Tag: YA

books

Book Blitz: The Scarlet Star – Jennifer Kropf

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Happy release day to author Jennifer Kropf and congratulations on the release of The Scarlet Star!

Inspired by the fairytale Beauty and the Beast and the Biblical story of Queen Esther, this mashup of high stakes, forbidden romance, and dangerous secrets isn’t the fairytale you know.

The Scarlet Star (Songs of the Adriels Book 1)

Release Date: June 18, 2025

Genre: YA Fantasy/ Fairy Tales/ Christian Fantasy

He’s a beast trapped in a palace, and she’s a beauty tangled in his web…

Nineteen-year-old Ryn Electus is captured and brought to the palace for a twelve-week trial period along with three of the fairest maidens in the kingdom to try and ‘steal the heart’ of a young, tormented King with a deadly secret. Unfortunately, the King appears to have no interest in the maidens and keeps getting himself into trouble.

But the King isn’t the only one with a dangerous secret. Ryn has been living in hiding all these years, until she’s dragged from her home and put on a public stage where she finds herself in the crosshairs of the Intelligentsia; a council of sages who serve the seven Celestial Divinities and conspire to destroy people like her. If the sages discover who Ryn really is, she’ll be dead by morning.

Things get even more complicated when Ryn learns what Xerxes is fighting against, the internal wars he’s waging on his own, and why he keeps getting himself into trouble.

However, shortly after Ryn arrives at the palace, an old priestess opens Ryn’s eyes to see the workings of false gods at war who are influencing the kingdom of Per-Siana at every turn, dragging the people into destruction and causing chaos. Ryn is forced to question everything she thought she knew about the gods, until she unexpectedly gains the favour of an ancient god who’s been “silent” for decades; the God Original, the first God, enemy of the Celestial Divinities, who beckons Ryn to shake up the very foundations of the domain.

Thus begins a battle fought in the shadows alongside a war of gowns and politics waged in the spotlight.

Ryn must do everything she can to hide that she’s a descendant of King Xerxes’s enemies, and she and Xerxes were born as rivals, destined to hate and destroy each other.

She has only weeks to decide which side she’s on.

This book is ideal for fans of The Selection Series by Kiara Cass and A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer and includes gorgeous character illustrations by Kyannah Durocher.

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Book Blitz: Winter Murder – L.A. Brown

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It’s release day for L.A. Brown, and it couldn’t come soon enough as we’re all dying to read the next Bird Girl Witches book!

Winter Murder (Bird Girl Witches Book 2)

Publication Date: May 17, 2025

Genre: Genre: YA Fantasy/Mystery

♡ Gothic Vibes
♡ Animal Familiars
♡Ancient Curses
♡ Magic Systems
♡ Haunted Mansions
♡ Ghosts
♡ Body Switching
♡ Alternate Dimensions
♡ Coming-of-Age
♡ First Kiss
♡ High Stakes

In Winter Murder book two of the Bird Girl Witches series, ghosts have invaded Talus Hall and renowned 15-year-old medium Francesca LeGentil is just the person to exorcise them.

But she’s also been secretly hired to investigate a murder which happened next door at Talus Manor, a place where evil has taken root ever-more deeply.

Delving into the cursed history of the duelling Durr-Iggsby’s, Francesca uncovers a pattern to the persecution, tying it to the roots of the Dorojenja.

But when her sleuthing awakens a more ancient evil, no one in The Korvids is safe.

AVAILABLE HERE

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Blog Tour: The Legend of Black Jack – A.R. Witham

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Action, adventure, and portals! The Legend of Black Jack by A.R. Witham has it all!

The Legend of Black Jack

Publication Date: May 17th, 2022

Genre: YA Fantasy

  • Action Adventure,
  • Coming-of-Age,
  • Portal Fantasy
  • Full Page Illustrations

Jack Swift can tell you every element on the periodic table, recite Treasure Island verbatim, and would remember in perfect detail every word you’d ever say to him. He has been alone for a long time, so he has buried himself in books, using them to plan his escape.

But no textbook could ever prepare him for the land of Keymark.

At 3:33 a.m. on his fourteenth birthday, Jack is kidnapped by a hideous monster to another sphere of existence. Now there are two moons in the sky, and he is surrounded by grotesque creatures and magical warriors training for battle. They want the impossible: Jack must use his abilities to save a life or be trapped in this bizarre world with no chance of rescue.

Jack doesn’t have secret magic, a great destiny, or any experience.

So why do they all expect him to become a legend?

Content/Trigger Warnings:

Shown on Page: Child Abuse (foster mom hits main character), Child Abduction (main character kidnapped by monster)

Alluded to: Child Neglect (foster mom ignores her wards)

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Blog Tour: Convalence – Andie L. Smith

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Welcome to the tour for Covalence, the first book in a new YA Dystopian series by Andie L. Smith! Fans of Divergent, The Giver, and The Uglies will love this one!

Covalence (The Bonded Series #1)

Publication Date: October 2024

Genre YA Dystopian

  • Enemies to lovers
  • Forced proximity
  • Forbidden romance
  • He fell first
  • Ensemble cast
  • Girls in STEM
  • Strong FMC

​Seventeen-year-old Mineral Vyotto always planned on running away from the City and its annual Covalence Ceremony-a tradition forcing her to Bond with another of her Kind. In a hidden cavern outside the City gates, she starts collecting parts and Building a plane so she can bolt before the Ceremony takes place.

But when Covalence is moved up and she’s almost caught by the Officials, Mineral finds herself and her fate at the hands of Amory Thames-an arrogant, opinionated Orderly with powerful parents who could ruin her chance at freedom. With only four weeks to escape the City before the Ceremony, Mineral and Amory must work together to find a way out-even if it means keeping Society’s biggest secret to themselves and putting the lives of everyone they love at risk.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON & OTHER FINE RETAILERS

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Blog Tour: The Notorious Virtues – Alwyn Hamilton

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A glamorous media darling, a surprise heiress, and the magical competition of a lifetime.

At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.

And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.

Incredible tests, impossible choices and deadly odds await both girls. But there can only be one winner.

Goodreads Storygraph 

Amazon: Canada  USA  UK

About the Author

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.

Alwyn’s New York Times-bestselling debut, the YA fantasy REBEL OF THE SANDS, was published by Viking Children’s Books in the US and Faber Children’s Books in the UK, and in 14 other territories. The trilogy continues in TRAITOR TO THE THRONE and HERO AT THE FALL. Alwyn was named the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award winner for Best Debut Author.

My thoughts: With fairytale elements, this is both a murder mystery and a fantasy in which four cousins must compete to be named their grandmother’s heir, after the mother of one of them, Nora, is killed.

Nora joins forces with a journalist, August, to try to solve the mystery of her mother’s murder – that’s being called a mugging gone wrong, but doesn’t make sense.

Her aunt has produced an illegitimate daughter, Lotte, which complicates the succession trials, and Lotte, who is smarter than some of them realise, wants to find out more about her family and forms an alliance with Nora, discovering that at least one of her relatives isn’t a terrible person.

Meanwhile a resistance to her family’s wealth and power is getting stronger and starting riots in the streets, prompting reprisals from the authorities.

The Holtzfall family founded the town, and with their magic protected people from the creatures of the forest. But generations later, they’re now incredibly wealthy and corrupt. They hold too much power and the growing pressure against them is close to explosive as the inheritance trials the cousins are in demolish parts of the town and add fuel to the fire.

I loved Lotte and Nora, and rightly detested fhe rest of their awful family. Their grandmother is a monster and the rest are spoilt, entitled and selfish. But considering that each generation has been raised to see their siblings (and cousins) as competition, as well as being over-privileged in a place where no one ever questions their family’s dominance (at least not openly), it’s not surprising.

The story was clever, filled with references to the original Grimm versions of the stories we know so well. It’s a chunky book and I was surprised it was the first in a series, as opposed to a standalone at this size. I’m definitely intrigued to see where it goes next, considering the events of the closing pages.

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

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Blog Tour: The Emperor – Israh Azizi

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Welcome to the tour for the third book on the Heroes of the Empire series, The Emperor!

The Emperor (Heroes of the Empire #3)

Publication Date: November 24, 2024

Genre: Young Adult/ Epic Fantasy

  • Character Driven
  • Found Family
  • Slow Burn Romance
  • Foretold Prophecy
  • War For The Throne
  • Unlikely Allies
  • Unique Magic System
  • Morally Grey Characters
  • Chosen One

“Because this is your destiny.”

The crown prince of the Empire, Honzio Hartinza, has become a prisoner within his own palace. Uluzar control has overtaken Hearcross, and with the Tariqin threat remaining too, the battle is far from over. To restore order, Honzio allies with a Savorian warrior and darkness itself in the form of a despised adversary, but it’s belief in himself that will be key to saving his land, people, and crown.

Velamir chooses between his great love and best friend, leaving Jax’s fate in Coralie’s hands until he can track down Natassa’s captors. His desperate search leads him to Devorin. In the icy kingdom, he encounters a group proclaiming him the hero they’ve been searching for and learns the last words of a father he barely knew, whose own past reveals the course of Velamir’s future and knowledge that could end the war and bind the lands forevermore.

Natassa evades her abductors and finds refuge with the Elders. She seeks the order’s aid in battling her shadows, but when she’s forced to wield them to her advantage, she learns of a pact made with them long ago. The shadows want something from her. The Golden Phoenix, the Elders call her, telling her of a prophecy. Natassa must accept her role in it and cross one of two paths: risk everything to destroy evil for good or open the portal to a realm of spirits and burn the world to ashes.

“Your destiny is to fight.”

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Blog Tour: The General – Israh Azizi

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We are thrilled to share the second epic installment in the Heroes of the Empire series, The General by Israh Azizi!

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The General (Heroes of the Empire Book 2)

Publication Date: November 2023

Genre: YA Fantasy/ Epic Fantasy

THE EMPIRE IS CRUMBLING, AND THE FATE OF A KINGDOM RESTS IN THEIR HANDS.

Tropes:

Morally Grey Characters, Mistaken Identity, Royal Intrigue, Multiple POV, Chosen One, Slow Burn Romance, Found Family, Warring Kingdoms, Forbidden Love, Hidden Powers, Character Driven

Mordon dedicated his life to his father; his only dream was to prove himself worthy of Verin’s general. But with the ruthless Tariqin attack comes a brutal awakening. Captured by enemy forces and dragged into a war camp full of the people he was trained to kill, his hopes of proving himself worthy are dashed to pieces. When the enemy offers him a chance for a grand future, he’s faced with a test that stretches him beyond his limits.

Coralie’s burden has never been heavier. After the Dark Lord Prolus’s recent assault and her uncle’s declining health, it is up to her to keep her kingdom together. The inevitable return of the Tariqin army lurks at their doorstep and her time is running short. Coralie turns to the newest residents of Verintown for assistance. Branded traitors and hated by many in the castle, they may very well be her downfall. Using their pledge for change in her favor, she tasks them with a mission most would consider a death sentence.

Two determined warriors separated by a river of blood. Mordon must risk everything to become the man he yearns to be, and Coralie must fight to become the queen she was born to be.

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Blog Tour: While We’re Young – K.L. Walther

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A whirlwind romance inspired by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off about four friends whose hearts are broken and mended over the course of an epic senior skip day—from the bestselling author of The Summer of Broken Rules!

Grace, Isa, and Everett used to be an inseparable trio before their love lives became a tangled mess. For starters, Grace is secretly in love with Everett, who used to go out with Isa before breaking her heart in the infamous Freshman Year Fracture. And, oh yeah, no one knows that Isa has been hanging out with James, Grace’s brother—and if Grace finds out, it could ruin their friendship.

With graduation fast approaching, Grace decides an unsanctioned senior skip day in Philadelphia might be just what they need to fix things. All she has to do is convince Isa to help her kidnap Everett and outmaneuver James, who’s certain his sister is up to something.

In an epic day that includes racing up the famous Rocky steps, taste-testing Philly’s finest cheesesteaks, and even crashing a wedding, their secrets are bound to collide. But can their hearts withstand the wreckage?

Goodreads Storygraph  

Amazon: Canada  USA UK

K.L. Walther was born and raised in the rolling hills of Bucks County, Pennsylvania surrounded by family, dogs, and books. Her childhood was spent traveling the northeastern seaboard to play ice hockey. She attended a boarding school in New Jersey and went on to earn a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia. She is happiest on the beach with a book, cheering for the New York Rangers, or enjoying a rom-com while digging into a big bowl of popcorn and M&Ms. And listening to Taylor Swift on repeat, of course. 

My thoughts: I loved this, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of my favourite films (I’m a massive fan of the director John Hughes) so I was hoping for a great read, and I got one.

A gender swapped, set in Philadelphia not Chicago, 21st Century update of Ferris, with multiple narrators that is very funny, smart, charming and great fun.

Grace is student president, a brilliant student, popular and well thought of, so her deciding to take the day off, is completely out of character, and dragging her studious, going to an Ivy League, best friend along for the ride, even more so. Isa doesn’t ever skip school or a test, so hopefully their lies hold up. Kidnapping long time friend Everett while dressed as the Phillie Phanatic, is not even the craziest thing they do all day.

Grace’s brother James, formerly the final corner to their square, is furious when we works out what’s going on, and even though he keeps the secret, he’s determined not to completely miss out on the day’s hijinks. He just has to avoid the school principal first.

I had a ball reading this, and I spotted all the Ferris Bueller references (I think!)

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

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Cover Reveal: Winter Murder – L.A. Brown

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We’re proud to present the cover for the next witch tale in the Bird Girl Witches series, Winter Murder!

Winter Murder (Bird Girl Witches Book 2)

Expected Publication Date: April 16, 2025

Genre: Genre: YA Fantasy/Mystery

Tropes:

The Supernatural, Gothic Vibes, Witches, Animal Familiars, Mediums, Ghosts, Murder Mystery, The Chosen One, Hereditary Magic, Supernatural Detective, Summoning Evil, Ancient Curses, Magical Systems, Seances, Haunted Mansions, Poltergeists, Creepy Settings, Foreboding Atmosphere, Mysterious Things Are Happening, Backing into Darkness, High Stakes, Coming of Age, Family Secrets, First Kiss, First Crush, Ancient Secrets, Body Switching, Fantastical Creatures, Alternate Dimensions, Good vs Evil

In Winter Murder book two of the Bird Girl Witches series, ghosts have invaded Talus Hall and renowned 15-year-old medium Francesca LeGentil is just the person to exorcise them.

But she’s also been secretly hired to investigate a murder which happened next door at Talus Manor, a place where evil has taken root ever-more deeply.

Delving into the cursed history of the duelling Durr-Iggsby’s, Francesca uncovers a pattern to the persecution, tying it to the roots of the Dorojenja.

But when her sleuthing awakens a more ancient evil, no one in The Korvids is safe.

PRE-ORDER HERE

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Book Blitz: The Atlas Cliffs – Angela van Liempt

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Starting now till February 15th, The Atlas Cliffs series (ebooks only) is on sale! Wandering Souls (book one) is free, Seeking Haven (book 2), is $0.99, and Braving Storms (book 3) is $1.99!

We’re also giving away all 3 signed books plus merch to one lucky winner in the US or Canada!

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The Atlas Cliffs series is a completed upper young adult to new adult, supernatural fantasy trilogy. These books are for readers who loved the soul mate vibes of shows like Vampire Diaries, but with witchy magic and ghosts, found family, and a strong FMC who must learn to trust after betrayal. If you adore the trope where the love interest calms her inner storm, you will discover a second chance, friends-to-lovers slow-burn romance woven within the pages, starting with Wandering Souls, gaining momentum in Seeking Haven, and ending with an emotional conclusion in Braving Storms.

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