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Blog Tour: The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow by Emma Steinkellner (Review)

Jul6

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Blog Tour: The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow by Emma Steinkellner (Review)The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow by Emma Steinkellner
Series: The Okay Witch
Published by Aladdin on July 6, 2021
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Source: the publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

In this hilarious and heartwarming sequel to the bestselling and critically acclaimed graphic novel, The Okay Witch, half-witch Moth Hush uses magic to boost her confidence with disastrous results—perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Molly Ostertag!

Moth Hush is starting to settle into her newfound witch heritage and powers, but life at school continues to be rough. Even her best friend, Charlie, doesn’t entirely understand what it’s like for her to always be the one who gets mocked, and things only get worse when Moth’s mom starts dating one of the dorkiest teachers in the school! Then Moth gets hold of a mysterious charm that can unleash another version of herself—one who is confident, cool, and extremely popular. What could possibly go wrong?

PRAISE FOR THE OKAY WITCH:

“Lighthearted and cheeky.” – The New York Times

“Steinkellner’s debut graphic novel is a tour de force of middle grade storytelling.” – School Library Journal, starred review

“The Okay Witch is the perfect read for kids who love Hocus Pocus.” – A.V. Club

 
 
Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the blog tour for The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow (July 6, 2021 – Aladdin)! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the first book in this series, The Okay Witch, so you can imagine how excited I was when the email for this blog tour hit my inbox!! And I absolutely loved the sequel just as much as the first book! So without further adieu, here’s my review!

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I absolutely adored The Okay Witch, and the sequel was just as amazing. First of all, I loved the quick recap of book one. I have such a bad memory, so it was nice to have that.

I love these characters so much. Moth is fun, smart, and strong. She makes mistakes, but she always learns from them. I also love Mr. Laszlo, more than words can describe. Mr. Gorski-Garcia was a great addition. Sometimes, you just need a teacher you can talk to and trust, but who won’t make things worse with the kids tormenting you. Mr. Gorski-Garcia felt like that kind of teacher. I also love how his story ended, though I can’t go into details without spoilers. But it was perfect, and I really hope we get a sequel so we can see what happens next with him. I really loved the storyline with Professor Folks and Mr. Laszlo. It both made me so sad and so happy, all at once. I loved where their story ended in this book and – just like with Mr. Gorski-Garcia – I really hope we get another book so we can see what happens next with them!

The overall message and plot of this book was incredible and amazing and definitely something kids in middle school need to hear. Underneath all the magic and witch talk, this book is so relatable. It’s about being different when you just want to fit in, and struggling to not lose yourself in the chaos of middle school and peer pressure. It encourages you to be proud of who you are, to embrace what makes you you. This book also tackled racism and bullying.

Overall, I definitely loved this book and highly recommend it for anyone who loves graphic novels, witches, and awesome coming-of-age novels/movies.etc.

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Emma Steinkellner is an illustrator, writer, and cartoonist living in Los Angeles, California. She is a graduate of Stanford University and the illustrator of the Eisner-nominated comic Quince. She is the author and illustrator of The Okay Witch graphic novel series.
 
 

Website | Twitter

Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 
 

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Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE OKAY WITCH AND THE HUNGRY SHADOW, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Blog Tour Schedule – Week Two:

7/5/2021 – brittreadsalattebooks – Review
7/5/2021 – Lady Hawkeye – Excerpt
7/6/2021 – Fictitiouswonderland – Review
7/6/2021 – Pandora’s Books – Review
7/7/2021 – hauntedbybooks – Review
7/7/2021 – Curlygrannylovestoread – IG Spotlight
7/8/2021 – Confessions of a YA Reader – Review
7/8/2021 – Nerdophiles – Review
7/9/2021 – Eli to the nth – Review
7/9/2021 – Simply Daniel Radcliffe – Review

Full Schedule Here.

five-stars

Blog Tour: Warmaidens by Kelly Coon (Author Interview)

Nov30

Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the blog tour for Warmaidens by Kelly Coon (December 15, 2020 – Delacorte Press)! Today, I have an awesome interview with Kelly to share with you! First, here’s more about the book:

Warmaidens is the dark, action-packed conclusion to the heartwrenching Gravemaidens fantasy duology. Kammani and the maidens are now going to war against the ruler who tried to entomb them.

Just a few moons after escaping the tomb in Alu, Kammani and the other runaway maidens have found refuge in the city-state of Manzazu. There, Kammani has become a respected healer, especially among the warriors she’s brought back from the brink of death. Now that the nightmares of Alu are fading, she can finally decide whether or not to take Dagan’s hand in marriage.

But when an assassin murders a healer he believes is Kammani and attempts to kill the displaced queen of Alu, the maidens realize they’ve been found.

Hungry for revenge, Manzazu’s queen wants to strike back at Alu with her fiercest weapons—her scorpion warrior maidens—but Kammani knows that war harms more than it heals. To save the innocents and any chance of a future with Dagan, Kammani must take down Alu’s ruler before their lives burn up in the flames of war.

Goodreads

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And now for the interview! Enjoy!

Describe your book in ten words or less. Go!
Scorpion warrior maidens! Spies! Midnight kisses! Boatman hauntings! A healer gone rogue! Oops, too many! haha

How was writing the sequel different from writing the first book?
Whew, it was tough! When I wrote Gravemaidens, I was writing in the hopes of landing an agent. No one needed it by any particular time. But when I wrote Warmaidens, I had a deadline! The ticking clock and the expectations of delivering a book better than Gravemaidens added a lot of pressure.

Did you ever have a moment, while editing Warmaidens, where you wished you’d done something different in Gravemaidens because it would have made something in Warmaidens easier?

HA! Such a good question. Heck yes. So many things. If I’d fleshed Nanaea out a little more in book one, it would have been easier to build on her characterization in book two. If I’d included more Boatman lore, I would have had an easier time capitalizing on that here. I think you always have regrets when a book publishes because you spot things you didn’t see before. But I remind myself that I did the very best I could given the resources I had at the time and that’s all I can do!

What scene do you most regret having to cut?
I wrote a heart-wrenching scene between Kammani and a group of war-torn travelers from the north. It helped expand her characterization because she puts all her skills to use and enlists the help of her crew to ensure the travelers are patched up. It also offered some foreshadowing about what they stood to lose if they didn’t stop the scorpion warrior maidens from annihilating Alu. But…it slowed the pace far too much. So, it had to go. I HATED cutting that scene!

How have you been holding up during Covid? How has it effected your writing?
Awww, thanks for asking! I’m okay. I think as a mom, I have to be okay. Nobody else is going to take care of my kids. They look to me and my husband for guidance, so there is no other option than to keep myself together for them.

To do that, I meditate and exercise to keep my mind screwed on right. I keep working to pay for their care and show them that even though times are difficult, we can all do difficult things. In March and April, I had trouble feeling like writing mattered at all! But I forced myself to do just one small writing task every couple of days, and before long, I’d written my eighth novel, a YA thriller!

Are you working on anything new?
Speaking of….yes! I’m jumping into the contemporary arena! I’ve written a YA contemporary with speculative elements and just finished a YA thriller. We’ll be sending those out to editors very soon!!!! I’m so excited to see how I fare in the contemporary space.

Thanks so much for having me today!
XOXO
Kell

Spotlight Post: Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon

Aug7

 
Hey everyone! Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books) just released on August 4, 2020! Have you checked it out yet??

First-generation American LatinX Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new nearly all-white school. But when family secrets spill out and racism at school ramps up, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.

Liliana Cruz is a hitting a wall—or rather, walls.

There’s the wall her mom has put up ever since Liliana’s dad left—again.

There’s the wall that delineates Liliana’s diverse inner-city Boston neighborhood from Westburg, the wealthy—and white—suburban high school she’s just been accepted into.

And there’s the wall Liliana creates within herself, because to survive at Westburg, she can’t just lighten up, she has to whiten up.

So what if she changes her name? So what if she changes the way she talks? So what if she’s seeing her neighborhood in a different way? But then light is shed on some hard truths: It isn’t that her father doesn’t want to come home—he can’t…and her whole family is in jeopardy. And when racial tensions at school reach a fever pitch, the walls that divide feel insurmountable.

But a wall isn’t always a barrier. It can be a foundation for something better. And Liliana must choose: Use this foundation as a platform to speak her truth, or risk crumbling under its weight.

Goodreads

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Jennifer De Leon is an author, editor, speaker, and creative writing professor who lives outside of Boston. She is the editor of Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education, the 2015–2016 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library, and a 2016–2017 City of Boston Artist-in-Residence. She is also the second recipient of the We Need Diverse Books grant. Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From is her debut novel.

Book Birthday Spotlight Post: The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee (Blog Tour)

Jun23

Happy Book Birthday to Kathryn Ormsbee and The Sullivan Sisters (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)!

From the author of the Tash Hearts Tolstoy comes an introspective, atmospheric novel about sisterhood, coming-of-age, and learning that it’s never too late to reconnect with those you love.

Time changes things.

That painful fact of life couldn’t be truer for the Sullivan sisters. Once, they used to be close, sharing secrets inside homemade blanket castles. Now, life in the Sullivan house means closed doors and secrets left untold.

Fourteen-year-old Murphy, an aspiring magician, is shocked by the death of Siegfried, her pet turtle. Seventeen-year-old Claire is bound for better things than her Oregonian hometown—until she receives a crushing rejection from her dream college. And eighteen-year-old Eileen is nursing a growing addiction in the wake of life-altering news.

Then, days before Christmas, a letter arrives, informing the sisters of a dead uncle and an inheritance they knew nothing about. The news forces them to band together in the face of a sinister family mystery…and, possibly, murder.

The Sullivan Sisters is an unforgettable novel about the ghosts of the past, the power of connection, and the bonds of sisterhood.

Goodreads

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Kathryn Ormsbee grew up with a secret garden in her backyard and a spaceship in her basement. She is the author of The Water and the Wild, The Doorway and the Deep, and The House in Poplar Wood and the YA novels Lucky Few, Tash Hearts Tolstoy, The Great Unknowable End, and The Sullivan Sisters. She’s lived in lots of fascinating cities, from Birmingham to London to Seville, but she currently lives in Eugene, Oregon.
 
 

Blog Tour: Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi (Excerpt)

Apr10

 
Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (April 2, 2020 – Rick Riordan Presents) blog tour! I’m a HUGE Roshani Chokshi fan, and ABSOLUTELY LOVED the first book in this series, so I’m beyond excited to be on this blog tour!! Today I’m sharing an excerpt of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes with you! First, here’s more about the book:

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Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the third book in the Hindu-based, best-selling Pandava series by Roshani Chokshi, in which Aru and her cohorts, Mini, Brynne, and Aiden—and now a pair of twins—each search the Otherworld for Kalpavriksha, the wish-granting tree.

War between the devas and the demons is imminent, and the Otherworld is on high alert. When intelligence from the human world reveals that the Sleeper is holding a powerful clairvoyant and her sister captive, 14-year-old Aru and her friends launch a search-and-rescue mission. The captives, a pair of twins, turn out to be the newest Pandava sisters, though, according to a prophecy, one sister is not true.

During the celebration of Holi, the heavenly attendants stage a massage PR rebranding campaign to convince everyone that the Pandavas are to be trusted. As much as Aru relishes the attention, she fears that she is destined to bring destruction to her sisters, as the Sleeper has predicted. Aru believes that the only way to prove her reputation is to find the Kalpavriksha, the wish-granting tree that came out of the Ocean of Milk when it was churned. If she can reach it before the Sleeper, perhaps she can turn everything around with one wish.

Careful what you wish for, Aru . . .

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PRAISE FOR ARU SHAH AND THE TREE OF WISHES
“Touching, riotously funny, and absolutely stunning.”–Kirkus

Praise for Aru Shah and the End of Time:
“An imaginative novel that puts girl power and diverse protagonists front and center.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“[An] engrossing adventure tale.”—Teen Vogue

“Roshani Chokshi spins a modern-day fairy tale that adults and children will love.”-Bustle

Goodreads | Amazon | Kindle | Audible

B&N | iBooks | Kobo | TBD | Bookshop.org

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And now for the excerpt! Enjoy!

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes Excerpt by Jaime Arnold on Scribd

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About Roshani:
 
Roshani Chokshi (www.roshanichokshi.com) is the author of the instant New York Times best-selling books in the Pandava series, Aru Shah and the End of Time, and its sequel, Aru Shah and the Song of Death. She also wrote the New York Times best-selling YA books The Star-Touched Queen and The Gilded Wolves. She studied fairy tales in college, and she has a pet luck dragon that looks suspiciously like a Great Pyrenees dog. The Pandava novels were inspired by the stories her grandmother told her as well as Roshani’s all-consuming love for Sailor Moon. She lives in the south and says “y’all,” but she doesn’t really have a Southern accent. Her Twitter handle is @roshani_chokshi.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

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Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of ARU SHAH AND THE TREE OF WISHES, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tour Schedule:

Week One:

4/6/2020 – Kait Plus Books – Excerpt
4/7/2020 – Open Pages – Excerpt
4/8/2020 – BookHounds YA – Excerpt
4/9/2020 – Log Cabin Library – Excerpt
4/10/2020 – Pandora’s Books – Excerpt

Blog Tour: MERMAID MOON by Susann Cokal (Guest Post)

Mar6

 
Hey everyone! I’m super excited to have Susann Cokal, author of MERMAID MOON, here with a guest post today! First, here’s more about the book:

An award-winning author tells of a mermaid who leaves the sea in search of her landish mother in a captivating tale spun with beautiful prose, lush descriptions, empathy, and keen wit.

Blood calls to blood; charm calls to charm.
It is the way of the world.
Come close and tell us your dreams.

Sanna is a mermaid — but she is only half seavish. The night of her birth, a sea-witch cast a spell that made Sanna’s people, including her landish mother, forget how and where she was born. Now Sanna is sixteen and an outsider in the seavish matriarchy, and she is determined to find her mother and learn who she is. She apprentices herself to the witch to learn the magic of making and unmaking, and with a new pair of legs and a quest to complete for her teacher, she follows a clue that leads her ashore on the Thirty-Seven Dark Islands. There, as her fellow mermaids wait in the sea, Sanna stumbles into a wall of white roses thirsty for blood, a hardscrabble people hungry for miracles, and a baroness who will do anything to live forever.

From the author of the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Kingdom of Little Wounds comes a gorgeously told tale of belonging, sacrifice, fear, hope, and mortality.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY

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And now for the guest post. Enjoy!

Writing Prompt: On your website, you mentioned that Mermaid Moon is “a late-medieval semi-prequel to The Kingdom of Little Wounds.” Can you elaborate? Which idea came first? How do they go together? How do they stand apart?

Mermaid Moon started out as a single page about a witch who falls in love with a mermaid, one of the “broken fairy tales” that a nursemaid in The Kingdom of Little Wounds tells to the princesses in her care. My editress, Liz, quietly and cruelly cut that page, and she was probably right to do it; The Kingdom has plenty of tales as it is.

But the story repeated itself in my mind and pushed its way forward until it became a 300-page novel. And then I dug a little deeper and it became a 636-page novel—more like a cry for help, actually. I will never, ever reread those first versions, but some part of them lived in me and insisted on being seen again, and so I got version three. And then a few more along the way, all of which I not only reread but also retyped, to end up with what’s coming to shore now … which is both the same story as that first little one-pager and not the same.

Here’s how they’re the same thing, only different (as some people used to say in the 1970s): Moon takes place at an unspecified time that’s probably the late 1200s or 1300s; I date it by the objects that Baroness Thyrla has in her castle. Kingdom starts specifically in 1572. They’re held together by a web of magic; the characters share certain basic beliefs that magic exists, but the magic works differently for them. It’s stronger in the past, in Moon, and takes more wrangling to conjure up in The Kingdom of 1572.

The main difference is in what I’ll call mood. I think Mermaid Moon is brighter than The Kingdom. It has more light and actual magic, as opposed to magic realism. It is the story of a mermaid who goes looking for her landish mother. Following a clue given by the sea witch, she fashions herself a set of legs and goes ashore during an annual feast held in the Thirty-Seven Dark Islands. There she is imprisoned by a witch who plans to marry the girl off to her son and then harvest their offspring to prolong her own life.

The threats to Sanna are more easily identifiable and less pervasive than in The Kingdom of Little Wounds. In that book, Ava and Midi are stuck working in a palace, in a patriarchal society to which there seem to be no alternatives. Rape is taken for granted, and even in a marriage, the sex isn’t always consensual. The consequences can be harrowing: unplanned pregnancy that ruins a girl’s social position, syphilis (a new disease at the time), birth defects. There are a couple of villains in The Kingdom, but the real problem is the culture in which the girls live.

The broken little one-page tale with which I started used to conclude with “But this is love, this is love.” I think Mermaid Moon ends up exploring many kinds of love, and some of them are actually happy ones.

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And now for the Giveaway! 5 Winners will receive a Copy of MERMAID MOON by Susann Cokal. Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter. ENDS MARCH 23, 2020

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Find the full blog tour schedule here.

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Susann Cokal is a moody historical novelist, a pop-culture essayist, book critic, magazine editor, and sometime professor of creative writing and modern literature. She lives in a creepy old farmhouse in Richmond, Virginia, with seven cats, a dog, a spouse, and some peacocks that supposedly belong to a neighbor. She is the author of two books for young adults and two for regular adults.

Susann’s previous book, The Kingdom of Little Wounds, received several national awards, including a silver medal from the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award series. It also got starred reviews in Kirkus, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, and Publishers Weekly, and praise from Booklist, The New York Times Boook Review, and other venues. It was #3 on the Boston Globe list of best YAs of the 2013 and won an ALAN citation from the National Council of Teachers of English.

PHOTO CONTENT FROM SUSANN COKAL

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

Blog Tour: Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon (Author Interview)

Oct17

Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the blog tour for Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon (October 29, 2019 – Delacorte Press)! Today, I have an awesome interview with Kelly to share with you! First, here’s more about the book:

The start of a fierce fantasy duology about three maidens who are chosen for their land’s greatest honor…and one girl determined to save her sister from the grave.

In the walled city-state of Alu, Kammani wants nothing more than to become the accomplished healer her father used to be before her family was cast out of their privileged life in shame.

When Alu’s ruler falls deathly ill, Kammani’s beautiful little sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of three sacred maidens to join him in the afterlife. It’s an honor. A tradition. And Nanaea believes it is her chance to live an even grander life than the one that was stolen from her.

But Kammani sees the selection for what it really is—a death sentence.

Desperate to save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler. There she discovers more danger lurking in the sand-stone corridors than she could have ever imagined and that her own life—and heart—are at stake. But Kammani will stop at nothing to dig up the palace’s buried secrets even if it means sacrificing everything…including herself.

Goodreads | Amazon

The Book Depository | IndieBound

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And now for the interview! Enjoy!

Describe your book in ten words or fewer. Go!
Kammani has to heal the king so Nanaea doesn’t die.

THAT WAS DIFFICULT, haha
 
What inspired you to write Gravemaidens?
I’m one of those weirdos who likes to check out graveyards. I’m always wondering who is lying beneath the headstones and what they were like when they were alive. What did they see? Who still remembers them?
 
Before I wrote Gravemaidens, I wondered what it would be like to be told that it was an honor to end up in a cold tomb. To lie with a king to be his bride in the afterlife. I wondered how an older sister might feel if her little sister had been chosen for the “honor” and what she might do to save her.
 
Craziest thing you’ve had to Google for a work in progress?
I once googled how to make flash bangs and fire retardants from nature, and ended up on a website about mussels and their anti-inflammatory properties and probably an FBI watchlist.
 
What books would you recommend to a reader who loved yours, and wants to read something similar?
Oooh, good question. I’d highly recommend Three Dark Crowns (the whole series) by Kendare Blake, Ash Princess (the series) by Laura Sebastian, and Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves.
 
What are three must-have items when you sit down to write?
1). I’m pretty sure I’m about 76% Diet Coke at this point, so I need a caffeine fix, and yes I realize this is terrible for me.
2). I also like to have a notepad near by for jotting commands for Future Kell in case I’m in a writing groove and want a reminder to edit something later.
3). White noise on my headphones. For whatever reason, I associate white noise with writing (and sleeping, which…weird? But that’s kinda how it is.)
 
Are you working on anything new?
I’m always writing something. Right now, I’m writing a contemporary with speculative elements that has one POV in verse and another POV in prose. It’s the most daunting thing I’ve ever written.

Blog Tour: Elizabeth Webster and the Court of Uncommon Pleas by William Lashner (Excerpt)

Oct1

 
Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the blog tour for Elizabeth Webster and the Court of Uncommon Pleas by William Lashner (October 15, 2019 – Disney-Hyperion)! October is my favorite month because I’m OBSESSED with the spooky, creepy, scary epicness that is Halloween and everything that comes with it! So, clearly, this book is right up my alley! For my post today, I’m sharing an awesome excerpt with you! First, here’s more about the book:

Welcome to Elizabeth Webster’s world, where the common laws of middle school torment her days . . . and the uncommon laws of an even weirder realm govern her nights.

Elizabeth Webster is happy to stay under the radar (and under her bangs) until middle school is dead and gone. But when star swimmer Henry Harrison asks Elizabeth to tutor him in math, it’s not linear equations Henry really needs help with-it’s a flower-scented, poodle-skirt-wearing, head-tossing ghost who’s calling out Elizabeth’s name.

But why Elizabeth? Could it have something to do with her missing lawyer father? Maybe. Probably. If only she could find him. In her search, Elizabeth discovers more than she is looking for: a grandfather she never knew, a startling legacy, and the secret family law firm, Webster & Son, Attorneys for the Damned.

Elizabeth and her friends soon land in court, where demons and ghosts take the witness stand and a red-eyed judge with a ratty white wig hands out sentences like sandwiches. Will Elizabeth’s father arrive in time to save Henry Harrison-and is Henry the one who really needs saving?

Set in the historic streets of Philadelphia, this riveting middle-grade mystery from New York Times best-selling author William Lashner will have readers banging their gavels and calling for more from the incomparable Elizabeth Webster.

Goodreads | Amazon | Kindle | Audible

B&N | iBooks | Kobo | TBD

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And now for the excerpt! Enjoy!

Elizabeth Webster and the Court of Uncommon Pleas, PAGES 1 – 5 by Jaime Arnold on Scribd

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About the Author:
 
William Lashner is the New York Times Bestselling creator of Victor Carl, who has been called by Booklist one of the mystery novel’s “most compelling, most morally ambiguous characters.” The Victor Carl novels, which have been translated into more than a dozen foreign languages and have been sold all across the globe, include BAGMEN, KILLER’S KISS, FALLS THE SHADOW, FATAL FLAW, and HOSTILE WITNESS. He is also the author of GUARANTEED HEROES, THE BARKEEP, which was an Edgar Award nominee and a Digital Book World Number One Bestseller, THE ACCOUNTING, and BLOOD AND BONE.

Writing under the pseudonym of Tyler Knox, Lashner is also the author of KOCKROACH, described as “roaringly entertaining,” by Publisher’s Weekly, and “an energetic tour de force,” by USA Today. As Tyler Knox he has written a number of book reviews for the Washington Post Book World.

Lashner was a criminal prosecutor with the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. before quitting the law to write fulltime. A graduate of the New York University School of Law, as well as the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he lives with his wife and three children outside Philadelphia.
William Lashner Photo © Sigrid Estrada

Website | Goodreads

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And now for the giveaway! 3 winners will receive a finished copy of ELIZABETH WEBSTER AND THE COURT OF UNCOMMON PLEAS. US Only. To enter, fill out the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Elizabeth Webster and the Court of Uncommon Pleas

Week One Blog Tour Schedule

Week One:
10/1/2019 – Pandora’s Books – Excerpt
10/2/2019 – Southern Girl Bookaholic – Review
10/3/2019 – Shelf-Rated – Review
10/4/2019 – BookHounds YA – Excerpt

Blog Tour: A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney (Favorite Quotes)

Sep27

Hey guys! I’m SO SO SO excited to be on the blog tour for A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney (September 24, 2019 – Imprint)! The first book in the series, A Blade So Black, was one of my favorite books of 2018, so I was SUPER PUMPED to read the sequel! And it did NOT disappoint! It was SUCH an incredible book, and I’m begging all the Literary Gods for a third book in the series because I NEED MORE!!! Review to come soon!!

So for today’s blog tour stop, I’m going to be sharing with you my favorite quotes from the book! I tried to keep them as spoiler-free as possible! In some cases, this meant excluding page numbes and not sharing who said the quote. But if you’re curious about a certain quote, leave a comment with a way for me to reach you (email, social media, etc), and I’ll tell you what page (in the US ARC because that’s what I read) and I’ll tell you who said it.

ALSO… Some of the “quotes” aren’t technically quotes that people said.. They’re just sections of text that I enjoyed for one reason or another and decided to share. That still counts, though, right?? Right??

*Clears throat.* So, first, here’s a quick rundown of what the book is about:

Still reeling from her recent battle (and grounded until she graduates), Alice must abandon her friends to complete her mission: find The Heart and prevent the Red Lady’s rise. But the deeper she ventures into Wonderland, the more topsy-turvy everything becomes. It’s not until she’s at her wits end that she realizes—Wonderland is trying to save her.

There’s a new player on the board; a poet capable of using Nightmares to not only influence the living but raise the dead. This Poet is looking to claim the Black Queen’s power—and Alice’s budding abilities—as their own.

Dreams have never been so dark in Wonderland, and if there is any hope of defeating this mystery poet’s magic, Alice must confront the worst in herself, in the people she loves, and in the very nature of fear itself.

Goodreads

And now, without further adieu, here are my favorite quotes!!!

“Alice tried to approach her mom after dad died, but the woman either retreated so far into herself it was like she was looking for Narnia, or she threw herself in the opposite direction and got lost in her work.”

 LOVE the Narnia reference here. That’s legit the reason I included this. I just love when authors use literary references in their books.

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“Begin at the beginning.”

 I can’t explain why, but I just find this quote.. comforting. I know that sounds weird, maybe. But as someone who has anxiety, my brain is often going in 20 different directions, so going back to the beginning and focusing is important – yet difficult – to do. And this quote made me think of those moments when I just need to stop, take a breath, focus, and start over.

~*~*~

“I will rip that horn out and choke you with it, lil girl!”

 I just love Alice’s mom, bahahaha. And out of context, this is hilarious! Good luck speculating what it is, bahahaha *evil grin.*

~*~*~

“Maybe it’s some weird Wonderland shit.”

 I mean.. Accurate, bahaha. Eveything to do with Wonderland is weird shit. BUT IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE!

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Alice: “Can we not talk about my nonexistent sex life? Thanks.”

 

Mom: “You shouldn’t be able to spell sex life.”

 

Nana K: “Oh, come on, Missy, she’s not a baby. Next year she’ll be old enough to vote and go off to war. Those aren’t half as fun.”

~*~*~

“I’m a legit superhero.”

~*~*~

“The boogie man probably wasn’t as dangerous.”

~*~*~

“You’re half right. But mostly wrong.”

 I just really love this. I don’t even have a reason why. I just do.

~*~*~

Alice: “You’re telling me I just dropped out of the sky?”


Character X*: “Like a sexy comet.”


 
*Name changed to avoid spoilers

~*~*~

“So I’m just supposed to hide while you’re playing Xena?”

~*~*~

Character X*: “Knight. Are you conscious?”


Black Knight: “Yes, though if you get any closer, you won’t be.”


 
*Name changed to avoid spoilers, of course. But yeah.. This quote just made me chuckle

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And there you have it!! My favorite quotes from A Dream So Dark! So, have you read this book yet? Do you have any favorite quotes? If not, did any of these quotes make you WANT to read the book? Which quotes? Share with me in the comments!

Review: The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner (Blog Tour)

Sep4

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner (Blog Tour)The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner
Published by Aladdin on September 3, 2019
Pages: 272
Format: ARC
Source: the publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

Sabrina the Teenage Witch meets Roller Girl in this hilarious, one-of-a-kind graphic novel about a half-witch who has just discovered the truth about herself, her family, and her town and is doing her best to survive middle school now that she knows everything!

Magic is harder than it looks.

Thirteen-year-old Moth Hush loves all things witchy. But she’s about to discover that witches aren’t just the stuff of movies, books, and spooky stories. When some eighth-grade bullies try to ruin her Halloween, something really strange happens. It turns out that Founder’s Bluff, Massachusetts, has a centuries-old history of witch drama. And, surprise: Moth’s family is at the center of it all! When Moth’s new powers show up, things get totally out-of-control. She meets a talking cat, falls into an enchanted diary, and unlocks a hidden witch world. Secrets surface from generations past as Moth unravels the complicated legacy at the heart of her town, her family, and herself.

In this spellbinding graphic novel debut, Emma Steinkellner spins a story packed with humor and heart about the weird and wonderful adventures of a witch-in-progress.

Hey, everyone! I’m SO excited to be on the blog tour for The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner (September 3, 2019 – Aladdin)! Without further adieu, here’s my review!

~*~*~

As a kids bookseller, I’m a HUGE proponent of graphic novels, and love explaining to parents all the benefits of letting their kids read them. Yet, personally, I actually haven’t read that many. I always shrugged it off and said they just “weren’t for me.” But then the email for The Okay Witch slid into my inbox and the description had me hooked! And boy, am I glad I gave this one a shot! It was absolutely incredible! I read it in one sitting, could barely put it down, and now desperately want the sequel!

Moth was adorable and super relatable. I loved going on this journey with her. Mr. Laszlo, the talking Jewish cat, was definitely one of my favorite characters. He was hilarious and snarky and I love him! Move over, Salem, you’ve been replaced – Mr. Laszlo knocked you out of the number one spot in my “Favorite Talking Cats” list, hehe :) I also adored Charlie. He had a great character arc! I didn’t trust him for awhile in the middle, but I like how his story ended. I can’t say much more about him without spoilers, though.

The town name “Founder’s Bluff” reminded me of Mystic Falls for some reason, so I got some Vampire Diaries vibes thanks to that. I had some Hocus Pocus vibes, mostly because witches, I think. I also had MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR Halloweentown vibes!! Moth reminded me so much of Marnie – the part human/part witch whose mother hid her magic from her, and who is now eager to learn about magic and her powers.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the illustrations in this. Since it was an ARC, only the first few chapters were in color and then the rest of it was black and white, so it goes without saying that I’m super anxious to get my hands on a finished copy and re-read it in all it’s colorful glory.

Overall, I REALLY adored this book – if you couldn’t tell from my excited, ramble-filled review. I can officially see why people love graphic novels, and why they sometimes use graphic novels to break reading slumps. It was so nice finishing this in one sitting and enjoying it as much as I did. That hasn’t happened in a LONG time. I also feel more confident about recommending graphic novels at work, now that I’ve read one! And I definitely plan on reading more in the future!

I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves graphic novels, witches, and awesome coming-of-age novels/movies.etc. Sabrina fans will definitely enjoy this, as well!

five-stars