Book of Fire
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: BUY
Source: Proof copy via HQ

Twins Eli and Talia shouldn’t exist. They’re Outsiders.

Their home is a secret. Their lives are a secret. Arafel is a secret.

An unexpected forest raid forces Talia into a desperate mission to rescue her family while protecting the sacred Book of Arafel from those who would use it as a weapon. As Talia and her life long friend Max enter the dome, she makes some unexpected discoveries, and allies, in the form of rugged Insider August, that will change the course of her life forever.

Being in denial about your abilities is something I am oh so, familiar with. You struggle daily, pretending that everything's okay, until something happens. A fall in the shower, a collapse when preparing dinner. Something happens that makes you realise: Hey, I need help completing day to day tasks. And that's okay. I was always so stubborn and proud that mobility and living aids would take away my independence, when in reality: they give you independence. The everyday tasks you've been become so scared of doing, or are unable to do, aren't impossible anymore.

Millercare provides mobility and living aids, and personally, I don't feel we talk about aids that people with a disability might need, anywhere near enough. It's a taboo topic, something that's hushed and forgotten about. But it's something I live with everyday: so let's talk about it.

Shower Stool

For me, showering and bathing has always been extremely difficult because of my Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Two of the triggers to bring on the symptoms are:

•  Standing in one place for too long. 
• Extreme change in temperature.   

So you can see why baths and showers are somewhat tricky for me. Showers are a lot easier for me, in general (besides the whole standing up business!). That's why shower stools are absolutely incredible. It may seem small to you, but being able to shower on my own, without my husband waiting outside in case I fall, or need assistance, is a bit of independence I am glad to take back.

Footstool with Handrail

Making food and washing up is also something I struggle with on a daily basis. Again, standing in one place, for more than a few minutes is something that proves difficult. I'm lucky enough to have a husband that cooks and washes up, and is a Domestic God but there are times when guilt plagues me and I want to help. I feel like I need to help. Whether it's a perching stool, or a foot stool with a handrail, something to give me balance and security, again, I am given back some independence.

And then the final step, admitting I need a wheelchair. Not for everyday. Most days I won't leave my flat but for long days, days when I need to be out for more than a few hours. I need one, I do. I'm still coming to terms with this one. I know I need one but I'm still in denial about my particular mobility ability. I'm almost ready to buy a wheelchair, and I will. It will give me back my life. I'll be able to leave the house on my own, I'll be able to start doing things by myself and I'll be ready, just in my own time.

It's a big step admitting you need help, so don't put yourself down if you're not there yet. But when you are, you'll have a whole host of aids to start taking your life back.

Yes you do! You blog posts again and again prove that!

— Elizabeth Corr (@lizcorr_writes) September 5, 2017

As cliched as it sounds, this tweet changed everything for me.

How many times have you sat a desk and stared at a blank white page until your eyes started to blur? For years I've thought of the most wonderful ideas and simply told myself, "you're not capable of putting this into words, you just have a head full of ideas and that's all they'll ever be". I think I'd almost programmed my brain to think that way. 

So when I sat at my desk to work and the next whirlwind idea entered my mind, I expressed my frustration on Twitter. "Why do I have an inability formulate my ideas into sentences?", I shouted into the void. That's when Liz tweeted me, "Yes you do! Your blog posts again and again prove that". I sat there staring at that tweet for the longest time. What a revelation this was. I had been putting ideas into sentences for two years and I hadn't even been aware of it. 

I'm not sure why, but writing blog posts and writing a book had always seemed like two entirely different things for me, but is it really? You start with a nugget of an idea, you plan it, you sit at a desk, with an empty blank page, and type. Of course, a book is on a much larger scale but the process is the same.

Now I'm here. I've planned my book idea in a brand new notebook, sat down at my desk and have written the prologue and am part way through chapter one. Now that may not seem like a mind-blowing start to most of you but to me, it is just that: a start. Further than I've managed to get with writing a book in the past.

I wanted to update you guys on this because if I'm absent from social media for a while, or my posts go up a little later than usual, please remember: I've started a new project and hopefully it'll all be worth it in the end.

You might be a blogger who's dreaming of becoming a writer and you just need to be reminded: we already are. And we show the world that on a daily basis. Our time to shine will come, we just won't put a time frame on it. 

1. I’ll never get bored of the thrill of having an idea. They can come to you at any time, sparked by the smallest thing, and it’s amazing now that Fire Lines is finished to see something that started as a tiny kernel of a thought turn into this huge world inside my head and, finally, into a story that other people will read.
2. Being able to channel emotions into words is really quite special. Just the act of writing is quite cathartic and when I’ve gone through tough times putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) has been the best kind of therapy.
3. This one is a bit of a double-edged sword as it can be quite distracting, but I think one of the joys of writing is that it ticks along in the background no matter what you’re doing. Even if I’m not sitting at my desk typing words, I’ll be thinking about writing, making up plot lines, fleshing out characters, making notes…
4. It’s fun! What could possibly be better than letting your imagination run away with you? As children we make up stories, play-act, dress-up, and then we become teenagers or grown-ups and tend to think we should stop those things. But why?! I love that as a writer it’s my job to talk to myself in my head and day-dream out of the window about what my characters are doing.
5. There’s a quote I’ve always loved, from Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, and it goes like this:

Because You Love to Hate Me
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy bought at YALC

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Genuine Fraud
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Gifted by Karen

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.

Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete. 

An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. 
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains. 
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

We all have a story. Some of us have a few. Whether it's the unwanted arse grab on a night out or those wandering eyes that find your breasts and feel it's their right to stare, or something more sinister. I was blessed with a a very small waist and a very large bottom. Apparently, that gives men the right to cop a feel whenever they choose. I used to turn and politely smile, as if what they were doing was okay. I was young, I was naive and honestly? I didn't know any better. Girls are led to believe that what they wear, how they talk, how much they drink, will affect what happens to them in their lives. I'm here to tell you: that is wrong.

• because they let me meet people I wouldn't have before. 
• because they are time machines to other times and places. 
• because they give me a glimpse into the writer that I adore. 
• because they let me lose myself in the words.
• because they have the power to bring people together. 

Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Black & White Publishing (released September 1st 2017)

Seven years after the death of Edward Hyde, a stylish gentleman shows up in foggy London claiming to be Dr Henry Jekyll. Only Mr Utterson, Jekyll's faithful lawyer and confidant, knows that he must be an impostor because Jekyll was Hyde. But as the man goes about charming Jekyll s friends and reclaiming his estate, and as the bodies of potential challengers start piling up, Utterson is left fearing for his life ... and questioning his own sanity.

This brilliantly imagined and beautifully written sequel to one of literature s greatest masterpieces perfectly complements the original work. And where the original was concerned with the duality of man, this sequel deals with the possibility of identity theft of the most audacious kind. Can it really be that this man who looks and acts so precisely like Dr Henry Jekyll is an imposter?

From as young as two, you're asked, "have you made any friends at nursery?", right up until you venture into your first job and you're asked, "anyone nice working there?". We live in a world where we must be sociable and we must make friends in any new situation. So for the ones of us who struggle and find after months of school, or working that we aren't best buddies with our new colleagues and we're actually leaving work feeling relieved we don't have to see their faces for a day or two, it makes us feel different.

Many times, I left work feeling lonely, rejected and most importantly, unable to fit in. I didn't like sitting there talking over trivial matters and trying to spark up a friendship with someone I had absolutely no connection with. I assumed no one was like me and everyone else was happy figuring out their place in the world. It was only once I'd discovered the online community, that I realised that wasn't the case.

I had always assumed your "tribe" had to be a group of people, from the same environment (i.e school, work) but I've since learned, your tribe can be whoever the hell you want it to be. From being severely bullied in school, to enduring crippling anxiety now; it's hard to keep friends, especially if they don't understand. I never thought there were people like me out there. People battered, bruised and just looking for positivity in their life. And then I found the blogging community.

Yes, 95% of my friends are online. Guess what? That doesn't mean we care any less. That doesn't mean we love any less. Hell, sometimes I haven't even met them in person but it doesn't matter because we text, we call, we write, we're involved in each other's lives just as much as "normal" friends. And when you do meet them? I can't explain the pure elation you feel after opening up to someone for months on end and you meet them to be greeted with two emotions: love and acceptance. You've told them the last time you sunk into depression, they pulled you out of the darkness. You've told them your're feeling unloved, they showed you your worth.

Now, this isn't to shame any other friends you have besides the ones you make online. I have made some incredible friends throughout my life, in school and at work but I never felt like I belonged anywhere. I felt like a drifter. Floating from place to place, trying to find somewhere that truly accepted someone like me. It may have taken me 23 years but I have and in the last 6 months, my tribe has encouraged me to do things I never thought possible. I talk to authors without choking up, I film in public, I manage to film with other people, I've opened up about my health, mental and physical, I've left the house and attended events. All things that this time last year, weren't even in touching distance.

This post was actually inspired by a parcel I received today. Someone who hasn't been in my life long but she was the only person I told when I recently relapsed with self-harming. I started talking to her and the words wouldn't stop and I realised I'd managed to do one of the hardest things of all when you're struggling with mental health: telling someone. Once I'd received this parcel, I sat on the floor and sobbed for a good thirty minutes because finding people that understand you and accept you in whatever you're going through, they're hard to find and I am so grateful for you, Han.


To my ever-growing tribe. To Liv, to Han, to Steph, to Rebecca, to Amy, to Gem, to Sarah, to Kate, to Liz, to Zoya, to Becky, to Hannah, to Rhian, to Louise, to Thom, to Faye, to Charlotte, to Rachel, to Kelly, to Cora and to every wonderful person that has helped me in the past few months, I bloody love you.

Hope
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Proof via Firefly (released 15th September 2017)

The summer between school and sixth form college. When Hope doesn't get into drama college, and her friends do, all her plans fall apart. She's struggling with anger, grief for her father and a sense that her own body is against her. She meets Riley on the ferry and his texts give her someone to talk to. But this isn't a story about a boy fixing everything. It's about trying new things, having the courage to ask for help and that when things seem to be all over, that might be just the beginning.