Tonight I attended the book event of my childhood dreams!
When I was younger I used to love Jacqueline Wilson books, in fact it was Lola Rose that ignited my passion for reading when I was just 11-years-old, this then lead me to binge-reading The Girls series.
Then, last year, Jacqueline released a novel called ‘Baby Love’, which was aimed at a slightly older target audience. I was so excited, I could not wait to get my hands on a copy! Once my copy arrived, I finished it in just two sittings.
When the news came around that Jacqueline would be releasing a follow-up novel to The Girls series (of which the last book was published in 2002), I could not contain my excitement. To be able to read a sequel to the much loved books from my childhood is such a heartwarming feeling. I am looking forward to seeing how the girls have grown-up and where their lives have taken them 22-years on.
Hearing Jacqueline talk about ‘Think Again’ and how much love, care and thought has gone into writing about the beloved ‘girls’ characters, really melted my heart. I am even more excited to read about their adulthood. Jacqueline also touched on a topic which hits quite close to home at the minute and it was enlightening to hear her thoughts and opinions on something that I am currently facing.
Jacqueline not only talked about her first Adult book, but also a little about herself, her career and her huge love of reading. She once had 20,000 books in her home library! Jacqueline shared with us some of her favourite authors: David Nichols and Anne Tyler being amongst her most praised (so of course I added some of their books to my TBR!)
Overall it was such a heartwarming evening and there was so much love in that room, radiating towards Jacqueline. It was an absolute honour to have been a part of it. I will leave you with some of my favourite quotes from the evening:
- What I love most about reading is that you will never run out of books to read and that is just wonderful.
- My favourite accomplishment… there are many in my personal life, but none greater than giving birth to my daughter. In my career however, it is not seeing my books hit book charts, though that is wonderful! It is not, the multitude of awards that I have been presented… it is when I go into schools, and a child tells me how they used to hate reading, until they came across my books and now they love to read. That to me is my greatest achievement, opening someone up to the worlds that books can hold.
Jacqueline also hinted towards future adult books following the lives of the grown up characters of her much beloved children’s books! Though she was not allowed to say which ones…
