Hey Bookworms!
Welcome to my stop on the Siege of Shadows Blog Tour! I am excited to be posting a Guest Post + Review.
Continue reading #BlogTour: Siege of Shadows by Sarah Raughley (Guest Post + Review)
Tag: Sarah Raughley
Happy Canada Day: #CanadianReads
Hey Bookworms!
Today is July 1st, which means it is Canada Day! This year marks Canada’s 150 birthday since becoming a country back in 1867. Canada in my opinion is the best country in the world! I am proud to be Canadian, and so are these amazing Canadian YA authors.
I thought it would be a fun post to make with all my favourite Canadian recommendations. It’s a bit of a long list, but I hope you can stick around until the end!
Morgan Rhodes
Morgan Rhodes lives in Ontario, Canada. As a child, she always wanted to be a princess — the kind that knows how to wield a sharp sword to help save both kingdoms and princes from fire-breathing dragons and dark wizards. Instead, she became a writer, which is just as good and much less dangerous. Along with writing, Morgan enjoys photography, travel, reality TV, and is an extremely picky, yet voracious reader of all kinds of books. Under another pen name, she’s a national bestselling author of many paranormal novels. Falling Kingdoms is her first high fantasy.
Notable Novels/Series:
Falling Kingdoms Series
Spirits and Thieves Series
E.K. Johnston
E.K. Johnston had several jobs and one vocation before she became a published writer. If she’s learned anything, it’s that things turn out weird sometimes, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. Well, that and how to muscle through awkward fanfic because it’s about a pairing she likes.
Her books range from contemporary fantasy (The Story of Owen, Prairie Fire), to fairy-tale reimaginings (A Thousand Nights, Spindle), and from small town Ontario (Exit, Pursued By A Bear), to a galaxy far, far away (Star Wars: Ahsoka). She has no plans to rein anything in.
Notable Novels/Series:
A Thousand Nights Duology
EXIT, Pursued by a Bear
That Inevitable Victorian Thing
Star Wars Ahsoka
Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed.
Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the NYT-bestselling “Women of the Otherworld” paranormal suspense series and “Darkest Powers” young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.
Notable Novels/Series:
Darkest Powers Series
Age of Legends Series
Kevin Sands
Since escaping from university with a pair of degrees in theoretical physics, Kevin Sands has worked as a researcher, a business consultant, a teacher, and a professional poker player. He lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of the bestselling The Blackthorn Key series.
Notable Novels/Series:
The Blackthorn Key Series
Erin Bow
Hi! My name is Erin Bow — physicist turned poet turned author of young adult novels that will make you cry on the bus. I’m a white girl, forty-something, feminist, geeky enough to do the Vulcan salute with both hands — in public. I live in Canada. I love to cook, hate to clean, and yes, I do own a cat.
Notable Novels/Series:
Prisoners of Peace Duology
S.K. Ali
S. K. Ali is the author of Saints and Misfits. She lives in Toronto with her family, which includes a very vocal cat named Yeti. She is currently working on her second YA novel, featuring an ensemble cast of diverse souls, as well as LOVE.
Notable Novels/Series:
Saints & Misfits
Sarah Raughley
Sarah Raughley grew up in Southern Ontario writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to SF/F TV to Japanese Role Playing Games, but she will swear up and down that she was inspired by ~Jane Austin~ at book signings. On top of being a YA Writer, she is currently completing a PhD in English, because the sight of blood makes her queasy (which crossed Medical School off the list).
Notable Novels/Series:
Effigies Series
Alwyn Hamilton
Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone-deafness. She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France for Cambridge University to study History of Art at King’s College, and then to London where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often.
Notable Novels/Series:
Rebel of the Sands Series
Kenneth Oppel
I was born in 1967 in Port Alberni, a mill town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia but spent the bulk of my childhood in Victoria, B.C. and on the opposite coast, in Halifax, Nova Scotia…At around twelve I decided I wanted to be a writer (this came after deciding I wanted to be a scientist, and then an architect). I started out writing sci-fi epics (my Star Wars phase) then went on to swords and sorcery tales (my Dungeons and Dragons phase) and then, during the summer holiday when I was fourteen, started on a humorous story about a boy addicted to video games (written, of course, during my video game phase). It turned out to be quite a long story, really a short novel, and I rewrote it the next summer. We had a family friend who knew Roald Dahl – one of my favourite authors – and this friend offered to show Dahl my story. I was paralysed with excitement. I never heard back from Roald Dahl directly, but he read my story, and liked it enough to pass on to his own literary agent. I got a letter from them, saying they wanted to take me on, and try to sell my story. And they did.
Notable Novels/Series:
Silverwing Series
Every Hidden Thing
Lesley Livingston
LESLEY LIVINGSTON is a writer living in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of twelve books to date. Her first novel, WONDROUS STRANGE, was winner of the CLA Young Adult Book of the Year 2010, a White Pine Honour Book, shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Speculative Fiction, and in 2015 was named one of CBC’s “100 YA Books That Make You Proud To Be Canadian”. DARKLIGHT, the second book in this series was a finalist for the Indigo Teen Read Awards. The concluding volume in the trilogy, TEMPESTUOUS, was a finalist for the Monica Hughes Award. These books have sold to more than ten countries to date, and WONDROUS STRANGE has been optioned for film/TV by Shaftesbury Films. Her other trilogies have both won the Copper Cylinder award for Young Adult fiction.
Notable Novels/Series:
Wondrous Strange Series
Starling Series
The Valiant Series
Amy Alward
Amy Alward is a 30-something Chinese-White author, born in the UK and raised in Canada, currently based in Toronto. In 2013, she was listed as one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars. Her debut fantasy adventure novel, The Oathbreaker’s Shadow, was published in 2013 under the name Amy McCulloch and was longlisted for the 2014 Branford Boase Award for best UK debut children’s book. Her first book written as Amy Alward, The Potion Diaries, was an international success and the second novel in the series, The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour will be published in August 2016. She loves travelling the world, researching extraordinary settings and intriguing stories for future books.
Notable Novels/Series:
Potion Series
Elly Blake
Elly Blake loves fairy tales, old houses, and owls. After earning a BA in English literature, she held a series of seemingly random jobs, including project manager, customs clerk, graphic designer, reporter for a local business magazine, and library assistant. She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and a Siberian Husky mix who definitely shows Frostblood tendencies.
Notable Novels/Series:
Frostblood Saga
Danielle L. Jensen
Danielle L. Jensen is the USA Today bestselling author of the acclaimed Malediction Trilogy: Stolen Songbird, Hidden Huntress, and Warrior Witch (Angry Robot Books). A prequel, The Broken Ones, will hit shelves in June 2017.
Danielle was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. At the insistence of the left side of her brain, she graduated in 2003 from the University of Calgary with a bachelor’s degree in finance. But the right side of her brain has ever been mutinous; and in 2010, it sent her back to school to complete an entirely impractical English literature degree at Mount Royal University and to pursue publication. Much to her satisfaction, the right side shows no sign of relinquishing its domination.
Notable Novels/Series:
Malediction Trilogy
Eve Silver
National bestselling author Eve Silver has been praised for her “edgy, steamy, action-packed” books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines. Her work has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Quill and Quire, two RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards, Library Journal’s Best Genre Fiction Award, and she was nominated for the Romance Writers of America® RITA® Award. The first book in Eve’s new teen series, THE GAME: RUSH, is available now. Watch for PUSH, coming from Katherine Tegen Books, June 2014.
Eve lives with her husband, two sons, an energetic Airedale terrier and an exuberant border collie/shepherd.
Notable Novels/Series:
The Game Series
Otherkin Series
Rachel Hartman
Rachel Hartman’s first YA fantasy novel, SERAPHINA, will be published by Random House on July 10th, 2012.
Rachel was born in Kentucky, but has lived a variety of places including Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, England, and Japan. She has a BA in Comparative Literature, although she insists it should have been a BS because her undergraduate thesis was called “Paradox and Parody in Don Quixote and the satires of Lucian.” She eschewed graduate school in favour of drawing comic books. She now lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family, their whippet, and a talking frog and salamander (who fight zombies)(really. There are a lot of zombies in the Pacific Northwest).
Notable Novels/Series:
Seraphina Duology
M-E Girard
M-E GIRARD is a Canadian writer of contemporary fiction—mostly young adult fiction, sometimes new adult fiction, usually queer fiction, and always about girls. Her debut novel GIRL MANS UP will be published in September 2016 by HarperTeen/HarperCollins and HarperCollins Canada. M-E was a fellow of the 2013 and 2015 Lambda Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices. Her writing has appeared in Plenitude Magazine. M-E is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Writers’ Community of Durham Region.
Notable Novels/Series:
Girl Mans Up
Amy McCulloch
Amy McCulloch is a Canadian living in London, who fits writing around work as a Editorial Director at one of the UK’s leading children’s publishers.
She was bitten by the travel bug at an early age while accompanying her parents on buying trips around the world for their oriental carpet business. It was this love of travel that inspired her to set a novel in a hot, desert location (moving to freezing Ottawa, Canada, where her first winter hit -40°C, might have had something to do with that too). She studied Medieval and Old English literature at the University of Toronto.
Notable Novels/Series:
The Knots Sequence
Heather Fawcett
I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, where I enjoy wandering around in the wilderness and only occasionally getting lost. I’ve also spent extended periods of time in Italy, where I learned very little Italian but ate quite a lot of pizza, and Ireland, where I searched half-successfully for puffins and selkies.
Before becoming a writer I worked, among other things, as an archaeologist, a technical writer, and a backstage assistant for a Shakespearean theatre company (which I could write several novels about). I have a Master’s degree in English Literature and briefly considered becoming a professor, before I realized it involved more than reading books, drinking excessive amounts of tea, and wearing colourful elbow patches.
Notable Novels/Series:
Even the Darkest Stars Duology
Kristen Ciccarelli
Kristen Ciccarelli hails from Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula where she grew up on her grandfather’s grape farm. She spent her childhood running wild with her cousins, adventuring in the woods, building forts in the barn, and obsessing over books, dragons, and girls wielding really cool weapons.
Notable Novels/Series:
Iskari Series
Gabrielle Prendergast
I’m a writer, teacher and designer living in Vancouver, Canada.
In 2014 I was the Writer in Residence at Vancouver Public Library. In 2015 I was nominated for the BC Book Prizes and chosen to tour the province to promote BC Books. I have also been nominated for the White Pine Award and the CLA Award. I won the Westchester Award for Audacious. Audacious was included in CBC’s list of 100 YA Books That Make You Proud to be Canadian. A poem from Capricious was chosen for the 2014 Poetry in Transit Program. Pandas on the East Side was chosen as an Ontario Library Association Best Bet for Junior Fiction in 2016.
Notable Novels/Series:
The Nahx Invasions Series
There you have it! Some of my favourite Canadian authors and their amazing books. Have you read any of these? If so which ones are your favourite?
Until next time,
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Weekly Cover Reveal Recap | January 30 – February 5
Hey guys!
Here are the covers that were revealed during the week of January 30 – February 5. Click the author to hop on over to their GoodReads page to add it to you’re TBR!
This was a big week for reveals. Hope ya’ll enjoy.
FANTASY / SCI-FI
Siege of Shadows by Sarah Raughley (Effigies #2)
Published by Simon Pulse
November 21st 2017
There’s nowhere to hide.
Not when you’re an Effigy. No matter where they go, Maia and the other Effigies can’t escape the eyes of the press—especially not after failing to capture Saul, whose power to control the monstrous Phantoms has left the world in a state of panic. It’s been two months since Saul’s disappearance, and there’s still no sign of him, leaving the public to wonder whether the Sect—and the Effigies—are capable of protecting anyone.
When Saul suddenly surfaces in the middle of the Sahara desert, the Sect sends Maia and her friends out after him. But instead of Saul, they discover a dying soldier engineered with Effigy-like abilities. And although these soldiers seem to answer to Saul, Maia can’t help but wonder if he has outside help.
Yet the looming danger of Saul and this mysterious new army doesn’t overshadow Maia’s fear of the Sect, who ordered the death of the previous Fire Effigy, Natalya. With enemies on all sides and the world turning against them, the Effigies have to put their trust in each other—easier said than done when secrets threaten to tear them apart.
The Prince’s Rogue by Elise Kova (Golden Guard #2)
Published by Silver Wing Press
February 7th 2017
The Empire has declared war against its neighbor to the north, the country of Shaldan. Prince Baldair is summoned to lead, but the untested royal harbors secret reservations about his ability to inspire confidence in troops his senior in both age and experience. The memory of his first kills the summer prior still weigh heavy on his shoulders, and he flees to his friend Erion’s home near the Crossroads to wait for the army before marching north.
Raylynn Westind had never held a responsibility in her life. After losing her mother years ago, she wanders from town to town in search of a challenge, honoring the sacred song of the sword her mother taught her. She never backs down from a fight, not when her opponents are the deadly Knights of Jadar, mysteriously insistent upon her death. And certainly not when the opponent is the Empire’s young playboy prince.
Baldair has never met another person as gifted with the sword as he, and is insistent on seeing a golden bracer grace Raylynn’s forearm. But the woman lives a mercenary’s life, and Baldair quickly learns that her loyalty comes at a high price. When he discovers the bounty on her head, the prince must choose between his responsibilities to his father’s Empire, and the woman who has captured his heart as a soldier, and as a man.
Last Star Burning by Caitlin Sangster
Published by Simon Pulse
October 10th 2017
Sev knows how it feels to be hated. She’s been tattooed with White stars since she was eight, forced to pay for crimes committed by her mother. Betrayal, murder, and spreading the plague their city walls were built to keep out.
With her mother’s body displayed above Traitor’s Arch, kept in a horrible half-sleep by the same plague that destroyed the rest of the world, Sev has become the living symbol of her mother’s treachery. Tai-ge, a Red, is her only real friend. Despite how close they’ve become, Sev’s tainted blood means they can never be more.
When the government falsely accuses Sev of involvement in a bombing, Sev must escape the city or face the chopping block. Unimaginable dangers lurk outside the city walls, and Sev’s only hope of survival lies with the most unlikely person—Howl, the Black chairman’s son.
But in a hostile world, trust is a luxury. Even when Sev’s life and the lives of everyone she loves may hang in the balance.
Zenith by Lindsay Cummings & Sasha Alsberg (The Androma Saga #1)
Published by Harlequin Teen
August 1st 2017
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she’s just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.
But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder‘s all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situationand at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi’s past.
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.
Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their shipor just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.
Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett
Published by Balzer + Bray
September 5th 2017
Kamzin has always dreamed of becoming one of the emperor’s royal explorers, the elite climbers tasked with mapping the wintry, mountainous Empire and spying on its enemies. She knows she could be the best in the world, if only someone would give her a chance.
But everything changes when the mysterious and eccentric River Shara, the greatest explorer every known, arrives in her village and demands to hire Kamzin—not her older sister, Lusha, as everyone had expected—for his next expedition. This is Kamzin’s chance to prove herself—even though River’s mission to retrieve a rare talisman for the emperor means cimbing Raksha, the tallest and deadliest mountain in the Aryas. Then, Lusha sets off on her own mission to Raksha with a rival explorer, and Kamzin must decide what’s most important to her: protecting her sister from the countless perils of the climb or beating her to the summit.
The challenges of climbing Raksha are unlike anything Kamzin expected—or prepared for—with avalanches, ice chasms, ghosts, and other dangers at every turn. And as dark secrets are revealed, Kamzin must unravel the truth about their mission and her companions—while surviving the deadliest climb she has ever faced.
Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast (Zero Repeat Forever #1)
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
September 12, 2017
He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.
Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.
His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.
Until a human kills her…
Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.
Shelter in place.
Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?
Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.
Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other…
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books
September 26th 2017
Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized among them. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes – a weakness that could cost him his life.
Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love, violating the fair folks’ ruthless Good Law. To save both their lives, Isobel must drink from the Green Well, whose water will transform her into a fair one—at the cost of her Craft, for immortality is as stagnant as it is timeless.
Isobel has a choice: she can sacrifice her art for a future, or arm herself with paint and canvas against the ancient power of the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.
27 Hours by Tristina Wright (The Nightshade Saga #1)
Published by Entangled: Teen
October 3rd 2017
Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish.
But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them.
Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with Dahlia, her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother’s shadow, and to unlearn Epsilon’s darkest secret.
They’ll both have to commit treason to find the truth.
During one twenty-seven-hour night, if they can’t stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, the things they wish for will never come true, and the things they fear will be all that’s left.
The Traitor’s Kiss by Erin Beaty (Traitors Trilogy #1)
Published by Imprint
May 9th 2017
An obstinate girl who will not be married.
A soldier desperate to prove himself.
A kingdom on the brink of war.With a sharp tongue and an unruly temper, Sage Fowler is not what they’d call a lady―which is perfectly fine with her. Deemed unfit for marriage, Sage is apprenticed to a matchmaker and tasked with wrangling other young ladies to be married off for political alliances. She spies on the girls―and on the soldiers escorting them.
As the girls’ military escort senses a political uprising, Sage is recruited by a handsome soldier to infiltrate the enemy ranks. The more she discovers as a spy, the less certain she becomes about whom to trust―and Sage becomes caught in a dangerous balancing act that will determine the fate of her kingdom.
CONTEMPORARY
Driven by M.B. Mulhall
Published by Harmony Ink Press
March 7th 2017
Eighteen-year-old Oliver’s troubles don’t end when he’s released from prison. He has nowhere to go, and he can’t even think about moving past his crimes while trying to survive homelessness.
Helping an elderly woman after a fall guides Oliver into at least a temporary home. In exchange for odd jobs and some assistance, he’s welcomed into a life with the old twin spinsters, and it seems too good to be true. The neighbor, Simon, certainly thinks it is. He doesn’t trust Oliver or his motives. Oliver is used to that kind of judgment, but it isn’t helping him overcome his guilt. Maybe Simon is right and Oliver doesn’t deserve happiness—or any of the other feelings stirring in a heart Oliver thought he’d closed off for good.
Oliver has two options: let the pain of his past swallow him and destroy all hope for the future, or move on to the new possibilities in front of him. Choosing to live won’t be easy, and Oliver might not be able to do it alone.
Feral Youth by Shaun David Hutchinson & Co.
Published by Simon Pulse
September 5th 2017
At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come from all walks of life, and they were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive.
Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, Feral Youth features characters, each complex and damaged in their own ways, who are enticed to tell a story (or two) with the promise of a cash prize. The stories range from noir-inspired revenge tales to mythological stories of fierce heroines and angry gods. And while few of the stories are claimed to be based in truth, they ultimately reveal more about the teller than the truth ever could.
The Duke of Bannerman Prep by Katie A. Nelson
Published by Sky Pony Press
May 2nd 2017
Tanner McKay is at Bannerman Prep for only one reason: the elite school recruited him after he brought his public school’s debate team to victory last year. Bannerman wants a championship win. Debate is Tanner’s life—his ticket out of his poor-as-dirt life and family drama, straight to a scholarship to Stanford and the start of a new, better future.
But when he’s paired with the Duke, his plans for an easy ride seem as if they’ve hit the rails. The Duke is the quintessential playboy, beloved by everyone for his laissez-faire attitude, crazy parties, and seemingly effortless favors.
And a total no-show when it comes to putting in the work to win.
But as Tanner gets sucked into the Duke’s flashy world, the thrill of the high life and the adrenaline of existing on the edge becomes addictive. A small favor here and there seems like nothing in exchange for getting everything he ever dreamed of.
But the Duke’s castle is built on shady, shaky secrets, and the walls are about to topple down.
Girls Can’t Hit by T.S. Easton
Published by Feiwel & Friends
April 18th 2017
Fleur Waters never takes anything seriously – until she turns up at her local boxing club one day, just to prove a point. She’s the only girl there, and the warm-up alone is exhausting . . . but the workout gives her an escape from home and school, and when she lands her first uppercut on a punching bag she feels a rare glow of satisfaction. So she goes back the next week, determined to improve.
Fleur’s overprotective mum can’t abide the idea of her entering a boxing ring, why won’t she join her pilates class instead? Her friends don’t get it either and even her boyfriend, ‘Prince’ George, seems concerned by her growing muscles and appetite – but it’s Fleur’s body, Fleur’s life, so she digs her heels in and carries on with her training. When she finally makes it into the ring, her friends and family show their support and Fleur realises that sometimes in life it’s better to drop your guard and take a wild swing!
The Victoria in My Head by Janelle Milanes
Published by Simon Pulse
September 19th 2017
Victoria Cruz inhabits two worlds: In one, she is a rock star, thrashing the stage with her husky voice and purple-streaked hair. In the other, currently serving as her reality, Victoria is a shy teenager with overprotective Cuban parents, who sleepwalks through her life at the prestigious Evanston Academy. Unable to overcome the whole paralyzing-stage-fright thing, Victoria settles for living inside her fantasies, where nothing can go wrong and everything is set to her expertly crafted music playlists.
But after a chance encounter with an unattainably gorgeous boy named Strand, whose band seeks a lead singer, Victoria is tempted to turn her fevered daydreams into reality. To do that, she must confront her insecurities and break away from the treadmill that is her life. Suddenly, Victoria is faced with the choice of staying on the path she’s always known and straying off-course to find love, adventure, and danger.
Kat and Meg Conquer the World by Anna Priemaza
Published by HarperTeen
November 7th 2017
Kat and Meg couldn’t be more different.
Kat’s anxiety makes it hard for her to talk to new people. The only place she feels safe is in front of her computer, playing her favorite video game.
Meg hates being alone, but her ADHD keeps pushing people away. Friends. Her boyfriend. Even the stepfather who raised her.
But when the two girls are thrown together for a year-long science project, they discover they do have one thing in common: their obsession with the online gaming star LumberLegs and his hilarious videos.
Meg’s pretty sure this is fate. Kat doesn’t know how to deal with someone who talks faster than she thinks. But if they can stick together and stay out of their heads, they might figure out how to help each other—and build the kind of friendship Kat never knew she wanted and Meg never believed she’d find.
Who We Are Instead by Kyla Stone
Published by Paper Moon Press
March 15th 2017
When her father has a massive heart attack, 20-year-old photography major Lena McKenna leaves college to provide hospice care for him after her rebellious younger sister, Lux, disappears. At home in her basement darkroom, Lena develops old family photographs, increasingly haunted by the memories of her mother, an intensely unhappy woman who committed suicide eight years before.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Lux, always wild and reckless, descends into desperate self-destruction. She can’t face the guilt eating away at her. She’ll do anything to escape it. Anything. Drugs, alcohol, boys. It doesn’t matter, as long as she forgets the memories that won’t let her go.
When her car breaks down, Lena runs into Eli, a former classmate and popular jock. While he’s as cocky as ever, he’s also full of surprises—including a two-year-old daughter he’s raising as a single father. In spite of herself, Lena falls hard for this newer, kinder version of Eli. But how can she believe in love when everything’s falling apart around her?
As their father’s condition worsens, old memories rise to the surface. Lux’s out-of-control behavior leaves a trail of devastation in her wake. Lena must make a choice. Escape her past and leave her sister behind, or turn and face the demons that may destroy them both.
Right Where You Left Me by Calla Devlin
Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
September 5th 2017
In search of the perfect story to put a human face on a tragedy for his newspaper, my dad will fly into the eye of the storm. And now he’s heading to Ukraine, straight into the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. I don’t want him to leave. I don’t want to spend the week alone in a silent house with my mother, whose classically Russian reserve has built a wall between us that neither of us knows how to tear down. But I don’t tell him this. I don’t say stay.
I think I’m holding it together okay—until the FBI comes knocking on our door. Now it’s all I can do to fight off the horrifying images in my head. The quake has left so many orphans and widows, but Mom and I refuse to be counted among them. Whatever it takes to get Dad back, I’ll do it. Even if it means breaking a promise…or the law.
Run Away With Me by Mila Gray (Come Back to Me #3)
Published by Pan Macmillan
November 28th 2017
Emerson Lowe and popular ice-hockey player Jake McCallister have been best friends since third grade but just as their friendship starts to morph into something more, a terrible event occurs that heralds the end of innocence for both of them. Within a week, Jake’s living on the other side of the country and Emerson is left alone to pick up the pieces of her life in a small town determined to paint her as a liar.
Seven years on and Emerson is still living on the beautiful Pacific West island of Bainbridge, helping her family run their outdoor adventure company. The last thing she needs is Jake turning up, bringing with him old memories and opening up old wounds. But Jake—even better looking than Emerson remembered and on the cusp of a bright sporting future—seems determined to revive their friendship no matter how much Emerson tries to push him away and soon they’re in the midst of a passionate summer romance that neither of them wants to end.
But if they’re to have any kind of future, they’re first going to need to confront the past, a past that most people want to stay buried.
The Go-Between by Veronica Chambers
Published by Delacorte Press
May 9th 2017
She is the envy of every teenage girl in Mexico City. Her mother is a glamorous telenovela actress. Her father is the go-to voice-over talent for blockbuster films. Hers is a world of private planes, chauffeurs, paparazzi and gossip columnists. Meet Camilla del Valle Cammi to those who know her best.
When Cammi s mom gets cast in an American television show and the family moves to LA, things change, and quickly. Her mom s first role is playing a not-so-glamorous maid in a sitcom. Her dad tries to find work but dreams about returning to Mexico. And at the posh, private Polestar Academy, Cammi s new friends assume she s a scholarship kid, the daughter of a domestic.
At first Cammi thinks playing along with the stereotypes will be her way of teaching her new friends a lesson. But the more she lies, the more she wonders: Is she only fooling herself?
HISTORICAL / HORROR
Among the Red Stars by Gwen C. Katz
Published by HarperTeen
October 3rd 2017
World War Two has shattered Valka’s homeland of Russia, and Valka is determined to help the effort. She knows her skills as a pilot rival the best of the men, so when an all-female aviation group forms, Valka is the first to sign up.
Flying has always meant freedom and exhilaration for Valka, but dropping bombs on German soldiers from a fragile canvas biplane is no joyride. The war is taking its toll on everyone, including the boy Valka grew up with, who is fighting for his life on the front lines.
As the war intensifies and those around her fall, Valka must decide how much she is willing to risk to defend the skies she once called home.
Book of Shadows by M.Verano
Published by Simon Pulse
August 29th 2017
All Melanie wants is a blank book to keep a journal of her private thoughts. One day while browsing in a used bookshop, she finds the perfect blank book—smooth black leather with strange symbols in gold embossing. But once she gets home, Melanie finds herself too intimidated by the heavy vellum pages to write her trivial thoughts on them. Her Wiccan friend Lara tells her it’s better suited to be a magical spell book, called The Book of Shadows.
Melanie doesn’t know much about that stuff, but Lara, her boyfriend Caleb, and his friend Lucas, get her started by writing their own made up spells inside the book’s tempting pages. What they didn’t expect was a new spell showing up inside the book—and in handwriting none of them recognize.
Soon they discover that the spells suggested by The Book of Shadows itself do work—but not without wreaking havoc on the lives of the four teenagers.
COVER REVEALS WITHOUT SYNOPSIS
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Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman
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The Memory Trees by Kali Wallace
Are you looking forward to any of these books? Let me know in the comments below! Stay tuned for next weeks cover reveals!
Until next time,
Top 16 Books of 2016 | Books at Dawn
Hey guys!
Welcome to a new year. How crazy has time flown by though; so insane. Well to start off the new year right, it only makes sense to list my favorite reads from 2016. The top 16 best books to be exact. Get it, 16 for 2016. I know, how original.
By doing this I hope to discuss some of the books that we both read together, or bring to your attention some books that you might have overlooked last year. So without further ado, here is my Top 16 Books of 2016:
16. Siren’s Song
Nym and Draewulf prepare to face off in a battle destined to destroy more lives than it saves.
With the loss of Tulla still fresh in mind, Rasha’s fate unknown, and Lord Myles taken over by the dark ability, Nym and the few Bron soldiers rush to warn Cashlin’s queen. Only to discover it may already be too late for the monarch and her eerie kingdom. As the Luminescents are sifting through Nym’s past memories and the queen is reading into her future, Nym is given a choice of how to defeat Draewulf, but the cost may be more than she can bear. And even then there are no guarantees.
With that reality burrowing into her bones—along with the guilt of the lives she will sacrifice—Nym returns to her homeland of Faelen to raise an army of peasants through promises of freedom. But when the few friends she has left, along with the world and citizens she loves, are staring down the face of a monster and his undead army, will Nym summon every element her blood is capable of controlling . . . or surrender to a different strength—one of sacrifice?
Because in the end, death may be more merciful for them all.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Siren’s Song Review
15. Paper Princess
From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.
These Royals will ruin you…
Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.
Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.
Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.
He might be right.
Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
My Thoughts:
Paper Princess was a deliciously addictive contemporary romance with tons of drama, sex, and swoon worthy bad boys. I can’t wait to pick up the sequels in the near future!
14. Air Awakens
A library apprentice, a sorcerer prince, and an unbreakable magic bond…
The Solaris Empire is one conquest away from uniting the continent, and the rare elemental magic sleeping in seventeen-year-old library apprentice Vhalla Yarl could shift the tides of war.
Vhalla has always been taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and has been happy in her quiet world of books. But after she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers of them all—the Crown Prince Aldrik—she finds herself enticed into his world. Now she must decide her future: Embrace her sorcery and leave the life she’s known, or eradicate her magic and remain as she’s always been. And with powerful forces lurking in the shadows, Vhalla’s indecision could cost her more than she ever imagined.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
My Thoughts:
Air Awakens is the beginning of what I imagine is going to be a vast and intriguing fantasy about the last of her kind. This book sets up a lot with characters, world, and history. I look forward to some more action and adventure in the future installments!
13. The Swan Riders
Greta Stuart had always known her future: die young. She was her country’s crown princess, and also its hostage, destined to be the first casualty in an inevitable war. But when the war came it broke all the rules, and Greta forged a different path.
She is no longer princess. No longer hostage. No longer human. Greta Stuart has become an AI.
If she can survive the transition, Greta will earn a place alongside Talis, the AI who rules the world. Talis is a big believer in peace through superior firepower. But some problems are too personal to obliterate from orbit, and for those there are the Swan Riders: a small band of humans who serve the AIs as part army, part cult.
Now two of the Swan Riders are escorting Talis and Greta across post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan. But Greta’s fate has stirred her nation into open rebellion, and the dry grassland may hide insurgents who want to rescue her – or see her killed. Including Elian, the boy she saved—the boy who wants to change the world, with a knife if necessary. Even the infinitely loyal Swan Riders may not be everything they seem.
Greta’s fate—and the fate of her world—are balanced on the edge of a knife in this smart, sly, electrifying adventure.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
The Swan Riders Review
12. The Impostor Queen
Sixteen-year-old Elli was only a child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic in service of her people. The only life Elli has known has been in the temple, surrounded by luxury, tutored by magic-wielding priests, preparing for the day when the queen perishes—and the ice and fire find a new home in Elli, who is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.
But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.
Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between her love for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must choose the right side before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
The Impostor Queen Review
11. Court of Fives
On the Fives court, everyone is equal.
And everyone is dangerous.
Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family, she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for the Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors.
Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbable friendship between the two Fives competitors—one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy—causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Court of Fives Review
10. Empire of Dust
In Macedon, war rises like smoke, forbidden romance blooms and ancient magic tempered with rage threatens to turn an empire to dust.
After winning his first battle, Prince Alexander fights to become the ruler his kingdom demands—but the line between leader and tyrant blurs with each new threat.
Meanwhile, Hephaestion, cast aside by Alexander for killing the wrong man, must conceal the devastating secret of a divine prophecy from Katerina even as the two of them are thrust together on a dangerous mission to Egypt.
The warrior, Jacob, determined to forget his first love, vows to eradicate the ancient Blood Magics and believes that royal prisoner Cynane holds the key to Macedon’s undoing.
And in chains, the Persian princess Zofia still longs to find the Spirit Eaters, but first must grapple with the secrets of her handsome—and deadly—captor.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Empire of Dust Review
9. Fate of Flames
Years ago, everything changed. Phantoms, massive beasts of nightmare, began terrorizing the world. At the same time four girls, the Effigies, appeared, each with the unique power to control a classical element. Since then, they have protected the world from the Phantoms. At the death of one Effigy, another is chosen, pulled from her normal life into the never-ending battle.
When Maia unexpectedly becomes the next Fire Effigy, she resists her new calling. A quiet girl with few friends and almost no family, she was much happier to admire the Effigies from afar. Never did she imagine having to master her ability to control fire, to protect innocent citizens from the Phantoms, or to try bringing together the other three Effigies.
But with the arrival of the mysterious Saul—a man who seems to be able to control the Phantoms using the same cosmic power previously only granted to four girls at a time—Maia and the other Effigies must learn to work together in a world where their celebrity is more important than their heroism.
But the secrets Saul has, and the power he possesses, might be more than even they can handle…
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Fate of Flames Review
8. Boy Robot
Seventeen-year-old Isaak discovers the truth about his origin and the underground forces that must come together to fight against a secret government organization formed to eradicate those like him in this high-octane science fiction debut.
There once was a boy who was made, not created.
In a single night, Isaak’s life changed forever.
His adoptive parents were killed, a mysterious girl saved him from a team of soldiers, and he learned of his own dark and destructive origin.
An origin he doesn’t want to believe, but one he cannot deny.
Isaak is a Robot: a government-made synthetic human, produced as a weapon and now hunted, marked for termination.
He and the Robots can only find asylum with the Underground—a secret network of Robots and humans working together to ensure a coexistent future.
To be protected by the Underground, Isaak will have to make it there first. But with a deadly military force tasked to find him at any cost, his odds are less than favorable.
Now Isaak must decide whether to hold on to his humanity and face possible death…or to embrace his true nature in order to survive, at the risk of becoming the weapon he was made to be.
In his debut, recording artist Simon Curtis has written a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that explores humanity, the ultimate power of empathy, and the greatest battle of all: love vs. fear.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Boy Robot Review
7. The Sun is Also a Star
Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
The Sun is Also a Star Review
6. Tell Me Three Things
Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?
It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.
In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Tell Me Three Things Review
5. The Serpent King
Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace.
The only antidote to all this venom is his friendship with fellow outcasts Travis and Lydia. But as they are starting their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. Dill’s only escapes are his music and his secret feelings for Lydia neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending one that will rock his life to the core.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
The Serpent King Review
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter is midway through both his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream).
He wants to find out about the mysterious event that supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn’t happened for hundreds of years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. But unfortunately for Harry Potter, he’s not normal – even by wizarding standards.
And in his case, different can be deadly.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
My Thoughts:
Can you believe that I am almost 25 years old and I am finally reading Harry Potter for the first time? That’s insane right? Well I am LOVING it. HP and the Goblet of Fire is by far my favorite one in the series so far. Just like it was my favorite of the movies also. I love how much more character growth and insight we get from the books. I’m hoping I can finish the series by years end!
3. We Are the Ants
There are a few things Henry Denton knows, and a few things he doesn’t.
Henry knows that his mom is struggling to keep the family together, and coping by chain-smoking cigarettes. He knows that his older brother is a college dropout with a pregnant girlfriend. He knows that he is slowly losing his grandmother to Alzheimer’s. And he knows that his boyfriend committed suicide last year.
What Henry doesn’t know is why the aliens chose to abduct him when he was thirteen, and he doesn’t know why they continue to steal him from his bed and take him aboard their ship. He doesn’t know why the world is going to end or why the aliens have offered him the opportunity to avert the impending disaster by pressing a big red button.
But they have. And they’ve only given him 144 days to make up his mind.
The question is whether Henry thinks the world is worth saving. That is, until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past who forces Henry to question his beliefs, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters. But before Henry can save the world, he’s got to figure out how to save himself, and the aliens haven’t given him a button for that.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
We Are the Ants Review
2. Golden Son & Morning Star
Darrow is a rebel forged by tragedy. For years he and his fellow Reds worked the mines, toiling to make the surface of Mars inhabitable. They were, they believed, mankind’s last hope. Until Darrow discovered that it was all a lie, and that the Red were nothing more than unwitting slaves to an elitist ruling class, the Golds, who had been living on Mars in luxury for generations.
In RED RISING, Darrow infiltrated Gold society, to fight in secret for a better future for his people. Now fully embedded amongst the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his dangerous work to bring them down from within. It’s a journey that will take him further than he’s ever been before – but is Darrow truly willing to pay the price that rebellion demands?
Hic sunt leones.
A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown’s growing status as one of fiction’s most exciting new voices.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.
Finally, the time has come.
But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
For my full thoughts, check out my review:
Golden Son Review & Morning Star Review
1. Frozen Tides & Crystal Storm
CLEO: Reeling after a bloody showdown in Limeros ending with Amara’s abduction of the water crystal, and a vacancy in the Mytican throne, Princess Cleo must cast aside her feelings and look toward her kingdom with the eyes of a Queen.
MAGNUS: With the kingdom in chaos, Princess Lucia still missing and quite possibly in danger, and a shocking realization about Cleo, the steely prince is once again torn between love and duty, leaving him wondering whether he’s strong enough to rule his people.
LUCIA: The young sorcercess has had her vengeance after the cruel death of her first and only love. Heartbroken and unable to trust anyone, she allies with the awoken Fire god, who also seeks revenge.
JONAS: After escaping death by the skin of his teeth, the defeated rebel—along with a mysterious stranger–leader reunites with Princess Cleo, only to find himself a mere pawn in a dangerous hunt for the elusive Kindred.
KING GAIUS: Abandoned by Melenia and betrayed by his own children, Gaius flees Mytica and sails to Kraeshia, where he attempts to ally with the famously brutal emperor across the Silver Sea.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
My Thoughts:
You all know that the Falling Kingdoms series is my all time favorite. Well book 4 does not disappoint at all! It’s fun, action packed, and a wild ride from beginning to end. So much is revealed in this installment that my brain and feels could not take it anymore! A ship finally gets together… and one of my favorite characters rises from the dead. Considering how many characters have died in this series, it’s not much of a spoiler to who it is!
The ruthless Empress Amara of Kraeshia has taken the Mytican throne, and now uncertainty looms over the three kingdoms. Since Lucia unleashed the fire Kindred, wreaking havoc throughout the land, Myticans have been looking for someone—anyone—they can trust. They believe in Amara, not knowing her grand promises are built on lies.
In Paelsia, Magnus and Cleo reluctantly follow King Gaius to the home of his exiled mother, Selia. Selia is a powerful witch and claims she can help unlock the magic of the Kindred—if the visitors agree to her terms. When Jonas arrives from Kraeshia, he is shocked to find that his rebel army now includes his sworn enemies. Along with Nic, Felix, and the mysteriously resurrected Ashur, the contentious group agrees to cast aside old grudges—for now—and united against their common enemy: Amara.
Meanwhile, bearing the child of a Watcher and feared by all, Princess Lucia travels across Mytica to find her family. But time is running out. The impending storm signals the dark prophecy Timotheus warned her about. Her fate is written, and it includes none other than the rebel Jonas. When their paths collied, Jonas and Lucia must decide between blindly following their destiny or fighting for their own free will.
The battle for power culminates at the Paelsian palace, where Amara resides. Rain pours. Blood spills. And soon all will discover that the darkest magic comes at an even darker price.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
My Thoughts:
OH-EM-GEE. What a freaking ending that was. How, why, what???? This series has now taken on a whole new level of awesomeness. My poor babies…. what is going to happen to my precious, precious characters?? I guess we will have to sit back and find out!
Well there you have it! My Top 16 Books of 2016. What did you think? What were some of your favorite books of 2016? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time,
Holiday Gift Guide: Fantasy / Sci-Fi Lovers
Hey guys!
Welcome to the Holiday Gift Guide: 2017 Edition! I thought it would be a fun opportunity to help you guys out this holidays with gift ideas for your book loving friends and family!
Today is: Holiday Gift Guide – Fantasy / Sci-Fi Lovers
There have been amazing fantasy and sci-fi books that were released this year that would make perfect gifts for your friends or family (or yourself, let’s be honest). Let’s take a look at the ones that should be at the top of your buying list this holidays!
Morning Star
Finally, the time has come.
But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.
Book 1: Red Rising
Book 2: Golden Son
Reasons to Buy:
- Conclusion to an EPIC series.
- Masterful world/universe building.
- Complex and diverse characters.
Boy Robot
There once was a boy who was made, not created.
In a single night, Isaak’s life changed forever.
His adoptive parents were killed, a mysterious girl saved him from a team of soldiers, and he learned of his own dark and destructive origin.
An origin he doesn’t want to believe, but one he cannot deny.
Isaak is a Robot: a government-made synthetic human, produced as a weapon and now hunted, marked for termination.
He and the Robots can only find asylum with the Underground—a secret network of Robots and humans working together to ensure a coexistent future.
To be protected by the Underground, Isaak will have to make it there first. But with a deadly military force tasked to find him at any cost, his odds are less than favorable.
Now Isaak must decide whether to hold on to his humanity and face possible death…or to embrace his true nature in order to survive, at the risk of becoming the weapon he was made to be.
Reasons to Buy:
- DIVERSITY +++.
- Tons of action and adventure.
- Start of a fun and exciting series.
Fate of Flames
When Maia unexpectedly becomes the next Fire Effigy, she resists her new calling. A quiet girl with few friends and almost no family, she was much happier to admire the Effigies from afar. Never did she imagine having to master her ability to control fire, to protect innocent citizens from the Phantoms, or to try bringing together the other three Effigies.
But with the arrival of the mysterious Saul—a man who seems to be able to control the Phantoms using the same cosmic power previously only granted to four girls at a time—Maia and the other Effigies must learn to work together in a world where their celebrity is more important than their heroism.
But the secrets Saul has, and the power he possesses, might be more than even they can handle…
Reasons to Buy:
- For fans of Sailor Moon and Last Airbender!
- Diverse cast of characters.
- Action and adventure around every corner.
Truthwitch
In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.
Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.
Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she’s a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden – lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult’s true powers are hidden even from herself.
In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls’ heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.
Reasons to Buy:
- Friendship goals.
- Fun and exciting world.
- Amazing character growth!
Queen of Hearts
As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.
When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.
Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinahs furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath.
Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Reasons to Buy:
- For fans of Alice in Wonderland.
- Great character growth.
- A fun look into the world of Wonderland before Alice gets there.
The Darkest Magic
Modern-day Toronto: Sisters Crystal and Becca Hatcher are reunited after reclaiming the Bronze Codex and narrowly escaping death. They have no one to trust but each other, and the only thing keeping them safe is the book that sent Becca’s spirit to Ancient Mytica–the same book that their enemies would kill them for.
Ancient Mytica: Maddox grapples to keep his newly discovered powers under control, while the ruthless goddess Valoria hunts him down.
Modern-day Toronto: Farrell embraces his dark side as he unwittingly falls further under the spell of Markus, the mastermind leader of the nefarious Hawkspear Society, who will stop at nothing to find Crys and Becca–and the remarkable book in their possession.
New York Times bestselling author Morgan Rhodes takes readers into exhilarating new high-fantasy territory with volume two of the Book of Spirits and Thieves series, an epic contemporary saga perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.
Book 1: A Book of Spirits and Thieves
Reasons to Buy:
- For fans of the Falling Kingdoms series!
- Secrets, lies, and deceit in every chapter.
- Great companion series.
Poisoned Blade
In this thrilling sequel to World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s captivating young adult debut, a girl immersed in high-stakes competition holds the fate of a kingdom in her hands.
Now a Challenger, Jessamy is moving up the ranks of the Fives–the complex athletic contest favored by the lowliest Commoners and the loftiest Patrons alike. Pitted against far more formidable adversaries, success is Jes’s only option, as her prize money is essential to keeping her hidden family alive. She leaps at the chance to tour the countryside and face more competitors, but then a fatal attack on her traveling party puts Jes at the center of the war that Lord Kalliarkos–the prince she still loves–is fighting against their country’s enemies. With a sinister overlord watching her every move and Kal’s life on the line, Jes must now become more than a Fives champion…. She must become a warrior.
Book 1: Court of Fives
Reasons to Buy:
- Diverse characters and world.
- Masterful world building.
- Action and adventure around every corner.
I hope this gives you guys some fun bookish gift ideas to get all your friends and families this holiday!
Until next time,
New to Me Authors: 2016 Edition | Top 10 Tuesday
Hey guys!
Welcome back to another Top 10 Tuesday weekly fun on my blog! Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. If you want to join in the fun, hop on over to their blog to see what it’s all about!
This week’s topic is Top 10 New to Me Authors: 2016 Edition.
I love getting the opportunity each year to read books by new authors or authors I have never read before. Because of this I get to explore new worlds and stories and find my newest favourtie authors! Here are my top 10 now:
Kimberly McCreight
Kimberly McCreight is the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia, which was nominated for an Edgar, Anthony and Alex award. She attended Vassar College and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.
Books I Read by Kimberly:
Julie Buxbaum
Julie Buxbaum is the New York Times best selling author of Tell Me Three Things, her young adult debut, and the critically acclaimed novels The Opposite of Love and After You. Her work has been translated into twenty-five languages. Julie’s writing has appeared in various publications, including The New York Times. She is a former lawyer and graduate of Harvard Law School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two young children, and an immortal goldfish.
Books I Read by Julie:
Sarah Fine
Sarah Fine is the author of Of Metal and Wishes, Of Dreams and Rust, and the Guards of the Shadowlands series. She was born on the West Coast, raised in the Midwest, and is now firmly entrenched on the East Coast, where she lives with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing, she’s working as a child psychologist.
Books I Read by Sarah:
Erin Bow
TEN THINGS ABOUT ME:
1. I’m a physicist turned poet turned YA novelist.
2. I am world-famous in Canada, which is kind of like being world-famous in real life.
3. I wrote a book about Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy: THE SCORPION RULES, Simon & Schuster Fall 2015
4. I wrote a not-at-all-cute book with a talking cat in it: PLAIN KATE (called WOOD ANGEL in the UK), Scholastic Fall 2010
5. I wrote a book about cat’s cradles that can repel spirit zombies: SORROW’S KNOT, Scholastic Fall 2013
6. All these books will make you either cry on the bus or snort milk out your nose. I am dangerous to your dignity and should be stopped.
7. I think Hufflepuff is the best house, Xander was the best Scoobie, Five was the best Doctor, and Spock was the best everything.
8. I am married to another novelist, and we can actually pay our bills.
9. My daughters want to be scientists.
10. My bookshelves will always be full.
Books I Read by Erin:
Colleen Oakes
Colleen Oakes is the author of books for both teens and adults, including YA fantasy retellings The Queen of Hearts Saga and The Wendy Darling Saga, and the Elly in Bloom series which is women’s fiction. She lives in North Denver with her husband and son and surrounds herself with the most lovely family and friends imaginable. When not writing or plotting new books, Colleen can be found swimming, traveling and totally immersing herself in nerdy pop culture. She currently at work on another YA fantasy series and a stand-alone YA novel.
Books I Read by Colleen:
Erin Watt
Erin Watt is the brainchild of two bestselling authors linked together through their love of great books and an addiction to writing. They share one creative imagination. Their greatest love (after their families and pets, of course)? Coming up with fun–and sometimes crazy–ideas. Their greatest fear? Breaking up.
Books I Read by Erin:
Kate Elliott
As a child in rural Oregon, Kate Elliott made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction. She now writes fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction, often with a romantic edge. It should therefore come as no surprise that she met her future husband in a sword fight.
When he gave up police work to study archaeology, they and their three children fell into an entirely new set of adventures in dusty Mexican ruins and mouthwatering European pastry shops. Eventually her spouse’s work forced them to move to Hawaii, where she took up outrigger canoe paddling.
Also, there is a schnauzer.
Books I Read by Kate:
Sarah Raughley
Sarah Raughley grew up in Southern Ontario writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to SF/F TV to Japanese Role Playing Games, but she will swear up and down that she was inspired by ~Jane Austin~ at book signings. On top of being a YA Writer, she is currently completing a PhD in English, because the sight of blood makes her queasy (which crossed Medical School off the list).
Books I Read by Sarah:
Adam Silvera
Adam Silvera was born and raised in the Bronx. He has worked in the publishing industry as a children’s bookseller, marketing assistant at a literary development company, and book reviewer of children’s and young adult novels. His debut novel, More Happy Than Not, received multiple starred reviews and is a New York Times bestseller, and Adam was selected as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. He writes full-time in New York City and is tall for no reason.
Books I Read by Adam:
Simon Curtis
Simon Curtis was born in Michigan and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was diagnosed with leukemia at age ten and began performing in musical theater and opera that same year. He was the happiest bald, chemotherapy-addled cancer patient ever seen on stage.
Books I Read by Simon:
Well there you have it! Top 10 New to Me Authors: 2016 Edition. What are some of your favorite villains?
Until next time,
November 2016 Book Haul
Hey guys!
Here are all the books I got in November! There is quite a few to get through. I’m super excited about this month’s haul.
So let’s get started shall we?
INDIGO
Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes
Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley
Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier
Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge
A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
Book Outlet
Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake
The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
Zodiac by Romina Russell
Beware That Girl by Teresa Toten
Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff
The Novice by Taran Matharu
The Inquisition by Taran Matharu
The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine
Half Lost by Sally Green
GIFTS FROM FRIENDS
From Ashleigh Bello
Belvedor and the Four Corners by Ashleigh Bello
Belvedor and the King’s Curse by Ashleigh Bello
From Tina @ Indigo
This is Where is Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell
From Jenna @ Reading with Jenna
Disruption by Jessica Shirvington
Corruption by Jessica Shirvington
The Sidekicks by Will Kostakis
ARCs
The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom (Raincoast)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins Canada)
The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine (HarperCollins Canada)
Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys (Delacorte Press via Indigo)
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (Simon & Schuster Canada)
The You I’ve Never Known by Ellen Hopkins (Simon & Schuster Canada)
The Cursed Queen by Sarah Fine (Simon & Schuster USA)
That was definitely a big month for me! Did you guys pick up any of these books too? See you next month!
Until next time,
November 2016 Wrap Up!
Hey guys!
This month sure did zoom past us. It definitely felt that way to me at least. As Christmas fast approaches, so does the mall craziness (a.k.a my job). My stress levels are at an all time high this time of year.
Not only did I get strep throat earlier this month, but I’ve also not been able to go to the gym as much as I want! But on the good news side of things, the lovely Jenna from Reading with Jenna came to visit Toronto! It was such a fun week spending it with her. I took her to a lot of bookstores, and we definitely ate our way through the city! We also took time and watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with Joey from Thoughts and Afterthoughts. Finally we had a board game night with Joey and Maria from Big City Bookworm. It was definitely the highlight of my November!
Phew…. boy am I exhausted! So let’s get to how well I did in books!
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon – November 2nd, 2016
Paper Princess by Erin Watt – November 9th, 2016
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley – November 9th, 2016
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris – November 12th, 2016
Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger – November 16th, 2016
Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys – November 23rd, 2016
Thanks A Lot, John LeClair by Johanna Parkhurst – November 28th, 2016
Crimson Dagger by Morgan Rhodes – November 29th, 2016
Obsidian Blade by Morgan Rhodes – November 30th, 2016
Only 7 novels + 2 novellas this month!
Other books I’ve started:
The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid – 4/5
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena – 3/5
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon – 5/5
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley – 4/5
(Click the links to read the reviews)
Reviews Coming in December:
Waiting On Wednesday
Crystal Storm – November 2nd, 2016
Windwitch – November 9th, 2016
Roseblood – November 16th, 2016
History is All You Left Me – November 23rd, 2016
Frostblood – November 30th, 2016
Top 10 Tuesday
Recent Adds to my TBR – November 8th, 2016
Holiday Gift Guide: Humor – November 29th, 2016
November Awards
N/A
November Achievements
700 Blog Followers – November 2016
28,500 Blog Views – November 2016
11,500 Blog Visitors – November 2016
Beauty and the Beast Tag – November 20th, 2016
N/A
November 7th to November 13th – BIG REVEAL: Wonder Woman Warbringer
November 14th to 20th – BIG REVEAL: Lord of Shadows
November 21st to November 27th
And that was November. I did more reading this month than in the past couple of months, so as always, thank you guys for spending it with me! See you guys in December!
Until next time,
![[BLOG TOUR] Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley Review + Interview](https://booksatdawn.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/28954021.jpg?w=317&h=475&crop=1)
[BLOG TOUR] Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley Review + Interview
Hey guys!
Welcome to my stop on the Fate of Flames Blog Tour! Make sure to check our Wendy’s Review + Excerpt, Amanda’s Review + Giveaway, and Maria’s Review + Author Guest Post!
Now without further ado, here is my Review and a fun little interview to follow!
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley (Effigies #1)
Published by Simon Pulse on November 22nd 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Action & Adventure
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
LINKS: Good Reads | Amazon | Indigo | Book Depository
But now, with technologies in place to protect the world’s major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms.
Until the day that New York City’s protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy.
Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn’t much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together.
Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
*** RECEIVED AN ARC FOR AN HONEST REVIEW ***
** THANK YOU SIMON TEEN CANADA **
First Line:
The war siren wailed.
Review
COVER 🌟🌟🌟🌟 PLOT 🌟🌟🌟🌟
CHARACTERS 🌟🌟🌟🌟 ROMANCE 🌟🌟🌟
WRITING 🌟🌟🌟🌟 WORLD 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley is the first book in a fantasy series about girls who have been bestowed cosmic powers from the universe in order to save it from the Phantoms! If you like Sailor Moon, The Last Airbender, and Pacific Rim then you’re going to devour Fate of Flames like I did!
The Good
Fate of Flames opens up with an action scene and I can honestly say that I was hooked from the very beginning! I loved the concept of it so much I didn’t want to put it down.
Raughley does a fantastic job building a world that is as believable as much as it is fantastical. It is set in a alternate universe like our own but Earth is plagued by these monster’s called Phantoms. Nature’s answer to combat them is to bestow powers on four very different girls called Effigies. When one dies, the powers get transferred to a new girl and the cycle continues. I thought the plot and world was highly creative and quite action packed!
Fate of Flames has a diverse cast of characters that I couldn’t help root for! Our main protagonist, Maia is a PoC and has now been bestowed with the Fire Effigy’s power. Throughout Fate of Flames we see her learn to accept her new destiny, learn to control her powers, try to reunite the Effigies and save the world at the same time. My favourite character overall was Chae Rin, the Earth Effigy. She was blunt, rude, strong, but also showed that she too had feelings. I liked that she pushed Maia to exceed her limits and grow to improve.
Raughley’s writing was equal bits exciting, serious and action filled. She does a fantastic job painting the scenes for our imaginations to wander and explore. I could easily envision everything that was happening on the page and was blown away with how things flowed.
I am highly anticipating the sequel now!
The Bad
Not all books are without their faults, but the ones I am about to list are entirely personal to me and may not matter to you.
Although Maia is a strong and level headed main protagonist, I did find that she fell to the background a lot compared to the other girls. This could totally be intentional as she is new to being an Effigy and still has a lot to learn, but I just wish she had more then one moment that blew me away!
I didn’t quite connect with the romance in the story either. I found it dry and kind of confusing at times. Hopefully things become more clear in the sequels though.
Finally, as much as I hate cliffhangers for the sheer fact that it makes me crave and bleed for the next installment, I wished Fate of Flames ended on one. I found the ending a bit bland and wished there was more of an excitement built towards book 2.
INTERVIEW TIME!
Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada, I got the opportunity for my stop on the Fate of Flames Blog Tour to interview the lovely author Sarah Raughley! Here is what went down:
JN= Jesse Nicholas (Me!) & SR= Sarah Raughley (Author)
JN: Using 5 words describe Fate of Flames for new readers
SR: Epic, Fun, Exciting, Fast-Paced, and Girl-powery…is that stretching it?
JN: What is the inspiration behind Fate of Flames and what was the writing process like?
SR: Since I was a kid, I always loved the idea of super-powered girl crews because I wanted to be in one! There’s something really magical and escapist about it. I got my inspiration to finally go ahead and write one of my ideas when they announced Sailor Moon Crystal in 2012. It took me a while to write and re-write the series as things kept changing. So it was about keeping track of everything and making tough decisions as to what to reveal and when.
JN: “Fate of Flames” follows a huge cast of diverse characters. Who do you have the most fun writing, and who is your least favourite to write?
SR: Chae Rin was the most fun to write since she’s my outlet to say every mean thing I want to say about all the characters and the situation at large. She’s very blunt and that’s always fun. I don’t really have a least favorite because they’re all fun to write, but perhaps the most challenging character to write is probably Belle because she’s pretty serious and complicated, but there’s a reason for so much of what she says and does so making that apparent is key.
JN: What would you say is your fondest memory on your Fate of Flames journey so far?
SR: I think aside from getting the deal, going to the S&S building in Toronto and meeting the whole team…just knowing that I have a team dedicated to helping me on this journey was such a huge relief!
JN: What can we expect from Effigies #2 without giving away spoilers?
SR: Lots more action, more about the world, more answers, more questions, more romance, and more death.
LIGHTNING ROUND
(Pick one answer for each question)
Coffee or Tea –> Tea
Cats or Dogs — Dogs (but really neither because I’m not a pet person)
Candy or Chocolate –> Chocolate
Books or TV –> Books
Fantasy or Contemporary –> Fantasy
Apples or Oranges –> Apples
Rom Coms or Action –> Action
I just want to take the time to thank Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to participate in the Fate of Flames Blog Tour, and Sarah Raughley herself for not only writing a story about girls who kick ass, but also taking time out of her busy schedule to do an interview with me.
Let me know what you guys thought of Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley! I would love to hear your opinions as well!
Until next time,
TWITTER | GOOD READS | INSTAGRAM | BLOG LOVIN’
#FourGirlsWithPower
Upcoming Blog Tour: Fate of Flames! Come Join Us!
Hey guys!
Just wanted to let you know that myself and my fellow Canadian bloggers will be participating in the Fate of Flames Canadian Blog Tour next week!!
When Phantoms—massive beasts made from nightmares and darkness—suddenly appeared and began terrorizing the world, four girls, the Effigies, each gained a unique power to control one of the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, four girls across the world have continually fought against the Phantoms, fulfilling their cosmic duty. And when one Effigy dies, another girl gains her power as a replacement.
But now, with technologies in place to protect the world’s major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms.
Until the day that New York City’s protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy.
Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn’t much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together.
Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?
So mark your calendars and be sure to check out all the stops on the tour as they become available.
Join me on Thursday November 24th!!
I have an exciting interview coming your way about all things Fate of Flames with Sarah Raughley herself, as well as my review of the book!
Hope to see you guys there!
Until next time,
Books at Dawn 