Sarra Manning's Blog, page 5

Hey!

Do you remember back when I used to write YA? It was over two years ago and then I took a break because I was writing grown-up books and YA was all dystopias and vampires and no one wanted to read about stroppy girls and the snarky boys they had crushes on. Dark times, man, dark times.

But I am back with my teenage head on and a fantastic new publisher for my YA books, Atom, and I am thrilled to show you the cover of my new novel, Adorkable.

Do you want to know what it's about? Of course you do! This is the back cover copy:



Welcome to the dorkside. It's going to be a bumpy ride. . .

Jeane Smith's a blogger, a dreamer, a dare-to-dreamer, jumble sale queen, CEO of her own lifestyle brand and has half a million followers on twitter.

Michael Lee's star of school, stage and playing field. A golden boy in a Jack Wills hoodie.

They have nothing in common but a pair of cheating exes. So why the hell can't they stop snogging?

Basically it's like that line from Romeo And Juliet, "my only love sprang from my only hate" but with Haribo and Twitter and smashing patriarchy and orange tights and adventures in DIY hair dye and sea foam taffeta dresses and I can't wait for you to read it.

Adorkableis out on May 24th and available to pre-order now.

Between now and publication, there will be lots of Adorkable stuff going on. Jeane has a lot to say and will be saying it on her Twitter and on her blog. I'll post links nearer the time and I'll also be tweeting lines from Adorkable on my own Twitter too. I'll keep you posted as to where and when things will be happening, including competitions, promotions and events.

It's all very exciting. I love writing grown-up books but there is a large corner of my heart that will always be YA, though in my day we just called it teen fic. *nan face*

I'd also like to point out that I came up with the idea for Adorkable long before Tavi Gevinson (who I actually love like I love puppies and cake) went through her grey hair phase or they used the word 'adorkable' in the marketing for New Girl. I just wanted us all to be clear about that.

OK? OK! I think that's everything.

Live on

Sarra x

Hey, Hi, how you doing?

I hope you are enjoying Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend. I think if you've ever been through the torturous process of breaking up with someone you love, even when they've done you wrong (or especially when they've done you wrong,) then it will resonate.

I definitely think I need to write a much longer blog piece about why I wrote the book and what I wanted to achieve, but that's for another day. I also have a killer recipe for some really gooey and decadent Broken-Hearted Brownies. What I will leave you with is my definitive nine uses for an ex-boyfriend:

Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend

1. Target practice

2. Changer of lightbulbs, mender of plugs and on call handyman for all other household repairs.

3. Shoulder to cry on, even though he's the one responsible for 95% of your tears.

4. Bedroom buddy when you're having a dry spell that would put the Sahara Desert to shame.

5. The reason why you'll never trust a man again.

6. Something to bore all your friends about as you describe yet again all the ways he did you wrong.

7. A best friend, though generally most of your friends don't break your heart into itty bitty little pieces.

8. The person you call at 3am, because there's a spider in the bathroom.

9. Well, you wouldn't call him an ex-boyfriend because technically you haven't broken up. OK, you're going through stuff, but true love always triumphs in the end. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Yeah, you might be on a break but it's not over. No sir. Not at all…

Oh, and I have a piece about the film Young Adult and about writing Young Adult fiction in Sunday Times Style this Sunday. Hope you enjoy it!

And if you did enjoy Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend and felt moved to review it on Amazon or GoodReads, that would be neat.

Live on

Sarra x

Morning!

Yes, it's true. My new grown-up book Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend is now on sale at all good bookshops, all good supermarkets.

Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend is also available as an ebook too!

Moshi moshi, my darlings

As you may know 9 Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend is out on Thursday, but would you liked to read a really hefty excerpt now? You would? OK, just click right here.

I really, really, really hope you like this book. I think anyone who's ever been dumped (which is pretty much all of us) can relate to my heroine, Hope and that you will love her as much as you loved Grace and Neve.

You can pre-order the print version of Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend.

And you can also pre-order the e-book Kindle version of Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend too.

Let me know what you think of it. Be gentle.

Live on

Sarra x

She has red hair and a temper to match, as her mother is constantly reminding her. She can't wear heels, is terrified of heights and being a primary school teacher isn't exactly the job she dreamed of doing, especially when her class are stuck on the two times table.

At least Hope has Jack, and Jack is the God of boyfriends. He's sweet, kind, funny, has a killer smile, a cool job on a fashion magazine and he's pretty (but in a manly way). Hope knew that Jack was The One ever since their first kiss after the Youth Club Disco and thirteen years later, they're still totally in love. Totally. They're even officially pre-engaged. And then Hope catches Jack kissing her best friend Susie…

Does true love forgive and forget? Or does it get mad… and get even?

Hola! Holler!

Happy New Year to you!

Just a quickie to say that if you already follow me on Twitter, you will know that I'm tweeting a line from Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend every day until it's released on February 2nd.

Just thought you'd like to know that!

Live on

Sarra x

Happy Holidays, lovely readers!

Taking time out from my busy schedule of eating, quaffing, watching TV and more eating to post a teensy excerpt from Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend I have had quite a lot of sparkly pop so I hope this works!

And I hope you're all having the best of times. That you're well-fed, well-loved and well-happy, innit.

Live on

Sarra x

NINE USES FOR AN EX-BOYFRIEND – EXCERPT

It was obvious it wasn't the first time that Hope's boyfriend and her best friend had kissed. It also looked, to the casual observer, as if they usually did more than kiss when they weren't on a clock or running the risk of being discovered.

Hope could hear the wet clash of their mouths and Jack's groans as Susie stroked him, and she didn't know why she was simply standing there when she should have been charging out of the back door and shrieking something along the lines of, "What the hell are you two doing? You utter, utter bastards!"

Jack and Susie were illuminated beautifully in the glare of the light sensor that Jack's Dad had fitted on the outside wall to scare off the foxes that kept scavenging through their bins and Hope had a perfect view of Jack's hand threaded in Susie's glossy black hair so her beautiful face was upturned, his other hand making strange, contorted shapes under her silk Catherine Malandrino camisole. If she squinted extra hard she was sure she could even see the tangle of tongues as they kissed as if they were starring in their own porn film.

Jack never kisses me like that anymore, Hope thought to herself as she stood on the steps that led from their tiny kitchen to their tiny back garden. Hasn't done for ages and ages. Not since they'd been teenagers snogging furiously in the no man's land between their respective houses, ten minutes after Hope's curfew had ended. But Hope would never have shoved her hands down the front of Jack's jeans in those days, as Susie was doing now, and if Jack had tried to touch her breasts under the clothes, Hope would have screamed loud enough to wake her parents, if her parents had actually been asleep instead of staying awake until their only daughter was safely tucked up in her single bed.

And still Hope stood there as if her feet had taken root, hands lifted to her mouth to mute any noise she might make. The scent of garlic clinging to her fingers made her stomach heave and oh God… Her childhood sweetheart, the boy she'd been with for half her lifetime, her one true love, the man she was meant to be with forever and ever and ever, amen, was passionately and furiously kissing her best friend.

How could they?

My lovely grown-up publishers, Transworld, put together this little Yuletide video including some of their most famous authors. And me.

The 12 Days Of Christmas

Be really, really glad that I didn't sing…

Live on,

Sarra x

Greetings one and all

Today I have stomped up and down Regent Street and Oxford Street and wished that my elbows and the power of my tut were deadly weapons. I've also spent over an hour on the interwebz, but lo, it is done! I have bought all my holiday presents (I don't technically celebrate Christmas,) plus some birthday presents and also some 'thank you for letting my stay in your lovely apartment' presents. In short, today I have been a gift-buying ninja. Don't just take my word for it. Even my fifteen year old niece reckons that I "buy the coolest presents" and as she's fifteen and a girl, she's notoriously difficult to please.

I am going to share my gift of getting gifts with you. Because I am all heart and also I'm fed up with reading gift guides that are full of lovely things with very unlovely price tags. So, are you ready? Credit card poised? Mouse finger set to click? Let's take it from the top.

For your own stroppy teenage girl

My So Called Life Box Set

Many TV shows have tried to capture the unique awkwardness of being a teenage girl but only My So-Called Life truly succeeded. Starring a heart-breakingly gamine Claire Danes as Angela Chase, no other series has highlighted the ups and and downs of best friends, impossible crushes and hating your mum as painfully and poignantly as My So-Called Life. Wanting to be Angela Chase and sighing over Jared Leto in a flannel shirt ("I love how he leans") are as much a teen rite of passage as starting your periods, breaking your curfew and getting drunk of Barcardi Breezers at your first grown-up party and hurling all over the stairs. (Maybe that last one was just me.)

This Is What A Feminist Looks Like t-shirt

Maybe the stroppy teenage girl in her life doesn't even think that she is a feminist, but it would be far more useful for her to channel her rage and stroppiness into fighting a worthy cause. What better cause is there then ensuring equal rights for women? Instead of feeling as if she has to conform to the quite horrific expectations placed on teenage girls by the media and their peers to look sexy without being sexual, this t-shirt is a way for her to stick two fingers up at patriarchy and the unfair demands it places on us and tell it to do one.

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

Which leads us nicely to this book, which will explain feminism far more cleverly and humorously than I ever could. I will not rest until this book is given to every girl (and actually every boy because they need to know this stuff and respect our mighty vagina power) on her fourteenth birthday.

Scarlett & Crimson My Beauty Collective (from Boots, £18)

If I hadn't spent a small fortune on my niece already, I'd totes be getting her this well-stocked beauty kit. Plus, it comes in a cool case that doesn't want to make you gag from excessive girliness.

For your artboy, design boy, cool boy – these are the only boys I know*

PANTONE Notes

All artboys love their Pantone swatch books, which contain just about every single colour known to man, woman and computer. If you borrow their swatch book without asking they will totes pitch a fit. So why not get them this set of Pantone notecards and envelopes so they can write you a proper apology for pitching said fit?

Just My Type – a book about fonts by Simon Garfield

I've bought this book for every artboy and artgirl I know. Now you might think that a book about different fonts would be hella boring, but you would actually be very wrong. This book is proper funny and interesting with lots of facts you could use to your advantage if you went on QI. Down with Comic Sans, I say! Cause I got a bad case of Geneva fever!

USB Mixtape

Very few of you will remember the days before even CDs when we made mixtapes for each other, complete with the static and hiss from a slightly scratched vinyl record and a charmingly inept, badly designed tracklist on the tape cover. The USB mixtape comes in a cassette case but is actually a USB flashdrive that you put your lovingly collated collection of songs on. It's charming. It's adorable and I actually nicked the idea from the lovely Liberty London Girl who has a lot of equally wonderful gift ideas on her website right now.

One of the most amazing t-shirts in the world, ever, ever, ever

I found this site ages ago and though I've linked to an 80′s t-shirt, who wouldn't want a t-shirt that said, "Hey, Let's make a John Hughes movie together?" Only someone who didn't have a soul, that's who.

Gifts for proper grown-up ladies

Tomato and blackcurrant scented candle

I love a fig scented candle as much, if not more, than the next woman, but there are so many inferior fig-scented candles out there so I was thrilled to discover this tomato and blackcurrant scented candle in Sally Bourne Interiors. It smells really unusual; the sweetness of the blackcurrant mixes wonderfully with the earthiness of the tomato and it's not at all cloying or artificial like some scented candles. I keep buying them for myself and then giving them away to other people.

The Diary Of A Provincial Lady by E.M.Delafield

The Diary Of A Provincial Lady is my go-to-read when I'm feeling a bit down. Written in the 1930′s, it's an account of the hapless Provincial Lady's domestic travails, whether it's having to find a new housemaid or a new hat or dealing with the vile "Lady B. who comes down wearing silver lace frock that nearly touches the floor all round, and has new waist-line. This may or not be becoming, but has effect of making everybody else's frock look out-of-date." This book couldn't fail to delight if given as a gift.

Paul A Young Sea Salted Caramel Bar

After extensive personal research, I can safely say that this is the best salted caramel that money can buy. It was a dirty job but someone had to do it.

SEW U: The Built by Wendy Guide To Making Your Own Wardrobe

What with us being in the grip of a horrible recession and also with the on trend return to crafts, this brilliant book shows you how to repurpose some of the tired, fashion backwards stuff hanging in the back of your wardrobe into the perfect dress, skirt or trousers. If, like me, you can barely thread a needle, it also guides you into how to work with a tailor to transform your dull duds into glorious garments.

Other gorgeous gifts for the people in your life

Donations

This is also traditionally a time to give something back, if you can afford it. I'm sure everyone has their favourite charities, but causes particularly dear to my heart are Macmillan Cancer Support, The National Literacy Trust which has a scheme where you can buy a Christmas present of books for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and All Dogs Matter my local dog shelter which is overwhelmed at the moment with the number of dogs being abandoned.

Real Food by Nigel Slater

I think cookery books are a great gift idea for someone you don't know that well or for an emergency spare present when you get an unexpected gift. Nigel Slater's books are the most besplattered in my kitchen. They're full of great, non-poncy ideas but also a handy reference if I need to check exactly how long a joint of lamb needs roasting!

Chocolate of the month club

Cheese of the month club

Everyone has something that they just love to eat, so how about sending some of their favourite foodstuffs every month? It's the gift that keeps on giving, adding delight and inches to their hips every four weeks!

DIY! Make a purse from a book!

I would love an Olympia Le Tan book clutch, I really, really would but they are far too spendy for my budget. Still, I love the idea of making my own one with a book that holds a particular fondness for me. And there is something particularly lovely about a home-made gift.

Time To Drink Champagne art print

This gorgeous art print sums up the festive season for me. Hell, it sums up my life philosophy!

Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend by Sarra Manning

Finally, I am a great believer in buying a few small things for myself as I'm shopping for other people. My Crimbo Amazon order is testament to that! So, why not pre-order my next book, Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend and when it arrives early February it will be a lovely surprise just when you really need it as all the festive stuff is over and Spring seems like it will never get here. Am I right?

So, there you have it. Hope I haven't screwed up any of the links and that this little guide is helpful and inspiring.

Live on,

Sarra x

Hey!

See that image above these words? That's the cover to my new grown-up novel, Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend, and I'm thrilled that I get to show it to my blog peeps before anyone else. You also get first look at the synopsis:

Hope Delafield hasn't always had an easy life.

She has red hair and a temper to match, as her mother is constantly reminding her. She can't wear heels, is terrified of heights and being a primary school teacher isn't exactly the job she dreamed of doing, especially when her class are stuck on the two times table.

At least Hope has Jack, and Jack is the God of boyfriends. He's sweet, kind, funny, has a killer smile, a cool job on a fashion magazine and he's pretty (but in a manly way). Hope knew that Jack was The One ever since their first kiss after the Youth Club Disco and thirteen years later, they're still totally in love. Totally. They're even officially pre-engaged. And then Hope catches Jack kissing her best friend Susie…

Does true love forgive and forget? Or does it get mad… and get even?

It's published by Corgi, on February 2nd. Pre-order Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend

I know I have been pitifully inadequate when it comes to updating this blog (such is the burden of writing two novels a year) but I will be posting more as my publication date grows near, including extracts and competitions.

As always, if you want a more regular dose of Manning, you can follow me on Twitter

Live on

Sarra x