18-year-old Welsh author makes it on to Time's "most influential teens" list Teenage author Beth Reekles, who became a publishing sensation while studying for her A Levels, has been named by Time as one of the world's most influential teenagers. Reekles, who is from Rogerstone, near Newport in South Wales, wrote the book in her bedroom when she was still at secondary school. Frustrated at the abundance of books about vampires and werewolves, she set out to find something different - by writing it herself. The Kissing Booth was uploaded to story-sharing website Wattpad where it received more than 19 million views. It tells the story of a girl who has never been kissed, and decides to set up a "kissing booth" at her school's Spring carnival. The online success of the story meant that Reekles, now 18, caught the attention of major publishing houses, and was offered a three-book deal with the US arm of Random House. The Kissing Booth has since been optioned for a film, and Reekles has released two further books, Sun Kissed and Rolling Dice. Reekles was delighted to be included, and said: "When I saw the list I knocked on all the doors of my university flat. I was texting them to tell them - it's pretty crazy really. Despite her talent for writing, the Welsh teen's ambitions are not predominantly literary: she is now studying Physics at the University of Exeter. However, she is currently writing a new novel, Out of Tune, alongside her academic studies.