THE A-WORD BLOG TOUR -- with special guest, author Joy Preble!

<-- click to see the other stops...

Today is the day -- the final day of Soho Press's THE A-WORD blog tour!

Ain't that cover gorgeous? Yes, I said "ain't". Just because I'm British doesn't mean I can't channel my inner Texan every once in awhile.

For those of you who don't know, THE A-WORD is the sequel to Joy Preble's THE SWEET DEAD LIFE: a super-fun novel on the middle grade/young adult borderline that tells the story of sassy 14-year-old Texas gal Jenna, her stoner angel brother Casey and the family mystery that surrounds them. Want to hear more? Of course you do.

Now, however, we are celebrating TSDL's new baby sister, THE A-WORD, and who better to help us do that than the angel herself, Joy Preble!

 Joy Preble is the author of the popular and highly acclaimed Dreaming Anastasia series as well as The Sweet Dead Life, the prequel to The A-Word. A former English teacher, Joy grew up in Chicago and is a graduate of Northwestern University. She is now a full-time writer and lives with her family in Texas, where she has learned to say "y'all" without any hint of irony.

Let's give her a warm welcome:

One of the best and most humbling things about being an author is getting to know my fans – both virtually on line or through emails as well as in person when I tour or go to conventions and conferences.

And Hannah, who is hosting this stop of THE A-WORD tour, has been one of the most awesome fans ever! I swear that everyone in the UK who has read my DREAMING ANASTASIA series has done so because Hannah has put it in their hands! And I have recently promised her that Emma and Charlie in the forthcoming IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS (Soho Press, 2016) as well as Leo and Max in next year’s FINDING PARIS (Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins, 4/21/15) will definitely please her as much as the Anne/Ethan romance in DREAMING and its sequels!

When you write romance, you really do hope that your readers find the characters as enticing as you do. That they’re going to root for them and hope for them and dream for them and angst over the complications that keep them from being together and rejoice when they finally find each other at last!

Anne and Ethan (and the above mentioned Emma and Charlie and Leo and Max) are bit more romantically traditional in this sense. They meet. Complications ensue. And we worry about whether they’ll get their HEA or how damaged they’ll be by the time they make it to that point. By the time Anne and Ethan are finally and really and truly together at the end of ANASTASIA FOREVER, a lot of loss has occurred. In Ethan’s case, he’s even partially lost his sight, which I think to some extent was my writer’s answer to his endless myopic blindness to the truth. And maybe an answer to those who said that I seemed to like Ethan’s blue eyes a bit too much! Hah!

For Jenna it’s a bit different, because the bigger, dramatic plot arcs belong to other characters. It’s Casey and Amber and Bo in THE A-WORD who are the angels with a mission to accomplish and discover. Jenna’s got a huge role in things, too, but it’s yet to come. (Which readers will either get to read or not. Right now we’ve planned only 2 books in this series. So if you want more Jenna and Ryan you guys are going to have to spread the word!)

But there is Jenna pursuing Ryan anyway and Ryan pursuing Jenna. I really wanted these two to have a totally sweet and very mutual love that developed while both of them were increasingly thrust into the larger mystery of Amber’s past and Casey’s yet-to-be-discovered purpose on earth and Bo’s craziness, plus the huge world-controlling cartel of evil.

So it was a true pleasure to write Ryan baking cupcakes and telling Jenna his life plans and Jenna – not the girliest of girls—pondering outfit choices and Homecoming mums and reacting to Ryan’s kisses. And also his cologne, which is a sweet and hopefully amusing running gag for the two of them.  (Let me interject here that if anyone who as ever as I have, taught 9^th graders, totally knows their affection for copious amounts of cologne.)

Anyway, Hannah—and the rest of you! Enjoy THE A-WORD! Let me know what you think of this installment of Jenna’s journey. Let me know what you think of the Jenna/Ryan romance. Here’s to a good love story!

Oh, stop it y'all. I'm flattered.

So there you have it, folks! The DREAMING ANASTASIA trilogy, mentioned above, is home to my all-time favourite book character, the beautiful Ethan, and the series remains one of my absolute favourite stories of all time. The historical fic/YA/fantasy/romance lover in you can find a more in-depth praise post here. But for now, I hope you'll all support this lovely lady and treat yourselves to a hilarious paranormal mystery that somehow manages to be lighthearted and heart-warming at the same time. Let's hear it for THE A-WORD!

I'm the final stop on this blog tour, but you can find the entire ten days of fun here on the Soho Press website! Go say hi for me :) http://sohopress.com/the-a-word-blog-tour/

Thanks for gracing Perfect Companions Have Pages and Prose with your presence, Ms. Preble. To the rest of you, I hope you'll allow THE SWEET DEAD LIFE and THE A-WORD to grace your shelves! 

Until next time! 

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow -- The MORTAL GODS Cover Reveal!

Another day, another cave-in to the blogosphere, I know. But when I found out one of my very favourite authors, the lovely (and scary and awesome) Kendare Blake herself, was having a cover reveal for her newest book, how could I possibly not help?

MORTAL GODS (coming 14 October, this year)  is the next instalment in the THE GODDESS WAR trilogy, the first book of which is ANTIGODDESS. It is amazing and you should read it. Why, you ask? Click here and find out.

So, on to the cover reveal. MORTAL GODS is a book I've been impatiently awaiting since I finished Antigoddess, and since that happened approximately a week after its release . . . let's just say: I'm happy the long, torturous absence from Athena, Cassandra and Company will soon be over.

So, here is MORTAL GODS in all her beautiful, creepalicious glory!

Don't you just love the lightning? And Cassandra's hair? Speaking of whom, Kendare Blake has provided us with Cassandra's very thoughts are this precise moment:

"Aaand balls I've stumbled onto Olympus. This isn't good. Hope somebody helpful is coming up right behind me. This place does not look one bit welcoming. Thank god I braided my hair or there'd be some kind of static emergency."

Guys will roll their eyes, but you have no idea how irritating that is. Almost as annoying as when your hair sticks to your lip gloss.

Aaaaand here is the brilliantly badass Athena, on the new ANTIGODDESS paperback cover:

"Man, what is with these effing owls lately? That one in the tree looks totally pissed. Hey! Yeah, you! I can see you! I see you looking at me with your beady owl eyes! It must be the blood and the feathers. They think I've torn apart one of their brethren. Not so, jerks! These feathers are yours, and they're coming out of my bloody body! *sigh* I've got to get away from this lake. It's a bad place. And this G is totally trying to stab me in the back of the knee."

I love the colouring on that cover. Blue -- peaceful or haunting? Athena -- pensive or plotting? And did I mention how much I love her hair?

If you love me, you will go check this book out, at least. Have a read of my post linked to above ^, the Amazon page or go visit Ms Blake on her website, from which you can access her blog. If Kendare Blake sounds like your new favourite author (and why wouldn't she, when I know you love all things dark and dangerous as much as I do?), I heartily encourage you to also try Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares, the duology that invited itself into my soul, curled up and is still there. It is in my Top 5 stories of all time. Oh, yes. That is some high praise. All you up-and-coming authors have some serious shoes killer boots to fill.

Anyway, curiosity shall lead you here to Anna Dressed in Blood (which was my first ever Book Talk, so go easy on me, people; ugh, when I read it now...cringe) and here to the interview with Ms Blake, Anna vs. Terminator. Read it and fall in love -- but be warned: Cas is mine.

So now, I bid you farewell until May, for that is when the THE A-WORD by Joy Preble blog tour commences! Until then, my pretties! 

Extending Absence

At the simultaneously heart-pumpingly exciting and pants-wettingly terrifying reality that my exams are in THREE MONTHS, I am extending my absence until mid June--early July. It would not be an exaggeration for me to tell you I've missed this time of ranting and word vomit so much, my chest actually aches at the thought of it, so I hope you do know I'm genuinely lachrymose and sorry for taking this lengthy hiatus.

Thanks for understanding <3

The Hunger Games: Why the World Became Obsessed With a Book about Teens Murdering Each Other

So I missed the blogosphere so much that I caved in and did a guest post for my friend Anya. If you are interested, link is here:

http://annanyapriyadarshini.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/guest-post-hannah-j.html?m=1

I miss you all! Don't forget about me!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year :)

I Was Hoping it Wouldn't Have to Come to This...

If you're one of those wonderful people who follows my blog without actually knowing me in person (meaning you must actually like what I write! Wow! I'm flattered, truly I am.), let me fill you in regarding my crazy, hectic, stressful-at-the-moment life.

I have biiiiiiiig exams this year. Mocks in January, real things in May/June. Having received the finalised timetable for the mocks today, I've realised how little time to revise I have left. As it is most of my Christmas so-called "break" will consist of revision. So, while it brings me great sadness (it really does), I am going to have to suspend Perfect Companions Have Pages and Prose until February.

Yes, it's okay to cry.

I can't possibly tell you how sorry I am or how awful I feel that I'm taking a somewhat-unprofessional pause. But life happens. As I love to say, c'est la vie. And on the bright side, I will have loads of great content (I hope) when I return! So many wonderful books from Santa and writing topics to discuss (like how foreshadowing IS NOT a theme, thank you very much! Long story short, bad English teacher, who, thank the Lord above, has now been replaced with a fantastic English teacher who agrees with me that foreshadowing is a literary technique, not a theme. But that's another rant...) and songs to share with you and my delicious gingerbread recipe! We'll have so much fun!

So now, as my parting gift, I would like to tell you that:

Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

Don't forget to keep Dancing Through Life:

And of course, have a very merry Christmas!

Lastly, what Christmas would be complete without a generous helping of Buble?

I'd just like to say that I appreciate every single one of you, and I will miss doing this blog. Think of me, revising my quadratic equations while you go Christmas shopping, and know that this was not what I wanted. But we don't always get what we want. Life, as Augustus Waters says, is not a wish-granting factory.

So long, fare well, take care of yourselves, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and see you all back in February! :)

I'm sorry, but...

...there will be no Book Talk post tomorrow, because I am at the hospital. Worry not, I'm not going to die on you! This is, however, important and I wont get back home till late. Will be back next week my lovely lovely readers. Ciao x

Book Talk: the Abandon Trilogy by Meg Cabot

So last night, I finally brought an end to what has been an emotional roller-coaster ride second only to Lili St Crow's Strange Angels series. Oh. My. God. The cliffhangers at the ends of books one and two...no. Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?


Seven years old, Pierce Oliviera is playing in the Isla Huesos graveyard after being kicked out of the sexton's office at her grandfather's funeral. A tall, mysterious boy -- a giant, really -- spots her crying over a dead dove.

He revives it. Then walks away.

Fifteen years old, Pierce trips on her scarf, falls into her father's pool and drowns. She wakes up, cold, wet and afraid, in a cave by a lake. There are two long lines of people: her line, the quiet line, and the rowdy other line. Scared, confused, not realising what has happened, Pierce isn't really thinking when she runs up to the one person there she recognises -- the boy from the cemetery. John Hayden. He gives her a necklace just before the doctors revive her in hospital. When she wakes up, it's still there.

Now seventeen, and John is turning up everywhere she goes. This "dream" she had while dead is anything but fantasy, and anything but over. It's not like anyone would believe her if she told them, so she doesn't. But John's not the type of guy you can ignore. He wants to take her back to the place that haunts her nightmares. The Underworld. The only question is, why?


As with many trilogies, the first book in this series, Abandon, was by far the best. I loved the idea of having an NDE (someone who has had a near-death experience) as the main character, and as always Meg Cabot did not disappoint, even though my expectations were, after the Mediator series, incredibly high. The whole tall, dark, mysterious guy thing may seem like a cliche, but believe me, Meg Cabot handles it well. John Hayden is a complete, well-rounded, extremely interesting and three-dimensional character that you will fall in love with, even though in my opinion, it takes longer than usual. He's just so fascinating, though, that even if you don't like him, you still need to find out what happens to him.

I think it'll be hard to talk about Underworld and Awaken without ruining the end of Abandon, so I'll just say that they were full of suspense and fantastic, even though books one and two ended on EVIL cliffhangers! To contrast, book three felt almost too tied-up. So, as saying to little is better than saying too much, I'll leave you now to discover the series yourselves.

Star rating: 5/5

Till Monday!

Writing Wednesday -- Creative Writing Prompts!

I cannot believe I didn't think of this sooner. Writing prompts! Fun or what? If this goes well, I'll definitely do this more often. You'll have to let me know what you think in the comments. Anyway...

It happens every time. You sit down, all excited to get those fingers tapping away on the keyboard. Coffee in hand (in your favourite mug, the one with the grammar pun), you sit back, relax, fire up the trusty old laptop, and...

...nothing. Not a word pops into your head. You set Microsoft Word to your comfort font, classic 12pt Times New Roman. Wait for it...nope. Still nothing. What's wrong with you? You're a writer! Why can't you write? Are you losing your touch? Has your muse abandoned you?

Oh no. What if this happens every day? What if you can never write again? Then the world will never read the masterpiece you've been pouring all that metaphorical blood, sweat and tears into! Why, cruel fate? WWWWWHHHHYYYYYYYY????????

Even if you're not as melodramatic as I am, writer's block -- or whatever you want to call it -- is scary at worst and irritating at best. So what can you do to lure your muse back and cure this bout of The Freeze?

1) Don't panic. The muse doesn't like you when you're panicked.

2) Read back over what you wrote yesterday. Put yourself in the scene. That is not your goldfish watching you from the tank, that is an ocean filled with Sirens waiting to lure your unsuspecting group of sailors to their watery graves. Honest.

Feeling inspired yet? If so, great! Dive in! But if not, that's fine, too. Just try one of these five-minute exercises to get those writing muscles warmed up. Have fun with them. The sillier, the better! All of these are my original writing prompts, so I give you permission to share and publish any work you create using these. You may also link back to this page and share the writing prompts as you see fit, I just ask that you please credit me, Hannah J of Perfect Companions Have Pages and Prose, as the creator. Thanks!

Your main character (or another book character), a celebrity, a friend, a family member and one of your childhood teachers are stuck in a lift/elevator. One of them is secretly claustrophobic. Write about what happens.
I've had hours of fun with this one. If you don't want someone to have claustrophobia, pick something else weird. Maybe the lights go out? Someone is on a mission to deactivate a bomb, and if they don't get out of here in thirty-eight -- make that thirty-seven -- minutes, the building will explode? Don't be afraid to mix it up.

Pick three songs at random from your music collection (shuffle is good for this.) Write a scene, a poem or a short story inspired by the events and emotions in those songs. Rule: You must use something from each song. Alternatively, use one line of the lyrics from each song in your poem.
This one is also one of my go-to prompts and I always make a playlist for each writing project I do. It's great for when you need to put yourself into the emotions of the scene, to keep the story in your mind when you're out and about and to spark ideas when you're feeling uninspired. My favourite artists to use for this are Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson and Lady Antebellum, because they have some gorgeous imagery in their lyrics, but anything works. I dare you to use The Duck Song...

Take your main character and put them in the climax of another book, or vice versa. How would they have handled the situation?
Also very fun, and useful for getting back into your MC's shoes, if this was your problem. Alternatively, take a main character from a book that's not yours and put them into the climax of another book that's not yours. Oh, and if anyone puts Bella Swan in the arena (The Hunger Games), please please pretty please send it to me. I'm dying to see how that would play out.

"The girl in blue sat in the furthest corner of the coffee shop, grazing on chocolate covered pretzels. She was scribbling madly on a tablet, and every time the bell above the door rang, announcing the entrance of another customer, she almost jumped right out of her chair."
Continue this, either from the girl's POV (in third person) or the POV of the person who is watching her (first or third). Try to answer some of the questions the beginning poses (Who is she? What is she doing on the tablet? Why is she so jumpy?) whilst also posing a few more of your own. There are real possibilities with this, because we know almost nothing about the girl. Take it in whatever direction you want, and keep going until you feel like stopping. Or turn it into a novella- or even novel-length piece. Be creative.

A shaft of light shines down on you, illuminating your bluish toes and a small space of damp stone floor. A few dust mites hover in the air in front of your nose, and you sneeze. The echo of the sound tells you the room can't be more than ten feet in any direction. You're cold, wet, hungry. Your head hurts like nobody's business. There's a thick stench in the air, like stale smoke and urine. Worst of all, you can't remember a single thing. Write from here.
This could be continued in any person, but I think first would be most effective. If you're planning on reading this aloud, though, second holds major possibilities.


That's all for now, but I'll try to make this a reasonable regular occurrence. It really depends on the response I get. So, if you've enjoyed, please let me know, and feel free to share your work in the comments. I'd love to see what you came up with! Until Friday, my lovelies.