Hey everyone! THE AMELIA SIX by Kristin L. Gray (June 30, 2020 – S&S/Paula Wiseman Books) releases in ONE MONTH!!!!! Have you checked it out/pre-ordered it yet???
Amelia Earhart’s famous aviator goggles go missing and eleven-year-old Millie has to find them before the night is over in this girl-powered middle grade whodunit.
Eleven-year-old Amelia Ashford — Millie to her friends (if she had any, that is) — doesn’t realize just how much adventure awaits her when she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to spend the night in Amelia Earhart’s childhood home with five other girls. Make that five strangers. But Millie’s mom is a pilot like the famous Amelia, and Millie would love to have something to write to her about…if only she had her address.
Once at Amelia’s house in Atchison, Kansas, Millie stumbles upon a display of Amelia’s famous flight goggles. She can’t believe her good luck, since they’re about to be relocated to a fancy museum in Washington, DC. But her luck changes quickly when the goggles disappear, and Millie was the last to see them. Soon, fingers are pointing in all directions, and someone falls strangely ill. Suddenly, a fun night of scavenger hunts and sweets takes a nosedive and the girls aren’t sure who to trust. With a blizzard raging outside and a house full of suspects, the girls have no choice but to band together. It’s up to the Amelia Six to find the culprit and return the goggles to their rightful place. Or the next body to collapse could be one of theirs.
Kristin L. Gray is the author of Vilonia Beebe Takes Charge (which Publishers Weekly called a “sensitive and uplifting coming-of-age journey”) and The Amelia Six. Kristin loves to read, walk her dogs, and eat cake for breakfast. Her fourth-grade self would never believe she has five children, two dogs, one fish, a bearded dragon, and a shy gecko. She lives in northwest Arkansas. To learn more about Kristin, or to send her a cake, visit her online at KristinLGray.com.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
Bookish Delight of the Month (Bookish Delight for short) is a monthly feature in which I’ll spotlight the number one book I’m most anticipating at the beginning of the month it releases. This could be a book I don’t have yet, or have an ARC of already – even a book I’m already reading (which is the case this month!) because it doesn’t matter whether I have it or not, or have read it or not – this is just all about me spotlighting the book I’m most excited for in a given month.
So, without further adieu, let’s get started!
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The book I’m most highly anticipating in March is… Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer. I’ve been dying to get my hands on this book since I first heard about it. I even interviewed E. Latimer in February – you can check that out here. This book just has EVERYTHING I love, and then some, and I can’t wait to read it!!!
Modern witchcraft blends with ancient Celtic mythology in an epic clash of witches and gods, perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy and A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.
Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch-plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader.
And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester-an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer’s motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don’t stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.
With razor-sharp prose and achingly real characters, E. Latimer crafts a sweeping, mesmerizing story of dark magic and brutal mythology set against a backdrop of contemporary Ireland that’s impossible to put down.
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So, what is your most anticipated book of March? Share it in the comments!
Bookish Delight of the Month (Bookish Delight for short) is a monthly feature in which I’ll spotlight the number one book I’m most anticipating at the beginning of the month it releases. This could be a book I don’t have yet, or have an ARC of already – even a book I’m already reading, because it doesn’t matter whether I have it or not, or have read it or not – this is just all about me spotlighting the book I’m most excited for in a given month.
So, without further adieu, let’s get started!
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Sooooo…… I kinda messed up and never posted my January Bookish Delight. I was sick for most of January, first with two migraines and then with some kind of allergy/sinus issue. So. Even though January is WAY over and we’re already over a week into February, I’m still gonna share both! Okay.. Ready? Ready!!
January Pick:
The book I was most highly anticipating in January was… Blood Countess by Lana Popović. I mean.. a YA retelling of Elizabeth Báthory… NEED I EVEN SAY MORE?!?!?!
A historical YA horror novel based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula
In 16th century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Báthory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the Countess begins to groom Anna as her friend and confidante. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess takes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancé, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her, too.
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February Pick:
The book I’m most highly anticipating in February is… Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon! I’ve loved all of Sandhya’s books so far, and I’m BEYOND EXCITED for Of Curses and Kisses because, I mean… fairy tale retellings!!!! Boarding school!!!! Need I say more?!?!?!
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.
Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
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So, there you have it! My (belated) January and February picks for Bookish Delight! Now, tell me: What was your most anticipated book in January? February? Have you read it/them? Did you enjoy it/them? Share it in the comments!
Hey everyone! I’m BEYOND excited to have E. Latimer, author of Witches of Ash and Ruin (March 3, 2020), here for an interview! This book has been on my radar since it was first announced, and I CANNOT wait to read it!!! So, without further adieu, here’s more about the book:
Modern witchcraft blends with ancient Celtic mythology in an epic clash of witches and gods, perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy and A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.
Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch-plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader.
And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester-an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer’s motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don’t stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.
With razor-sharp prose and achingly real characters, E. Latimer crafts a sweeping, mesmerizing story of dark magic and brutal mythology set against a backdrop of contemporary Ireland that’s impossible to put down.
Describe your book in ten words or less. Go!
Rival covens team up to stop witch-killing serial killer.
Witchcraft, Celtic Mythology and serial killers… This book has it all!! What inspired you to write it?
I actually started forming the idea for Witches of Ash and Ruin when I finished The Raven Cycle books for what had to be the tenth time. I absolutely adore the whole vibe of Blue’s home and family. I wanted to live in those scenes forever. I have a real love for witchy women and the spaces they inhabit, from the women of Practical Magic, to the magical chaos of Molly Weasley’s kitchen.
I wanted to tap into something like that, which is why the narrative of Witches begins and ends in the coven house, specifically in the kitchen.
What scene do you most regret having to cut?
I had a big kissing scene in the library amongst the shelves, and while some of that is still there I had to cut down on a lot because of pacing.
Craziest thing you’ve had to Google for a work in progress?
Probably the time I spent searching for ‘Irish Serial Killers”. Because there really aren’t any. It was a weird thing to be disappointed by.
What book(s) would you recommend to a reader who loved yours, and wants to read something similar?
Well, to be obvious about it, The Raven Cycle of course. But if you’re looking for something newer or you’ve already read it, The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman is a fantastically dark and witchy read.
What are three must-have items when you sit down to write?
Tea, headphones and my plot outline.
Are you working on anything new?
Yes! I’m currently working on a book about plant druids, sexy thieves and demon kings.
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So, are you excited for Witches of Ash and Ruin??? Well then, what are you waiting for…??? GO PRE-ORDER IT!
ALSO, GUESS WHAT?!?!? If you pre-order Witches of Ash and Ruin from Books Inc before March 3rd, you can get a signed, personalized copy and this GORGEOUS witchy enamel pin:
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E. Latimer is a fantasy writer from Victoria, BC. Her middle grade novel, The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray was published by Tundra Books, and was recently nominated for the Red Maple Fiction Award.
In her spare time, she writes books, makes silly vlogs with the Word Nerds about writing, and reads excessively.
Her latest novel, Witches of Ash and Ruin, will be released Spring/Summer 2020.
Hey everyone! Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon (February 18, 2020 – Simon Pulse) releases in TWO WEEKS!!!!! Have you checked it out/pre-ordered it yet???
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.
Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
Hey everyone! When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey (March 3, 2020 – Simon Pulse) releases in ONE MONTH!!!!! Have you checked it out/pre-ordered it yet???
A moving, darkly funny novel about six teens whose magic goes wildly awry from Magic for Liars author Sarah Gailey, who Chuck Wendig calls an “author to watch.”
Keeping your magic a secret is hard. Being in love with your best friend is harder.
Alexis has always been able to rely on two things: her best friends, and the magic powers they all share. Their secret is what brought them together, and their love for each other is unshakeable—even when that love is complicated. Complicated by problems like jealousy, or insecurity, or lust. Or love.
That unshakeable, complicated love is one of the only things that doesn’t change on prom night.
When accidental magic goes sideways and a boy winds up dead, Alexis and her friends come together to try to right a terrible wrong. Their first attempt fails—and their second attempt fails even harder. Left with the remains of their failed spells and more consequences than anyone could have predicted, each of them must find a way to live with their part of the story.
Hey everyone! Heart of Flames (Crown of Feathers #2) by Nicki Pau Preto (February 11, 2020 – Simon Pulse) releases in TWO WEEKS!!!!! Have you checked it out/pre-ordered it yet???
Veronyka, Tristan, and Sev must stop the advancing empire from destroying the Phoenix Riders in this fiery sequel to Crown of Feathers, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake calls “absolutely unforgettable!”
You are a daughter of queens.
The world is balanced on the edge of a knife, and war is almost certain between the empire and the Phoenix Riders.
Like Nefyra before you, your life will be a trial by fire.
Veronyka finally got her wish to join the Riders, but while she’s supposed to be in training, all she really wants to do is fly out to defend the villages of Pyra from the advancing empire. Tristan has been promoted to Master Rider, but he has very different ideas about the best way to protect their people than his father, the commander. Sev has been sent to spy on the empire, but maintaining his cover may force him to fight on the wrong side of the war. And Veronyka’s sister, Val, is determined to regain the empire she lost—even if it means inciting the war herself.
Such is your inheritance. A name. A legacy. An empire in ruin.
As tensions reach a boiling point, the characters all find themselves drawn together into a fight that will shape the course of the empire—and determine the future of the Phoenix Riders. Each must decide how far they’re willing to go—and what they’re willing to lose in the process.
Happy Book Birthday to Chosen (January 7, 2020 – Simon Pulse) by Kiersten White!!! As a life-long Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I am SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER pumped for this book, and reading it very soon! Have you checked it out/purchased it yet???
“Will get Buffy fans up in their feels.” —Entertainment Weekly on Slayer
Nina continues to learn how to use her slayer powers against enemies old and new in this second novel in the New York Times bestselling series from Kiersten White, set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle—including her still-distant mother—Nina has her hands full. Plus, though she gained back her Slayer powers from Leo, they’re not feeling quite right after being held by the seriously evil succubus Eve, a.k.a. fake Watcher’s Council member and Leo’s mom.
And while Nina is dealing with the darkness inside, there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere, in connection with Sean’s demon drug ring as well as someone a bit closer to home. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right?
The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer.
Amelia Earhart’s famous aviator goggles go missing and eleven-year-old Millie has to find them before the night is over in this girl-powered middle grade whodunit.
About the Author:
