How to feel prepared for YALC and create a TBR

Young Adult Literature Convention, or as it’s better known YALC, is fast approaching and I feel vastly unprepared. So what better way to try and gain some resemblance of order than making a blog post about preparing for YALC.

YALC takes place at the end of July alongside LFCC at Olympia London. It launched in 2014 and celebrates the best of YA books and authors across 3 days, and provides a place for readers, publishers, and the book community to have a great time with workshops, panels, signings, and stalls.

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The #PenguinYearbook Collection

At YALC this year Penguin put together a really awesome Yearbook that had samplers of 15 of their books. I really liked this idea as not only did the book itself look lovely but it was easier to carry around than 15 samplers.

They also hosted a giveaway that any YALC attendee could enter by uploading a photograph of the Yearbook with the #PenguinYearbook and tagging their account – @penguinplatform.
It had been a while since YALC so I just assumed someone had won already, until a few weeks ago I saw they announced the winner…

ARC Review: Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult | LGBT
Length: 374 pages
Published on 6th November 2018 by Hodder & Stoughton
Purchase: Amazon | TBD
Natasha Ngan: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
ARC received from publishers at YALC

Synopsis:Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most cruel.

But this year, there’s a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.

In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it’s Lei they’re after–the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king’s interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king’s consort. But Lei isn’t content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable–she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.

Presented by James Patterson, Natasha Ngan’s lyrical, searing, visceral fantasy, Girls of Paper and Fire, will remind us how precious freedom is–and the price we must pay to achieve it.

DNF Reviews: Potter’s Boy by Tony Mitton and Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland

Potter’s Boy by Tony Mitton
Genre: Historical | Middle Grade
Length: 220 pages
Published on 2nd November 2017 by David Fickling Books
Purchase: Amazon | TBD
Tony Mitton: Website
ARC picked up at YALC 2017

Synopsis:
An epic journey of self-discovery that will resonate with anyone searching for their place in the world.A Moving a beautiful story about a boy who finds his true path whilst learning the importance of mindfulness and living in the moment, Potter’s Boy follows the story of Ryo. After witnessing a lone warrior scare bandits away from his village, Ryo sets his heart on training to become a hero.

Setting out on a journey to find his way in the world, his encounters with the people he meets leads him to a true understanding of what it meanst to follow his dreams.

Dear YALC | A discussion on accessability

So its been a hot minute since I posted my main YALC Wrap Up and Haul post which I made sure to only focus on the negatives and I mentioned within it how there would be a follow up.

It is finally time for said follow up and I hope I didn’t leave it too long. My anger and frustration may not be as strong as it was that weekend, but its still there and I’m definitely not the only one.