There isn’t a Young Adult only top 10 in the Irish bestseller lists – YA gets mixed with children’s books, but I’m thrilled that Something Terrible Happened Last Night has been in the top ten bestselling YA books since launch. Media coverage has been incredible and I’m hugely grateful to the Irish book trade for supporting it so whole heartedly – it’s teen book of the month in The Book Centre, Waterford, and in Barker and Jones in Naas (right), yay!
Something Terrible Happened Last Night is also included in Eason’s latest recommendations for YA Summer Reads. I popped into Eason stores to sign copies but they were already sold out in some shops!!
Radio & Podcasts
‘Best-selling author Sam Blake joins us to talk about her young adult novel ‘Something Terrible Happened Last Night’.
Listen back- Pat Kenny on Newstalk Radio
‘Pat brings you the sharpest analysis of news and current affairs on the radio and fresh perspectives on the issues that will define a generation. Breaking news is interwoven with reflective news features and reports from a variety of reporters based across the country. Experts are on hand to guide listeners on everything from consumer and employment rights and health issues to savvy holiday options. And Pat is joined by all the best personalities from the entertainment world.‘
Listen Back – Dublin City FM with Kate Conneely
Every Thursday afternoon, All About Books will introduce you to the books you need know to about. From new releases to the latest industry news, from non-fiction to fiction and everything in between. Presented by Katy Conneely, join us each week at 2.30pm as we hear from Irish and International authors, booksellers, publishers, agents, reviewers and more.
Print Media
Huge thanks to Ciara Dwyer for these brilliant questions for Upfront in the Sunday Independent and Steve Humphries for the shot – taken in the DLR LexIcon Library -there can’t be many libraries in the world with a view like this! Just keep writing was the best advice I was ever given! More here on my mother’s letter from Enid Blyton, why I write crime.
I had such a lovely chat with Erin McCafferty of The Sunday Times who made sense of my ramblings, and what a headline!! Photo by Bryan Meade. It’s subscriber only, but you can read the full article here.
Lovely to see that Darragh McManus (Irish Independent below) thinks Something Terrible Happened Last Night would make a great Netflix series! Have to agree with that 
“You could easily see it being adapted for a Netflix series…it’s good fun, a story with smarts and a lot of heart: which, as it happens, sums up the heroines of Something Terrible Happened Last Night. Frankie, Sorcha and Jess are all dead sound, the kind of girls you’d be proud to have as a daughter and fortunate to have as a friend — and, as a reader, happy to root for.”
Rights enquiries to Simon Trewin!
Thanks to Ruth Concannon, Children’s Books Ireland for this wonderful review in the Irish Examiner
“Something Terrible Happened Last Night by Sam Blake (Gill Books) for ages 15-plus, is a fast-paced Irish crime-thriller. For Frankie and her friends, fifth year begins on a terrifying note; after popular girl Katie’s 17th birthday party gets out of hand and a body is discovered in the living room. As the dust settles, only one thing certain: a killer is on the loose. A classic whodunnit with more than one mystery for readers to solve.”
And huge thanks to Claire Hennessy for reviewing Something Terrible Happened Last Night in The Irish Times!! I feel like I’ve passed the test needed to slip into the YA world now – she’s the expert in this genre and a brilliant writer herself, phew!
So lovely to feature in Ireland’s Own where I chatted to Max McCoubrey about books, writing, The Mystery of Four and Something Terrible Happened Last Night.
Sarah Caden says Something Terrible Happened Last Night in a necessity in The Independent – thank you Sarah!
“Sam Blake’s latest thriller Something Terrible Happened Last Night is a must-read for teens, but worth a go for anyone who’s suffered post-party dissonance, and who hasn’t?”
May First Flush is out with Books Ireland and I was thrilled to see Something Terrible Happened Last Night featured there.
‘Sam Blake offers up a murder mystery YA read in Something Terrible Happened Last Night that combines house parties and murder in a chilling combo‘
Huge thanks to Sarah Gill at Image for some excellent questions about Something Terrible Happened Last Night, my literary influences and fav books, and you even get to see my TBR pile (the one next to my bed, not the Creasey Dagger award pile!)
You can read the full article here.
I did a piece for thejournal.ie about how I write, approach a new story, and build a story house. Useful for new writers I hope!
In my online coaching & mentoring writers group Writers Ink (info at my website) I do tips every Tuesday (we have an AMA on Mondays, writing prompts on Wednesdays and a WIP critique session on Thursdays) – I find talking and listening to writers about process improves my own, I learn something new from every conversation – and aim to pass that on.
Creativity is unique and developing your own process by mining advice is crucial to developing your work – there’s no ‘right way’ to write, you have to find what works for you. That could be writing every day, or it could be writing once a week, it could be plotting or letting your story develop organically or something in between.
Learning the techniques is crucial, but how you write is unique to you and we’re all different.
You can read the full article here: https://www.thejournal.ie/.
A ‘page-turning mystery, which uses the ubiquity of social media to its advantage’ Thanks to Sara Keating for this fantastic mention of Something Terrible Happened Last Night in The Sunday Business Post’s ‘selection of books to keep all ages enthralled over the holidays’
I’m very excited with the news that Something Terrible Happened Last Night has been longlisted for the Great Reads Award 2023 in the YA category https://booksirelandmagazine.com/long-list-for-the-great-reads-award/
And finally, I am absolutely thrilled that Something Terrible Happened Last Night has been shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2023 in the Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year category. The public vote closed November 9th and the category winners will be announced on 22nd November at the An Post Irish Book Awards gala dinner https://www.irishbookawards.ie/2021-awards/2023-shortlist/
Pick up your copy of Something Terrible Happened Last Night at your favourite bookshop – lots of links to choose from on this page, wherever you are in the world (Barnes and Noble link in the body text).
