Wayward Stars by Mary Fan | Cover Reveal

11:00 AM Ally M.G. 0 Comments


It's cover reveal day for Wayward Stars (Starswept, #2) by Mary Fan! This sweeping sequel to the award-winning YA sci-fi novel Starswept will be released on February 26, 2019, by Snowy Wings Publishing. The cover features photography by Roberto Falck, with graphic design by Streetlight Graphics.



Title: Wayward Stars (Starswept, #2)
Author: Mary Fan
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing
Publication Date: February 26, 2019
Cover Art: Roberto Falck (photography), Streetlight Graphics (design)

[Warning: Since Wayward Stars is a sequel, the book’s description may spoil some plot points for the first book in the series, Starswept.]

DESCRIPTION

Sing your truth. Defend your dream. Defy your stars.

A month has passed since Iris joined an underground rebel group to save Dámiul from the brutal prison he was sent to for fighting back against his world’s oppressive system. Here, conformity and compliance are enforced through telepathy, and Earthling performers are brainwashed into absolute obedience.

Word of a merciless crackdown on those who sympathize with their cause leaves both Iris and Dámiul yearning for action. Determined to liberate her kind, Iris volunteers to return to her former patrons and covertly recruit supporters.

A raid on their hideout catapults her plan into action sooner than expected and forces her to leave Dámiul behind. After persuading the authorities that she’d been telepathically manipulated into helping him, Iris assumes the role of a dutiful musician while secretly spreading whispers of a possible uprising among her fellow performers. But the authorities always seem to be one step ahead, and anyone who defies them is swiftly mind-wiped.

Soon, Iris is forced to confront a horrifying fact: there’s a traitor among them. Desperately clinging to her cover, she races to find out who before her true loyalties are discovered—and the search leads her to an unthinkable answer.

Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36177820-wayward-stars

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Fan is a YA and sci-fi/fantasy author based in New Jersey. Her books include the Jane Colt trilogy (a space adventure series from Red Adept Publishing comprising Artificial Absolutes, Synthetic Illusions, and Virtual Shadows), Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil (YA dark fantasy, Crazy 8 Press), and the Starswept series (YA sci-fi, Snowy Wings Publishing, currently comprising Starswept and Wayward Stars). Her YA steampunk fantasy Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon will be released in June 2019 by Page Street Publishing. In addition, she is the co-editor of the Brave New Girls YA sci-fi anthologies about girls in STEM, which aim to encourage girls to explore STEM fields and raise money for the Society of Women Engineers scholarship fund.

Website: www.MaryFan.com
Facebook: facebook.com/mfanwriter
Twitter: @astralcolt
Instagram: @astralcolt

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City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab | Book Review

11:00 AM Ally M.G. 0 Comments

An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review at Bookcon 2018

Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.

When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

“Embrace your strange, dear daughter. Where’s the fun in being normal?”

In Victoria Schwab’s latest middle-grade novel, we follow the story of Cassidy Blake — a girl who can see ghosts. Cassidy and her best friend, Jacob (who is a ghost), go to Edinburg, after being forced to tag along with her parents as they film a tv show showcasing the world’s most haunted places. While in Edinburg, Cassidy learns that there is more to her gift than just seeing ghosts and there are people who want to steal her gift.

City of Ghosts is not Ms. Schwab’s first dabble in middle-grade storytelling, but it might as well be since no one really speaks about her other middle-grade novel, Broken Ground. Much like her other books (A Darker Shade of Magic, Vicious and This Savage Song), she has a perfect balance of dialogue and descriptive prose. And her vivid storytelling translates perfectly into MG. Her characters are lovable and relatable (even though they are little pre-teens).

Knowing that Ms. Schwab is a Slytherin to the core, seeing her write a goofy brave hardcore Gryffindor was quite mind-blowing (BTW Cassidy is a Gryffindor and proud). 

In the advance reader copy of the novel, Ms. Schwab says she wrote this story for “12-year-old me.” I also felt this story resonate with my 12-year-old self — wishing for an adventure but at the same time kinda not wanting it, but will still go with it if the opportunity was presented. Something Ms. Schwab also excels in is making every character memorable. No one was just there for the sake of being there, every character had a purpose and was an important part of the story. 

One may be wary about approaching City of Ghosts because it is marketed as a middle-grade novel. But much like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, the story can be enjoyed by someone of any age. It is witty, it is terrifying, it is full of mystery, it is spooky, and it is magical.

This was the perfect spooky Halloween read I was waiting for. Purchase your copy now!


The quote is from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication.

Personal Rating: 5/5
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN: 9781338111002

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My Top 5 Books for 2018...so far!

9:47 AM Ally M.G. 0 Comments



It is August. I cannot believe it is August! So far I have 35 books out of my 50 book goal this year. I have read some great stories this year (along with a couple of bad ones). There are still so many books in my TBR pile that I am trying to get to before the year comes to an end. I do not think I am ever going to catch up.

I am currently in the process of reading "The Magic Misfits: The Second Story" by Neil Patrick Harris.

What books have you guys read so far that you absolutely loved?

Circe by Madeline Miller 

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

Read my review

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff 

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? 

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Read my review


Sabriel by Garth Nix 

For many years Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that treacherous world - and face the power of her own extraordinary destiny.

Read my review
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him. 

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

Read my review

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingalecontinues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

Read my review

Honorary Mention


The Adventure Zone by Clint McElroy

Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it's based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.

With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failure after critical failure.

Read my review



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Literary Gifts Galore! | Spotlight

11:30 AM Ally M.G. 0 Comments
The best part of the literary community is the abundance of cute accessories available to express your inner bookworm in public. Sometimes subtle and sometimes BAM in your face!

The are pins, shirts, backlogs, tote bags, and a million other things to wear or carry around! I always have to try very hard to not make crazy impulsive purchases for all these things, because some of them are so wonderful. I need all these bookish things in my life. It is my calling. Who needs shoes when you have books and bookish stuff!

Literary Book Gifts is a new little online store that has popped up in this community. And they have the cutest design! They’ve gotten a bunch of literary classics like Peter Pan, Moby Dick and Sherlock Holmes and put them in really cute (and useful items). I need to remind myself that I do not need more bookish tote bags since I already have more than ten...

My personal favorites are the Hound of the Baskervilles tote bag and the Peter Pan shirt.

The shirts run from small to extra-large (3XL-5XL) and a variety of of colors to chose from. Sometimes I don’t get certain shirts because it is a cool color — because I know warm colors suit me best. So if I love the design of a shirt I just have to muse over which color shirt I should get.

Literary Book Gifts has been kind enough to give all you lovely readers a special 20% discount so you can indulge in all your literary needs. (PROMOCODE:  SIMPLYALLYTEA20)

It is good for anything in the store, no minimum purchase required! It's important to support small business owners, but it is more important to support small business owners who sell bookish gear!

 Check it all out at: https://literarybookgifts.com/

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The Last of the Firedrakes by Farah Oomerbhoy | Book Review

10:38 AM Ally M.G. 0 Comments



This book was sent to me in exchange of an honest review.

16-year-old Aurora Darlington is an orphan. Mistreated by her adopted family and bullied at school, she dreams of running away and being free. But when she is kidnapped and dragged through a portal into a magical world, suddenly her old life doesn't seem so bad. 

Avalonia is a dangerous land ruled by powerful mages and a cruel, selfish queen who will do anything to control all seven kingdoms--including killing anyone who stands in her way. Thrust headlong into this new, magical world, Aurora's arrival sets plans in motion that threaten to destroy all she holds dear. 

With the help of a young fae, a magical pegasus, and a handsome mage, Aurora journeys across Avalonia to learn the truth about her past and unleash the power within herself. Kingdoms collide as a complicated web of political intrigue and ancient magic lead Aurora to unravel a shocking secret that will change her life forever.


The amount of books I had to put down and claim as “did not finish” could be counted on a single hand. I make it my motto to try to finish all books, even bad ones — and I have read a few bad ones in my lifetime. 

The premise of the story was something right up my alley, hence why I requested it. It promised a story in a fantasy world with a missing princess, a cruel queen and a grand adventure. However, the story was about a perfect over-trusting whiny girl whom everyone likes for some reason who falls in love with a guy in a span of 5 minutes (and in less than 40 pages).

Aurora was supposed to be 16, but acted worse than most 11 and 12 year olds I know.

The quality of the prose was so poor I actually felt like tearing my eyes out. Maybe it is because I am quite picky with prose, because I have read so much great writing. Oomerbhoy’s prose fails in the “show don’t tell” schematics by just telling me how things are rather than showing the reader. 

"My heart was racing, and I was suddenly afraid. How did the shadow guard know about the midnight market? Karen had said I would be safe here. I was terrified at what Lord Oblek would do to me for escaping his Dungeons if he caught me again."

Please show me how beautiful and grand the forest is instead of telling me "the forest was huge and beautiful.” I just can’t stand or deal with that type of prose.

Oomeerbhoy introduced a series of interesting side characters who were just…there. Maybe it was because I did not bother finishing the book, but the side characters felt that they were not important, because it was not Aurora. Pretty disappointing, since some of my favorite characters have been side characters. 

The Last of the Firedrakes has the bones of a great story, it just needs to be fleshed out.


Rating: None Available
Did not finish on page 87 out of 488.
The Last of the Firedrakes by Farah Oomerbhoy



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