Posts made in December, 2013
Most Anticipated YA Books of 2014
2013 was a fun year for me in reading terms. I didn’t read more than usual, but my reading felt more personal. I attended my first book signings, my first book launch, and met lots of authors and book bloggers through Author Allsorts and Twitter. After years of reading in a vacuum, it’s exciting reading books by authors I know (even if only online), and lots of fun reading books at the same time as bloggers are reviewing them. My 2013 five-star reads: Hollow Pike and Cruel Summer by James Dawson MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood (a rogue non-YA) Numbers trilogy by Rachel Ward The Elites by Natasha Ngan Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley Eleanor &...
Books on my Christmas List 2013
*Click here for my 2015 list.* When asked what I want for Christmas or my birthday, my answer is always “books”. (Slightly to the frustration of my family, who think, by now, that it’s the equivalent of asking for socks. It really isn’t.) Here’s what’s on my Christmas list this year. What books are you hoping to see under your tree? The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott. Reviews say it’s amazing, but I’d want it for the cover alone. In Bloom by Matthew Crow. Released by my publisher, and receiving rave...
Best Book Read in December: James Dawson’s HOLLOW PIKE
This week’s YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday asks: What’s the best book you read in December? This month I finally got my mitts on a book that’s been on my TBR list for a while: YA horror/thriller Hollow Pike. I’d heard great things about James Dawson’s 2012 debut, and it didn’t disappoint. Hollow Pike took me right back to my teen slasher-movie-watching days. The atmosphere was deliciously scary (even too much for me at times – I’m a bit of a wimp), and it was very hard to put this book down once the creepy chain of events got going. I was left guessing the identity of the ‘bad guy’...
Editing GLIMPSE: Part 2
I posted a couple of weeks ago about my top editing tips, gleaned whilst editing Glimpse. Today, I thought I’d share a little more about the editing stages Glimpse went through with my publisher. 1. The Editorial Letter This was the main, heavy-duty edit. My editor emailed me an annotated copy of Glimpse, plus a multi-page letter. Her letter outlined where my novel currently was in terms of world-building, structure, plot, writing style and characterisation, and where it needed to be. The first read-through of this letter was scary—there was so much to get my head around—but within a day or two I was ready to start planning what and how I was going to...
Insights from Editing GLIMPSE
Today, I’m on the Author Allsorts blog sharing my top tips for editing and how I edited Glimpse. Check it out here. Share...
Glimpse
Inspired by Alfred Noyes’ poem 'The Highwayman', Glimpse is a ghost story, a love story, and a story of overcoming trauma.
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About Kendra Leighton
I’m a YA writer and chocolatier. Glimpse, my debut novel, was inspired by Alfred Noyes' poem 'The Highwayman'. It was published in 2014.Read more...
