Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. I’ve run out of words to use that mean “crying”, and we’re not even at the Cube yet. I’m going to have to thesaurus.com the word. By the end of this, I’m going to be bewailing and lamenting just so I don’t bore you with the word cry. I think this book is a very important contemporary novel, but I cannot say I enjoyed reading it. I think I need to say straight off the bat, that the synopsis of this book is quite vague and it makes it sound essentially just like a break up story; but I must say that in my opinion this novel is a very tragic story of a rape and abuse victim coping with PTSD. Let’s start with the easy stuff. This book is about a teenage girl called Amelie who adores music and vintage cardigans. She has just ended a relationship with a guy called Reese (who is literally the devil but more on that later) and she is completely and utterly broken by it. I really enjoyed that the narrative was told in dual timelines - and I liked that we learnt what happened during the relationship and how it began at the same time as knowing what Amelie was currently going through. Holly Bourne definitely knew how to weave the timelines together so it flowed naturally and didn’t take me out of the story. It was also told in second person, with Amelie speaking directly to Reese, which I thought was a nice and unique touch. The Places I’ve Cried in Public tells the story of Amelie’s less than perfect relationship with Reese, her smooth-talking inconsistent boyfriend who builds her up and then deconstructs her into a thousand pieces leaving her feeling needy, desperate and odd.

The Places I've Cried nos muestra el desarrollo y las consecuencias de una relación abusiva, con cruda honestidad. Amelie, la protagonista, está decida a entender que fue lo que salió mal, a entender su dolor para poder superarlo. Para ello decide armar un mapa de recuerdos y recorrer cada punto donde Reese la haya hecho llorar. Es una historia difícil, donde la intensidad va en crescendo, con alta carga emocional y, me atrevo a decir, no para todo público. This delicate novel explores a concept that is rarely touched upon in YA books and it's done in such an exceptional way. The book is told through two different timelines, a before and after if you will, and I believe it was the right choice to tell this story in the best way possible. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... The Places I’ve Cried in Public isn’t a love story, but it’s a book that talks about love, for sure. What you might mistake for love, but isn’t, the all consuming feelings of getting slowly trapped into a relationship and, before it’s too late, before you can or are really managing to listen to your gut, you’re in too deep. I loved the discussions on that, I loved how it opens up an important, important conversation about abuse in relationships, sometimes one that might not seem like it, at first, either.Amelie is just starting to make friends when the whirlwind that is Reese enters her life. Alfie appears to be distancing himself from her, and Reese says and does all the right things. He makes her feel intoxicated, not like the steady love she had before. She ignores the warnings of her new friends, and jumps in head first into a new relationship.

There is more to the story. A LOT more. But I'm not going to say more than this so as not to spoil but read this. please read this. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and it was extremely difficult in some places to read what Amelie had to go through. This book really does make you think about certain things when it comes to love. Amelie and Reese are in a relationship and it appears to be the "All Consuming" type of love. There's some very and not so subtle nods to what is happening and the more I read the more I just knew what was going to happen (well part of it) and my heart well and truly broke. Amelie’s journey, ‘the dots on the map where you made me cry’, is self-destructive at points as she believes that she is ‘sure it’s all my fault somehow’ and if ‘only I’d done things differently’ and ‘been…less me, then I wouldn’t have driven you away’. This confusion and misconstrued belief that Amelie is somehow at fault for the destructive relationship, is so powerful, sad and infuriating that as a reader, you want to reach into the book and help her to see that it is not her, but Reese and no one should ever be ‘…less me’.There are lots of places where it can easily be tempting to have a good blub in public, but not all of us will give in to the urge, let alone talk about it afterwards. Every time I start another Holly Bourne book, I’m scared. I think, “Is this the time? Is this the book where Bourne lets me down, and I have to be disappointed??” And the answer is always no, as it is with The Places I’ve Cried in Public. I read this mostly in private, but otherwise there would have been some public tears, let me tell you. I swelled under the compliment and he looked at me with such wonder that I found myself believing him. Maybe I do have a way with words. Maybe I am wise for my years... There's nothing more intoxicating than seeing your best self through the lens of someone's adoring eyes. Who are you going to trust? The calm boy whose voice doesn't wobble, who can explain reasonably and using examples, why everything is fine-- or the crying girl saying she can feel something is wrong?

David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. Amelie, however, is an exception. She’s wept in Clapham Junction waiting room, the music classroom, the bench on top of the common and plenty more places besides. And what has been the reason for her tears? The scenes in the book with the therapist are moving and informative, as this is where the reader gets an insight about how trauma bonds work and why the love of those who abuse is so addictive. Through Amelie's journey, we discover that she isn't just emotionally abused, she is also physically abused but the author doesn't focus on the physical. Instead, she raises the signs of the emotional abuse as this is often harder to notice and can in some circumstances have an even worst effect.lastly, i just need to mention the writing. if i'll ever write a book i want to be able to write like that, so effortlessly, seamlessly, intimately and beautifully. Second, the parents are great, as usual. This is something I don’t want to go unremarked about Bourne’s novels—so many YA novels neglect parents, or use them as casual antagonists. And sure, not everyone has great parents (or even a pair of parents), and those stories are valid. But I love that Bourne often portrays protagonists whose parents are as loving and supportive as they know how to be and yet the protagonist still struggles. She has a clever author voice and is able to speak to teenagers in their language, creating credible characters with whom young people can genuinely identify. Trigger warnings in this book for discussion and depictions of emotional and sexual abuse by a boyfriend.