Katey Lovell

This blog post is a response to Mark Beaumont's NME article entitled ' Mark, My Words : want to save guitar music? Kick out boyband indie . Oh, Where Do We Begin? Today I read an article published on the blog section of the NME website.  It was popping up all over my Twitter timeline because not only had it been tweeted by the main NME account but people I follow were sharing and responding the article, mostly speaking far more sense than Beaumont does in his post.  Looking beyond the clickbait title (what even is 'boyband indie'?), I was both amazed and amused by Mark Beaumont's comment that 'Bastille are the endgame of a 30-year plot to tame, contain, castrate and commodify alternative guitar music.' That statement alone is kind of hilarious, if you think about it.  Do Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, Chris 'Woody' Wood and Will Farquarson really hold that much power over the music industry as a whole?  Does any band?  Did...

Oh, time - you got away from me again.  Spring arrived later than ever; winter seemingly endless with freezing temperatures and April snowfall.  Hibernation appealed as I recognised the tell-tale signs of anxiety making an unwanted comeback, but I forced myself to push on.  I came close to my breaking point and I've taken some time away from writing to ease the load, but it's really, really hard to switch off from the alternate realities in my head.  When my head's in a bad place I find it hard to focus.  As a reader that's as much of a sucker-punch as the other symptoms of my anxiety.  That said, I have managed to read a few cracking books.  I Was Born for This  by Alice Oseman was just fabulous.  It had boy bands, mental health representation and an LGBT+ lead character, which along with a fast-paced storyline made for a great read.  I also fell head-over-heels in love with Call Me...

Regular readers of this blog may recall my excitement for Charlie Barnes' latest album Oceanography .  Having seen Charlie perform acoustically before, as well as with his band The Society Pages, I was excited to hear he was returning to Sheffield to play at West Street Live. Following sets by Sheffield groups Hush and K A R A, Charlie and his band took to the stage with the insanely catchy 'All I Have' which features some deliciously-jangly guitar riffs, before launching into the anthemic 'Bruising'.  Anyone who's ever tried to make a living through creative endeavours will relate to these tracks about self-doubt, imposter syndrome and the need for a thick skin and perseverance, as shown in the lyric, 'Every time I've half a mind to throw the towel in, I fight it'.      Next up was 'Maria', a track which showcases songwriter Barnes' ability to meld a haunting verse wi...

I've been reading... Body Positive Power -  Megan Jayne Crabbe All Night Long  (Sweet Valley High) Dangerous Love (Sweet Valley High) Lullaby - Leila Slimani Everything I Know About Love - Dolly Alderton Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli The Cows - Dawn O' Porter I'm still way behind on my blogging for the #SVHReadalong, but I will catch up soon - promise!  But what about the other titles I read in February?    Megan Jayne Crabbe, aka Bodyposipanda, is well-known on social media for leading the march on body positivity.  As someone who recently lost a lot of weight but still had gripes with how I looked, I hoped this book would help me accept my body .  Whilst it hasn't solved all my anxieties, Body Postive Power  reminded me of all the wonderous ways my body works and how society pushes only certain, often unachievable, body types as the 'ideal'.  Thanks to my sister-in-law who bo...

I've been reading... Double Love (Sweet Valley High) Secrets (Sweet Valley High) Playing with Fire (Sweet Valley High) Power Play (Sweet Valley High) Emma Ever After - Brigid Coady One Day in December - Josie Silver Christmas in St Ives - Miranda Dickinson Some Kind of Wonderful - Giovanna Fletcher I'll be blogging about Playing with Fire and Power Play soon for the #SVHReadalong, but I've also really enjoyed the women's fiction I've read this month.  Emma Ever After is a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's Emma set against the backdrop of the music industry.  It's sassy and witty and a must for anyone interested in the part the media plays in celebrity and stardom. One Day in December isn't due out until later in the year, but I was fortunate to receive an early copy.  It's already drawn comparisons to David Nicholls' One Day and Richard Curtis' rom-com films, and I can see why; and don't let th...

On the final day of 2017 I'm going to shout about some of the things that have brought me joy over the past twelve months.  Personally, I had a pretty great year, and I'm hugely thankful to end the year in remission from Crohn's Disease.  Good health allowed me to have a productive writing year, with the publication of 'The Café in Fir Tree Park' in May and 'Joe and Clara's Christmas Countdown' in October.  I gained a friend and agent in Julia Silk in June and drafted the first book in a series, which I'm currently in the process of editing - it's due to go out on submission to publishers in early 2018.  I became a vegan.  I walked a lot.  I spent quality time with family and friends. As a fan of live music I saw (amongst others) old favourites (Take That, Frank Turner) and little-known gems (Charlie Barnes, Felix Hagan and the Family); world-wide megastars (Blondie, Ed Sheeran, Harr...

I finished the copyedits for The Café in Fir Tree Park last week!  I can't deny the huge relief I felt when I pressed the 'send' button and pinged the final 297 pages of manuscript over to my editor at Harper Collins, and I'm hoping there won't be any more changes now.  Ebook publication day (May 26th) is drawing ever nearer. I've taken a much-needed week away from drafting/edits and have come back to my laptop refreshed and ready to tackle my next projects (yes, multiple projects, because one book at a time is obviously not enough of a challenge). Although quite different in style and content, both the novels I'm working on are set in Manchester.  The first, a contemporary Christmas romcom, will be published by Harper Impulse this winter.  I've written around half of it already, and (at the moment) I'm really enjoying working on it.  I do love a festive book!  I've made trips to Manchester to reacquaint myself with the ci...

Despite the best of intentions I've not managed to keep up my weekly musical blog posts.  I'm sorry!  Life's become rather busy lately - the day job has been hectic and I've also had deadlines for editing and proofreading the novella I wrote over the summer (more news on that very soon.  I had a sneaky peek at the cover art for it this week and am totally in love.  It's the perfect sibling for the cover of 'Singalong').  The first draft of next summer's novel is also due with my editor at the start of December so I've been fervently tapping away on my laptop to try and get it ready to send. However, I'd have loved to have found time to write about Grease as it's one of my very favourite films and also Chicago , which my husband and I saw on Broadway during our honeymoon in 2005.  I wish I'd had chance to write about how West Side Story makes my heart hurt, and how when I wa...

The third meeting of The Singalong Society for Singletons has the group gathering to watch one of my very favourite films.  The Sound of Music is a musical my mum and I watched together on the small screen many, many times throughout my childhood and teens.  She first saw it at the cinema with my dad, and as well as the film we also had the soundtrack (on vinyl, naturally) and the sheet music - these were songs I knew inside out from a young age.  It's probably why I still hold them close to my heart. Julie Andrews is absolutely spectacular as keen-but-hopeless nun Maria and I never fail to be moved by the blossoming romance between Maria and Captain von Trapp.  Add to that the humour, the heartbreak and the beautiful score, and it's plain to see why The Sound of Music has lasted the test of time. Treating my mum for her 70th birthday Whilst the film remains ever-popular, I've also been fortunate enough to see the sta...

Today is September 9th.  It's the last day of the first week back at school.  Teachers, teaching assistants and parents are crying out for an evening with a glass (make that a bottle) of wine and something decent to watch on the tellybox.  That's certainly the case for Monique Brown and Issy Jackson.  They've found the first week back an exhausting struggle and can't wait to kick back, put their feet up and watch their favourite film.  Ah, yes...what is their movie of choice?  Well, it's actually Disney's modern classic Frozen, a pretty apt choice seeing as the terraced house they share in Sheffield's Cardigan Close is so cold that it could double as a fridge freezer.  I'm a parent of an eight year old. I've been subjected to Frozen more times than I care to remember, and as much as I love musicals I have to be honest and say it's not one of my favourites. I'm sorry!  Whether it's because 'Le...

It's now just five weeks until The Singalong Society for Singletons starts winging its way onto ereaders everywhere, which is really, really exciting (but also a smidge terrifying too).  So I think the time has come for me to tell you a bit more about it! The Singalong Society for Singletons is the story of Mon, a twenty-something teaching assistant whose long-term boyfriend Justin has moved to Chicago for a year with his job in banking.  Mon shares a terraced house with her teacher workmate Issy who longs for a loving partner and child more than anything in the world.  They spend their evenings drinking wine and watching Frozen, their comfort-film of choice, until one night when Mon's sister Hope unexpectedly arrives on their doorstep with her own relationship woes... The young women find that when your heart is breaking, there's nothing better to do than sing it out and The Singalong Society for Singletons is born!  Mon, Issy, Hope and Mon's be...

Following on from a fabulous weekend watching Take That in Hyde Park with my best friend (you can read a bit about that here) , I spent my Tuesday morning waiting outside a local radio station to meet Olly Murs on his 'You Don't Know Love' radio tour.  I had fun talking to others in the queue (there were maybe 60-80 of us there in all) and the time passed pretty quickly.  Luckily the rain held off and it was neither too hot or too cold - pretty much perfect weather for waiting outside.  Olly arrived just before midday and the staff at the station invited fans in to watch his live stream being filmed, so we all crammed into the foyer to hear him share how proud he is of his forthcoming album and that there will be a tour next year.  Meeting Olly, 12.07.2016 When the interview was over we were all ushered outside and politely reformed the queue to each have our moment with Olly.  It really was nothing more than a moment - his schedule ...

I'm a fangirl through and through.  If I love something, I love it hard and strong with a fierce loyalty that lasts, and my love for Take That has had quite a long time to grow.  Twenty Four years and counting, to be exact, which is kind of scary.  The band I fell in love with, 1992 Obviously my life's very different now to how it was as a thirteen year old.  Since then I've left home, got married, had a child.  I went to university.  I graduated (twice).  I've had numerous jobs.  I write books, not just fanfic where Howard falls madly in love with me that no one except my best friend reads.  People actually buy my books (that's something I'll never take for granted).  In 1992 my only concern was flicking through Smash Hits to see if there was a picture of them all in leather that I could cut out to stick in my Take That scrapbook.  The infamous outfits... But through all these changes, T...

I'm absolutely terrible at keeping this blog updated, especially at the moment. I'm busy trying to finish the edits on The Singalong Society for Singletons (due to be published October 6th by Harper Impulse at Harper Collins), working on a secret project you'll find out about later in the year and also trying to crack on with my second novel (to be released next summer, if I ever finish writing it!)  It feels like I'm not blogging at all lately and I miss it. I don't want to only be around when I'm promoting new releases.  There's more to me than just writing (not much more, to be fair.  But there is more), and that's why I'm hoping to spend more time blogging about other things I enjoy - I'm not sure how regularly I'll get to do it, but it's a plan! Some of you may be aware of Books with Bunny , the blog I started in 2013 to talk about all things bookish.  There are hundreds of reviews, interviews and book related pos...