Random House Summer Blogger Brunch

This Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to a Bloggers' Brunch at Random House for upcoming titles being published by their children's department. This is the second event of this kind that I've attended and this one was just as much fun!

The first thing that happened as we were greeted with tea/coffee/cake was that we were invited to be in a book trailer for Lauren Kate's new novel Teardrop. We were asked to write down on a big sheet of card the last time we cried and use the hash tag teardrop in the corner of the board. We then had our pictures taken individually as well as altogether. People wrote various different things on their cards so there was plenty of variety. This is now going to be edited together and set to some moody music and used the book trailer for Lauren's fabulous new novel Teardrop which is released on 24th October.

We received a fabulously shiny proof copy of this novel in our goody bags, here's what it's all about:

Never, ever cry. . . . Eureka Boudreaux's mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn't, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before.

But Ander doesn't know Eureka's darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance—a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one understands. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea. Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth . . . and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined. From Lauren Kate comes an epic saga of heart-stopping romance, devastating secrets, and dark magic . . . a world where everything you love can be washed away.

We also received a copy of Carmen Reid's new novel Cross My Heart-a gripping story of espionage and war-time resistance out on 1st August.

Brussels, 1940. Fifteen-year-old Nicole watches as the Nazis invade Belgium. Determined not to stand by as her country is brought to its knees, Nicole vows to fight back and joins the Belgian Resistance. Under her new alias - Coco - Nicole embarks on a dangerous new life as a spy, where the only question is not if you'll be caught, but when...

I'm really looking forward to reading this one because I love her adult novels, he voice is just fabulous and very easy to read. Another novel that we received in our wonderful goody bags, however, was the new novel by Beth Reekles. Now this left me breathless with excitement because I loved the kissing booth. My review of that fabulous debut novel but such a young writer still has the most hits out of any other posts and the blog and I share that excitement with those readers. I will be starting this one as soon as I possibly can, even though it isn't published until 29th August... Here's what it's all about:

They say that the higher you climb, the harder you fall - and Madison Clarke will do anything to keep her new life from crumbling to pieces. Moving from a small town in Maine to Florida, Madison grasps the opportunity to reinvent herself, to forget about those days of being a lonely, loser outcast, and jumps at the chance when the popular kids decide to take her under their wing. A hot boyfriend, parties, friends... If only there wasn't the slight problem by the name of Dwight, a cute, funny and totally nerdy guy in Madison's physics class who she can't help but enjoy spending time with. Running from her past and stumbling through the present, who knows what lies ahead in this new life in Florida?

Beth was supposed to join us for the brunch but she was unwell so her publicist told us all about this new novel and the sensation that she really is!

We were also told about other upcoming novels. These included Hurt by Tabitha Suzuma published on 5th September-a thrilling emotional novel about a promising racing driver who's life changes one fateful weekend. Stay Where You Are and Then Leave from the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne published on 26th September and set during the First World War. The Ransom of Dond by Siobhan Dowd-a wonderfully haunting story about Darra who as the 13th child to be born to her mother is destined to be sacrificed to Dond, the dark god of the underworld-published on 7th November. Time After Time by Tamar Ireland Stone published on 24th October and finally The Future King, The Walking World by Tom Huddleston published on 3rd October.

I am very excited to read all of the books we received at the brunch and would like to thank random house for putting in this fabulous event yet again in order to introduce us to all the wonderful books coming out this summer and autumn!