My So-Called Haunting by Tamsyn Murray

Skye, a fourteen-year-old who can see ghosts, is very stressed. Not only is the ghost of a sixteenth-century witch giving her fashion tips, but she’s struggling to settle into life with her auntie, and is developing a crush on the most unattainable boy in the school, Nico.

When her aunt asks her for help with a troubled teen ghost called Dontay, she’s glad of the distraction. But then Nico starts paying her attention, and she’s soon facing a battle to keep her love life and her psychic life separate.

As things get ever more complicated, it looks as though Dontay’s past may cost Skye her future.

This was a bit of a departure for me – my usual fare is miles away from climbing inside the head of a 14 year old girl. But then, half the fun behind the blog is trying new things. And besides which, Liz raved about Tamsyn’s previous offering, My So-Called Afterlife, so I figured why not..?

MSCH hits the ground running, and the first few pages set up Skye’s quirky family and her how she’s come to be at a new school, with all the attendant stresses that are part & parcel of that kind of move. It quickly sets the stage without being obvious about it and makes MSCH both accessible and enjoyable whether you’ve read the previous book or not.

Skye’s day to day life quickly dispels any notions that being able to see and communicate with ghosts is cool. Besides the usual troubles that come with school and peer pressure, she has to balance her gift and avoid being labeled a nutjob, not an easy task when the dead demand your attention. But when Nico, the handsome, somewhat mysterious boy that every girl fancies, takes a liking to her, things start looking up.

But her gift doesn’t care about her personal life, and it’s not long before things go from great to complicated (at best).

As a helper at her aunt Celestine’s halfway house for troubled spirits, both living and dead, she gets drawn into the unfinished story of Dontay, a murdered teenager. As she starts putting the pieces together, it becomes clear that the repercussions of Dontay’s death have yet to run their course, while Nico’s mysterious nature also starts coming into focus, revealing far more than she ever dreamed -or feared. There’s a real sense of things spiralling out of control as her life and psychic gift collide in unexpected ways.

Amongst all of this she has to deal with the prudish, disapproving ghost of a sixteenth century witch, jealous love rivals, detention, and helping Jeremy avoid the obsessive attentions of a lonely suicide victim.

Tamsyn’s crammed a lot into MSCH, but handles it all with a light, fun touch and a pragmatic sensitivity that counteracts the darker themes it touches on. More than anything, it has that extra something that makes you want to read just one more page before you put it down.

I’m happy to admit that I enjoyed more than I was expecting to, and I’m definitely keen to get my hands on the next one..

Ps. More Nico please!

Stunt Bunny: Showbiz Sensation by Tamsyn Murray

Synopsis:

Once upon a time, there was the cutest fluffy bunny-wunny called Flopsy. She lived in a house with a little girl called Susie and her family. Flopsy spent every day staring out of her cage and nothing exciting ever happened to her. The End.

Awwww, now wasn’t that a lovely story? In fact, that’s probably how things did turn out for the other rabbits in Noah’s Ark Pet Shop the day the Wilson family came in to buy a bunny. But from the moment The Wilsons got their new pet home it be came clear that she was no ordinary rabbit. And she wasn’t putting up with a wimpy name like ‘Flopsy’, either. Harriet Houdini had hopped into their lives and things would never be boring again.

After winning the village pet show, Harriet is whisked into the world of show business and finds herself competing in a talent show. If she wins, she’ll be a national star but there are other pets with their eye on first place. Can Harriet compete with an opera singing Poodle? And who is the mysterious man who offers to buy her?

Stunt Bunny, Showbiz Sensation is one of the younger books I've received to review and you know, it was no hardship as we know Tamsyn from her excellent debut novel, My So-Called Afterlife. I knew Tamsyn could do humour for teens but could she do it for younger folk?

Yes, she can. Laugh out loud funny, Harriet Houdini is the kind of pet I would have loved to have had growing up. Creative, intelligent, daring and most of all brave and very clever, Harriet gets into all kinds of trouble in her new home. She constantly escapes and is renamed Harriet Houdini as Flopsy just did not suit.

Her star quality is apparent and soon a tv personality spots her at the pet show and things get a bit out of hand - of course! And further crazy giggling adventures ensue.

Harriet narrates the book. Its confidential and chummy tone and irreverent and tongue in cheek comments will thrill younger readers and amuse parents. Harriet's voice is true and mature, making Stunt Bunny a good read for confident readers and the humour will appeal and hold the attention of reluctant readers. I definitely think Harriet's adventures will appeal to boys too and as the chapters are short they are perfect for parents to sit down and read with the young folk.

I definitely need to mention the artwork. Dotted throughout the novel we have some wickedly funny bits of artwork from Lee Wildish, invariably depicting the chaos Harriet manages to effortlessly to leave in her wake.

Lee also illustrated the utterly cool trump bunny cards that Tamsyn created. I put my - obviously - two favourites below.

I love that Tamsyn has jumped onto the publishing scene and within a short span of time we're getting several books from her. Her writing is fresh and different, filled with humour but also well written. I am looking forward to the next Stunt Bunny. I love that it's entitled: Stunt Bunny: Tour Troubles, with special guests Spike-tacular!

Stunt Bunny: Showbiz Sensation is out now.

Stunt Bunny

Celebrating Tamsyn Murray's Book Launch for Stunt Bunny: Showbiz Sensation

Mark and I were so pleased to be invited to Tamsyn's newest book launch for Stunt Bunny: Showbiz Sensation held at the Women's Library in the City earlier this evening.

A whole load of people from Twitter were in attendance and some of us knew each other from previous events. Thank heavens! No awkward silent moment. *shifty eyes* But importantly, it was great to be able to share this lovely milestone with Tamsyn. As always, she was a very gracious hostess and made all her guests very welcome, laying on soft drinks and wine and a variety of really good nom snacks.

But enough of me blabbing, here are some photos. I even made sure to get Tamsyn's awesome shoes in.

Poor Tamsyn, I hadn't even said "hello" to her and I had her posing by her books!

Here are some of the books in question - that cover is just awesome and made of win.

Tamsyn delivering her thank you speech, looking demure and lovely and sweet. But we know better...

Harriet looks amazing on the cake. We sadly couldn't light the candles as it would have set the smoke alarms off.

Tamsyn signing some books for her adoring fans.

Tamsyn feeding the fans some Harriet Cake.

Some fans and friends hovering near the food tables.

Parting and final shot of the table with My So Called Afterlife and Stunt Bunny: Showbiz Sensation neatly on display.

We wish Tamsyn the best of luck with Stunt Bunny here at MFB. Humour books for younger folk is difficult to do, but from other reviews I've seen, I suspect that she's managed to pull it off. Our review will be up soon.

Simon & Schuster Children's Event

Mark and I headed off to S&S's offices to attend their Young Fiction evening: Make 'em Laugh.

It was chaired by the ever charming (and funny) Graham Marks. He chatted with Jo Nesbo (yes, I know, who would have thunk that Mr. Nesbo excelled at kids writing too, not just crime writing!) Waterstones prize winner Katie Davies (exceedingly pretty and very clever) and new friend to MFB, Tamsyn Murray (she who wrote My So-Called Afterlife but who has a series of books out for younger readers from S&S later this year called Stunt Bunny).

We got front row seats, cos we are greedy like that. I asked two SCBWI friends along - Sue Eves and Mo Oakley and made them sit in the front row too. They were shocked by this but soon enjoyed themselves as they had an unobstructed view of the proceedings.

Each author read a piece from their books and Jo Nesbo stole the show doing a reading from his Dr. Proctor's Fart Powder - the prose, combined with his fantastic Norwegian accent, won us all over and we were literally rocking with laughter.

Both Katie and Tamsyn read extracts from their novels and I know I'm a bit biased but I'm really looking forward to Tamsyn's Stunt Bunny books - they sound very clever, i.e. the use of language and the play on words came across as quite good, for confident readers. I also quite liked the fact that the story's been written from the bunny's point of view - but before anyone rolls their eyes: it works, trust me! And I'm not someone who is fond of talking animals.

The dialogue ranged widely from how humour is perceived in novels to points of view in the books; how the adults in the books are supporting characters only, leaving the younger folk the chance to experience it all for themselves. I started writing down various answers but then got caught up in the conversation and uh, I didn't write down the rest! But, trust me: it was very interesting listening to these peeps chat about their work etc.

Some photos from the event:

Panel and moderator being introduced.

Authors chatting before getting down to business.

Tamsyn Murray showing off her Pepper Potts good looks.

Below: Jo Nesbo reading from his children's novel to great amusement from the audience.

Graham Marks did a wonderful job of putting everyone at ease during the talk. As moderator he asked questions of the panel and it was intelligent thorough questions about their books, their writing, and of course, the importance of comedy in novels.

The authors handled themselves truly well. I think everyone was a bit in awe of Mr. Nesbo who is terrifically charismatic and of course, amusing. But I think both Tamsyn and Katie definitely gave as good as they got and although nerves were apparent, especially with Katie Davies, you could tell all three authors were very passionate about their writing and had strong feelings about comedy being written into novels, but not used as gags.

Questions from the audience at the end of the evening was short and soon everyone mingled over drinks and various nibbles. It was a fun and relaxed evening, more like hanging out with some friends, to be honest. This is the way to do it.

Thanks S&S peeps for inviting us bloggery types along. It was a lovely evening and it was good being able to meet these authors and hear from them about what makes them and their books tick.

My So-Called Afterlife by Tamsyn Murray

Synopsis:

Lucy Shaw is a ghost with problems. First, she’s stuck haunting the men’s toilets on Carnaby Street, not the best place to spend eternity. Second, no-one can see or hear her. And third, the man who killed her last New Year’s Eve is still on the loose. Is it any wonder her mood is blacker than a tramp’s fingernails?

So when a lighting engineer called Jeremy walks into the toilet and asks her what she’s doing there she’s not exactly Miss Congeniality. But given that he’s the only person who can see her, she decides to overlook the fact that he’s drippier than a toddler’s nose and accepts his offer of help. Before she knows it, she’s out of the toilet and meeting other ghosts, including the emotionally unstable Hep and the lip-smackingly gorgeous Ryan.

Together, they track down Lucy’s killer, encountering meerkats, exorcists, and the world’s stroppiest tattoo artist along the way. Will their efforts to catch Lucy’s murderer succeed? What happens if they do? And just how do you go about snogging the boy of your dreams when you don’t actually have lips anymore?

Argh! Tamsyn Murray is the biggest pain in the world. My So-Called Afterlife is annoyingly good. She makes writing look so effortless. It's when you're on a train and you've reached your final destination and you're still sitting there, five minutes on, reading, until your co-passenger gently nudges you with a "Do you think we should get off now?" that you realise you've been hooked.

I wasn't sure what to expect from My So-Called Afterlife, I have to admit. I wasn't sure if it was going to go the melodramatic and heartwrenching way or if it was going to go over the top and utterly silly in a Derek Acorah kind of way. I was in for a big surprise and one I should have seen coming. It didn't go either of these two ways. It went a different way. It went the Tamsyn and Lucy way.

Ms. Murray's managed to write a humourous, pithy novel from point of view of a murdered girl, who for some reason, has not moved on, and haunts the Carnaby Street men's toilets in London. It's not The Lovely Bones at all - it's better because there is resolution, soaring moments, action, angry ghosts, weepy moments, kissing moments, jokey moments, friendship moments and feelgood moments. It works on many levels and it's cheering and heartwarming and lovely.

Lucy's a cool mouthy girl with an amazing sense of humour and with a strong sense of who she is in a world that's gone off kilter. It's not like she expected to be murdered in a public toilet! She's been trying to talk to people for months but no one sees her, until Jeremy walks in off the street and he actually sees her. Their first meeting is a treat to read - I rocked with laughter because it is written to feel very real.

The story focusses on Lucy but her supporting cast is strong. Jeremy turns out to be a genuinely decent guy who takes it upon himself to try and figure out what's preventing Lucy from moving along. He seems taken aback with his own ability to see Lucy the ghost but you know, he deals with it pretty smartish and without much hassle. When Lucy tells him her story he starts poking around and investigating her murder himself.

Through Jeremy she meets Hep, a suicide, who has anger issues. Hep's not moved on either and it's through Hep that we experience the wilder emotions that Lucy no doubt feels to a certain extent but never acts on. Hep's story is particularly poignant and I cried like a little girl as I read it through. Hep teaches Lucy how solidify enough in order to move objects or have some kind of impact on them, and soon the two of them become friends. Lucy's final member in her supporting cast is the vastly sweet Ryan who passed away in a car-wreck but it left his father in a coma. Ryan's gift is unique and as him and Lucy start spending time together it's apparent that they are meant to be together.

Deeply moving and beautiful and funny and quirky, My So-Called Afterlife is a must read. It's being marketed as a teen read from Piccadilly Press and to be honest, if you're an adult and you enjoy books with a touch of supernatural to them, you'll thoroughly enjoy MSCA.

My So Called Afterlife by Tamsyn Murray is released today - 25th Feb - and should be available online and at all good book stores! Find Tamsyn's website here and this is her blog. Stay tuned for an upcoming interview and competition with the lovely Ms. Murray.