Post YALC Haul

Hello guys, it has been far too long since I last updated here. Mainly because I just started working, the culmination of six years of medical school. Do not fear, I have still been reading and just over a week ago I attended YALC, which if you’re not a book fiend from Britain, is a Young Adult Literature festival held during London Film and Comic Con.

I was only able to attend on the Saturday due to work obligations, but, honestly, it was probably best for my bank balance that it only was one day. So, for uninitiated, YALC is a three day event with lots of author talks, signings, publisher stalls and general book tomfoolery. There’s competitions and ARC giveaways and opportunities for industry workshops. Basically, if you enjoy Young Adult fiction, it’s your dream come true.

In my last post I talked about the books that I wanted to read before YALC. I didn’t quite manage to read all of them, but those I did I really truly adored. Expect a full length review of ‘Sorcerer to the Crown’ by Zen Cho at a later date, but for now I’ll say it will meet all your Jonathan Strange cravings but actually has women and people of colour in the story too (aka, both the protagonists). It’s wild and fun and has more than a hint of Austen, with a fiery heroine who won’t settle for less, and her quietly suffering, and somewhat reluctant Master.

The other books I managed to read before attending were Samantha Shannon’s ‘The Bone Season’ and ‘The Mime Order’. Now, the first time I read TBS, several years ago now, I really was not a fan. I couldn’t really tell you why, but I did feel it was slightly overhyped and I wasn’t reading a lot of young adult fiction at the time. However, on this read through I found I enjoyed it a lot, like, a lot a lot. I don’t know whether that’s because I’ve read more YA or my tastes as a reader have slightly changed, but it feels quite bizarre to have such a U-turn in feelings about a book. I think it definitely proves how time and environment specific a reading experience can be!

I hauled a couple of books to London to get signed and came back with a WHOLE lot more!

See any there that you’ve been meaning to read? I’m currently reading an ARC of ‘Invictus’ by Ryan Graudin (which is glorious, by the way), but I have both my eyes on ‘The Hazel Wood’ for afterwards.

The second amazing thing about YALC, apart from the books, was getting to meet Mona, who I’d talked to on twitter but never met! She’s an absolutely adorable artist, with great style, even greater hair and amazing art. You can find a link to her twitter below, she does a lot of fanart for the same books that I love, so you should love what you see 💜🌙

So, night for now my dears. Happy reading!

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