Today it's my turn on the Blog Blitz for A Song for Bill Robinson by C. E. Atkins.
Chantelle Atkins was born and raised in Dorset, England and still resides there now with her husband, four children and multiple pets. She is addicted to reading, writing and music and writes for both the young adult and adult genres. Her fiction is described as gritty, edgy and compelling. Her debut Young Adult novel The Mess Of Me deals with eating disorders, self-harm, fractured families and first love.
Her second novel, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side follows the musical journey of a young boy attempting to escape his brutal home life and has now been developed into a 6 book series. She is also the author of This Is Nowhere and award-winning dystopian, The Tree Of Rebels, plus a collection of short stories related to her novels called Bird People and Other Stories. The award-winning Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature was released through Pict Publishing in October 2018. Her next YA novel A Song For Bill Robinson will be released in December 2019. Chantelle has had multiple articles about writing published by Author's Publish magazine.
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About the book
Tensions are building on the notorious Holds End estate.
The local community centre is fighting for survival and the murder of 15-year-old Lewis Matthews remains unsolved…
Wannabe teenage singer, Bill Robinson, just got out of hospital after surviving a vicious attack. He thinks he knows who attacked him…and why. When a violent feud escalates between him and local thug Charlie McDonnal, Bill vows to find the killer and help save the community centre by taking part in the local singing contest.
How can music bring a shattered community together? And can Bill keep his own demons at bay long enough to win the singing contest and find out who killed Lewis Matthews?
There are lot of things going on in this young adult story, whether it be homophobia, knife violence, working through trauma after a vicious attack or living in an economically poor area. When you combine all of these aspects they become a recipe for disruption, division and disaster.
It starts with Bill being released from hospital after a particularly violent attack by persons unknown. Bill has his suspicions though. He believes a local thug called Charlie is behind the attack, which is confirmed as far as he is concerned when he watches a video of the attack. Perhaps he is also responsible for the death of a local lad, an as yet unsolved crime.
His suspicions lead to an ever growing conflict between the two of them, which culminates in a nasty tit for tat between the young men. Other people get dragged into the mind games and there are lasting consequences for both families.
The author describes quite well how the need to block out and dull the pain begins with a can of alcohol here and there. As the anxiety and need to forget grows the use of alcohol becomes more frequent, thereby demonstrating how the descent into alcoholism begins for so many people.
It's a YA urban crime story and it's also a story about coming-of-age. Atkins doesn't let her main character be dictated by labels and demonstrates what sexual fluidity looks like when it isn't defined by society for a young person. The story is very on point in regards to sexuality, knife violence and abuse issues in younger generations in our day and age.
Buy A Song for Bill Robinson (Holds End #1) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Pict Publishing; pub date December 6, 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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