Tea Talk | Holly Smale

I had planned to do a Tea Talk every Sunday, but seriously, when does my blog ever run to it's schedule? Last week was busy with Halloweek and then I ran out of time and camera battery (story of my life) so my Holly Smale post is here a few days late, but at least it's here!



I have admired Holly Smale for a long time now and I wanted to tie my post in with the release of her latest book - 'All Wrapped Up' comes out TOMORROW (5th November if you're reading this on any day but the 4th)..

Holly is a UKYA (UK Young Adult) author who's first novel 'Geek Girl' won the 2014 Waterstones Children's Book Prize. The 'Geek Girl' series now comprises of four books with two more to follow in the coming year or so and she is, in my opinion, the reigning queen of UKYA.

I think I discovered 'Geek Girl' and the three books that follow it - 'Model Misfit', 'Picture Perfect' and 'All That Glitters' at the end of 2014/beginning of 2015 and I remember instantly being completely blown away by how they are written. I can't really explain what it is about the way that Holly writes, but there's something in her tone and the way it flows so seamlessly that makes everything she writes so easy to read. I remember tweeting her the day I finished 'Geek Girl', I had to tell her how much I admired the characters she had created and the story she had spun and I stand by it still. If one day my writing is as flawless as Holly Smale's I'll call it a win.

Something that I think is so important in Holly's books is similar to what I mentioned in my last Tea Talk - she is part of the movement of writers changing the way female protagonists are written. Holly has created Harriet Manners - she's a serious geek, like knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear and that a human has 70,000 thoughts a day kind of a geek - but she's also strong willed and determined and not ashamed to be smart. That's not to say that there's no romance because there is a love story in each of the books, but it doesn't take centre stage and she doesn't lose all her dialogue and substance when a boy is involved and that's something I think is so important for young girls to be reading about. Harriet is a model, so by societies standards she should be perfect and have it all together, but she doesn't - she's clumsy and awkward and gets spots, but most importantly she's normal. It's Harriet's complete teenage normalness that resonated with me the most - she could have been anyone in any high school because underneath all the modelling and supreme intelligence she's just trying to navigate her way out of young adulthood.

'All Wrapped Up' is the first 'Geek Girl Special' and it comes out tomorrow ahead of the release of book number five 'Head Over Heels' which is set for release in February 2016 - both books see Harriet's story continue surrounded by the cast of outrageously brilliant characters that Holly has written into each book so far. My personal favourite is Toby - the wonderfully considerate stalker with a slightly unhealthy obsession with Harriet who has brought some really great comedy value over the four books so far!

I think there's a lot to be said for the way UKYA is evolving at the moment and I'm enjoying exploring some of the amazing women writing the books at the forefront of it all - Holly Smale is up there with J.K Rowling on writers who inspire me to keep writing and I can't wait to see what's next for her.

Also, as a side note, she's really funny on Twitter so once you've holed up and caught up on all of her writing you should check that out too!

Thanks for reading, I'll be back soon with another Tea Talk for you all.