Savannah Colbert is back at Taylorsville High after a life-threatening illness, feeling more like a freak than ever. People are looking at her differently, staring and giggling. Except golden boy Tristan Coleman, who suddenly can’t keep away. Savannah’s falling under his spell.
But the mysterious Clann, a group of witches with unknowable power and an unbreakable bond to Tristan, are watching.
Star-crossed by history, Savannah and Tristan have been forbidden since birth. Their love could endanger everyone and everything they know. But the craving has started and can’t be denied…

Teen angst, unrequited love Shakespearean allusions, secret societies magic and politics wrapped up in a world where the masquerade still holds sway.
As a straightforward teen romance this tale would still be excellent, but it is so much more. Savannah is a child of two worlds, literally, her parents from opposite sides in a war that has consumed centuries, her very existence could threaten the fragile peace that exists.
The major players are the next generation of witches who will lead the Clann in the future, but not everybody wants the status quo to be maintained, allegiances are shifting, jealousies are splitting old friendships and there are some who want to break free from the roles that seem preordained for them while others want to reveal themselves and ride roughshod over common humanity.
In Crave – the first book in a trilogy we only get a taste of this world that Melissa has created, we touch on some of the edges of Witch society and its structures and get a taste of the Vampire Court. Mention is made of other supernatural races and beings.
This is above all a love story and Savannah and Tristan are written with an electrifying chemistry, but also with the fears and neuroses that all teens have when it comes to love – especially those brought on by secret knowledge and the fact they have a history and different groups of friends who hate each other.

I enjoyed the teen angsty parts (because I am a sucker for those kinds of stories and always loved high school teen movies), Savannah’s parents had the whole Romeo & Juliet romance story going but I felt Savannah and Tristan were more along the lines of the Taming of the Shrew channelled through 10 Things I Hate About You. What made the story really fly for me were the insights into the secret world of the Clann and the Vampires, those touches were artfully done giving enough information to get an idea of the shapes of the society but not enough to see or understand everything.

I am now eagerly awaiting Covet and Consume to find out more about Savannah and Tristan and hopefully more about their parents who… wait I did not mention the parents, their roles are small but no less important – a Vampire and a Witch in love and on the lam until their lives are changed by a miracle – Savannah and the future leader of the clan who rejected his heritage but ultimately had to take up the mantle he denied.
I need to know more and hope that in the next two volumes Melissa will elaborate on this brilliant world she has created!

After the celebration of All Hallows comes the remembrance of a freedom fighter cut down by a brutal and repressive regime or was it a crazy man with gunpowder trying to destroy the symbols or righteous government?

Whatever it was it will live on in fond memory or infamy…

Burning freedom fighters traitors in effigy and fireworks – what is there not to love about Guy Fawkes Night? The less said about rampant antiCatholicism the better eh what?

The Fifth of November is the perfect time to run a book discussion about Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, the film was not bad it is just the book is far superior – feel free to disagree that is what book discussions are about.

In the current climate of fear created by the closing and threatened closing of libraries this is the perfect time to introduce a new generation of protesters to their civic duties and rights of protest

If you wanted you could even have an activity – cut out and create your own Guy Fawkes mask: downloadable guy fawkes mask. You can also pick them up for £6 at Forbidden Planet where your average Anonymous protester shops.

There once was a young artist called Karou who drew tales of monsters and demons that delighted and enthralled those around her.
But she has a secret, a secret that ties her to a dusty subterranean chamber, where her beloved guardian brokers dark deals in a place that is not here. A place that is Elsewhere.
Living with one foot in each world, Karou has never really known which one is her true home.
Now the doors to Elsewhere closing . . .

I have fallen in love – with a book!

With this book specifically.

I have had a look at some of the notes I had written while I was reading. They are:

Elegant

Beautifully written

I love this book!
After that there were no more notes because this book demands your full attention.

Set mostly in Prague my favourite city that I have never visited (yet but soon…) Daughter of Smoke and Bone is the story of Karou and the start of her journey of discovering who she is and where she comes from.

Angelic beings, demonic creatures (Chimaera), ex boyfriends and endles errands across the world all vie for her attention as do friends, art classes and the attempt to live as normal life as possible. Daughter of Smoke and NBone is the first book in a trilogy and for this I am so so happy – if i was being melodramatic (and no I am not above that) I would have said that I wept after I finished the book as it truly is a thing of beauty. This is not just Karou’s story although she is the protagonist it is also the story (I hope) of brimstone, Issa, Akiva and the story of a millenia old battle that is being fought in a world that is not our world but that has influenced our myths and beliefs.

I am pretty sure that Daughter of smoke and Bone will draw comparisons to some of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the multi-layered anrrative, the drawing in of myths and creatures that exist in stories and fable. It is very much its own story and what a story it is!

The story is such that I want to experience it again with no foreknowledge, to have that sense of wonder and delight as my eyes devour each page.

Ultimately this is a novel about love, self-discovery, magic and family wrapped up in adventure, magic and war!

Once you have picked up a copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone you will find it very hard to put down but remember to hurry because the doors to elsewhere are closing!

WIN a copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone with Teen Librarian. To enter leave a comment in the form of rhyming verse as to why you should win in the comments field. Competition will run for a week and is open in the UK & abroad. Winner will be chosen by me (Matt) on basis of humour and ability to rhyme.

To celebrate the paperback release of JUSTIN THYME, the Tartan of Thyme blog is running a competition with signed/doodled copies of both JUSTIN THYME and its forthcoming sequel THYME RUNNING OUT as the prize.

All readers have to do is visit the participating blogs, note down the letters and numbers on the Justin Thyme bookmarks, then rearrange the letters in numerical order. This spells a secret message (Justin’s description of himself). Visit the Tartan of Thyme blog to find links to all participating blogs, and to e-mail your answer. The competition will close on September 7th, when a winner (picked at random from the correct entries) will be announced.

http://tartanofthyme.blogspot.com
To stand a chance of winning one of the doodled bookmwarks leave a comment on this post to say why you think you should win it!

So there I was, poking around the Live Magazine website when I came across this amazing article about the riots:

The rioters have misrepresented the young community by attacking pointlessly and gaining goods that aren’t going to help them. A valid cause for protest has become a mass free for all shopping spree.

Elias Wachenje, 12 Years Old

You know – I think the kids will be alright! This should be read by everybody, please share the links.

I must say that I did not expect it to start so soon. One lovely letter refererd to ‘teenage morons’, with views like that sometimes I begin to despair!

Meanwhile in other news today:

London riots: Teacher, 31, pleads guilty to looting as court cases start (link)

Wow – an adult teacher, not a teenager.

Just goes to show that all ages were involved. Children, teenagers, adults.

It is not important trying to figure out which age group had the most involvement, what we should do is try and work out how we can stop this from happening again. We are all capable of reaching out to people outside our comfort zones, start small – try saying hello, strike up a conversation. I think that libraries are perfectly placed to help begin the healing. They are one of the few places where everyone is welcome and libraries actually encourage loitering without making people passing through feel uncomfortable. It also makes talking to strangers less uncomfortable, books, DVDs and magazines are pretty innocuous topics to begin a conversation with.

Strike up a conversation in a library! At the very least you may find a new author to enjoy and you could also start seeing things from someone else’s perspective or maybe even make a new friend.

So Tuesday evening and bits of London are burning, Manchester is the latest urban centre to be hit with Birmingham and Liverpool having gone before that. On Twitter there are reports and rumours of riotous behaviour.

The word “youth” has been used a lot. This is not and has never been a political blog, I do not rant about the unfairness of how young people are looked upon and treated in the UK. I have heard people I know and in some cases have worked with refer to young people, as hoodies, rugrats, chavs and even worse. Now after the past few days of rampant vandalism and theft I fear that all young people are going to be tarred with the same brush and have more epithets added to the already large pool of slurs against them vandals, thieves, anarchists.

I have seen pictures and videos of children and teens taking part in the riots, disturbances wholesale theft and vandalism. What may be overlooked is the fact that these violent kids are in the minority, once the smoke clears and the rubble is cleared away and all the right noises have been made by the powers that be and various civic and community leaders the lasting legacy will be a memory of youth led violence which will lead to even more demonising of young people than ever before.

I could be wrong, money could be pumped into youth services and into libraries to offer young people an alternative. What are the chances?

Here is a bittersweet story that I will share with you:

When I worked in Edmonton Green Library I ran a monthly manga group, it ran on the first Thursday of every month without fail for nearly four years, from 3:30 – 7pm over 20 teens gathered in the library to share their passion for manga, anime and just to hang out in a safe location. I left Enfield Libraries a year ago to work for Brent, and within six or so months the manga group had been wound up due to staff lacking the knowledge and confidence to run it. Not everyone can work with teens and you do need a working knowledge of manga to be able to talk about it.

I dropped into Edmonton Green Library last Thursday to say hi to my ex-colleagues, and in the (reduced) Teen area were half a dozen of the original members of the manga group – they had enjoyed it so much that they had taken it upon themselves to keep it going at the same time and place each month.

They were relaxed and enjoying themselves and, as teens do, they got a bit noisy and I heard some staff tell them to keep it down or they would have to leave as they had been there all afternoon. From what I could ascertain no-one had complained and I had heard them make an even bigger noise when I used to be there. The kids did run a massive guilt trip on me for leaving and said they missed me and the library was not the same.

They are also feeling side-lined by the service. This is a group of young adults 16/17 years of age that want to run a group in the library, they do not cause more trouble than the average library user and are generally self-reliant and they are ignored! Why? Because working with teens makes some people feel uncomfortable and unless they are ordered to do it they will get away with not doing it. BAM! an entire segment of the community is sidelined – and people wonder why some teens say they feel like there is a conspiracy against them.

After this week it will be worse. I do not advocate hugging a hoodie like D-Cam did, actual physical contact between adults and teens is not advised, mainly to keep things simple.

Remember Matthew’s First Rule: no touchy the librarian!

All I am saying is that Teens are good people they are and have been affected by the rioting.

Next time you think something negative about a teenager try replacing the word “teenager” with “”black”, “gay” “disabled” and it may sink in that discriminating against someone on the basis of their youth is just that – discrimination.

The kids are not alright and we need to look after them and we can start by treating them like we treat everyone else, and it doesn’t hurt to smile either!