From Amazon
Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Review
When I first received this book I really wasn’t sure if it was going to be for me, it sounded interesting but it sounded a little too adventur-ey for me. Stories with big quests / adventures and me haven’t in the past gone down well. I didn’t give it away though as I just couldn’t part with a cover as gorgeous as this one (I mean who would give it away? )

Then the reviews started coming in and I have to admit I started to want to know why people were loving it so much and so recently not really knowing what to read I picked up Tiger’s Curse and my god I am so relieved I didn’t give it away.

It tells the story of Kelsey who falls into the job of looking after a Tiger and ends up following the big cat to India to look after it. But there’s more to this than meets the eye – introduce an age old curse and some devilishly handsome princes and who knows what will happen!

I really loved Kelsey but I adored Mr Kadam he reminded me of Giles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the watcher, adviser and general guy of wisdom. Granted – he is better dressed than Giles but as a character he very much is a watcher. He offers advice and guidance and helps to unravel the secrets of the curse but when it comes to the action – this falls to Kelsey.

Talking of characters I loved the way that the relationships all seemed real – it wasn’t plain sailing all the way through, there were bumps in the road and some characters were a little on the stubborn side which at times left me (and Kelsey exasperated) but these are real personality streaks that are found in real people – fab!

The writing is beautifully descriptive, absorbing and just swept me off my feet and down the river. Although I’ve never been to India I could see, hear, smell and sense everything – I felt like I was actually there walking alongside Kelsey and Ren.

To me Tiger’s Curse is a modern fairy tale complete with magic, adventure with a Vampire Diaries edge to it, seriously read it – you won’t regret it.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy

Today on Books 4 Teens as part of Behind The Books I am delighted to welcome Dillon Khan, author of the amazing sounding The Intern which is released this month.

So without further ado over to Dillon…

Day In The Life Of Dillon Khan

5:30am: Wake up. Snarl at the alarm clock till it goes quiet.

6:00am: Finally get up and go swimming to get my thoughts together.

7:00am: Time for some breakfast and emails to set up interviews with business leaders for the HTMI/”How To Make It” series on www.theintern.co.uk. Then head to the Penguin offices.

9:00am: Cafe Nero for a mocha and then straight into the media suite at Penguin HQ in London. I’m meeting the super talented Jeremy Cole, a director-stroke-editor extraordinaire. We’ve already edited the trailer to The Intern book and now its time to edit some more content for the website. Firstly, theres the HTMI/”How To Make It” series which features business leaders giving advice and their top 5 tips on how to make it in their industry. Today we’re finalising the edit for amongst others, Anna Bateson (Marketing Director for YouTube) and Adele Minchin (Publicity Director for Penguin Children’s). Plenty of others to share with your friends from working in the media to publishing.

12:30pm: I am interviewed by Tosin Omilaju, journalist for Live Magazine, a free, quarterly magazine that is created by young people under the age of 24.

2:00pm: Arrive at Radio 1 on Great Portland Street to interview Ben Cooper, Controller of Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

2:05pm: Bump into radio presenters Tim Westwood, Nick Grimshaw and LMFAO.

2:30pm: Interview Ben Cooper who gives some amazing insights of how to make it in radio broadcasting and also what he looks for when hiring presenters.

3:30pm: Arrive at XL Records in Notting Hill. Receptionist goes to tell Ben Beardsworth MD of XL Records that i’ve arrived. A girl i recognise walks down some stairs and towards me. I smile at her, she smiles back. I say “congrats on your success”. She replies “fanks”. I then kick myself repeatedly at not having my book to hand to give to the biggest artist in the world right now, Adele. She is whisked off in a waiting car to do interviews for international press.

4:00pm: Ben is yet another contributor who highlights that they are looking for young people who show the entrepreneurial spirit.

4:30pm: Leave XL Records and head back to Penguin where Jeremy has been tirelessly editing the “I Am The Intern” pieces that are also on the website. 5 spoken word poets (Dean, Zia, Bridget, Harry, Jodi) were asked to interpret the life of an intern and deliver it to camera. (The results were awesome – you have to check them out.)

11:00pm: Decision time – head home or into town for a mates night at a club. Home it is as there’s lots of work to be done for the website before the launch of the book on 5th April.

12:30am: While replying to email in bed the sandman grabs me and sends me to sleep.

Further Information

From Amazon
‘As I stood soaking it all in, my nerves were momentarily replaced by a rush of excitement: I was at the heartbeat of music.’

Jay Merchant has landed an internship for the best job in music television. He has access-all-areas to the biggest VIP parties and the hottest celebrities all over the world. The velvet rope has been lifted – now he’s got to capture it on camera.

But behind the scenes, Jay is thrown into a life of early starts, late nights, blood, sweat and tears. He has six months to turn his intern dream into a real job – but at what price?

It’s time for Jay to face the music . . .

** The Devil Wears Prada for the music TV industry.

** Being an intern has never been more popular or competitive, and combined with the appeal of behind-the-scenes of the music TV industry, this should be the must-read fiction title for teens and under-graduates in summer 2012.

Thank you so much to Dillon for taking part in Behind The Books and for sharing a day in his life which sounds very exciting! You can find out more about Dillon on his fantastic website: theintern.co.uk, follow him on Twitter @dillonkhan (and The Intern book on Twitter @theinternbook) or like him on Facebook.

Author: Gemma Malley

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (29th March 2012)

Pages: 384

ISBN: 978-1444722772

From Amazon
Everyone accepted that people were different physically. But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the ‘evil’ part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how ‘good’ they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K . . . But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again . . .

Review
Let me start this review by saying that I loved the idea of The Killables, it had all the foundations of a fantastic dystopia – I mean wouldn’t it be great if we could get a part of our brain removed and have all the evil taken out. A peaceful society, no war – sounds like bliss doesn’t it?

However I didn’t really engage with it straight away – I couldn’t connect with Evie and found the pages going by without me actually taking much in, maybe this was because it was building the world, or something else entirely. I’m not entirely sure to be honest.

I also caught myself making comparisons with Delirium (and several other similar books) and that (as I completely love that world (maybe that was the wrong word to use hehe)) was a very dangerous place for the book to go.

Thankfully my mindset didn’t stay there, a couple of chapters later and things started to pick up, the pages started flying by and a love triangle started to form – one that I actually quite liked!

I really liked Lucas and Raffy, on one hand you had the model citizen of the city and on the other someone who wears their heart on their sleeve, letting all their emotions run wild, not hiding any of them – not good in a city that deems emotions as a sign of evil.

I can’t talk about characters without returning to Evie, like I said I didn’t really connect with her to start with but as the book progressed I warmed to her more and more, I understood where she was coming from and came to root for her hoping she would make the right decisions.

The story is full of twists and interesting characters which are fun to get to know, despite a rocky start I’m looking forward to book 2!

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy

Each week Have You Heard? will sum up random and probably completely unrelated news, cover reveals and book trailers that I think are interesting (you may as you wish completely disagree )

The Intern Trailer

This is such a unique trailer – I’m pretty sure you won’t forget it in a hurry – it sounds like such a good book!

A Witch In Winter Trailer

Keeping with the trailer theme, here’s the gorgeous A Witch In Winter Trailer!

The Gathering Dark

hehe, you thought it was going to be another trailer didn’t you? Nah, in this next video I’ll hand you over to Leigh Bardugo to introduce the world of the Gathering Dark…

Introducing UKYA

Launched by three fantastic YA authors – Keris Stainton, Keren David and Susie Day, UKYA aims to showcase the best of YA which has been set in the UK. Complete with helpful guides to british slang as well as guest posts this looks like it could be a blog to watch.

Author: Jim Carrington

Publisher: Bloomsbury (1st March 2012)

Pages: 397

ISBN: 978-1408822784

From Amazon
Johnny and his friends have finished school for the summer. One sweltering day, on their way back from a water fight at the park, they spot an old lady who has wound them up by bursting their football. They make a bad decision. The boys pedal up to the old lady’s parked car and commit a drive-by soaking, before pedalling away as quickly as they can. Revenge isn’t all that’s on Johnny’s mind, however, as he spots an impossibly cool, black-clad, pale-skinned girl on the bus. He can’t stop thinking about her, but has she even registered his existence? When Johnny discovers that the old lady suffered a heart attack after the drive-by and subsequently died, he is totally guilt-stricken. And when Johnny wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, feeling a presence in his room, he believes that he’s being haunted and the strain starts to show …An incredibly dramatic, pacy novel about getting in over your head, guilt and facing up to your decisions. Jim Carrington is fast establishing himself as an accomplished writer for teens. New and existing fans alike will devour his latest offering.

Review
I was expecting big things from Drive By having read and loved In The Bag and I’m pleased to report it didn’t fall short.

Drive By tells the story of Johnny and his friends who on a hot sunny Summers day randomly decide to do a drive by soaking of an elderly lady (also known as The Poisonous Dwarf). Unfortunately this prank sets off a chain of events which culminates in her death. Believing he and his friends have cause this death we get to experience what it’s like if you think you’ve killed someone.

Told from Johnny and Summer’s point of view in alternating chapters this fast paced book had me at the edge of my seat, we get to feel everything from Johnny’s point of view – to have this deep, dark, burning secret wanting to explode out of him and not know what to do with it. To be racked with guilt and then on top of that to feel like you’re been haunted by a ghost!

When in Summer’s point of view we feel the worry and anguish that goes with not knowing what to do when a close relative is in hospital and all the stress that this brings. The not knowing what to say to each other and then saying the wrong thing.

The writing was as I expected, fast paced and gripping – I easily read 100 pages and more at a time (which is something of a record for me in one sitting), the pages felt like they couldn’t turn over fast enough – I wanted to find out more, one more chapter was my mantra throughout and then because some of the chapters were so short it had to be another one and then another … I’m sure you get the picture!

An honourable mention has to go to Johnny’s Brother, Mikey – he was a cheeky little so and so and was just what a younger brother can be like. Constantly trying to wind Johnny up and find out his little secret – it all added to the tension and guilt Johnny was feeling.

Drive By is a thought provoking, fast paced and staggeringly well written book which I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending to everyone! You Included!

Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy

Author: Chris Priestley

Publisher: Bloomsbury (3rd October 2011)

Pages: 384

ISBN: 978-1408811047

From Amazon
Billy is a street urchin, pickpocket and petty thief. Mister Creecher is a monstrous giant of a man who terrifies all he meets. Their relationship begins as pure convenience. But a bond swiftly develops between these two misfits as their bloody journey takes them ever northwards on the trail of their target …Victor Frankenstein. Friendship, trust and betrayal combine to form a dangerous liaison in this moving and frightening new book from Chris Priestley.

Review
Mister Creecher is to Frankenstein what Wicked is to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Essentially Mister Creecher retells and re-imagines the story of Frankenstein and tells the story of Frankenstein (with a bit of a twist) from a completely different point of view. It also nods towards another story (I won’t say which but I’m sure a little bit of thinking will bring you to the right one!).

Throughout the course of the story Creecher has Billy follow Victor Frankenstein and his friend around London, we never really know why and I was left wondering what the pair were up to. Billy was to report back to Creecher each evening and was left just as much in the dark as we were. In return Creecher helped Billy steal – by essentially scaring people into giving Billy their wares.

Billy and Creecher (as Billy calls him) stumbled on each other one day by complete coincidence but from that first meeting a connection forms (okay, maybe it was a mixture of fright and possibly a feeling that Billy owed him ). This bizarre friendship oddly works, they are both outsiders in the world and this brings them close.

I’m not saying it’s a perfect friendship and everything goes smoothly – far from it, they disagree with each others actions, squabble and all the rest making their rare moments of happiness so much sweeter. I felt like a bromance was forming between the pair.

Overall, I loved Mister Creecher – it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting and found it to be a touching tale of true friendship.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy

Author: Jill Hathaway

Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books (1st March 2012)

Pages: 256

ISBN: 978-0007446377

From Amazon
She sees through the eyes of a killer…

Vee Bell hates having narcolepsy. But collapsing at school is nowhere near as bad as the truth. When Vee passes out she slides randomly into other’s people’s heads and ends up seeing through their eyes. So when Vee finds herself in the head of a killer, standing over the body of a cheerleader, she’s beyond freaked.

Vee knows that this was no suicide. And when another cheerleader turns up dead, everyone is a suspect. Struggling to understand her terrifying and unwanted ‘gift’, Vee is tangled in a web of secrets, lies and danger…

Review
From the moment I heard about Slide I knew I had to read it and I knew I would love it. The idea is so original – the idea of sliding into someone else, to be able to see exactly what they are seeing sounds kind of creepy – a bit of an invasion of privacy. I mean who knows what they might be doing when you accidentally slide into someone.

This unpredictability did indeed lead to some fairly amusing and sometimes awkward situations but most importantly to this story Vee slide into someone who was about to commit murder. But she can’t tell anyone without putting herself in the frame.

I really enjoyed reading about Vee, I loved how she cared for her friends and sister – she came across as someone who really cared for her sister and couldn’t bear to see her upset. Despite everything she always put her family first and stepped up being more of a parent to Mattie rather than a sister. This more than made up for the rather poor role played by their Father who really didn’t know how to handle so much death.

Slide is essentially a murder mystery and one of the things I love about these kinds of stories is trying to figure out who it was, in the end I was way off – though it makes perfect sense thinking about it. As the story progresses I found myself trusting different characters and felt for Vee as she even suspected her best friend.

There was one bit which made me go huh? A bit that didn’t quite make sense considering the character involved but it’s not a big deal really.

Overall, Slide was really, really, really, really good – the ending had me write down “noooo” so many times in my notes – it’s fast paced and thrilling and incredibly well written. I want more!

Thanks to Harper Collins Childrens Books for sending me a copy

Today I am thrilled to welcome Luisa Plaja, the writer (and genius brain) behind Kiss Date Love Hate (if you haven’t read it yet – I advise you to fix this quick smart!). Luisa has kindly agreed to talk about her typical writing evening. I honestly don’t know how Luisa fits it all in!

Over to Luisa…

An evening in the life of author Luisa Plaja

Thank you very much for inviting me to Behind the Books. This post will be about my writing life, aka How I Fit it All In.

In a word: aaaaargh!

In two words: It’s difficult.

In three words: It’s very difficult.

In four words: But I love it.

Don’t worry, I’ll stop counting words now! Instead, I’ll give you a run-down of a typical evening in my life. (In, ahem, about four hundred words…)

I don’t know how similar to other writers I am, but I do know that most of us have other jobs and/or people to look after, so when it comes to writing we tend to be either night owls or morning people. Lots of writers work at anti-social hours at one end or another of the day. For me, it’s definitely night time. I can easily write until dawn, if left unchecked and undisturbed by small people.

Here’s a run-down of a typical ‘writing’ evening…

8.30pm – I’m in the middle of the children’s bedtime process. This can take… a while. I’d rather not say how long.

9.30pm but usually more like 10.30pm – I settle down to write.

10.30pm – My fingers gravitate towards Twitter. I have a lot of lovely teen followers so it’s sort of research, really. Isn’t it? Besides, I might pick up some interesting writing tips, or more likely reading tips, as there are so many great book-bloggers on Twitter and…

11.30pm – Now, come on, this is ridiculous. I’m supposed to be writing. Stop chatting, me! Luckily, my British Twitter friends are starting to sign off for the night and my Australian Twitter friends haven’t quite woken up yet. I’ll catch up with the US gang tomorrow. Time to shut that browser…

11.35 – I need to open the browser again. Important research. Plus I want to make sure that the post I’ve scheduled to go live on Chicklish is looking all right. In fact, if I wait a bit, I can post it after midnight and it will still count as tomorrow’s post but I’ll be around to check it’s definitely OK, and to send the link to the relevant people, and…

12.05am – Sorted. Now… writing…

2.05 am – I am going to regret this in the morning… Wait – it technically is the morning! Well, never mind that. What is this character up to…?

3.05 am – Yeah, yeah, bed, I’ll be with you in a minute!

4.30 am – Trying not to think about how early I have to be up tomorrow… er, today… in about two hours…

Not-very-sensible amount of time later:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thank you again for inviting me to your site, Jesse! I won’t tell you what time it is as I write this, but let’s just say it’s either early or late, depending on which side of the day you’re looking at!
Luisa
x

Luisa Plaja’s latest book is Kiss Date Love Hate http://www.luisaplaja.co.uk/books/kiss-date-love-hate/

Further Information

From Amazon
Lex Murphy’s group of friends have all dated, hated, ignored and lusted after each other for the last few years. If only there was a way of matching people perfectly to avoid all the unrequited love, dumping and drama!

Then Lex’s friend George is give a mysterious Sims-like game by his software-testing dad which involves building character profiles in the categories of Life, Looks and Love. Lex and George populate the game with avatars for all their mates, making a few ‘wishful thinking’ adjustments to the settings – and find that the next day these tinkerings have come true! But how long can this new calm, loved-up atmosphere continue…?

A big thank you to Luisa for taking part in Behind The Books and sharing her typical writing evening. If you would like to find out more about Luisa you can check out her website at luisaplaja.com, follow her on twitter @luisaplaja or like her on Facebook.