Hi guys!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
Today, we're shining the BOOK BIRTHDAY spotlight on a title releasing TODAY via Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. It's a Children's Fiction book featuring a retelling of the Japanese Cinderella filled with MAGIC, DREAMS, and DRAGONS! Sound like your cup of tea? Yeah, MINE TOO! It's coming up next on my TBR, but I couldn't let it's big day pass by without a celebratory post, so ready...set...here we go!
by
Julie Abe
9780316300353
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
About the book...
Once upon a time, Alliana believed in dreams and fairy tales as sweet as spun-sugar clouds. Alliana wished on shooting stars, sure that someday she and her grandmother would be able to travel to the capital city to see the queen. Then her grandmother passed away—and those dreams disappeared in a disenchanted puff.
Now Alliana’s forced to attend to the whims of her wicked stepmother—with long days of cleaning her stepfamily’s inn as her skin burns raw or staying up until the crack of dawn to embroider her stepsister’s ball gowns. Until she meets two beings who change her life forever—the first is a young nightdragon who Alliana discovers she can magically talk to. And the second is Nela, a young witch.
Nela needs Alliana’s help navigating the mysterious abyss, filled with dangerous beasts, a place Alliana knows by heart. Alliana sees Nela’s request as a chance to break free of her stepmother’s shadow and to seize a chance at a life she’s barely dared to hope for—but there’s a risk. If caught, Alliana will be stuck working for her stepmother for the rest of her life. Can Alliana truly make wisps of dreams into her own, better-than-a-fairy-tale happily ever after?
Inspired by the Japanese Cinderella story and set in the same world as the Eva Evergreen series, this story can be read as a standalone.
NOW...while I catch up on this read, here's a few titles that I have recently finished that fall along the same lines of FANTASICAL reading, perfect to kiss the last days of summer goodbye...
by
Christopher Edge
9780593486016
Delacorte Press
This story begins as an escape room challenge and somewhere along the way morphs into a REAL quest to save the world. Honestly, I can't say too much about it because it would spoil the revelations made as the story progresses and you start to put the pieces together, but there's certainly more here than meets the eye. It's a story that will draw you in with the action, the danger, and the quest, but keeps it's hold on you even when things start to turn upside down. Readers will get lost, but willingly so in the challenge, and yet walk away with a new understanding of how even one person can affect change. Ami really gets this, even though she technically shouldn't. She sees that the real challenge is in getting people to think differently, and realize how big a part they really play. Trust me on this, just read it.
by
Dan Walker
9781912979103
UCLan Publishing
So I've been sitting on this one for a while, not because it wasn't AMAZING, but for lack of time because it's not a story that you can rush. There is so much going on here and in the world created by the author that you really have to focus in to capture it all. There's monsters and light that isn't just something that escaped from the sun, there's dark that isn't just an absence of light, machines that can do bewildering things, and people that do things you could only imagine. There's teamwork and truth, mysterious pasts revealed and dark futures that could await them...and this is only BOOK ONE! Lux is a great character, easily related to and hard not to feel for, but so is his best friend, his grandpa, and the new members of his team. It's a story that readers will walk away from amazed by the ideas suggested, dazzled by the story unfolded, and desperately wanting to see where things go next!
Autumn Moonbeam, Book 1
by
Emma Finlayson-Palmer
Illustrated by
Holly Cannon
9781912979769
UCLan Publishing
This delightful first installment of the Autumn Moonbeam series is perfectly timed for the upcoming reading season, though the magic is equally potent outside this spooky fun reading season. Autumn has a big heart, a kind streak a mile long, but she also wants to DANCE, and the opening with Sparkledale Dance Academy is the PERFECT fit. She'll be with friends doing something she loves, and what could make a little witch's heart sing more, am I right? Only problem, we've got a bully in our midst, who seems to think a little less of themselves, seeing how they act out against out girl Autumn, but the tricks on her. The outcome isn't what she was expecting, and could have been much worse than how it played out, all thanks to Autumn reminding us that two wrongs don't make a right, and turning the other cheek is just as gratifying, perhaps even more so, as you reach for your dreams on your own measure. I can't wait to see what's in store for this trio of friends in the next release!
Mr. Penguin, Book 4
by
Alex T. Smith
9781682634592
Peachtree
This series has always been SO MUCH FUN and this installment is certainly no different. Mr. Penguin, Colin, and friends are at it again, but this time there's a kidnapping, a relic, a thief (or multiple?), a kid with a one eyed cat, and a pigeon that won't lay off consuming a particular book. Yep, it's an EPIC story, and if you're of a certain age, or a fan of the series, your fan heart and mind will be screaming "the whip for the idol". That's right! The play on word title...has a play on story, story with Mr. Penguin playing the intrepid professor with the iconic hat, and having just as many danger filled adventures, all while strongly craving a good fish finger sandwich. It's a series great for kiddos, but equally wonderful for older readers that should not be missed!
Many thanks to the publishers and publicists involved with the titles listed above. Your reach outs, review copies, and heads up notifications are beyond appreciated in keeping us all apprised of the latest and greatest must know stories out there! All titles listed are available now, even some of the sequels, so grab your wish list and get to adding...or better still, you were making a trip to the bookstore later, right?
Under next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
