Best books of 2015

So many books, so little time. Luckily, I did have time to read these 12 brilliant books, my favourites of the year...

Book review: Asking for It by Louise O'Neill

I've never actually been the recipient of a real punch to the gut, but how I felt when I finished reading Louise O'Neill's Asking For It is how I imagine being whacked really hard in the stomach feels - you're left momentarily breathless, shocked, unable to process for a minute, and then the hurt piles in.

Beautiful, confident, 18 years old, Emma O'Donovan's life changes one night when she goes to a party. Waking up the next morning in front of her house, she doesn't remember what happened or how she got there. Her first clue is when she turns up at school to find herself mocked and shunned, and the reasons why become clear when Emma discovers a Facebook page which show photos of her with some of her small town's most popular boys. Emma's memory, her friends, her family - all want to believe their own story, and what happened that night is only the start of Emma's nightmare.

In Emma O'Neill has created a character who isn't particularly likeable, but who I always felt for, and whose side I was always on, unhesitatingly. Emma is kind of selfish, she uses her beauty to her gain, she takes advantage of friends, she steals, and she gives extremely bad advice, so bad that it actually means someone gets away with a crime and one of her friends is hurt physically and emotionally. Yet Emma is unflinchingly real, a typical 18-year-old who thinks the world is hers for the taking, and who believes she's destined for bigger and better things, and who acts as she does to fit a stereotype placed on her not just by her friends and the boys she knows, but also by her parents and her brother. 

The YA Book Prize: mini reviews

 
Young adult fiction has exploded over the last few years. And not just in the US, where the attention so often seems to be, but also in the UK. So it's only right that there be a prize for the UK's best YA fiction. There are 10 books (11 authors) on the inaugural YA Book Prize shortlist, and I've had fun reading them all (although there were also some tears too). So without further ado, here is what I think of the books competing for the first ever YA Book Prize (in alphabetical order by surname of author).

Disclaimer: I work for the company behind the YA Book Prize, but am in no way involved in the judging process.