Blog Tour – Handle with Care by Louisa Reid

It is with great pleasure I am joining the tour for Handle with Care by Louisa Reid, published by Guppy Books on 10^thOctober 2024. Handle with Care is a stunningly powerful YA novel from a master storyteller told in both prose and verse.

Blurb

No one knows Ruby is pregnant – not even Ruby herself. So when she gives birth at school on a miserable February morning, her world is thrown into chaos. Keeping the baby isn’t an option, but keeping quiet about who the father of her child definitely is; because if Ruby’s best friend Ashley finds out the truth, then she’ll lose her too.

When Ruby finally realises what she and her baby need, somehow that doesn’t seem to matter any more. So Ruby must take matters into her own hands, with tragic consequences…

Extract

Pretend I’m fine.

Pretend I’m not standing here

something running down my legs.

They all think I’ve wet myself.

All night I lay in bed

my belly tight.

Not a second’s sleep.

Period, I thought,

thank God,

maybe

my period is coming at last,

and I swallowed pills,

paracetamol, ibuprofen,

and tried to dream.

But now,

now my body

is an enemy

that takes my breath,

and holds me in a relentless fist.

I pant, try to stand up straight,

gasp,

don’t want to make a noise,

don’t want them to look,

but it HURTS.

I bite my lip, my cheeks.

Head spins.

I want to be sick.

About the Author

Louisa Reid is the author of the YA verse novels Gloves Off, nominated for the Carnegie Medal, Wrecked, which was selected for both the Read for Empathy collection and National Poetry Day and Activist. Her debut adult novel, The Poet, was published to critical acclaim. Louisa Reid has spent most of her life reading.

When Louisa’s not reading she’s writing stories, or imagining writing them at least. As an English teacher, her favourite part of the job is sharing her love of reading and writing with her pupils. Louisa lives with her family in the north-west of England and is proud to call a place near Manchester home.

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