DAVID LEVIATHAN SIGNING

On March 28th, my friends and I jumped on a train to Manchester to meet David Leviathan and Sally Green. David Leviathan being worldwide Author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson (written with John Green) and many other novels, and Sally Green being British Author of Half Bad and its sequel Half Wild. 

The whole event was organised by Penguin and Waterstones. At Waterstones we were escorted to the events room around the back which we watched both Authors do readings of their books, discus and answer questions.

Both of them were so lovely and the passages from their books were fantastic. David Leviathan particularly sparked me as such an inspiration regarding his career. He started out as an editor and progressed onto writing which had me swooning in envy. They were both very down-to-earth people and the way they spoke was so enchanting. 

After the discussion, we went in a queue for the signing. I bought Hold Me Closer (David's newest release) and brought my own Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist from home. I got all 3 books signed and they all had different messages in them.

Hold Me Closer: To Alice - Enjoy the Show! *signed*

Will Grayson, Will Grayson: To Alice - Enjoy, Enjoy! *signed*

Nick and Norah: To Alice - May all your playlists be infinite *signed*

I was so starstruck, we chatted for a short while and I left feeling so giddy. The books still smell of the sharpie and I feel unbelievably luckily to have been able to meet such an idol of mine.

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WELCOME

Hello.

I'm Alice, otherwise known as 

alzgalz on my main blog.

I created this blog as a side blog to include

posts of a different genre to my main blog. I will mainly be

writing about books, films and publishing my writing. My main blog 

is mainly beauty and lifestyle; aside that I will also

include lifestyle posts here.

You may often be directed here from my original blog in the 

future depending on whether

 I decide to promo these posts there. 

As I will be publishing my writing onto this blog I am prepared

to accept constructive criticism to an extent.

 The stories that I submit will all be fiction and from my

 imaginative and creative mind.

I shall be open to ideas and requests to be completed in my own time.

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I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN BY JANDY NELSON

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I recently finished reading I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson and it is successfully my new favourite book. I ordered this in January and, after a painstakingly long delivery, I was delighted when I finally received it. The cover is stunning and so eye-catching; the delivery took so long because it is hardback which is the only edition like this. Even the title just lifts my heart a little.

Synopsis:

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realise is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This novel got a well deserved 5 stars on Goodreads because I enjoyed it so much. This review is spoiler free. 

Firstly, I particularly warmed to the characters. Here, twins Jude and Noah, had me gripped right from the start. I loved the way the story switched between Noah and Jude at 13 years old from Noah's perspective and Noah and Jude at 16 years old, told by Jude. That whole aspect of the novel injects an unusual and more interesting feel.

The writing in general was so carefully projected and the artistic references flowed through it beautifully. The way both teenagers were portrayed was finely tuned to the accurate naivety and the 'outsider' emotions weren't cliché. One part of the storyline that I liked was the way both personal and family issues were covered and how they flowed together so well.

Jude's romance made my heart melt. The heart-throb, rock and role boyfriend had me swooning although their turn out was a bit anti-climatic. The tension between them throughout the story was precisely handled to the point where it didn't become boring or slow-burning. I just wish they could have had less of a restrained happily-ever-after. 

Noah was like my little child that I wanted to protect because he was/is so precious and his relationship with the boy next door had my heart racing. At the climax of the relationship between the two I had to stop reading because I was so shocked and I literally squealed with joy. They had a lot bumpier roller coaster ride than Jude's story which is what made the outcome so much more relieving. 

I did actually cry at the end and I'm not too sure why. I think the story was just so emotional and the relief of the ending was astonishing. I would definitely re-read this over and over again. 

Goodreads