CHELSEA: WHEN NOBODY ELSE UNDERSTOOD...

Chelsea is one of many readers who started reading my books when she was young and just never grew out of them. She talks about how much they mean to her…

Chelsea says:
I first discovered Cathy Cassidy when I was nine - my auntie bought me a copy of INDIGO BLUE . I still have it somewhere, battered and well-thumbed, some of the pages loose. It was given to me at a time when my own life was hectic. My parents were breaking up, my older half brother and sister lived with us and there were seven of us (including our staffie/boxer cross Rio) living in one tiny two bedroomed house. For me, books had always been an escape from all of this, but INDIGO BLUE was different - I could relate to it. I finished it in two hours and was desperate to read more.

Indie was living a hard life too. Her stepdad was removed from her life, like my dad, and like me she was strangely relieved. Her mum didn't have a lot of money coming in, she lived in a poky little house too and her best friend was being mean, just as mine were as I began to miss more school and couldn't go on school trips. I begged my grandfather to buy me DIZZY when I was ten. I'd progressed from authors like Jacqueline Wilson onto the classics, but when I saw DIZZY I knew I had to read it. I finished the book in three hours - I was sucked into the story. I myself had been to festivals since I was young; I knew people like Storm and Tess, had danced to strange music round a campfire. I was officially hooked.

As I grew up, I always managed to get my hands on the new books, always at an appropriate time. SCARLETT was given to me by an English teacher at a time when my dad had gotten a new girlfriend, a woman I despised. Much as I admired Scarlett for coming to love her stepmother, I never did manage it. I bought SUNDAE GIRL at a time when my great grandfather was battling dementia; I cried when Jude had to bury her grandmother - a few weeks before crying at my grandpa's funeral. DRIFTWOOD, LUCKY STAR… they all meant so much because I could relate. I understood how these characters felt, how they behaved. And of course, I was ecstatic when the CHOCOLATE BOX GIRLS series came out - a chance to follow this family, get to know the sisters. I adore Honey, even though she can be cruel… she's complex, with many layers, and Cathy wrote that so well.

I adore every single book, especially LOOKING GLASS GIRL, the latest in my collection, but INDIGO BLUE will always hold a special place in my heart for being there for me at a time when nobody else understood. I've been reading Cathy Cassidy books for eleven years now, and I'll be reading them for another eleven. No matter how old I am I will never stop relating, and that shows how mega fab Cathy is as an author.

Cathy says:
This post means the world to me… it makes all the hard work worthwhile. Thank you, Chelsea, for being such an awesome reader! Have YOU read any of the stand-alone CC books? Which ones? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!