Tag: YA

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Scent of Youth – Mandi Martin

ramblingmads


Scorned for his unusual appearance and nature, young Josiah’s expulsion from school leads him to the grim world of rat-catching at the local orphanage. Amid new-found bonds and a simmering
animosity, a longing for independence draws him towards the quiet life of a nearby village.

Welcomed by kind souls, Josiah earns his keep as a skilled vermin remover and helpful stable hand.

But when a rat-borne illness strikes the town, Josiah’s unique abilities bring him to the attention of the imposing Duke.
Within the castle walls, caught in the strange dynamic between the Duke’s son Bergen and the formidable Helga – children and ogres in one – Josiah’s life takes an unexpected turn with the arrival
of the spirited Nadia. Their shared love of poetry ignites a passionate connection, but joy is fragile, and loss leaves an indelible mark.

Unbeknownst to Josiah, Helga’s deep-seated hatred of children is taking root within the Duke’s domain, setting in motion a chain of events that will irrevocably alter his destiny…

Waterstones Amazon UK Amazon US

I’m an Isle of Wight author with Birmingham roots. Writing became an outlet after a late diagnosis of autism, and it became more important after health problems also came about. I take my style and inspiration from classical novels and folklore. Some of my royalties are given to
charities that supported me, but my main aim is to take people on a journey.

Facebook – Mandi Martin

My thoughts: Josiah doesn’t have a happy childhood, his father is cruel and mistreats him, his mother is too timid to help him. So leaving to move elsewhere, even working as a rat catcher, something he seems to be very good at.

Unfortunately his employers are the new Duke and his ghastly wife – who hates children and decides what they need is someone to hunt them out and round them up so she doesn’t have to even see them in the distance.

This was an interesting story and I think I know which infamous character from fiction Josiah is inspired by (or perhaps becomes) but I’ll leave that for you to decide when you read it!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

books

Cover Reveal: Prank Night – Kelly Coon

ramblingmads

We’re proud to present the cover for Prank Night by USA Today’s Bestselling author Kelly Coon! Coming March 2027!

Prank Night

Expected Release Date: March 30, 2027

Genre: YA Thriller

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books/ Simon & Schuster

Cover Designer: Greg Stadnyk

  • Elite high school secrets
  • Multi POV
  • Locked room
  • Everyone is a suspect
  • Unreliable narrators
  • Theater symbolism
  • Social exile
  • Class wars
  • Friend group implosion
  • Bloody murder
  • Justice vs. truth

Five Survive meets One of Us is Lying in this locked room thriller where someone is a killer and not everyone makes it out alive.

When a group of high school seniors, Mason (The Class President), Lucy (The Overachiever), Kenzie, (The Artist), Ian (The Slacker), Alex, (The Valedictorian), and Brady (The Tech Whiz) break into their suburban high school after hours to pull off what they think is a harmless senior prank, the night turns sinister when one of them is found dead at the bottom of the stairwell. As the night progresses, they realize they’re locked inside the school with a murderer who has a few more people in their sights. While everyone appears to be trying to escape, at least one of the teens is hunting for their next victim and any member of this group could be next.

PRE-ORDER HERE

 

CONTENT WARNINGS:

  • Violence and murder
  • Gun violence (including on-the-page shooting)
  • Blood and graphic injury descriptions
  • Death of teenagers
  • Psychological distress and unreliable perception of reality
  • Grief and trauma
  • Bullying and social isolation
  • Classism / socioeconomic discrimination
  • Emotional abuse / strained parent-child relationships
  • References to domestic abuse (off-page)
  • Panic attacks and medical distress

 

COVER REVEAL ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

 

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Against All Waves – Chelsea Ray

ramblingmads

Welcome to the tour for Against All Waves by Chelsea Ray. If you love pirate fantasy, you’ll love this!

Against All Waves

Release Date: August 2025

Genre: YA Fantasy

  • Slow-burn Romance
  • Scheming Crewmates
  • Deadly Sea Creatures
  • Found Family
  • Magic

Shes a pirate. He’s a prince.
Together they must conquer sea and land.

As a pirate, and only female crewmember, eighteen-year-old Elle fights daily to prove her worth despite being deemed bad luck. Facing dangerous waters, she secretly searches for her mother who had mysteriously disappeared. But she must tread carefully, for the tyrant captain of The Turbulence, her father Velis Whitlock has one rule: never to speak the name of Elle’s mother.

Axel Ardanian’s life has been laid out for him since birth. Soon to be ruler of the peaceful island of Glendora, he decides to share what the island has produced for centuries: a remedy known to cure any sickness. But during his travels to other lands, he witnesses the harsh realities of poverty and greed, which he fears will threaten the land he loves. To protect Glendora, the council and his father agree that Axel must unite with one of the kingdoms through an advantageous marriage.

When The Turbulence targets and attacks Axel’s ship, his and Elle’s lives are suddenly intertwined. In the end, both will have to choose to face their fears and protect what they hold dear to their hearts but also the truth that lingers between them.

Against All Waves is a young adult pirate fantasy with the perfect mix of a slow-burn romance, scheming crewmates, deadly sea creatures, and found family with a dash of magic.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

 

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Desolate – Kelli Storm

ramblingmads

Welcome to the tour for Kelli Storm’s witchy urban fantasy, Desolate! Read on for more details!

Desolate (Assembly Hearts Book 1)

Release Date: October 2025

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

  • Accidental Time Travel
  • Forbidden Love
  • Fish Out of Water
  • Who Done It
  • Neurodivergent Heroine
  • Sapphic Romance

A time-bending mishap forces a witch to navigate a new reality and an unexpected romance. Can Mia find her way back home, all while stopping a killer?

Being a witch with ADHD has its challenges. When Mia gets distracted while performing a spell, she becomes an accidental time-traveler.

Waking up in 1992, she comes across supernatural creatures attacking a young woman, and she taps into strange, unknown powers to save her. But as Mia starts falling for the enchanting near-victim, she discovers the girl will soon die.

She might be the only person who can stop her killer, yet everyone knows messing with time can have dire consequences.

As she works on finding a way back to her timeline, Mia quickly realizes she needs to make a choice. Let history happen, or stop this dark destiny from coming to pass.

Kelli Storm’s debut YA urban fantasy, Desolate, is a spellbinding novel for lovers of LGBTQ+ heroines, character-driven plots, neurodivergent representation, and bewitching twists. Join Mia on her journey of the choice between destiny and saving the ones we love.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

 

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Thieves of Time Forgotten – Emilia Ramos

ramblingmads

We’re thrilled to be touring award-winning romantasy, Thieves of Time Forgotten by Emilia Ramos.

Thieves of Time Forgotten (The Shadow Heir Trilogy)

Release Date: September 2024

Genre: YA Romantasy

Tropes: Dark magic, romantasy, time travel, slow burn, beautiful fantasy palaces…

A kingdom whose deadliest secrets live only in its memories.

After two years, Naomi Elistaire escapes the dungeons of the very castle where she was once a princess. Exiled in the foreign kingdom of Tashiki, Naomi has one final chance to reclaim the throne and save the empire from her tyrannous mother.

She assembles her crew: two quick-handed thieves and an escaped assassin, along with a mischievous snow monkey. The plan? Cross Tashiki, reach the king-in-waiting before his coronation, and bargain her way to an army—all while hiding the Dark magic that courses through her royal blood.

And then there’s Ez.

The man she once loved… and the traitor whose choice lost her the last war. Rumor has it he’s set to sail for Tashiki too, drawn by a rogue mission and a prophecy lost to time centuries ago.

Lies.

Love.

Revolution.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

 

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

books

Cover Reveal: A Curse So Bitter and Broken – N.A. Triptow

ramblingmads

We’re thrilled to present the cover for A Curse So Bitter and Broken: The Prince and The Enchantress by N.A. Triptow!

This is the first in a new series of romantasy duologies retelling a different Shakespeare play told from the perspective of one of the three Wyrd Sisters.

A Curse So Bitter and Broken: The Prince and The Enchantress

Expected Release Date: June 19, 2025

Genre: YA Romantasy/ Hamlet Retelling

Cover Designer: @author_n_a_triptow

Three sisters. Four time periods. And an ancient fae secret that threatens to destroy all of life itself. Follow the Florentini sisters from modern-day New York City as they become embroiled in a fae war that spans continents and time.

Seventeen-year-old Ophelia Florentini is as normal as any other high school theatre kid, except for the visions of fae creatures that fill her dreams. When her play rehearsal is interrupted by the same ageless elf who keeps showing up to save her—this time from the very creatures in her dreams—her world implodes. As centaurs, pixies, trolls, and all manner of fae attack her family restaurant in the middle of New York City, she finds herself thrown into a new world and time where the events of Shakespeare’s Hamlet are taking place before her very eyes, but not in the way she expects.

In 13th-century Denmark, Hamlet is plunged into chaos when his father, the king, is murdered. Returning from Oxford, the young prince finds that his beloved home is nigh unrecognizable. The queen blames her husband’s murder on the fae living amongst them, and she’s handing out punishments left and right. Only it might not be her doing, for, unbeknownst to Hamlet, the darkness taking root in the kingdom has been brought on by someone much older and far more bitter than the queen.

Will Ophelia be able to avoid Prince Hamlet and her seemingly inescapable death in order to stop the Harbinger of the End of Days and find her way back home, or will she end up just like her namesake?

The Wayward Chronicles is a series of romantasy duologies each retelling a different Shakespeare play told from the perspective of one of the three Wyrd Sisters from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer’s Gilded, Erin A. Craig’s House of Salt and Sorrows, and Lydia Sherrer’s Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus. A Curse So Bitter and Broken 1: The Prince and the Enchantress is a dual point of view romantic fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where the romance is integral to the story but the magic and high-stakes adventure take center stage.

PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON

 

 

COVER REVEAL ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Among the Fallen – Makena Song

ramblingmads

We’re celebrating the new release Among the Fallen this week with a tour! If you are looking for an epic fantasy adventure without the spice, this one’s for you!

Among the Fallen (The Fallen Realms Book 1)

Release Date: January 7, 2026

Genre: YA Fantasy

  • Chosen One
  • Good vs. Evil
  • Found Family
  • Underdog (Zero to Hero)
  • Cursed MC
  • Survival Story
  • The Hero’s Journey
  • False Prophecy
  • Betrayal by Friends

Remember The Fallen Ones…

Accused of a crime that he didn’t commit, Lucian Roux is on the run from his hometown, Caelum, a rural village concealed deep within The Sage’s Forest. Although carrying the weight of a criminal record and the fear of an uncertain future, Lucian sees this new start as an opportunity to achieve his one-and-only dream: Freedom.

His freedom, however, comes with a terrible cost… A price that he might never be able to pay. Luckily, Lucian isn’t alone. In the company of a delusional goddess trapped in a mirror and a snarky peer with a passion for swords, Lucian embarks on a prophetic adventure to not only figure out the true identity of the evil entity inside him but also break the chains binding him once and for all.

A YA fantasy adventure with no explicit content or profanity. Includes a brief scene of domestic violence and instances of bullying. Reader discretion advised.

GET IT HERE

 

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

books

Book Blitz: Visions of Eterna – Samara Kalz

ramblingmads

We’re thrilled to announce that Visions of Eterna by Samara Kalz in now available! This will appeal to readers who enjoyed The Inheritance Games, The Cruel Prince, and Six of Crows.

Visions of Eterna

Release Date: January 21, 2026

Genre: Dark Portal Fantasy/ Mature YA

  • Rivals to Lovers
  • He falls first
  • Found family
  • Slow burn
  • Forced proximity
  • Self Discovery
  • Adventure
  • Prophecy
  • Portals
  • Elemental Magic
  • Banter
  • Grumpy and overprotective MMC

Mia has always sensed something just out of reach, like a word on the tip of her tongue, or a dream forgotten too soon.

On her twenty-first birthday, she wakes with no memory of the night before. It isn’t the first time. Blackouts. Visions. A growing feeling that she doesn’t fully belong in the life she’s living. When her parents confess she’s adopted, with no record of where she came from, the unease sharpens into something else, a pull she can’t ignore.

Then she meets a stranger, and everything begins to unravel—a history Mia never knew, a city hidden from the world, and a journey that will take her beyond the world she thought she belonged to.

Eterna was once a place of wonder, a city that never stopped blooming. Now, the magic that sustained it is fading. The land is cracking. And Mia may be more entangled in its fate than anyone is prepared to admit.

With her best friend by her side, and resentment simmering among those she meets—especially a man whose bitterness runs deeper than she understands—Mia must now navigate a world that remembers her, even if she doesn’t remember it.

Some answers come looking for you.
Some places never let you go.
And some destinies are written long before you’re ready to claim them.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

BOOK BLITZ ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Gihiguma, Ace of Hearts – Melanie King-Smith

ramblingmads

We love a good sports romance and highly recommend you check out Gihigugma, Ace of Hearts by Melanie King-Smith!

Gihigugma, Ace of Hearts

Release Date: September 30, 2025

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

  • Found Family
  • Filipino/Asian Immigrant Experience (Own Voices)
  • Sports Romance (Tennis)
  • Strangers to Friends to Lovers
  • Love Triangle
  • Dual POV
  • Sweet/ No Spice
  • Coming of Age

Crazy Rich Asians meets Bend It Like Beckham in this outrageously fun, Filipino-flavored romance.

When Jomar’s tennis ambitions crash into Mitchelle’s wounded heart during one charmingly disastrous karaoke night, they’ll discover that the biggest matches aren’t played on courts—but in learning to love despite the ghosts of the past.

Jomar Montalbano thinks he’s ready for anything. A rising tennis star from the Philippines, he lands in London with one suitcase, one college scholarship, and zero idea how to survive without rice. He’s counting on a few wins—but definitely not falling for Mitchelle Tanner.

She’s the quiet girl with a vintage camera, a craving for halo-halo, and a smile that hides as much as it shows. Half-American, half-Filipina, and fully impossible to read.

He’s used to power and control—but around her, he’s completely unstrung.

From vulnerable confessions in a darkroom’s glow to rallies that feel like Wimbledon wins, Jomar discovers that love—like tennis—is all about timing, risk, and knowing when to fight for the point.

Set in London’s rainy alleys and sunlit parks, woven with island warmth and humor, Gihigugma, Ace of Hearts is an adventure about home, heart, and the courage to choose love against all odds.

Love at eighteen isn’t always a mistake. Sometimes, it’s a miracle.

This story contains: social alcohol use, mild profanity, depictions of past romantic trauma, and competitive sports pressure. While handled with care, please prioritize your wellbeing. The story ultimately celebrates healing and joyful connection.

HEAT LEVEL: Sweet – Kissing only, no explicit content, YA-appropriate

SETTING: London, UK (Filipino immigrant/diaspora community)

THEMES: Belonging, identity, cultural heritage, finding home, first love, friendship

AWARDS: 2025 International Firebird Book Award Winner (Young Adult Fiction)

ACHIEVEMENTS:

#1 Amazon Bestseller – Young Adult & Teen Clean & Wholesome Romance
#1 Amazon Bestseller – Young Adult & Teen Asian & Pacific Islander Fiction
Featured at Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 (Philippines was the Guest of Honor)

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Take a Look at Me Now – Robert P Crane

ramblingmads

Bubby Welter is fifteen when life stops feeling predictable. His mother Carrie’s mental breakdown fractures their family, leaving both of them emotionally stranded. As Carrie retreats, Bubby struggles to navigate a world shaped by instability.

Poor decisions and their consequences follow—humiliation, damaged relationships, and growing frustration. With no clear path forward, Bubby turns toward the unanswered question that has always lingered: the identity of his absent father.

The search becomes a confrontation with loss, identity, and unresolved anger. Take a Look at Me Now is a coming-of-age novel about emotional suspension and the fragile hope for change when certainty disappears.

Amazon Goodreads

Robert Crane is an American writer who writes literary fiction: short stories, novels, plays and poetry. Boone is his previous novel.