Blog Tour: Friendship Fails of Emma Nash by Chloe Seager

HQ, August 2018

I am happy to be welcoming Chloe Seager to Novel Kicks today and the blog tour for her new novel, Friendship Fails of Emma Nash.

Emma Nash is back….and determined to work out the world of friendships and relationships once and for all (…ish).

Now she’s in the sixth form, Emma’s expecting life to be a breeze but when her best friend Steph suddenly has a boyfriend who she’s spending more time with Emma’s not sure what to do with herself.

So Emma’s got a mission in mind: making new friends. Signing up for the school fashion show seems like the perfect opportunity. Although soon, through a series of mishaps that are absolutely not Emma’s fault (well, sort of), her world is teetering on the edge of disaster again.

Would going back to creating a life for herself online reaaaaaallllyyy be so bad?

I have reviewed the book below but first, something a little different.

In the novel, the protagonist Emma tries to make new friends after feeling a little left out of her current friendship circle.

Chloe has suggested that I write about which fictional character I would like to meet.

This question is one I love to ask authors. I find it a fascinating one to ask and no two answers are the same.

The problem is, when I sat down to think about which character I would like to meet, picking one was a lot harder than I thought it would be (sorry to all authors to which I have asked this question.)

All the wonderful books I have read since my childhood, how can I pick just one? When I read, all the characters become as real to me as someone sat next to me.

So… I didn’t. I cheated and picked five, (I know, greedy right.)

Jennifer Ehle, Pride and Prejudice, BBC. 1995.

When I made up my list of five, I started to think of all the different personalities. I imagined us all around the table. Of course, we may disagree but we would all be having a lovely time.

The first fictional character on my list is probably Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. I would maybe sneak Darcy in too. They come as a package deal right?

I would be so excited to be able to have a conversation with the popular Bennett sister. I’d want to know her true feelings about Mr Collins and Lady Catherine and about her life at Pemberley.

Lizzie is such a strong, opinionated and outspoken character, I’d be so interested to know what she’d make of the global political climate, social media etc. What would she make of today’s society? Would she embrace it or find it ‘somewhat savage?’

Michael Gambon as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Anyone who follows my blog has probably guessed that someone from Harry Potter would show up at some point. I’d pick Albus Dumbledore.

He’s a well-respected and magnificent wizard. He’s wise and would have many stories to share.

My favourite part though is his fun side. I imagine him to have a wicked sense of humour.

Plus you know he’d sneak sweets in. Come on Albus, hand over the sherbet lemons.

The third character I’d like to meet is Ralph from Ralph’s Party by Lisa Jewell.

Penguin, 1999

He is one of my favourite fictional heroes. He’s sweet, unassuming, slightly awkward but has such a charm to him.

He, in my opinion is great fictional boyfriend/husband material and does have elements of him that remind me of my husband (the good parts.) Ralph would add lots of loveliness to the gathering I feel.

My fourth character would be Rosie Dunne from Cecelia Ahern’s Where Rainbows End.

I have always felt a kinship with Rosie from the moment I began to read this novel. I think (and hope) we would be friends.

I adored her story and was very sad when it finished.

Even when things go wrong, Rosie has a way of finding the good and picking herself up. She’s such an inspirational character.

My final fictional character I’d love to meet is… Winnie the Pooh. I mean, you would wouldn’t you?

Illustration by E.H Shepard

He’s just utterly adorable, has a wonderful view on life and was a HUGE part of my childhood.

Who would you like to meet? Let me know in the comments below.

My verdict on Friendship Fails of Emma Nash.

Released on 9th August by HQ, The Friendship Fails of Emma Nash is the follow-up to Editing Emma (which is Emma’s fictional blog handle.)

I hadn’t read the first novel prior to reading this one. Although it may have given me additional information, you can read this one as a standalone novel if you wish.

Written as a series of personal blog posts, I felt that you really got to know Emma – what made her tick.

She is very well-developed and through her point of view, you get to meet some wonderful supporting characters.

HQ, August 2018

The style of writing is very interesting and one I think works very well. It was very easy for me to integrate myself into Emma’s story; the goings on in Emma’s life.

I believe Emma to be a very relatable character for teenagers but there is a lot there for adults to take away too. Chloe has very successfully got into the head of a teenage girl (it brought back memories of school.)

It’s full of funny ‘OMG’ moments, awkward and embarrassing encounters and focuses on the marvellous time you have whilst trying to navigate yourself through your teen years, even if it doesn’t feel marvellous and fun at the time. Haha.

Her voice is so brilliantly contradictory. Sometimes she sounds so mature and yet at other times, so child like. There’s a lovely innocence to Emma.

I was laughing out loud in so many places. I really enjoyed this novel and loved getting to know Emma.

She reminds me of a younger Bridget Jones with Will from the Inbetweeners thrown in. Mostly though, in my opinion, Emma is the Adrian Mole for the social media era and I loved her.

I’m hoping it’s not the last time we see her.

About Chloe:

Chloe Seager grew up in East London with her Mum and much-loved cat, Katie. She studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, where she sadly realised she couldn’t act, but did rediscover her love of children’s books. Children’s Literature was one of her favourite modules, and it made her wonder why grown-ups ever stopped reading them. She now works with them full-time as a YA/Children’s literary agent at Diane Banks Associates, and lives back in East London with her boyfriend and pet fish.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.