Review: FLOORED

Disclaimer: eBook copy received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think the description ‘Breakfast Club meets One Day’ describes this novel perfectly!

Floored is a collaborative novel written by seven of my favourite UK Young Adult authors: Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson and Eleanor Wood. They are the reigning queens of UKYA, and I was so excited when I heard about this book last year. I think it’s an excellent idea to each have an author write a character – there are six characters and one ‘narrator’ who ties up each chapter. 

Our six characters are thrust together in the first chapter, and then they meet up each year after that, and we follow them on one day each year and see how their lives have changed. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book – I loved the time jumps, seeing how the characters developed and which life choices they made, and I also loved how the characters grew up over the typical YA age boundary and broke into university/adult life. This is something I’d love to see more of and I thought the time jumps between each chapter were the perfect vehicle for this.

I thought the format of the book was also the perfect vehicle for exploring issues like the characters’ different living situations, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexualities and disabilities. I loved the diversity in this novel and it didn’t feel shoe-horned in to the story. I also loved how this novel was set in the North of England (Manchester!) – as that is where I am from, and you don’t get too many novels at all set outside of an ambiguous English village or London. 

Considering this book is written by seven different authors, the writing didn’t feel out of place or ‘wrong’ – the book flowed beautifully and was engaging and addictive – I read this book in just over 24 hours, and just needed to know what happened next! I also felt that I could relate to each character – even the not-so-nice ones!

My one gripe would be that I would have liked a lovely definitive ending to tie this book up and I’m not sure I got that.

If you’re a fan of any of the authors involved, or just looking for a fun, addictive YA novel, pick up Floored at your next opportunity. 

 

YALC Reading List Part 9!

It’s only THREE WEEKS until the big event, and only a few more books to go on our list! Thank you for sticking with it so far!

You can catch up on the earlier parts of the YALC Reading List here – one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

65. Alice Oseman

Book to read: Radio Silence

Alice, Alice, Alice, Alice, Alice. Radio Silence made me feel like Alice climbed into my brain and pulled this book out – she’s one of the best writers in YA at the moment, writing wonderfully diverse and original fiction that just gets pop culture and what it is to be a teenager. Radio Silence has been one of my favourite books of the year so far – it’s the first book I’ve read which tackles university applications and not being the best anymore, and I recommend it especially if you’re headed up to sixth form and starting to think about that dreaded UCAS form. Heavily recommended from me, and you can read my review here.

66. Jeff Povey

Books to read: Shift/Delete/Escape

Jeff is a screenwriter, writing for beloved BBC programmes such as Holby City and Eastenders and Shift was his first foray into teen literature. The series focuses on a group of teenagers who learn they can shift between worlds, and has been described as perfect for fans of Michael Grant, Charlie Higson and Antony Horowitz and for anyone who loves Misfits or Shaun of the Dead. The third book in the series, Escape, comes out January 2017.

67. Non Pratt

Book to read: Trouble/Remix

I remember Non from my first YALC last year, and picked up her debut novel Trouble earlier this year and loved it. You can read my review here. Trouble is the story of a pregnant teenager and her friend, who pretends to be the father, and I loved how it dealt with teenage pregnancy and the stigma around it. I’m overdue to pick up Non’s second book, Remix, which takes place over a weekend at a music festival, and I’m really looking forward to Non’s novella, Unboxed, which will be published by Barrington Stoke this August.

68. Harriet Reuter Hapgood

Book to read: The Square Root of Summer

Harriet’s debut novel features quantum physics, romance, and grief. I reviewed the book here earlier this year, and loved the family dynamics, and, of course, the physics. Gottie is mourning the death of her grandfather, and dealing with the return of a boy from her past, when she starts accidentally time travelling. This was a very promising debut novel (and a very pretty one too!)

69. Chris Russell

Book to read: Songs about a Girl

Songs about a Girl is Chris’ first YA novel , about a girl called Charlie who reluctantly becomes a photographer for the world’s hottest boyband, and then she gets caught up in a love triangle between two members of the band. This one has been a source of Twitter hype recently, has a gorgeous cover, and launches on July 28th (the day before YALC!).

70. Manuela Salvi

Book to read: Girl Detached

Manuela Salvi is an Italian author, with an illustrious career, who currently lives in London after her YA novel about underage prostitution was banned in Italy. Girl Detached is a novella for Barrington Stoke, about a girl who suffers from a stutter, except when she’s on stage, when she is hiding behind a character. This one launches in September, and is definitely one to look out for.

71. Lucy Saxon

Book to read: The Almost King

Lucy Saxon was a star at last year’s YALC with her amazing cosplays and brilliant Cosplay workshop. I haven’t read any of Lucy’s work, but I do know that she wrote the first book in this series when she was sixteen – Take Back The Skies – and the second book, The Almost King, was released last year before YALC. The first book is about a privileged girl called Catherine who runs away and pretends to be a boy and stows away on the sky ship Stormdancer.

72. C J Skuse

Book to read: The Deviants

This one is one I’m really excited for – it comes out in October and focuses on a group of friends struck by tragedy, whose friendship then deteriorates. Then, years later, they’re brought back together and must reveal their secrets to each other. I’ve heard amazing things about this book and the cover is just STUNNING.

That’s it for this week, I’ll be back next week with the penultimate part of the YALC Reading List!

Review: Trouble by Non Pratt

Trouble by Non Pratt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First, I have the UK (Teal) edition, and whereas I do really like it now, I know teenage me would have cringed to have a book with sperm so prominently featured on it! The US version is a little more subtle, and the German version (Fuck you Leben!) is quite… to the point? Despite the sperm, this book actually really fits in colour-wise with the rest of my bookshelf (teal is REALLY popular at the moment) so I’m happy.

Trouble is written in dual-narrative between Hannah and Aaron. Hannah is a troublesome 15 year old who has just discovered sex and booze, and Aaron is a student who’s just transferred from another school. Hannah finds herself pregnant unexpectedly, and the book follows her pregnancy (it’s split into three trimesters) as she battles the bump, family issues, and her ex-best friend. She finds a friend in Aaron, who, despite never having slept with Hannah, suggests that he pretend to be her baby’s father.

Trouble is a thought-provoking, and at time, shocking book (in a good way). It’s rare to find teenagers written about honestly and realistically, living in the UK and not off at boarding school/fantasyland. I love unconventional families, and Trouble also features elderly people and parents as real people and not just plot devices to control our main characters. The juxtaposition of Hannah and Aaron is interesting, and there’s a really good cast of supporting characters, from the friendly Gideon and Anj, to angsty older stepbrother Jay.

This is no idealistic teenage fantasy – these teenagers drink and sleep together and fail exams. They lie and keep secrets and make mistakes.

The writing is really good (I read the first page on Kindle then knew I had to get the book), and the story has twists and turns. Overall, a really engaging novel that I read in a few days.

My only issue (and what stops the book getting the hallowed 5 stars) is that it ends quite abruptly (something I’ve found quite common with my reading choices lately). There’s no real resolution of a few plot lines – an epilogue would have been really nice here!

If you’re looking for something realistic from UK YA fiction, you can’t go much wrong with Trouble by Non Pratt.
View all my reviews