Thursday, 29 December 2016

Diverse Books Giveaway

As a huge fan of diverse books, I love buying them. However I have a real issue looking around my flat because I have barely ANY space! I am hugely lucky that so many fabulous publishers are kind enough to send me some great books, but this means they accumulate faster than I can read them. So I figured that to spread the love for diverse books and to pass on the generosity so many people have shown to me, I'd try running a few giveaways where I can buy the books from The Book Depository or a similar site and get them sent directly to the winner.

 I'm going to run the first one starting today and finishing on Saturday 14th January, and then run a few more later in 2017. For each one, I'll run via Twitter and entering will be fairly simple - RT my tweet, and reply to my tweet saying which of the ten named books you'd like to win.

 I've tried to select a wide variety in terms of genre and age range (mainly YA but with some MG and adult.) I've also gone for own voices books for the most part (but not exclusively.) If you'd like to give me any feedback about the contest I'd be really grateful if you either left me a comment or tweeted me @yayeahyeah! It is international where the Book Depository delivers (I won't necessarily be using TBD if it's a UK winner, by the way.)

 First selection of books are below.


Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho - Highly recommended by my friends Ming and Charlie, who have exceptional taste. Zen is an awesome author (I loved her story The Terracotta Bride) and this book, which is getting comparisons with Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen with added magic, sounds truly incredible!

 Bad Boy by Elliot Wake - Elliot's last two books, Black Iris and Cam Girl (written as Leah Raeder) are absolutely superb new adult novels - dark, twisted, and phenomenally well-written. I haven't yet read his newest book - about a transgender guy who's a secret enforcer for vigilante group Black Iris - but I have no doubt that it's amazing.

 Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne - Holly Bourne's Spinster Club series is one of my absolute favourites of recent years (if you've read AINY? feel free to choose another book in the series) and this first one is one that hit home especially hard with me because of the way it portrays anxiety so realistically, in addition to OCD. I love the positive portrayal of therapy and medication, and the strong platonic friendship between the three central characters.

 Lunaside by JL Douglas - This contemporary, featuring a lesbian love triangle at summer camp, gets lots and lots of praise. It also features an ace character which is something I'm desperate to see more of in books!

 Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff - Most famous for The Eagle of the Ninth and its sequels, Sutcliffe also wrote a number of other classic children's stories. Herself a sufferer from Still's Disease, she wrote several books about children with physical disabilities and Warrior Scarlet, about a Bronze Age boy with a withered arm, sounds superb.

 Flying Lessons and Other Stories, edited by Ellen Oh - Ellen Oh is co-founder of the wonderful We Need Diverse Books campaign, and has fantastic taste. So just her name would be enough to get me excited about this anthology - releasing next week - but add in authors like Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson and Matt De La Pena, and I can't wait to read it!

 Thunder Boy Jr by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Yuyi Morales - Alexie is someone whose YA books I was aware of, but I've recently heard fabulous things about his new picture book for under 5s. Son of Thunder Boy, Thunder Boy Jr is desperate for his own name, but wants to avoid upsetting his father by picking one. This sounds super-heartwarming and judging from the cover Yuyi Morales is an incredible illustrator!

 Anything by Na'ima B Robert - I am a huge fan of Robert's stunning Black Sheep, a Romeo and Juliet style romance between badman Dwayne and university-bound Misha, daughter of a councillor who wants her to steer well clear of the world of gangs. There's a great portrayal of Islam in this book which is one reason I've been recommending it strongly - but Robert has written several other superb novels so you can pick any of them to enter.

 Either book by Anna-Marie McLemore - I am currently reading The Weight of Feathers, McLemore's stunning debut about a pair of travelling families performing in rival shows, and the romance which blooms between two of their members. I'm not far in but I'm already completely in love with her gorgeous writing style. I hear When The Moon Was Ours is also incredible.

 Anything by Hannah Moskowitz available on TBD - I've read several of Hannah's and they're all great - Not Otherwise Specified, a wonderful read about a black bisexual ballerina recovering from an eating disorder, is a favourite of mine. I also hear Teeth is superb, a 'modern day fairy tale'.

 So, are you excited? And more to the point, which are you MOST excited for? To enter, simply RT the below tweet and reply to it with the title of the book you most want to win.

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