Foyles 2nd Creative Voices Event & Afternoon Tea with Kimberly Derting - 12th May 2012

Neil from Foyles introducing the authors

A couple of weeks ago I was very excited to be invited for afternoon tea with Kimberly Derting thanks to Headline and Allison & Busby. Before the tea Kimberly was making an appearance at Foyles for their second Creative Voices event so of course I jumped at the chance of attending the event to get the chance to see the other authors who would be there - Cat Clarke, James Dawson and Tanya Byrne.

Kimberly Derting, Cat Clarke, James Dawson & Tanya Byrne

Kirsty and I made our way to London early so we could meet up with Sammee for lunch, I can't tell you how much I love having time to catch up with my blogging buddies. One of the best things about blogging has been the awesome friends I've made! We were all understandably excited and a bit hyper so we made our way to Foyles early to make sure we got good seats. Before the event started we had a chance to chat with some of the other bloggers who were attending the event and some of the lovely publicists I've met over the last couple of years.

After an introduction from Neil it was time to hear from each of the authors.

Kimberly Derting

First up was Kimberly Derting who told us a bit about both of her latest releases The Last Echo which is the third book in her Body Finder series (you can read my review here) and the first book in her new dystopian fantasy series The Pledge (you can read my review here). I'm a massive fan of Kimberly's writing so if you haven't read any of her books I'd definitely recommend them! The Body Finder books are about a young girl called Violet who has the unusual ability to find dead bodies, each body has an echo - a taste, a smell, a colour or even a sound - that Violet can detect. The echo is also left as an imprint on the victim's murderer and Violet uses her ability to help the police hunt serial killers. In her new series Kimberly has created a unique dystopian world where the class system isn't just about how much money you have or the jobs your family do. The class you come from also controls the language you speak and it is forbidden to even look at someone from another class if they are speaking in their own language. Main character Charlie has the ability to understand all of the languages, even though she has never been taught them, but she has always been warned that it is vital to keep her power a secret. If anyone discovers what she can do it would be the death of her but where did this ability come from and what will it mean for her future?

Cat Clarke

Next up was Cat Clarke talking about her second novel Torn (read my review here) which was published in the UK earlier this year. I first met Cat back before she was a published author and couldn't have been more excited when her debut novel Entangled (read my review here) was published last year. Torn is a fantastic novel about a group of teenagers on a school activity holiday in the wilds of Scotland. When some of the students decide to get revenge on one of the popular kids who has made their lives a misery things go horribly wrong and they are left to face the consequences. Nothing will ever be the same again but they all deal with their guilt in very different ways. Torn was one of those books that really makes you think, the scariest thing was how realistic it felt and you could easily picture something like that happening in real life!

James Dawson

James Dawson's debut novel Hollow Pike (read my review here) was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012 so I was incredibly excited to get a chance to meet him! I'm telling you now he was one of the funniest authors I've ever met and I absolutely loved listening to his reading from the book. James decided to read out a scene where there is a fight between two of the main characters Laura and Kitty, this isn't just an argument - it's a proper bitch fight with hair pulling, scratching and even a tumble down the stairs - so it was a great scene to listen to, especially as James got really into it and even gave the characters different accents! Hollow Pike is a fantastic book that tackles the difficult subject of bullying and does it with honesty and realism. I wish there had been more books like it when I was a teenager who was being bullied horribly on a daily basis because it would have been nice to have felt less alone. I really can't recommend the story highly enough.

Tanya Byrne

Last but by no means least was debut author Tanya Byrne who was talking about her book Heart-Shaped Bruise. Now this was the only book mentioned that I haven't read yet but after listening to Tayna's reading I've definitely added it to my wish list! Heart-Shaped Bruise sounds like an emotional and heart breaking read and I'm looking forward to picking it up.

After all of the authors had spoken about their books and answered questions from the audience there was time for a book signing and we got to have a quick chat with them all. Here are a few more pictures I took at the event:

I'd like to say a massive thanks to Neil from Foyleswebsite to keep an eye out for future events.

After the Creative Voices event finished it was time for us to make our way to Drink Shop Do (visit their website here) for afternoon tea. Luckily we had Hannah & Lynsey from Headline to help us get there or I'm pretty sure I'd have ended up getting lost. It was a bit like being on a school trip as we all negotiated the underground trying to make sure that nobody was left behind! I have been to Drink Shop Do before and I have to say if you're ever in London & looking for somewhere a bit different to go then it's well worth a visit. The afternoon tea was fabulous but they also do all sorts of themed evenings that look like a lot of fun.

Nom nom nom!

We were well and truly spoilt with sandwiches, scones and sweets washed down with tea of course. Have you ever heard of cherry bakewell tea? I hadn't but it tasted delicious & was exactly like drinking a bakewell tart!!

Sammee, Kirsty, Kimberly Derting & me

It was wonderful to have a chance to chat with Kimberly and find out more about her plans for future books. She was very careful not to give us any spoilers though no matter how hard we begged her to lol. I was really shocked that Kimberly remembered writing a guest post for my blog way back in 2010 when she was promoting The Body Finder! She wrote a fab post about how her (male) cat ended up being given the name Princess Beachball and has been having a bit of an identity crisis ever since! You can read the post here if you're interested.

We had an absolutely fabulous time chatting about books, authors and life in general along with eating way too many sweets! I got a little bit addicted to the strawberry licorice straws lol. I'd like to say a massive thank you to Kimberly Derting for taking time out of her holiday to spend the afternoon with us all. I'd also like to say a massive thanks to Sam, Hannah & Lynsey from Headline and Chiara from Allison & Busby for organising the event and inviting me to go along.

Who Was There:

Cat Clarke - Website

James Dawson - Website

Kimberly Derting - Website

Tanya Byrne - Website

Neil - Foyles

Sam, Hannah & Lynsey - Headline

Chiara - Allison & Busby

Andy & Dan - The Pewter Wolf

Kirsty - The Overflowing Library

Leanne & Sue - District YA

Michelle - Book Club Forum

Sammee - I Want To Read That