Shiny New Books Issue 8

SNB logo mediumI can’t believe that when our next issue of Shiny New Books comes out at the beginning of April, we will have been going for two whole years! The last issue of our second year is out today and features the winning poem in the first Shiny Poetry  Competition – it’s lovely.

Naturally, you’ll find a handful of reviews by yours truly. I’ll be linking to them over coming weeks, but today I’m highlighting a YA novel for older teens that breaks taboos and made me cry…

Asking For It by Louise O’Neill

asking-for-it-197x300The second novel from O’Neill follows the story of Emma, a beautiful eighteen year old schoolgirl, who has to live with the consequences of a party which went wrong and she doesn’t remember what happened. Of course it affects far more people than just Emma, and O’Neill bravely explores many taboo areas that few authors would dare to go near. I wept. This novel is an important one. Although 16+ girls may be its primary audience, it deserves a far wider audience, especially parents of girls. This book really raises the bar for YA novels.

Read my full review here.

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Source: Own copy

Louise O’Neill, Asking for it (Quercus, 2015) Hardback, 352 pages

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