Travelling
on the London Underground this weekend? Look out for one of our bright pink
editions of How Hard Can Love Be? lovingly shared around London Underground
stations by the Books on the Underground team.
Follow
these wonderful book fairies at @BooksUndergrnd for clues on where the books
are being left, and let us know if you find one!
Head over to the Guardian Teen book site for more gems like this from Holly: http://bit.ly/1ozw7XV
Last night Holly’s How Hard Can Love Be? tour made its way
to Dublin for an amazing Spinster Club evening in Department 51 at Easons O’Connell Street, where a reading, spinster chat, arm knitting(!!) and cheesy snacks were all on the agenda!
(We love that it looks like Holly is belting out a tune down the mic!)
Look at that temple of Holly Bourne books AND cheesy snacks!
Head over to sugarscape for a good dose of advice from Holly on all things love. It’s a good’un!
Hello fellow Spinsters, Amy from Usborne here. I’ve stolen Holly’s blog today to do a little round-up of some of the amaazing reviews coming in for How Hard Can Love Be?, out now. Here are a few of our favourites:
“This is the second book in the new Holly Bourne Normal trilogy and is
COMPLETELY FANTASTIC. Not that I expected anything less after the
amazing after the stunning Am I Normal Yet?” – Guardian children’s book site teen reviewer
“Holly Bourne is one of the most talented YA writers of the moment and I cannot wait to read the next instalment to find out what happens to the Spinster Club. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!” – Lucy from Queen of Contemporary
“Emotive and thought provoking this searingly honest book deals with the biggest life lesson of all: nobody’s perfect.” – South Wales Evening Post, Book of the Week
“Holly Bourne has become a true feminist legend of YA!” – Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover
“The second installment in [Holly’s] Normal series…and tells Amber’s story of first love, friendship and addiction.” – The Sunday Express, S Magazine
Read the first chapter of How Hard Can Love Be? at www.usborne.com/readHolly.
One of the most recent comes from Emma of Never Judge a Book By its Cover (a fantastic book blog you should definitely check out). Emma has created a brilliant Tumblr @the-spinster-club for readers “who adored [Am I Normal Yet?], are feminist or a new feminist like myself, who wants to own who
they are and be an individual.” You can look forward to posts about the Normal series, quotes, discussions
agendas and there is talk of a Feminist Street Team too. We LOVE the sound of that. Check in with Emma over at The Spinster Club for more.
Speaking of all things Spinster, today Holly is up in Lytham St Anne’s headlining Spinster Sunday. Hosted by Storytellers Inc, it’s an afternoon of events to
celebrate friendship, feminism and frankly brilliant books. This empowering
afternoon is sure to pass the Bechdel test with a fantastic line-up of current
teen/YA authors including Non Pratt, Keris Stainton, Sara Barnard, Natasha Farrant and Jenny Maclachan. More on this next week!
Go Spinsters!
Find the three books that Holly feels tackle mental health issues perfectly over on the WHSmith blog today http://bit.ly/23LhfWD
To celebrate the release of How Hard Can Love Be? Holly will be touring the UK and Ireland and she wants to meet YOU.
All public events are listed here, with more to be added soon, so stay tuned!
SPINSTER SUNDAY with Holly Bourne
Sunday 7th February, from 1pm at St Annes Place, Lytham St Annes
An afternoon of events to
celebrate friendship, feminism and frankly brilliant books. Hosted by Storytellers Inc this empowering
afternoon is sure to pass the Bechdel test with a fantastic line-up of current
teen/YA authors including Non Pratt, Keris Stainton, Sara Barnard, Natasha Farrant and Jenny Maclachan.
A SPINSTER CLUB EVENING at Easons
Thursday 11th February, 6pm at Easons O’Connell Street, Dublin
Join Holly for an evening of book chat, a reading and Q&A plus lots of other fun activities.
There will be CHEESY WOTSITS!
Tuesday 23rd February, 7pm at Drink, Shop, Do, London
Join Holly, fellow Usborne author Kathryn Evans, Eve Ainsworth and Nicci Cloke for readings, cocktails, an utterly ridiculous short story challenge and book signings.
Tickets are free – book your place via Eventbrite.
Wednesday 2nd March, 6pm at Stratford East Picturehouse, London
Join Holly, Juno Dawson and Sara Barnard for an awesome night of books, writing and creativity at World
Book Day’s first ever live premiere for teens.
Hosted by performance poet, author and playwright LEMN SISSAY.
Tickets £3 (available via the Picturehouse website)
VERY SPECIAL EVENT IN MANCHESTER – to be announced soon
Sunday 6th March
Stay tuned for more on this soon!
Saturday 2nd April, 5pm
Three of the very best writers for YA, Sarah Crossan, Sita
Brahmachari and Holly Bourne join forces for a session guaranteed to
entertain, to inspire, and to provoke debate and laughter.
Tickets are available via the festival’s website.
Hurray! How Hard Can Love Be? has been chosen for the commuter book club Books on the Go as its February read.
Keep your eyes peeled if you travel on a Great Northern or Thameslink train for lots of Holly Bourne love!
Find out all about the book club and for the chance to WIN A HOLIDAY to Budapest and get a super snazzy money-off-the-book voucher visit the Thameslink website.
So, you know how Amber was always OFF ON ONE in Am I Normal Yet? about the other spinster club girls and their boy troubles? Well, I decided it would be fun if Miss Cynic fell in love. Hard.
I can’t believe How Hard Can Love Be? is out TODAY. I hope you love Amber’s journey as much as I do. Here’s to nice boys who call themselves feminists, Dumbledore’s Army, rainbows, and American roadtrips. See you at Summer Camp!
To celebrate the launch of How Hard Can Love Be? we will be hosting #14DaysofLove – a celebration
of love in all its forms – from first love to friendships to family. Keep an eye out for exclusive videos, competitions and more! Join in with #14daysoflove and #HHCLB.
