Review: DELLA SAYS: OMG! by Keris Stainton **** + GIVEAWAY!

Della’s over the moon when she kisses her long-standing crush at a party – but then she discovers her diary has disappeared...
When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della’s distraught – how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets?

I've been wanting to read this book ever since I first came across it months ago so I was very excited when Keris asked me to be a part of her blog tour - you can read my interview with her here. It took a while for my copy to arrive (that's what happens when you live in the Middle of Nowhere), but in the mean time a whole bunch of very positive reviews started popping up all over the internet and I knew I was in for a treat!

The idea behind the book explores everyone's worst nightmare (well, almost) - I kept an embarassing diary too when I was a teenager and I know I'd be absolutely mortified if someone stole it and started posting it everywhere, eeeek! Sadly, this happened to Della, but after the initial shock she coped with it quite well with the help of her best friend Maddy and her lovely boyfriend Dan (who was honestly adorable and just awesome!).

I thought the book captured really well what being teenager is really like - falling in love for the first time, sex, family problems, mean girls at school, friendships, parties etc. The novel had its serious moments (especially towards the end), but I thought it was a fun and a rather positive read.

The writing is simple and the plot isn't too complex either, but the characters are fabulous! I loved Della and Maddy's friendship and even though they're quite different in character (I found Maddy to be more of a wild child and Della more of a good girl), they're both great and teenagers will easily relate to them and their problems. DanTheMan is the type of boyfriend every girl dreams of (well, unless you're into bad boys :p) - incredibly understanding and supportive and gentle and cute and fun etc. Furthermore, Della's parents were fantastic (and hilarious) too and I loved how their family wasn't just another dysfunctional one - it was a nice change from most of the YA novels.

All in all, this was a quick, but a rather enjoyable read. I really reminded me of Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway since both books are about being a teenager and they feature first love, teenage problems, awesome BFFs and fab parents - plus they're both so much fun to read! Lastly, I love the cover too, it's quite simple but powerful and yet cute & fun - just like the book itself! :)

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 3/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 4/5

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And now it's time for another GIVEAWAY - don't you just love those? :D Well, I ended up with an extra copy of DELLA SAYS: OMG! so I figured I might as well give one away and give one lucky reader a chance to enjoy this great debut!

Here are the rules:

• the giveaway is open internationally;
• it ends on May 31st;
• to enter, just fill out this form;
• you can increase your chances to win with extra entries - you'll find all the relevant info on the form itself.

Any more questions? Fire away! Good luck! :)

In My Mailbox #42

Hey, everyone! I've been MIA in the blogosphere in the past few days as sadly I was so busy again that I just didn't have time to blog or sadly - I haven't read a single page the whole week, things were that crazy every day! I also got only like 5 hours of sleep per night max so I had to catch up today and I slept for 12 hours straight, lol. Yay for weekends! But I still have a lot of catching up to do in terms of reading, blogging and replying to emails, eek!

Aaaanyway, it's time for another installment of IMM (hosted by The Story Siren). I was expecting a looot of books this week, but only two showed up so I'm hoping the rest will be here next week. Here's what I got:

THE CLEARING by Heather Davis - I saw this one on several other blogs and I was instantly intrigued by the story. As someone else pointed out somewhere (can't remember who, sorry), it sounds quite a bit like The Time Traveler's Wife, which is one of my all time favourite books, so how could I resist getting this one? Can't wait to read it!

DELLA SAYS: OMG! by Keris Stainton - Yay, finally! Got this one for review from Keris and it jumped straight to the top of my TBR pile! I'm hoping to read it this weekend so expect a review soon!

That's it from me - what did you get? I can't wait to find out! :)

Interview: KERIS STAINTON, the author of DELLA SAYS: OMG!

As a part of her blog tour, I had the pleasure of interviewing Keris Stainton, the author of Della Says: OMG!, which is her debut novel and it comes out on 6 May 2010!

To see what the first readers thought of the book, please visit Chicklish, Novelicious and Rhiana Reads. I'll be reviewing the book soon (cannot wait!!!) and in the mean time please enjoy the interview below. :)

Q: You're a debut novelist so please do tell us a bit about yourself. I also love your name, it's fabulously unique! Is there a story behind it and how is it pronounced properly?
A: Okay. :) I'm 38, which I can't quite believe since I feel about 25. I'm married with two little boys and I live in Lancashire, which is lovely. I spend WAY too much time on Twitter and I love YA fiction and American TV shows like The West Wing, Glee, Gossip Girl, Friends... My name rhymes with "ferris" - like ferris wheel or Ferris Bueller. The name itself is Welsh and the proper spelling is Cerys (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas have a daughter named Cerys), but I was actually named after a friend of my mum and she spelled hers Kerris. Yes, with two Rs. I changed it to Keris (with one R) because I think it looks better that way.

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer? What was your road to publication like?
A: I've always written, yes, but I didn't really think seriously about being a writer until a few years ago. I didn't have the confidence, I don't think. My road to publication was actually pretty smooth, but it was slow. It's taken four years from signing with my agent to seeing Della in the shops (actually, I haven't seen it in the shops yet, but I know it's there!).

Q: Is there a particular reason why you've decided to write YA instead of adult novels? Also, what authors do you look up to?
A: No. I just had an idea for a story about a teenager and so I wrote it. But I absolutely love YA and probably read more YA than adult fiction these days. (Although I have also written an adult novel, but I don't have a publisher for that... yet *crosses fingers*). And there are LOADS of writers I look up to. Meg Cabot is the YA goddess, of course. I also love E Lockhart and Maureen Johnson. For adult fiction, I'm a huge Marian Keyes fan and I really love Lisa Jewell too.

Q: What does an average day in your life look like?
A: I take my eldest son to school and then either drop the baby off with my (very kind!) in-laws or put him in bed and then I get to work. Or rather to Twitter. Then I answer emails, blog, tweet and generally faff about on the internet, all the time worrying about the fact that I haven't even opened my writing file. I'll do this every day for weeks until it all becomes too much and I force myself to do some novel writing. And then I feel much better and promise myself I'll write regularly in future. And then I do the same again. Maybe I should go to a hypnotist or something...

Q: How long did writing Della take? What inspired the book?
A: It took about four months, I think. The book was due at the same time as my son, Joe, so I knew I had to get on with it. It was inspired by my own experience. When I was a teenager, my sister had a party and my diary went missing. I started thinking about how much worse that would be if it happened now - with social media and mobile phones, etc.

Q: Tell us a bit about Della - how would you introduce her to your potential readers? In what way can she be a role model to the young girls today?
A: Della's quite insecure and self-conscious. Her mum and sister are both gorgeous and so even though Della is too (but in a different way) she can't see it. She also worries about revealing too much of herself because she's afraid people won't like her if they know the real her. So of course having people read her diary - her most intimate secrets - is horrifying to her. I think she's a role model because she learns to be honest, to be herself and not to worry too much about what other people are thinking about her. I was terrible for that when I was a teenager. What I didn't understand then is that no one is that bothered about anyone else because they're too busy worrying about themselves!

Q: The original title of your debut novel was Della Says: OMG! WTF? - is there a particular reason why the last part was removed?
A: Some of the shops thought it was a bit too rude, which I'd been worried about too. It was an eye-catching title, for sure, but I prefer the new title. What about you?

Q: The book comes out next week and the rumour has it that you're planning a launch party - can you tell us more about that? And most importantly, what will you be wearing??? (Joking about the last part as I know you've been stressing over it, hehe.)
A: I'm having two launch parties! Argh! One in London - where I lived for 10 years and a lot of my friends and publishing industry people are - and one in Manchester, near where I live now. I don't know what I was thinking of. I'm promised they'll be the best nights of my life, but I'm in denial about them. I'm even more in denial about what I'm going to be wearing. I've got some amazing shoes, but not much else. I really wish they were pajama parties. I can manage pajamas. :)

Q: What's next for you? Are you already working on a new book? If so, do tell us ALL about it!
A: I'm supposed to be working on one, yes. :) It's about a British girl named Jessie who goes to New York following a horrible break up, and Finn, an American boy who's in love with his best friend's girlfriend. They're perfect for each other. But first they have to meet... and there are 8 million people in New York.

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Ooh, sounds intriguing - I look forward to learning more about it as time goes by!
Thanks for stopping by and answering my questions, Keris - and good luck with the launch, I'm sure it'll be a success! :)

To learn more about Keris Stainton, visit her website or her book related blog. You can also find her on Twitter or Facebook.

You can get your own copy of Della Says: OMG! at Amazon, Book Depository or WHSmith.
The tour continues tomorrow at chicklittings.blogspot.com so don't forget to drop by.

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