STAGS: Nine students. Three blood sports. One deadly weekend.

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Coffee house Caffè Nero has announced the 16-strong shortlist for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, recognising the outstanding books of the past 12... While the team are hunting the Stag, our heroine waxing on about how beautiful it is and how she wishes it didn't have to die. Then she's quite happy to be the one to pull the trigger at the end. That's right, people, she shoots the damn deer because the pretty rich boy asked her to. The villains are one-dimensional and unappealing, they’re mean because they’re too posh and so are their families, hence they kill people and no one asks questions .The main character is an annoying young girl who loves movies and never shuts up about it. I thought that this element would have served a purpose plot-wise but was just a quirk of hers. The ending could have been brilliant had it been built upon solid foundations. Having been the overall story quite simple and pretty uneventful it just felt like a last attempt to throw in there a witty plot-twist/cliffhanger which will perhaps open the doors to a possible second instalment?

I’m new to the YA Thriller genre, having read a lot of adult thrillers I didn’t think this would have the same level of intrigue and while the concept sounded amazing I didn’t know if I was going to enjoy it. I enjoyed it. A lot. I wanted to look at the inequalities of that situation and whether it's possible for outsiders to infiltrate the system. My major characters are all outsiders - Greer is working class, Shafeen is Indian, and Nel has the 'wrong' kind of money. What she does capture are the bizarre corners of divorce--how she wants to comfort him for the pain he's feeling for leaving her in "Last Look"

Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2018 | August 2017 Debut of the MonthIt is the autumn term and Greer MacDonald is struggling to settle into the sixth form at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as S.T.A.G.S. Just when she despairs of making friends Greer receives a mysterious invitation with three words embossed upon on it: huntin' shootin' fishin'. When Greer learns that the invitation is to spend the half term weekend at the country manor of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular and wealthy boy at S.T.A.G.S., she is as surprised as she is flattered. But when Greer joins the other chosen few at the ancient and sprawling Longcross Hall, she realises that Henry's parents are not at home; the only adults present are a cohort of eerily compliant servants. The students are at the mercy of their capricious host, and, over the next three days, as the three bloodsports - hunting, shooting and fishing - become increasingly dark and twisted, Greer comes to the horrifying realisation that those being hunted are not wild game, but the very misfits Henry has brought with him from school... There was a lot of research involved, in an attempt to make Aadhish's experiences as real as possible. But even if I get it wrong, I think it is an important issue to discuss, for white writers as well as writers of colour. The main character was not my type of main character. Besides that she didn’t have a spine and drowned in Henry’s eyes every time she got a fraction of attention, she was jealous (at things she isn’t entitled to), annoying and extremely naïve. Not to forget the strange scenes she talked to a cut of head of a STAG, she even gave it a name. So there was such a heavy ominous undertone throughout this and the emphasis here is heavily on the class divide and the over-privilege of the upper classes compared to there working class peers. There is an almost bigoted elitist bias towards what they see as lesser individuals as if the accident of there birth makes them somehow superior in some way. So much of the book made absolutely no sense. Like you know, I get it's an elite school full of kids who are really loaded but...

Our main girl Greer is a recent scholarship student at this prestigious establishment and she just wants to fit in with her new peers. Así que, en resumen, estaba muy entusiasmada de leer La Caza, una historia sonaba como Scream versión internado elitista. How difficult was it to write about the racism you explore in TIGERS especially but also across the series? Yes I did a lot of research, especially as I was prevented by COVID from going to some of the specific places I wanted to. The Indian sections bookend the novel, but the middle section is on the more familiar ground of Longcross Hall. In that section, it was really the time period - the 1960s - that I had to research, rather than the location.About Olds's poetry, one reviewer for the New York Times said, "Her work has a robust sensuality, a delight in the physical that is almost Whitmanesque. She has made the minutiae of a woman's everyday life as valid a subject for poetry as the grand abstract themes that have preoccupied other poets." As the nine teenagers embark on three days of supposedly harmless blood sport fun, it becomes apparent that something more sinister is going on and the misfits are the real prey that the Medievals are hunting. Greer and her two accidental comrades, Chanel and Shafeen (selected because one’s new money and the other is Indian), have a choice to make: do they ignore the ludicrous yet obvious threat to their lives, or do they try to outwit their sadistic classmates. I was looking forward to reading this book - the premise sounded great and I had not read anything like what the plot suggested I would be getting. And I did enjoy it... to a degree.

It is the autumn term and Greer MacDonald is struggling to settle into the sixth form at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as S.T.A.G.S. Just when she despairs of making friends Greer receives a mysterious invitation with three words embossed upon on it: huntin' shootin' fishin'. When Greer learns that the invitation is to spend the half term weekend at the country manor of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular and wealthy boy at S.T.A.G.S., she is as surprised as she is flattered. But when Greer joins the other chosen few at the ancient and sprawling Longcross Hall, she realises that Henry's parents are not at home; the only adults present are a cohort of eerily compliant servants.I am obsessed with this series, OBSESSED. I literally devoured this book in no time at all. Somehow, I loved it even more than the first book - and I loved the first book. Reading this at midnight was probably a bad idea though it did spook me a little bit, I'll be honest. This is a subtle YA dark academia dream and I am living vicariously through it. There are constant references to movies, which spoke to the film nerd in me, and Greer is a likeable lead to follow as she battles between wanting to be part of the Medievals and survive their savage behaviour. Even when she knows that she’s next on their hit list, she still yearns for their approval. It’s a perfect representation of how young adults look for endorsement from their peers to gain a sense of self-worth.

The books explore - and expose - the gulf that exists between Britain's classes and offers a critique of the class system. Why did you want to explore this area? I feel like this would translate amazingly into film or TV - and the setting would be all the more breathtaking. Think Skins set in Downton Abbey with a dash of Mean Girls. Very difficult, as I've never experienced it myself. The only discrimination I've ever faced was class based (as a comprehensive kid at some very posh universities) so of course I can't know what it is like to face discrimination in terms of race. For one, I honestly couldn't stand the writing. And I don't think it was a 'stylistic' thing as these things often are. The writing was just really... off-putting and jarring. Instead of writing actual descriptions of things, the writer added 'kind of' or 'sort of' and pretended like that helped. E.g.: I don’t know what it is about this series, but I find it utterly addicting. I was up till 2am reading this, unable to put it down until I literally had to force myself to stop and go to sleep.As a debut, I would say this was well done for the author as it was a unique and creative idea. Also, the ending was the perfect mixture of conclusion along with suspense. I'm interested to read more from this author in the future. Greer MacDonald wins a scholarship to the prestigious STAGS (St Aidan the great school). She finds it hard to make new friends as old money trumps new and it’s an old establishment where one’s ancestry is very important. I'm sworn to secrecy but exciting things are happening! Expect a big announcement in the next few weeks… Living myself beside the hauntingly beautiful counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, I could really relate to the areas the school and Hall were located, the descriptions were truly spot on! I also particularly enjoyed the little references Greer made relating to movies incorporating film scenes where that situation was occurring, and the fact it was written in the first person means we get to hear Greer's doubts and feelings first hand.