Top Ten Debut Authors Whose Second Books I Need Right This Second

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There have been some truly incredible debut novels come into my little grabby hands that have made me pine deliriously for the authors to give me more of their words to consume. Listed below are eight authors whose second novels I cannot wait to read, and two authors whose debut trilogies have made me desperate to get hold of whatever they deign to gift me with next. 


Erin Morgenstern
Debut Novel: The Night Circus
It's been several years since this stunning novel hit our shelves and I'm still not over it. Some people weren't won over by the lyrical prose and slow paced story but I was swept away. I'm curious to see how Erin's writing style translates away from the Circus, and I cannot wait for her second novel.

Melissa Grey
Debut Novel: The Girl at Midnight
Midnight was a stunning debut, full of magic, mystery, romance and humour. I loved Melissa's writing style, her engaging characters and fascinating plot and I cannot wait to dive into the second book in the series when it releases next year.

Sabaa Tahir
Debut Novel: An Ember in the Ashes
Yes ok there were plot holes and problems galore if you started staring too hard at this novel, and some very valid concerns/problems raised by other reviewers, but the fact remains that I really loved this debut novel. It was exactly the book I needed when I needed it, full of fantasy, darkness, and a brutal world. It also left me desperate to get my hands on the sequel, partly for more and partly to see how some of the issues in the original are resolved.

Helen Maslin
Debut Novel: Darkmere
I'm not one for scary stories, so this novel was a departure for me but I am so glad that I followed my instinct on this one. Deliciously creepy, filled with unexpected twists and turns and compelling and engaging characters, I was sucked in completely. Helen has an incredible way with words, making me swoon and fall in love and then shriek in terror and have to put the book in the freezer a few chapters later. Any author who can skillfully elicit such emotions from the reader is one to watch, but from a debut it is doubly impressive.

Sarah Benwell
Debut Novel: The Last Leaves Falling
One of the strongest debuts I've ever read, Sarah's novel was heart breaking and filled with hope, strength and determination. A novel that defied conventions and moulds, this was a truly incredible and powerful story that swept me up and carried me away into Sora's world. Sarah has a natural talent for drawing out emotions in her readers and infusing her tale with humanity and feeling. I was crying by half way through and full on sobbing by the end of the story. It is one that has stayed with me throughout the year, one I return to repeatedly. With her determination not to be caged by expectations and to tell untold and overlooked stories, I am incredibly excited to see what story Sarah offers us next.

Lauren James
Debut Novel: The Next Together
A unique and fascinating story, I was captivated by Lauren's debut and the characters she created. I fell into the incredible lives and different versions of these characters and loved how each story interwove to create one beautiful book. I cannot wait to see both where the story goes and what she goes on to write next - with an imagination like that it's bound to be exciting!


Marieke Nijkamp
Debut Novel: This is Where it Ends
This debut doesn't hit shelves until January 2016 but oh boy is it incredible. I read This is Where it Ends in one gut wrenching and emotional sitting, and was left feeling hollow, drained and utterly wrecked by the sheer brilliance of Marieke's writing and the compelling story she'd written. If that is the state of me after reading her debut novel, what will I be like after her second? I cannot wait to find out.

Moira Fowley-Doyle
Debut Novel: The Accident Season
This book was divine. A slippery, magical book filled with secrets hidden and folded between the pages, I fell for this debut hard. It reminded me of Stiefvater's writing (definitely a good thing) but filled with its own unique wonder and darkness. It's one of the best novels I've read this year, a gorgeous debut and a brilliant portent of things to come from Moira. I cannot wait to see what she gifts us with next.


Plus two authors whose debut trilogies have made me stupidly excited for whatever they write next...

A. C. Gaughen
Debut Trilogy: Scarlet/Lady Thief/Lion Heart
This trilogy guys, be still my heart. I connected and fell in love with the Robin Hood tale in a way I never had before. I adore Scarlet, and Gaughen's writing is incredible. Scar is such a human, fallible and real heroine and I wanted to sweep her up and protect her. But she's also so brave, so determined and so committed to doing the right thing - she's one of my favourite heroines. This trilogy is a firm favourite, one I love re-visiting and I am so excited to see what she decides to write next.

Kristin Cashore
Debut Trilogy: Graceling/Fire/Bitterblue
When I read Graceling for the first time I wasn't that fussed. I put the book back on my shelf and forgot about it until Bitterblue was about to release and I figured I should re-read it and then catch up on Fire in preparation. I wasn't prepared for how much I ended up loving this series - proof that sometimes if you read a book at the wrong moment you end up disliking one that later becomes a favourite. Now I can't imagine not reading and loving this series (I listen to the audiobooks on a very frequent basis) and I cannot wait to see what Kristin releases next. It's going to be a wrench leaving the Seven Kingdoms, but if it's written by Kristin then I cannot wait to see where she takes me next.

So there you have ten authors whose debut outings were enough to make me squee, swoon and shriek with delight/terror. I adored their work and I cannot wait to see what delightful books they gift us with next.
Over to you - have you read any of these and do you agree with me? Or are there any authors you think I've overlooked? Let me know and link me to your own top tens in the comments below!

Review: The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell

Publication Date: 29th January 2015

Huge thanks to Random House UK for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

And these are they. My final moments. They say a warrior must always be mindful of death, but I never imagined that it would find me like this…
Japanese teenager, Sora, is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Lonely and isolated, Sora turns to the ancient wisdom of the samurai for guidance and comfort. But he also finds hope in the present; through the internet he finds friends that see him, not just his illness. This is a story of friendship and acceptance, and testing strength in an uncertain future.

I should probably be upfront that Sarah is in fact a very dear friend of mine, so whilst I would be gushing about this book already simply on its own merit, the fact that it was written by Sarah just makes it even more awesome.

There is a big surge of diverse young adult fiction hitting the shelves which is a welcome breath of fresh air, and Sora’s tale set in modern Japan is no exception. Add to it that the story itself tackles death, euthanasia and features a disabled protagonist and ‘The Last Leaves Falling’ quickly sets itself apart as something other than your average YA fiction. The truth is it is so much more.

Sora is a tragic and compelling protagonist, at times buoyed up by those around him, sometimes sinking underneath the weight of inevitability, but his narrative had me racing through the book. It is a quiet, raw tale full of the tragic sense of time crashing too fast that comes with such a story, but that in no way hinders the storytelling, or makes it feel like a waste of a book. The prose is so beautifully constructed that you are at once struck with the inevitable end, desperate for any way to alleviate it, but knowing that there is nothing that can be done except to be with Sora through his journey and listen to his story.

The cast of characters that surround him really lift the tale up, injecting it with moments of humour and lightness in amongst the dark. I loved watching Sora slowly begin to let his friends in, to allow them to see him and then to form such a strong support system with them. It truly turned the story from a quiet dirge into something filled with quiet beauty. I loved the additional threads of their own separate stories, each of the three trying to tackle their own problems and drawing strength from the others when it all became too much.

Yes it tackles hard issues, but Sarah handles them with a deft grace that leaves the reader enthralled by the story and utterly wrecked by the emotions within. It is tragic but underpinned with lightness and a feeling that all is not lost, no matter how dark things can get. Quiet hope and dignity suffuse the decisions and actions as Sora comes to terms with himself and the legacy that he will leave.

This book stayed with me well beyond turning the last page. I had questions and thoughts and took quite some time to process through all the issues raised and feelings brought into question by Sora’s tale.

Mixed into all of this, Sarah captures the everyday internet culture that almost all teens are used to these days – something that is strangely left untouched in most books. I loved watching with Sora these teens go about their daily lives, the issues and heartaches that all feel as though they are life and death at the time. It’s something that everyone can relate to, either because they themselves are going through it or they’ve been through it in the past. But at the same time the Japanese culture creeps in and it was so wonderful to see those little touches that marked this book out from so many generic UK and US teen stories. It was like looking in a slightly skewed mirror, the same but so many little differences that make it unique – the mythology and culture and little details that really brought this tale into full technicolour.

This book will destroy you. It will creep into your mind and your heart and your soul and it will slowly pull you apart piece by piece until by the time you reach the last page you are an uncontrollable sobbing wreck. I thought this might just be me, but just look at some of the reviews already springing up about Last Leaves and you’ll see that everyone is having this reaction. It is an incredible book, an important book, and the one book that I will be saying to everyone, if you only read one book this year, let it be this one.

You can read my interview with Sarah here

And find her on Twitter here!

Buy your copy from Amazon or The Book Depository now!

Other great reviews for 'The Last Leaves Falling':

Queen of Contemporary

Serendipity Reviews

Fluttering Butterflies

Thirst for Fiction

Author Q & A with Sarah Benwell

I feel so incredibly lucky to announce that today on the blog, I have an interview with one of the most exciting debut authors this year, Sarah Benwell. Sarah is an incredibly talented author whose debut novel 'The Last Leaves Falling' will be released in the UK tomorrow - here to tell us a little more about the book, the research that went into it, and her writing process.

For anyone who hasn’t yet heard about your debut novel ‘The Last Leaves Falling’ can you tell them a little bit about it?

The book follows Japanese teenager Sora, who has ALS, as he deals with that diagnosis… I am terrible at this. Here’s a handy blurb:
Japanese teenager Sora is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Lonely and isolated, Sora turns to the ancient wisdom of the samurai for guidance and comfort. But he also finds hope in the present; through the internet he finds friends that see him, not just his illness. This is a story of friendship and acceptance, and testing strength in an uncertain future.

What inspired you to write this story? Can you tell us about how the original idea evolved into the novel readers will have in their hands tomorrow?

Last Leaves started out as a very, very different book. I was discussing book concepts with a writing buddy, and – as it often does when you’re with friends – conversation drifted. To Japan, the creepy sadness of Aokigahara, and from there, to loneliness, and coercion, and the particular Japanese trend towards suicide pacts.The statistics are horrifying, and Last Leaves started out exploring why.

In the original, the book started with Sora, Mai and Kaito making that pact. The story was about them reaching that end (whether or not they ultimately went through with it). But it turns out the story was all wrong for the characters in my head. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell a story principally about letting go, any more than my characters wanted to live it. Eventually, the story’s focus shifted, to choice, control, and dignity.

The moral and legal debates surrounding end of life choices and the right to die are – correctly – impassioned. We’re all connected to it. Whether we’ve watched someone fight or languish, or have simply wondered what if this were me? Whether we’re for or against it or somewhere in between. Of course we are all passionate. It affects us all.

Debating is good. The issues are complex and the potential for harm if we get it wrong is very, very real.

Last Leaves offers one perspective – the voice of one, lone, fictional teenager – but I hope that it’s done in such a way that readers can approach the issues and explore them safely, and make up their own minds.

The UK cover for The Last Leaves Falling

Sora suffers from ALS, your descriptions of both the condition and the effects of the drugs he has to take to combat that are incredibly realistic and really help the reader to connect with the awful situation that Sora is in, what research did you do to help you create this?

A lot of it is about imagining what it would feel like to deal with the pain and physical constraints and not-knowing – taking whatever experience you have and applying or multiplying that. It’s method-acting of the mind. It’s empathy.

But it also felt very important to portray things fairly. It will never, ever be 100% the way everyone experiences these things because no two experiences are the same. But I sought out the voices of people with ALS. And I talked to friends who use a wheelchair, or have limited mobility, friends who’ve dealt with the uncertainty, the pain, the meds.

I asked questions. I asked them to read my work and pull me up on anything I got horribly wrong.

Sure, it can be uncomfortable: it’s hard both checking your privilege (you will inevitably make assumptions or infer things without even realizing) and making yourself vulnerable to criticism, but it’s so important to be as fair and truthful as you can, and to be willing to listen, and to learn.

Luckily, people have been awesome, and this book is so much better for it.

(*Um. This answer sort of morphed into something more than getting physical details right. Whatever. It stands.)

Speaking of research, the setting is wonderful – from Sora’s family flat in the city to his grandparent’s out in the country, what research did you do to create this beautiful piece of the world that Sora and his friends inhabit?

Some degree of cultural immersion, I guess. While visiting Japan is still waiting on my bucket list, there’s a lot you can do to expose yourself to a place without visiting. I’ve had Japanese housemates, and several conversations about their homes. I’ve watched a lot of Japanese movies and series, seen photographs and read all the Japanese literature I could get my hands on. Details are everywhere. And this goes for the cultural details too.

When I was done, I asked a Japanese friend, and another who lives in Japan, to beta read/ check my work.

Diversity in novels is a hugely important thing, did you start out with the idea that you wanted to create a particularly diverse protagonist, or did it just happen that Sora’s story came to you and happened to fall into the diverse bracket?

You’re right, diversity in books is hugely important. Much as I believe this, though, I never sit down thinking ‘I must write something diverse’, or even ‘how can I get diversity into this story/ onto the shelves?’ It just happens naturally. My world isn’t populated by white, straight, cisgendered, neurotypical, able-bodied people, so why would that be all I write?

Other people, places and cultures are my crack. I’m fascinated by the similarities and differences between us all. So my stories explore that, which lends itself nicely to diversity, but it’s not a conscious, forceful thing, just the things I love.

The US cover for The Last Leaves Falling

The title and cover are absolutely stunning, you must be thrilled with the cover art (both UK and USA editions) how did you come up with the title for the novel?

Yes yes yes yes yessss. I love both covers with all my heart.

The title was a tricky thing. It started out as Death Wish – playing into the book’s ending, and nodding towards Japanese horror and anime cultures. But it was felt (rightly, I think) that this wasn’t doing justice to the story.

I suck at titles. Really, really. All credit for THE LAST LEAVES FALLING as a title goes to Kayla Whaley and her epic distillation skills.

What was the hardest part of writing ‘The Last Leaves Falling’ for you?

There were some difficult scenes, inevitably, but I think the hardest thing was actually the fear. All that research and reaching out to other people is because I really care about getting things right. Particularly where ALS and the wider portrayal of disability in books is concerned.

When you’re writing about any marginalized group – or any group of people to which you don’t belong – you have to be aware of their experiences, of the representation so far, of tropes and attitudes and bug bears, of the history you’re walking over.

It was particularly scary in regards to Sora’s disability. There is not nearly enough representation of disabilities in literature, and what there is is often met with fear and skepticism by disabled readers, who have long put up with awful tropes and stereotyping and being used as plot devices. Add to this that Last Leaves looks at assisted dying, that it broaches difficult questions about rights and control, and I was nervous about getting it right. I’d like to open up worlds and experiences and discussion, and I absolutely want to do no harm.

And the best/most rewarding part?

All of it? As difficult as it sometimes was, writing this book has been an absolute privilege. I’m incredibly grateful for all the help I’ve had, and hope I’ve done it justice. I think I have. I’m proud of the result.

What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

I think I’d like to leave that up to you guys. But I wouldn’t say no to making people think.

Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on next?

South Africa. Music. Heartbreak. Girl-girl kissing. :D

Do you have any advice for any aspiring authors reading this? 

Research, research, research. And don’t be afraid. Or do, but write your story anyway.

So that's all from Sarah! Thank you so much for coming over and taking the time out of your crazy schedule to talk to us! 'The Last Leaves Falling' is an absolutely incredible book, but I shall wait until its release tomorrow to gush about it properly when I will be posting my review, so check back then to hear more!

You can pre-order the book on Amazon here

And follow Sarah on twitter for more updates and writerly musings!