On Wednesday, my friend Tema and I attended the panel & signing at Waterstones Islington where Holly Bourne was interviewing Jennifer Niven about her YA career so far. I was super excited to see two fantastic and groundbreaking authors speak about topics from mental health to grief to them both being Ravenclaws.

*Both authors were actually there, I promise – they’re not invisible in the picture above…

I had won an ARC of Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven at YALC earlier this year. And it’s a book I really did not expect to adore as much as I did. Because I didn’t fall hard for her first YA ‘All The Bright Places’ like everyone and their mother in the YA community seemed to. I did enjoy it for discussing mental health issues and the ending did really pull on my heartstrings. But it was just a bit too cheesy at times for my liking. However, I thought Holding Up The Universe was beautiful with wonderful characters (particularly, Libby) and an important message. If you want to know more of my thoughts you can read my review here.

Jennifer was also very open about the inspiration behind her books. She discussed how she had suffered a lot of loss and grief throughout her life – which is why it’s such a present theme in her books. On a lighter note she also professed her love for the TV show Supernatural as well as her love for readers. What was really cool that as she was signing our books – she also asked us to sign her copy of Holding Up The Universe! We also got some free swag including badges, bookmarks, a poster and temporary tattoos. And she gave us teasers about the All The Bright Places film and her upcoming 3rd YA!

I should also note that Holly was a fantastic interviewer too! I have seen her on many panels where she’s been interviewed so it was nice to see the role change. I hope I get to see her interview more people in the future!

It was really great to go to an event and support my local Waterstones! Hopefully I can go to more events there soon!

Thanks for reading & check out Jennifer and Holly’s books!

Until next time,

Hayley.