YA From My Youth with Candy Harper

To celebrate the publication of the hilarious book, Have A Little Faith, I am pleased to welcome the author, Candy Harper, onto the blog to discuss the YA books that shaped her youth.

Looking at my teen book collection, a lot of what I enjoyed seems to fall into three main categories: ballet stories, romance and dystopian. Clearly, as a teen I was hoping to find a boyfriend to perform in Swan Lake with me before we died horribly in a nuclear winter.

BALLET

What’s interesting about the ballet stories are the differences between British and American series. The English Sadler’s Wells series is all about the grind of being a dancer, the sacrifices that must be made, the horror of injury, and the importance of discipline and dedication. Whereas, the American Satin Slippers series is all about who looks hottest in a leotard. Veronica in Sadler’s Wells insists that she is wedded to her art, but the good-looking blondes in Satin Slippers still have plenty of energy for what my Auntie Joyce calls ‘shenanigans’, even after a hard days pirouetting.

ROMANCE

I liked my romance American. To teen-me there was nothing more glamorous than a girl clipping back her bangs with a barrette and then heading off down the sidewalk to a date at the mall. I borrowed Ten Boy Summer from my big sister. First published in 1984, it was already a bit dated when I was reading it in the mid-90s. For a hot date, Jenny wears a high-necked floral dress ending mid-calf. I’m going to suggest that my daughter wears something similar when she starts dating. My romance reading led me to believe that any swoony business would happen on a beach with a tanned boy called Chip or Brad, so it was a bit of a shock when I had my first kiss with Pasty Dave round the back of Woolworths.

DYSTOPIAN

Why do teens love dystopias so much? I think teenagers are really good at asking What If? And they’re not afraid to consider the worst possibilities. Adults are less into speculating; they’re always busy and focused on getting things done. When teen-me asked my dad if he thought the world might end tomorrow, he said, ‘I hope not, I’ve booked the car in for a service.’ One of my favourite dystopian books was Brother in the Land, which is about the aftermath of a nuclear bombing and also features a romance (if only Robert Swindells had included a ballet exam, I’d have been in heaven). I particularly loved the fact that it has an unhappy ending. Or at least it did until 2000 when Robert Swindells wrote a new final chapter. Which is a shame because I think it’s really important for young adults to read some stories with unhappy endings. That’s why when I was a teacher I used to occasionally snap shut whatever book we were reading and say, ‘And then they all DIED.’

I’m sure that the books I read as a teen helped to mould be as an author. At the very least they’ve made me grateful that my publisher has never suggested a cover featuring a cartoon pair of ballet shoes. I haven’t yet finished my love-against-the-odds story set in an American ballet school of death, but I promise you I’m working on it.

Have A Little Faith is published by Simon and Schuster and available to buy now. To read my review, please click here.

To find out more about Candy Harper:

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The Day I Met Sophie McKenzie and Candy Harper

Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to a blogger brunch at Simon and Schuster. If you are not familiar with the term blogger brunch, then basically this is what happens. We get to look at all the new books being published before meeting some of the lovely authors published by Simon and Schuster and every time we get to go home with a very generous goody bag!

On this occasion, we were looking at the books that would be published between now and Christmas in the YA age bracket, which I will show in another post later this week, as I wanted to spend this post talking about the two authors I got to meet.

Firstly, I MET SOPHIE MCKENZIE!!!!!

I’m a huge fan of Sophie’s books and this was the first time I’d actually had the opportunity to meet her. Sophie presently has two books due to come out with  Simon and Schuster. Casting Shadows, the third book in her YA contemporary romance quartet, which I absolutely love, is due out in July. The series follows the tempestuous relationship of Flynn and River and it is a very gritty and realistic read highlighting a lot of teenage issues and situations they are involved in.

The book Sophie was mainly there to talk about was Split Second which is her new standalone novel due out in September, that has similarities to Blood Ties, so expect a fast paced thriller. The book is set slightly in the future and deals with a terrorist attack that results in a bomb going off. Sophie wanted to create a book that looked at how the UK might react if we continue  politically and economically along the route we are presently on. For inspiration, she felt she only had to look at the situation occurring in Greece to help her write the book. Sophie stated, that nothing that occurs politically in the book hasn’t occurred somewhere in the world. It was a very difficult book for her to write and there were times she thought she wouldn’t finish it. Luckily for us, she did! And quite frankly, I can’t wait to read it!

When I spoke to Sophie afterwards, it was a bit of shock to find out she knew who I was! She kindly told me that she often reads my blog and we had the above picture taken on her Iphone which Sophie then tweeted!  Sophie was a delight to talk to and very down to earth. If you haven’t read one of her books yet, you seriously need to get hold of one.

Candy Harper might  be confusing you slightly if you are looking at this picture and recalling her at a book event with a different name. Well that’s because Candy Harper is also known as C.J. Harper, author of The Disappeared, a very British dystopian YA novel, with shades of George Orwell about it.  The reason for the name change is because her second book with Simon and Schuster is completely different from her first. Have A Little Faith is full of Candy’s natural humour which is so evident when you meet her. Aimed at a younger audience than her first book, the main character has been described as having a similar voice to Georgia Nicholson from Louise Rennison’s tween series. Though Candy insists that Faith is a lot nicer than Georgia.

Faith is one of those 14 year old girls who always seems to be in trouble. She blames a lot of it on her teacher. Candy said she wanted to write something funny after the seriousness of The Disappeared. In fact, the first draft of The Disappeared had a lot of humour in it, which she had to take out as it didn’t suit the tone of the book. Candy read a few pages from the book and I can tell you now - it is hilarious! I’m looking forward to reading the whole book.

Two fabulous authors in real life with seriously awesome books coming out this year.