S.J.Glatzhofer

  Many years ago, before Covid scorched the world and kept us all from exploring new countries, I had the chance to travel to different areas of the world. In the year 2014, to celebrate my older sister finishing sixth form, and to carry on her educational journey on musical theatre at university, my family travelled to America. Visiting the south, with our first stop in Orlando, Florida.  During the same time of our visit, my Dutch cousins, and uncle and aunt were in Orlando, Florida as well. Staying in a bungalow that had a pool, for two weeks. It was the perfect place for us to bunk together. To celebrate my cousin turning seven we decided to visit Disney World.  No matter your age, the moment your eyes lay on the Magical Kingdom Castle it sparks the childhood within you. Even if you were fifteen, like I was then, or twenty-one, like I am now, entering the world of Disney ignites the memories of your youth, ones that you wish you could experience once again. And I know...

  Sophie Kinsella is one of my favourite writers. If you haven’t read her books, you might have watched the movie adaptation of Can You Keep A Secret or Confession Of A Shopaholic . I have a number of her books, and I do enjoy reading her words.  Twenties Girl is considered a rom-com book. The protagonist, Lara, is in a big tiff. Her career life is a mess, ever since her partner has left and stayed on their holiday with a mystery man. Her love life is also a mess, yet she still believes that she and her ex, Josh, will end up together.  The novel opens up to Lara’s family going to her great-aunt’s funeral, who died at the age of 105. Lara doesn’t want to go, for the simple fact that she has never met this great-aunt, Sadie.  At the funeral, Lara hears this voice and sees a figure. It’s a ghost, dressed up in twenties clothes and looking for her dragonfly necklace. This ghost is rather persuasive, having some sort of power from the dead and manages to force Lara to s...

  Most writers will agree about the importance of having a strong ending. It needs to impact the reader in a way that it will satisfy them. Think about the books you have read, have you ever finished a book and end up flipping through the last pages to see if there is more to this ending? I have, and it’s rather annoying because it makes me forget about the book I read. There are of course other books where the ending is strong and makes me sometimes think about it years later.  Here are some ways you could finish your novel if you are finding it hard to think how to end it.  Closing The Circle:  → The ending will remind the reader of the start. Perhaps you could return to the place where they started. Or a sentence that you wrote at the start, you could write it again at the end but your protagonist has a different point of view on it. → E.g. If you started your novel with a question, it would be perfect to end the novel with the protagonist thinking about this ques...

One Of Us Is Next is the sequel to One Of Us Is Lying , which although it even said that on the book cover, I didn’t actually register it in my head until I started to read the book. Nevertheless, it is a book that is fine to read and easy to understand if you haven’t read the first one.  I have read one other McManus book during the summer of 2019 - Two Can Keep A Secret , and knowing how much I loved the way she wrote that book; I knew I would enjoy this one too. The book itself has three main characters. Maeve, Knox and Phoebe. It is first person, but with each chapter it changes the point of view between one of these three characters.  This YA novel is about this new game called ‘Truth or Dare’ that comes from an unknown number and takes control over the students at this school. They are all invested with it, after Phoebe, who was the first person to have to choose between truth or dare, ignores it. The next day a truth of hers is spread around the school, making everyone...