YA Shot Readathon: My Review Picks

About 18 months ago, we were very, very close to moving to Hillingdon in west London. It didn't happen in the end and I've never regretted so much as when I found out about YA Shot. This is a day-long festival involving 71 Young Adult and Middle Grade authors participating in talks and workshops across Uxbridge on 28th October 2015, with the event launching a year long series of author visits throughout the London Borough of Hillingdon.

Alas, I no longer live anywhere near Hillingdon and am absolutely gutted that I can't attend*. However, I can do the next best thing and read some of the books by some of the authors involved in YA Shot. The lovely Michelle over at Fluttering Butterflies has organised a YA Shot Readathon for the coming month leading up to the event and I've picked out 3 books that I'm going to devour and review before 28th October...


Banished by Liz de Jager

This one's been on my TBR list for a criminally long time, so I think this is the ideal opportunity to rectify that situation. I have a confession to make about YA fantasy - I don't read that much of it. Not because I don't want to, but more because these days, my reading tends to be done in short, sharp bursts and with fantasy novels, I feel like I have to have the space and time to completely immerse myself in that world. But I'm going to do my darndest to find that space and time for this book, I promise.





Bitter Sixteen by Stefan Mohamed

A book that I was absolutely convinced I'd already bought but after some investigation, it turned out I was mistaken, yet another situation I need to rectify. Anyway, I think I first heard about this one through following the publisher, Salt, on Twitter. I've always found their short story anthologies really interesting, so picking this one was a no brainer.






Monster by CJ Skuse

God, there's so much to get excited about with this book, I don't know where to begin. A boarding school, a mythical (or perhaps not so mythical) beast, people disappearing...unfortunately I can't afford to buy a copy until after pay day (I mean, who else has a pay day in the middle of the month?), but when I do finally have some quids to spend, I'll be on it like a car bonnet.








I have my realistic spectacles on and I know it's very unlikely that I'll finish more than 3 books before October 28th, but I promise I shall review all of them as and when. Hopefully before then.

Maybe.

No, definitely.

*YA Shot attendance update! Since I started writing this post, I've realised that I might possibly be able to attend after all. So I'll see you there!

Maybe...