About the Book:
Noah has a really tight group of friends, but he’s feeling stuck. Why are he and his mates never invited to parties? Will he ever be able to tell popular Saskia how he feels about her?
As Noah’s seventeenth birthday draws closer, he plucks up the courage to speak to Saskia and invites her to his party. Only problem is, he’s not allowed one. But then one weekend, his parents go away . . .
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
Ben Tomlinson lives in London, and has loved writing stories from a very early age. He is a graduate of Sussex University and the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. He worked for many years as a theatre facilitator, leading workshops and directing youth theatres with young people of all ages. When he is not reading and writing he loves watching football, street-dancing, people-watching and exploring London.
Interview:
Pitch your book in 10 words!
A teens’ secret party to impress a girl erupts into mayhem.
Noah is a committed player of a tabletop RPG. He suddenly decides this is cringe because Saskia – a cool girl – couldn’t possibly want to date a “no life”, TTRPG-playing guy like him. Why did you want to centre a narrative like Noah’s?
I wanted to explore teen social anxiety – not feeling cool, feeling excluded from the cool kids, wanting to be part of that – but in Noah’s case, underneath that, what I really wanted to explore was his lack of self worth and low self esteem. He is incredibly hard on himself. Deep down he feels unloveable, and by extension the rest of his life is too.
Noah can’t articulate to himself at the beginning – it’s only when Saskia points this out to him that he does, and she reveals herself to be more than just a “shallow cool kid”. In fact, she recognises him – and in the same way he recognises her talent. In this way the story breaks down the geek/cool kid barrier and shows the humanity on both sides.
Noah is desperate to get the attention of and impress his crush, Saskia. What was the worst/most embarrassing thing you did whilst trying to impress a crush?
I was never one for grand gestures, or hatching plans, I just tried to talk to my crush and just generally be around them trying to be as charming and fun as I could in the hope that they’d suddenly jump on me and kiss me and then I’d find out they’d started going out with one of my mates.
Noah’s not the only one having relationship troubles; his mum is also clearly struggling after losing her own mum. Why did you choose to explore this particular storyline?
When I write YA I naturally place my characters in a family dynamic, and I want to write their parents as humans with problems too, and a big part of growing up is really getting to see your parents’ issues and flaws and coming to terms with them. So while Noah is dealing with big teen problems, his parent are dealing with big middle-aged problems, such as , finance issues, and the grief of losing a parent. For the comedy I also set off writing to the Most Disastrous Night Ever – and that meant all of Noah’s life exploding, not just his social life but his family as well – so they needed some problems too!
Noah, Caitlin, and Woody connect and unwind by playing Starforce Legions. What hobby do you love doing with friends?
I love going to watch my football team Crystal Palace, live. Now I’m older my hobbies are more solitary, like learning new subjects and doing a lot of reading! I used to dance a lot, street and jazz, I loved that, but now I prefer the gym. When I was just a bit younger than Noah I used to play the Star Trek Customisable Card Game which is probably even more geeky than Starforce Legions.
What came to you first, the party or the characters?
Normally my characters come first then I discover the story. But I pitched the idea of a book based around a teen party spirally out of control and that’s what AP went for. The challenge was then discovering the characters and their journeys. The first draft wasn’t so strong in this respect, but once I had Noah inviting Saskia to his party before he’d asked his parents, and then having to follow through, they came alive in my imagination, and it clicked into place.
What is your favourite moment in the book?
I have a few! There’s a scene with Noah and his sister Ruby after the party and the very last scene I love, but I can’t talk about them here because I don’t want to give away the plot.. But one I can talk about is when Noah invites Saskia to the party, the awkwardness, the nerves, the stress, both of them wanting it but it’s still so hard… I love writing scenes like that.
Please recommend a UKYA book you think readers will love.
REMIX* by Non Pratt — Two teen girls go to a music festival — Non’s teen characters some of the richest and most authentic in YA for me.
Thank you!
*Affiliate link
#UKYASpotlight 
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