Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Book Review - Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan + Giveaway

 

Solimar and her family are getting ready to celebrate her Quinceañera and her official coronation. She decides to visit the oyamel forest and sit among the monarch butterflies. As she witnesses the monarch's annual pilgrimage, she experiences an magical occurrence that causes her to receive a magical gift.  She realizes that she can predict the future and has become the protector of vulnerable butterflies.

As her father and brother leave to go on a journey, a mutiny occurs. A neighboring king decides to invade their castle and take the remaining villagers hostage. Solimar managed to escape the king's grasp but, she will need to warn her father and brother. Will Solimar be able to rescue her family while protecting the butterflies?

I found the book to be beautifully written but, I wish they included an appendix or dictionary. There were a lot of terms that are unique to the Mexican culture that other people might not be familiar with. The book is written for a younger audience but, I did I felt like the book could have been targeted to an older audience. I can see this book turning into a Disney movie and being loved by the audience.

**Disclosure - I received a free unedited copy in exchange for my honest opinion**


 

About The Book:

Title: SOLIMAR: THE SWORD OF THE MONARCHS

Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan

Pub. Date: February 15, 2022

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 272

Find it: GoodreadsAmazon, Kindle, Audible, B&NiBooks, KoboTBD, Bookshop.org

Middle-grade fans of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising, will find a new Mexican heroine to love in Solimar and a fresh, magical story!

On the brink of her Quinceañera, and her official coronation, Solimar visits the oyamel forest to sit among the monarch butterflies. There, the sun pierces through a sword-shaped crevice in a boulder, which shines on her and sends the butterflies humming and swirling around her.

After the magical frenzy, she realizes she's been given a gift―and a burden: she can predict the near future! She has also become a protector of the young and weak butterflies. This alone would be a huge responsibility, but tragedy strikes when a neighboring king invades while her father and brother and many others are away. The remaining villagers are taken hostage―all except Solimar.

Can this princess-to-be save her family, the kingdom, and the future of the monarch butterflies from a greedy and dangerous king?

Written for ages 8 to 12 by the Newbery Honor Medal winner of the highly acclaimed novel Echo.

 

About Pam Muñoz Ryan:

Pam Muñoz Ryan is a New York Times best-selling author and U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award. She has written over forty books, including Esperanza RisingBecoming Naomi LeónRiding FreedomPaint the WindThe Dreamer, and Echo, a Newbery Honor book and the recipient of the Kirkus Prize. She is the author recipient of the National Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for Multicultural Literature, and is twice the recipient of the Pura Belpré Medal and the Willa Cather Award. Other honors include the PEN USA Award, the Américas Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, and the Orbis Pictus Award. She was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, but now lives near San Diego with her family. Many of her stories reflect her half-Mexican heritage.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

 

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of SOLIMAR: THE SWORD OF THE MONARCHS, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

2/1/2022

BookHounds YA

Excerpt

2/2/2022

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Excerpt

2/3/2022

Mythical Books

Excerpt

2/4/2022

Two Chicks on Books

Excerpt

2/5/2022

YABooksCentral

Excerpt

Week Two:

2/6/2022

@enjoyingbooksagain

Review/IG Post

2/7/2022

Nerdophiles

Review

2/8/2022

For the Love of KidLit

Excerpt

2/9/2022

Rajiv's Reviews

Review/IG Post

2/10/2022

@emmreadsbooks

Review/IG Post

2/11/2022

The Reading Wordsmith

Review/IG Post

2/12/2022

TLC Book Nook

Review/IG Post

Week Three:

2/13/2022

Lifestyle of Me

Review

2/14/2022

Books a Plenty Book Reviews

Review

2/15/2022

Karen Dee's Book Reviews

IG Spotlight

2/16/2022

A Court of Coffee and Books

Review/IG Post

2/17/2022

onemused

IG Spotlight

2/18/2022

Two Points of Interest

Review

2/19/2022

The Bookwyrm's Den

Review

Week Four:

2/20/2022

@coffeesipsandreads

Review/IG Post

2/21/2022

More Books Please blog

Review/IG Post

2/22/2022

The Momma Spot

Review

2/23/2022

A Backwards Story

Review/IG Post

2/24/2022

Kait Plus Books

Review/IG Post

2/25/2022

@jypsylynn

Review/IG Post

2/26/2022

brittreadsalattebooks

Review/IG Post

Week Five:

2/27/2022

History from a Woman’s Perspective

Review

2/28/2022

@fictionologyst

Review/IG Post


Monday, February 14, 2022

Book Spotlight - The Sun Casts No Shadow by Mark Richardson + Giveaway

About the Book:

Title: THE SUN CASTS NO SHADOW

Author: Mark Richardson

Pub. Date: February 9, 2020

Publisher: Whiz Bang

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 178

Find it: GoodreadsAmazon, Kindle, B&N, Kobo

Wellington Thorneycroft is content picking pockets, taking Ambrosia, screwing prostitutes, and simply surviving in the hellish, walled City. But everything changes when he spots a spectral woman who wordlessly conveys the message: We’ll escape together. Suddenly, Thorneycroft’s life is turned upside down as he’s pulled along a circuitous path to an unknowable freedom: a path marked by violence, sex, and metaphysical dread.

Reviews:

"The Sun Casts No Shadow by Mark Richardson is a dark and twisted tale of a city's underbelly...A fascinating yarn that will captivate readers, The Sun Casts No Shadow easily earns five stars. Richardson has produced an exceptional work that readers will relish and avidly share for years to come."Portland Book Review



"A lowly man searches for a way out of a seemingly inescapable City in the dystopian noir...Richardson coats his short, engaging novel in a gleefully dense atmosphere...A dark, stylish tale that revels in its ambiguity."Kirkus Reviews

 

About Mark Richardson:

Mark Richardson is the author of the novels The Sun Casts No Shadow, and Hunt for the Troll.

 His short stories have appeared in numerous crime and literary publications, including HobartFugueSegueCrime FactorySwitchback, and Nth Position.

Born in the Chicago area, he graduated from the University of Iowa, and promptly escaped the midwestern winters for sunny California, first living in Los Angeles and then San Francisco. He spent thirty years working as a writer and marketer for tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Mark now lives in the East Bay with his wife, two children, and the world’s cutest dog. He spends his time writing fiction, obsessing about the Chicago Cubs, attending his daughter’s softball games, and reading stacks of books. He loves genre-bending fiction, especially speculative writing with a noir flavor. In 2019, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and supports the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon


Giveaway Details:

1 winner will win a $10 Amazon GC courtesy of Rockstar Book Tours, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/31/2022

Rockstar Book Tours

Kickoff Post

1/31/2022

Writer of Wrongs

Excerpt

2/1/2022

YABooksCentral

Guest Post

2/1/2022

Mythical Books

Excerpt/IG Post

2/2/2022

BookHounds

Guest Post

2/2/2022

@jaimerockstarbooktours

IG Post

2/3/2022

Rajiv's Reviews

Review/IG Post

2/3/2022

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Review

2/4/2022

Jazzy Book Reviews

Review

2/4/2022

Sadie's Spotlight

Excerpt/IG Post

Week Two:

2/7/2022

Two Chicks on Books

Excerpt

2/7/2022

Jaime's Book World

Excerpt

2/8/2022

The Girl Who Reads

Review/IG Post

2/8/2022

Prison Wife Reviews

Review/IG Post

2/9/2022

Wottaread

Excerpt

2/9/2022

Coffee and Wander Book Reviews

Review/IG Post

2/10/2022

@jypsylynn

Review/IG Post

2/10/2022

Two Points of Interest

Review

2/11/2022

The Momma Spot

Review

2/11/2022

OneMoreExclamation

Review/IG Post


Sunday, February 13, 2022

Book Spotlight - Black Panther The Young Prince: Spellbound by Ronald L. Smith

 

About The Book:

Title: BLACK PANTHER THE YOUNG PRINCE: SPELLBOUND

Author: Ronald L. Smith

Pub. Date: September 28, 2021

Publisher: Marvel Press

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 272

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

The second book in the hit Young Prince series from Ronald L. Smith, recipient of the 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award.


In the sequel to the hit middle grade novel, The Young Prince, T'Challa is heading back to America to visit his friends Sheila and Zeke, who are staying with Sheila's grandma in Alabama over their summer break. T'Challa is excited to see his friends, but his fun summer vacation quickly turns into a nightmare. The small town has fallen under the sway of a charismatic politician named Achebe who is there to retrieve a spell book full of dark magic. When strange events start to take place, T'Challa begins to think that it's no coincidence that Achebe arrived in Beaumont at the same time he did.

Will T'Challa figure out his role in Achebe's sinister plot and break the spell he has over the town?

Review:

Wakandan prince T’Challa, with the help of his friends, uncovers mysteries and faces new foes. T’Challa, the 13-year-old prince of Wakanda, continues his adventures in America in this second entry in the Young Prince series. This time he is visiting Alabama with his Chicago friends, Sheila and Zeke. Staying with Sheila’s grandmother Miss Rose, the three are excited about all the fun activities they will partake in over the summer. But their revelry quickly gets interrupted thanks to a strange figure T’Challa encounters on multiple occasions, an acrobat called the Amazing Bob. Immediately, T’Challa gets a strange feeling about Bob, sensing that things are not what they seem with him. It turns out that the prince’s instincts are correct, as Bob is really Achebe, a politician with seemingly irresistible charm who has been wielding his power to influence the townspeople. Achebe has devious plans that require T’Challa’s unwitting participation and a spell book called the Book of Sins. It’s up to the young Wakandan and his friends to figure out and foil his plot before it’s too late and an irreversible price is paid. Smith delivers an action-filled story of friendship, youthful curiosity, and exploration that centers Black kids and is layered with anecdotes and storylines that highlight themes of social justice and power. Superhero fans will be satisfied by this latest installment. (Fantasy. 8-13)――Kirkus Reviews

Grab Book 1,  Black Panther The Young Prince now!


About Ronald L. Smith:

Ronald L. Smith is an award-winning writer of children's literature including the middle grade novels Black Panther: The Young Prince, The Mesmerist, The Owls Have Come To Take Us Away, and Gloomstown, a Junior Library Guild Selection. His first novel, Hoodoo, earned him the 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award and the ILA Award for Intermediate Fiction from The International Literacy Association. Before he became a full-time writer, he worked in advertising and wrote TV commercials for big corporations. He is much happier writing books for young people.

Website |Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr | Goodreads 

 



Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of BLACK PANTHER THE YOUNG PRINCE: SPELLBOUND, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/31/2022

YA Books Central

Excerpt

1/31/2022

Kait Plus Books

Excerpt

2/1/2022

BookHounds YA

Excerpt

2/1/2022

Books and Ladders

Excerpt

2/3/2022

karendeeandabc

Spotlight

2/3/2022

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Review

2/3/2022

Rajiv's Reviews

Review

2/3/2022

More Books Please blog

Review

2/4/2022

Review Thick & Thin

Review

2/4/2022

Locks, Hooks and Books

Review

Week Two:

2/7/2022

Nay's Pink Bookshelf

Review

2/7/2022

booksaremagictoo

Review

2/8/2022

The Momma Spot

Review

2/8/2022

Lifestyle of Me

Review

2/9/2022

Cocoa With Books

Review

2/9/2022

Midnightbooklover

Review

2/10/2022

@fictitious.fox

Review

2/10/2022

Sometimes Leelynn Reads

Review

2/11/2022

Two Points of Interest

Review

2/11/2022

laura's bookish corner

Review