Book Review - Ghostcloud by Michael Mann + Giveaway

 

Twelve year old Luke Smith-Sharma was kidnapped and forced to shovel coal underground. He feels that if he keeps his head down, he can win his freedom from Tabitha Margate. Everything changes when he realizes that one day he is able to see things others can't. He is able to see spirits and other otherworldly things. He befriends a ghost girl named Alma, who can bend clouds according to her will and ride them through the night sky. Luke discovers his innate powers with Alma's help. However, he discovers a darker truth behind his kidnapping. Luke is desperate to escape but, will they be able to find a way out?

The novel was an entertaining read and it remind me of one of my favorite childhood author, Roald Dahl. The book had delightful world building details. The characters were all well developed albeit quirky.  The more we learn about Tabitha's nefarious plot, the more we worry for our beloved characters. The book does wrap up the story but, the author left a potential thread for a second book.

 

**Disclosure - I received a free unedited copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion. **

 

About The Book:

Title: GHOSTCLOUD

Author: Michael Mann

Pub. Date: September 27, 2022

Publisher: Peachtree

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 320

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

 

A riveting, magical escapade about finding friendship and the courage to set yourself free against all odds.

Kidnapped and forced to shovel coal underground, in a half-bombed power station, 12-year-old Luke Smith-Sharma keeps his head down and hopes he can earn his freedom from the evil Tabitha Margate. Then one day he discovers he can see things that others can’t. Ghostly things. A ghostly girl named Alma, who can bend the shape of clouds to her will and rides them through the night sky. With Alma’s help, Luke discovers his own innate powers and uncovers the terrible truth of why Tabatha is kidnapping children and forcing them to shovel coal. Desperate to escape, Luke teams up with Alma, his best friend Ravi, and new girl Jess. Can Luke and his friends get away before they each become victims to a cruel and sinister scheme?
 
Debut author Michael Mann delivers a wildly imaginative middle grade fantasy set in a smoke-stained world that’s sure to entertain readers who are eager for an adventure with paranormal superpowers.

 

About Michael Mann:

Michael’s first writing success was for a poem about potatoes - in a competition run by a Yorkshire school catering company. As a ‘reward’, he had to shake hands with a giant potato mascot in front of his entire school. It would be many years before he dared write again.

These days, Michael is a teacher by day, dad by night, and mostly writes when he should be sleeping. He owes the idea for his middle grade novel, Ghostcloud, to his coal-mining grandad and a lifelong love of cloudspotting. He’s half-Indian and passionate about diversity in children’s literature, and loves books that keeps kids turning the page.

He has a first-class degree in anthropology, lives in East London with his (very patient) partner and their (less patient) toddler, and can be found playing board games when he’s not busy losing his wallet. Michael was an Undiscovered Voices 2020 finalist, and his debut middle grade novel Ghostcloud will publish with Hachette in October 2021.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of GHOSTCLOUD, US Only.

Ends October 4th, midnight EST.

 

Rafflecopter Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba21520/?

 

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

9/19/2022	Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog	Review/IG Post
9/19/2022	laura's bookish corner	Review/IG Post
9/20/2022	Nerdophiles	Review
9/20/2022	Beers Books Boos	Review/IG Post
9/21/2022	More Books Please blog	Review/IG Post
9/21/2022	@jael_and_jenessa_reads	Review/IG Post
9/22/2022	Two Points of Interest	Review
9/22/2022	Lisa-Queen of Random	Excerpt/IG Post
9/23/2022	@ablueboxfullofbooks	IG Review
9/23/2022	onemused	IG Spotlight

 

Week Two:

9/26/2022

Eli to the nth

Review/IG Post

 

 

Book Review - The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

Lynette Tarkington survived a massacre which makes her a final girl. For more than a decade, she and five other final girls have been meeting their therapist in a support group. The women all have experienced unthinkable horror and they are working to put their lives back together. One day, one of the women misses a meeting and they expect the worst to happen. Someone knows about the group and they are determined to finish where the other monsters left off. However, they thing they don't know about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds seem, they will never give up.

I thought the book was an entertaining and engrossing read. However, I didn't care for any of the characters. I had a hard time connecting and rooting for them as the main character was very unlikable and we barely got to know the other women. I also felt like during the middle of the novel, the story just plodded along. Overall, it was a decent read for people who like reading about final girls and horror/slasher movies.

Book Review - What Makes Us by Rafi Mittlefehldt + Giveaway

Photo Credit - Amazon

The only thing Eran Sharon knows of his father is that he left when he was a baby. Eran is a senior in high school who is living with his overly protective mother who refuses to talk about his father. Eran is deeply passionate about social justice and equality. When he learns that the Houston police have launched a new program to increase traffic stops, he organizes a peaceful protest with this classmates.

When a heated moment between two protestors goes viral, a reporter connects the Sharon family to a tragedy fifteen years earlier. The reporter asked if Eran is anything like his father who is a supposed terrorist. After finding out about his father, Eran wonders how much alike he is with his father.  He worries, even more, when people he knew for years start treating him differently.

The novel isn't usually my choice genre but, I found the book to be an emotional read. I sometimes wonder if the "sins of the father" should be passed on to the children and to which degree do we inherit our personality. I thought the novel was an interesting read on how forgiveness and perception.

  **Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (October 15, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763697508
ISBN-13: 978-0763697501

Praise for WHAT MAKES US

What Makes Us is a heart-stopping, heartbreaking read — a book full of heart. Mittlefehldt’s thoughtful, nuanced exploration of identity pulled me in from the very first page, and I could barely put it down. Eran’s story takes a universal coming-of-age theme — finding out your parents aren’t who you thought they were — to a tightly wound and thrilling extreme. Most important, this book provides satisfying, much-needed representation of a contemporary, complex Jewish teen and his family. ―Lisa Rosinsky, author of Inevitable and Only

Provocative. ―Kirkus Reviews

A viral video reveals a teen’s dark family history, leaving him to reckon with his heritage, legacy, and identity in this fiery, conversation-starting novel.

Eran Sharon knows nothing of his father except that he left when Eran was a baby. Now a senior in high school and living with his protective but tight-lipped mother, Eran is a passionate young man deeply interested in social justice and equality. When he learns that the Houston police have launched a program to increase traffic stops, Eran organizes a peaceful protest.

But a heated moment at the protest goes viral, and a reporter connects the Sharon family to a tragedy fifteen years earlier — and asks if Eran is anything like his father, a supposed terrorist. Soon enough, Eran is wondering the same thing, especially when the people he’s gone to school and temple with for years start to look at him differently.

Timely, powerful, and full of nuance, Rafi Mittlefehldt’s sophomore novel confronts the prejudices, fears, and strengths of family and community, striking right to the heart of what makes us who we are.

You can purchase What Makes Us at the following Retailers:

        

Photo Credit: Damien Mittlefehldt

Rafi Mittlefehldt is a writer who has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance theater critic, and children’s author. His debut novel was It Looks Like This. Rafi Mittlefehldt lives with his husband in New York City.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Shortly after the horrific Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, I read an article that mentioned one of the bombers having left behind a wife and three-year-old daughter. It was a throwaway line, but it stuck with me — I couldn’t stop thinking about that girl, who was too young to understand what had happened. When would she find out who her father was, and how would she process that? How would others react to learning about her family history? Would she keep it a secret? Would her mother?

What Makes Us began very simply as a story exploring those questions. But as I fleshed out the two main characters, Eran and Jade, their personalities took the story deeper, toward matters that are personal to me but relatable to so many. Eran’s volatility and tendency to react instinctively force him to confront issues of impulse control and anger management. And both characters’ uncertainty regarding their own pasts compels them to wrestle with self-determination and to ask, What makes a person? As the novel switches between Eran’s and Jade’s perspectives, we see them reluctantly frame and then try to answer this question, all against the backdrop of a community on the brink of chaos.

        

WEEK ONE

OCTOBER 14th MONDAY JeanBookNerd INTERVIEW

OCTOBER 15th TUESDAY Book Queen Reviews REVIEW

OCTOBER 16th WEDNESDAY BookHounds YA INTERVIEW

OCTOBER 16th WEDNESDAY Two Points of Interest REVIEW

OCTOBER 17th THURSDAY Crossroad Reviews REVIEW

OCTOBER 18th FRIDAY Kait Plus Books FILL IN THE BLANKS

OCTOBER 18th FRIDAY Novel Lives REVIEW & INTERVIEW

WEEK TWO

OCTOBER 21st MONDAY Insane About Books REVIEW & EXCERPT

OCTOBER 22nd TUESDAY A Dream Within A Dream EXCERPT

OCTOBER 23rd WEDNESDAY Wishful Endings INTERVIEW

OCTOBER 24th THURSDAY Little Bookish Thoughts REVIEW & INTERVIEW

OCTOBER 24th THURSDAY The Phantom Paragrapher REVIEW

OCTOBER 25th FRIDAY Casia's Corner REVIEW & EXCERPT

OCTOBER 25th FRIDAY Movies, Shows, & Books REVIEW

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