Renegade Red Cover Reveal!

It’s Kristen! Today I’m excited to reveal the COVERS for Renegade Red (Light Trilogy #2)! That’s right, there are 3 different covers. I loved the first book and can’t wait for the second one. Let’s take a look at those new covers!

 

 

 

Reckless, desperate, and distraught, Noa Sullivan leaps into a collapsing Portal in the explosive finale of Shattered Blue— the jaw-dropping, award-winning first installment in The Light Trilogy— in wild hope of rescuing her little sister Sasha. Now Noa and the Fae brothers who love her—Callum and Judah Forsythe—must find a way to survive not only across worlds but between them, in places so treacherous and deceptive their own minds are twisted against them. As the three fight to survive their passage, they battle not only enemies but themselves, and their darkest, most difficult secrets.

Surviving, however, is only the beginning: Noa needs to find Sasha. That means becoming a warrior herself, one just as fierce as the magical brothers battling for her love. Across broken cities, underground labyrinths, rushing floods and endless skies; in the face of legions of armies, horrifying tyrants, and the most deceitful of friends, can Mortal Noa rescue her sister—and understand her own heart—in time to escape the most deadly of magic realms?

Add to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26136468-renegade-red

Request an ARC now:

http://laurenbirdhorowitz.com/arc-request/

 

 

Silver Medalist

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING BOOK AWARDS BEST YOUNG ADULT FICTION

 

Finalist

USA BOOK AWARD BEST NEW FICTION 2015

USA BOOK AWARD BEST FANTASY 2015

INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD BEST FANTASY 2015

NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARD BEST YOUNG ADULT FICTION 2015

“Must-read romances of 2015… I guarantee you’ll be hooked and anxiously awaiting the next book in the series”

–USA TODAY

“Anyone who’s ever fantasized about kissing a Fae will enjoy Noa and Callum’s first sexy kiss…Romantic sparks ignite…fast-moving…hip…lyrically concise”

– Kirkus Reviews

“A fantastical tale of love and betrayal…colorful world-building…more than enough emotion and angst to keep any romance-loving teenager glued to the pages, and the promise of a trilogy will keep them eagerly anticipating the next book…VERDICT Librarians with a large fantasy readership should invest in the print version of this title.” – School Library Journal

“A book to fall for”

–BUZZFEED

“Not your average fairy tale… will have you clamoring for more of a story that you didn’t see coming…new and surprising.”

–HYPABLE

“Magic, action and a really, really attractive love interest… what more could you want?”

–GLITTER MAGAZINE

“A love story you won’t soon forget… A story of of protection sacrifice and love”

–SHE KNOWS.COM

A “Book To Lean On When The Going Gets Tough”

–BUSTLE

A “Book for All Ages”

–MARIA SHRIVER.COM

 

 

Blog:

http://laurenbirdhorowitz.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Lauren-Birdaileen-Horowitz-510367105794154/?fref=nf

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/birdaileen

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/birdaileen/

Sign up for The Light Letter here:

http://laurenbirdhorowitz.com/light-letter-signup/

For Noa and Callum, being together is dangerous, even deadly. From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.

But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?

Amazon:

http://amzn.to/1Ln5dMe

Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shattered-blue-lauren-bird-horowitz/1122473000?ean=9781503949973

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25953603-shattered-blue?ac=1&from_search=1

 

 

 

Lauren Bird Horowitz, screenwriter and novelist, has won an enthusiastic following for her innovative, lyrical poetic voice. Her debut novel Shattered Blue: Book One of The Light Trilogy, won the 2016 Independent Publishers’ (IPPY) Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction, as well as Finalist honors in the 2016 USA Book
Awards for Best New Fiction and Best New Fantasy, the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Best Young Adult Fiction, and the 2016 International Book Award for Best Fantasy. It was also listed as one of USA Today’s top romances of 2015, and selected as a notable book by BuzzFeed, Popsugar

Francisco Book Review, Glitter, The Culturalist, Teen Reads, Maria Shriver.com, Bustle and others.

 

Bird studied writing at Harvard University with novelist Jamaica Kincaid, where she won several prizes including the Edward Eager Memorial Prize for fiction and Winthrop-Sargent Prize for writing. She’s a proud member of the Writers Guild of America. Bird lives in Kauai and Los Angeles.

 

Dark Matter Review

Sometimes a book comes along and you just can’t put it down. You can’t stop thinking about it.

Today’s book surprised me. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked it up. It sounded interesting and I thought it would be a good read by the pool. It never made it to the pool. I read it in one sitting and it was fabulous.

Let’s take a look at Dark Matter by Blake Couch.

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• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Crown (July 26, 2016)
• ISBN-10: 1101904224
• Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

“Are you happy with your life?” 

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s
never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this  or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

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Tawney’s Review:  This book was a mind blowing read! I couldn’t put it down. My first thought was to compare it to the movie Inception because you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know what’s going on.

The book started off with a bang! Jason Dessen, our main character, was heading home to his wife and son from drinking with a buddy. Unbeknownst to him he had been followed and thus was kidnapped. The last thing he remembers was being injected with something by his kidnapper. This is where things become strange. Jason woke up in a lab where every scientist seems to know him but they were stingers to him. They seemed to praise his return from years of being gone. Jason soon discovers he was in a different world than his own, a different multiverse.

In short, what I gathered from this book, was that a multiverse can have numerous different possible universes with the same version of yourself inhabiting them, except on different paths chosen by fate. Some might call it parallel universes.What would life be if you had made a different decision? Took a different path? That is what those multiuniverses were. I loved the science elements to this book. I understood them and Crouch weaved the science and the fiction together with ease and clarity.

This book was Jason’s adventure at trying to get back to his family through different mutiverses. His love for his family drives him to continue moving forward, even if the path is hard and unpredictable. It’s a thrill ride with science elements.

I read this book swiftly and enjoyed every moment of it from learning quantum physics and multiverses to the characters that Jason encounters. Crouch painted a wonderful description of each multiverse that Jason visited and the consequences in those worlds.  Never once did I get confused or lost because Crouch does a wonderful job at keeping the scientific facts understandable while not dumbing it down.

Should you read this? Yes! A fun thriller with mind boggling science and great characters.

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About the Author:

Blake Crouch has sold over a million books and his work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Known for high-concept fiction with breakneck pacing and groundbreaking genre cross-breeding, six of his books have hit the Kindle Top 10, and two have reached the #1 spot. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Alfred Hitchcock, Ellery Queen, Cemetery Dance, and Thriller 2, edited by Clive Cussler.

In 2013, his novel Pines was nominated for ITW’s Best Paperback Original Thriller Award, and his Wayward Pines series has been made into a TV series which is currently airing on Fox International Channels, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Matt Dillon, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo and Terrence Howard. He has been featured in Time Magazine, the L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Entertainment Weekly. Blake lives in Colorado.

The best way to stay apprised of new releases is to sign up for his newsletter, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Throwback Thursday: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson Review

I’ve decided to try something new on my reviews every Thursday by doing something old.

I’m going to start reading older books. Books that have been out for while whether they’re bestsellers or classics.

Today’s book is something that made me venture out of my comfort zone. I read a non-fiction book.

I just recently watched the movie A Walk in the Woods and really liked it. I knew it was a book about a man who went hiking on the Appalachian Trail with a buddy of his. I had heard of Bill Bryson and knew he was very popular from working at the bookstore. So I decided to try and read it. I finished it in 2 days.

Let’s take a look at A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

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• Mass Market Paperback: 397 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 2nd edition (December 26, 2006)
• Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way–and a couple of bears.

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Tawney’s Review:  I never thought I could learn so much from a book and not realize it until I was almost finished. I always stayed away from non-fiction books because of the boring mellow dry history that accompanies some of those books. But maybe I haven’t really found my author. Maybe I didn’t give these books a chance. Or maybe I should’ve just picked up Bill Bryson first.

This book is a travel memoir about a man who decides to hike the Appalachian Trail. Now that is 2,100-mile trail! I know this because I learned it from the book. I actually learned a lot from that book. I’m not much of a hiker. I love hiking for a couple of hours or a day trip but you definitely need to be prepared when doing this hike. It can take up to 5 to 7 months to hike all of the trail.

Bryson has an urge to take a long hike and decides to try the Appalachian Trail.  But he doesn’t go on this trip alone. Accompanying him is his friend Stephen Katz, a former drunk. Katz and Bryson are out of shape and beginner hikers so things don’t start off well.  Plus they are carrying the heaviest backpacks full of their tents, food, water, clothes and other items needed. Along the way they meet hilarious people and I found myself laughing out loud at Bryson’s description of his interactions with them.

What I loved about this was not only the relationship between Bryson and the eccentric Katz but all the interesting history and facts he weaved into this story. He went from talking about his journey to going back to the history of his surroundings.  I never once found myself bored or skipping these little facts placed throughout the book.

Should you read it? Yes! Bryson has great humor and sarcasm that make the read enjoyable. I will defiantly pick up more of his books.

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About the Author:

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa. For twenty years he lived in England, where he worked for the Times and the Independent, and wrote for most major British and American publications. His books include travel memoirs (Neither Here Nor There; The Lost Continent; Notes from a Small Island) and books on language (The Mother Tongue; Made in America). His account of his attempts to walk the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods, was a huge New York Times bestseller. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his wife and his four children.

Sometimes We Tell The Truth Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway!

We are excited to be the third stop on the blog tour for Sometimes We Tell the Truth by Kim Zarins today!

Today we have author Kim Zarins as a special guest talking about her book, a modern day retelling of The Canterbury Tales!  Let’s take a look at Sometimes We Tell The Truth!

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Title: SOMETIMES WE TELL THE TRUTH

Author: Kim Zarins

Pub. Date: September 6, 2016

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 448

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

 

In this contemporary retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a group of teens on a bus ride to Washington, DC, each tell a story—some fantastical, some realistic, some downright scandalous—in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a perfect score.

Jeff boards the bus for the Civics class trip to Washington, DC, with a few things on his mind:

-Six hours trapped with his classmates sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

-He somehow ended up sitting next to his ex-best friend, who he hasn’t spoken to in years.

-He still feels guilty for the major part he played in pranking his teacher, and the trip’s chaperone, Mr. Bailey.

-And his best friend Cannon, never one to be trusted and banned from the trip, has something “big” planned for DC.

But Mr. Bailey has an idea to keep everyone in line: each person on the bus is going to have the chance to tell a story. It can be fact or fiction, realistic or fantastical, dark or funny or sad. It doesn’t matter. Each person gets a story, and whoever tells the best one will get an automatic A in the class.

But in the middle of all the storytelling, with secrets and confessions coming out, Jeff only has one thing on his mind—can he live up to the super successful story published in the school newspaper weeks ago that convinced everyone that he was someone smart, someone special, and someone with something to say.

In her debut novel, Kim Zarins breathes new life into Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a fresh and contemporary retelling that explores the dark realities of high school, and the subtle moments that bring us all together.

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And now to the guest post!

 Four Fantastic Women Get on a Bus: Sometimes We Tell the Truth Character Introductions!

One fun thing about retelling Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is that I got to flesh out the few women he did have, as well as add several more! I wanted to introduce you to four characters you will meet on the all-day bus ride, and give you a little hint as to what their stories will be about. (If you want to meet one more awesome young woman, check out the romantic excerpt from Sophie’s paranormal tale on 8/29 on Novel Novice.)

#1 Reiko. In Chaucer’s original, she’s a male character, but I thought it would be more powerful to have her be a woman because her tale shows the difficulty many women have with operating in an abusive society in ways both large and small. If you’re a woman and you’ve ever had a man in your family tell you how to vote, her story will hopefully resonate with you. (Her tale is my agent’s favorite story!)

#2 Cece. Cece’s the girl who gets told she’d be so much prettier if she smiled…which makes her furious. I took a risk with Cece because I made her unpopular, a sort of frustrated Cassandra figure fighting for women’s equality, because it felt real to me that someone as passionate as Cece would get a cold shoulder. (High school is not the most forgiving place for passionate people, but Cece is going to LOVE college!) My hope is that, as with other stereotypes on that bus, other characters and readers begin to see that how right she is about so many things, and that her feminism (as well as the other feminisms on the bus) has value.

In Chaucer’s version, Cece’s a nun without a name—phooey on that!—and tells the story of a female martyr named Cecilia. I gave Cece that martyr’s name and courage. I love Cece’s absolute determination to fight the Patriarchy, no matter how unaccepting other men (and other women) are. She’s still developing her mode of feminism, and she’s not perfect, but I love her refusal to compromise and wish I had some of her in me—I’m a smiling, please-all woman, and that can be so taxing. Also, I adore her tale about a girl who puts her boyfriend first…until she meets a dolphin. I wear a dolphin necklace and have had this story on my mind for years and am thrilled I could give it to Cece.

#3 Lupe. In Chaucer’s original, there’s a man called the Manciple who’s tough and argumentative, and I gave all that to Lupe. Her name comes from the Latin word for wolf, and I wanted someone smart, beautiful, fierce, and a touch sly. The Manciple tells a love story gone horribly wrong, featuring a Greek god and a talking crow. Lupe tells that basic story, including the crow, but she adds a wicked fangirl paranormal twist.

#4 Alison. She’s by far my favorite and is based on Chaucer’s beloved Wife of Bath. Like Chaucer’s original, she’s bold and adventurous in her relationships with guys. She’s also a woman with some pretty tough experiences that made her grow up fast, and she’s still balancing her strength as a sexually liberated woman and some negative experiences she’s had with men. I suppose she’s what Roxane Gay lovingly calls a ‘bad feminist’—someone who is a fighter but will also dance to music with sexist lyrics, because Alison’s gotta dance. In other words, she’s complex, fun-loving, and real. She’s a powerful young woman, and I love her to pieces.

 

Pre-order giveaway: if you pre-order the book by its release date, September 6th, drop Kim a message on her website or Twitter and she’ll send you a sticker featuring spot art from the book (perhaps Cece’s dolphin, Alison’s Liberty Bell, etc. You pick!), along with a bookmark and signed bookplate!

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About Kim:

Kim Zarins has a PhD in English from Cornell University and teaches medieval literature at Sacramento State University. Her YA contemporary retelling of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Sometimes We Tell the Truth, will be released on September 6, 2016. When she isn’t reading, writing, or teaching, she hangs out with her family in Davis, CA, and coaxes a scrub jay named Joe to take peanuts from her hand.

Website | Twitter | Facebook |Goodreads

 

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Giveaway Details:

10 winners will receive a finished copy of SOMETIMES WE TELL THE TRUTH & stickers, US Only.

Rafflecopter Link

 

 

 

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

8/29/2016- Novel Novice- Guest Post

8/30/2016- A Gingerly Review- Review

8/31/2016- Twinning for Books- Guest Post

9/1/2016- The Petite Book Blogger- Review

9/2/2016- BookCatPin- Guest Post

Week Two:

9/5/2016- Just Commonly- Review

9/6/2016- Wandering Bark Books– Guest Post

9/7/2016- The Reading Nook Reviews- Review

9/8/2016- Literary Meanderings- Guest Post

9/9/2016- Eli to the nth- Review

 

 

My Name is Leon Review

I love books where the main character is a kid, like The Body by Stephen King. I love it in movies like Goonies and TV shows like Stranger Things.

Let’s take a look at My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal.

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• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 26, 2016

For fans of The Language of Flowers, a sparkling, big-hearted, page-turning debut set in the

1970s about a young black boy’s quest to reunite with his beloved white half-brother after they are separated in foster care.
Leon loves chocolate bars, Saturday morning cartoons, and his beautiful, golden-haired baby brother. When Jake is born, Leon pokes his head in the crib and says, “I’m your brother. Big brother. My. Name. Is. Leon. I am eight and three quarters. I am a boy.” Jake will play with no one but Leon, and Leon is determined to save him from any pain and earn that sparkling baby laugh every chance he can.

But Leon isn’t in control of this world where adults say one thing and mean another, and try as he might he can’t protect his little family from everything. When their mother falls victim to her inner demons, strangers suddenly take Jake away; after all, a white baby is easy to adopt, while a half-black nine-year-old faces a less certain fate. Vowing to get Jake back by any means necessary, Leon’s own journey—on his brand-new BMX bike—will carry him through the lives of a doting but ailing foster mother, Maureen; Maureen’s cranky and hilarious sister, Sylvia; a social worker Leon knows only as “The Zebra”; and a colorful community of local gardeners and West Indian political activists.

Told through the perspective of nine-year-old Leon, too innocent to entirely understand what has happened to him and baby Jake, but determined to do what he can to make things right, he stubbornly, endearingly struggles his way through a system much larger than he can tackle on his own. My Name Is Leon is a vivid, gorgeous, and uplifting story about the power of love, the unbreakable bond between brothers, and the truth about what, in the end, ultimately makes a family.

Buy Links:

 Amazon * B&N * Book Depository * Indie Bound

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Tawney’s Review:  

This book was well written and beautifully done. Sometimes a book comes along and takes your breath away.

Leon is a 9 year boy who doesn’t have a a great family life. He lives with his mom, who is a drug addict and baby brother Jack. Leon loves Jack and it’s evident throughout the book. A sweet love that is broken when Leon and Jack are torn apart when they are fostered.

It’s so heart wrenching because no one wants to adopt a mixed race child, so Leon is left behind while his brother is adopted. Left alone Leon finds he just wants his family back. He’s left with questions of why he was left behind? Why is his brother gone? Through his journey of discovery Leon meets some great people that give him hope and friendship.

I love that the setting was in the early 80s and Waal does a wonderful job at describing the era. And Leon was so well written that the reader connects with him and roots for him all the way. Every heartache of his you feel. Every joy you feel. You want Leon to succeed and find his happy place.

Should you read it? Yes! This book was beautifully written and leaves you with all the emotions. You fall in love with Leon immediately.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for this book in exchange for an honest review!

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About the Author:

Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham to an Irish mother, who was a foster carer and a Caribbean father. She worked for fifteen years in criminal and family law, was a magistrate for several years and sits on adoption panels. She used to advise Social Services on the care of foster children, and has written training manuals on adoption and foster care. Her writing has received numerous awards including the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2014 and 2015 and the SI Leeds Literary Reader’s Choice Prize 2014. My Name is Leon is her first novel. She has two children.Send

       

The Smaller Evil Review

I had just finished the series The Path on Hulu when I picked up this book.

I have always been fascinated with cults. From Charles Manson to the Branch Davidians cult, what drives their purpose? Are they truly insane or do they really believe in what they do.

I love when books dive into the dark corners of the mind and some sinister things wait there. Let’s take a look at this psychological thriller The Smaller Evil.

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• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers (August 2, 2016)

17-year-old Arman Dukoff can’t remember life without anxiety and chronic illness when he arrives at an expensive self-help retreat in the remote hills of Big Sur. He’s taken a huge risk—
and two-thousand dollars from his meth-head stepfather—for a chance to “evolve,” as Beau, the retreat leader, says.

Beau is complicated. A father figure? A cult leader? A con man? Arman’s not sure, but more than anyone he’s ever met, Beau makes Arman feel something other than what he usually feels—worthless.

The retreat compound is secluded in coastal California mountains among towering redwoods, and when the iron gates close behind him, Arman believes for a moment that he can get better. But the program is a blur of jargon, bizarre rituals, and incomprehensible encounters with a beautiful girl. Arman is certain he’s failing everything. But Beau disagrees; he thinks Arman has a bright future—though he never says at what.

And then, in an instant Arman can’t believe or totally recall, Beau is gone. Suicide? Or murder? Arman was the only witness and now the compound is getting tense. And maybe dangerous.

As the mysteries and paradoxes multiply and the hints become accusations, Arman must rely on the person he’s always trusted the least: himself.

Buy Links:

 Amazon * B&N * Book Depository * Indie Bound

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Tawney’s Review:   This was a mind boggling book that left me confused and maybe that’s why I liked it. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it. I knew it was a psychological book, which are the books I LOVE.

Amran, our main character, heads to a week long retreat to overcome certain problems or as the retreat emphasizes to evolve.  He was a paranoid high anxiety teen that comes from a troubled home, which makes him a perfect candidate for this retreat. The problem with Arman was that he saw himself as a useless person and that was his weakness. He gets taken advantage of and influenced heavily, especially by the leader Beau.

When Beau disappeared everyone tells Amran different things of what could have happened. As Arman tries to decipher what’s true and not, we were right there with him on a thrilling ride while he tried to uncover the truth.

This book was very unique and bizarre. The cult like retreat was interesting and Kuehn weaved the mystery together with powerful description and words. I was engaged throughout the entire book though sometimes a bit confused, especially at the end. And I think that was what frustrated some readers but I loved it. I am partial to books when authors leave the ending hanging for the readers to decipher on their own. It also doesn’t have the feel of a YA book. It was so much more psychological, digging deep into the mind with dark twists, that some teens may not take to it.

Should you read it? Yes! This book was mind bending and engaging. If you like Inception and Gone Girl this book is for you.

Thank you Penguin Young Readers for this book in exchange for an honest review!

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About the Author:

Stephanie Kuehn holds degrees in linguistics and sport psychology, as well as a doctorate in clinical psychology. Her debut young adult novel, CHARM & STRANGE, was the winner of the 2014 William C. Morris Award, and her second novel for teens, COMPLICIT, was named to YALSA’s 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults list. Stephanie was also awarded the 2015 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship for her forthcoming novel, THE SMALLER EVIL and her most recent book, DELICATE MONSTERS, won the 2016 Northern California Book Award.Stephanie lives in Northern California with her husband, their three children, and a joyful abundance of pets.

Follow her on Twitter * Facebook * Pinterest

How to Hang a Witch Blog Tour

We are so excited to be a part of How to Hang a Witch Blog Tour! Sometimes a good witch story is needed.

I have always been fasinated with the Salem Witch Trials with reading the Crucible in high school and learning the history and this book dove right into that history. Let’s take a look at How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather.

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Title: How to Hang a Witch

Author: Adriana Mather
Release Date: July 26, 2016
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Knopf/Random House

Salem, Massachusetts is the site of the infamous witch trials and the new home of Samantha Mather. Recently transplanted from New York City, Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for those trials and almost immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls who call themselves The Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were?

If dealing with that weren’t enough, Sam also comes face to face with a real live (well technically dead) ghost. A handsome, angry ghost who wants Sam to stop touching his stuff. But soon Sam discovers she is at the center of a centuries old curse affecting anyone with ties to the trials. Sam must come to terms with the ghost and find a way to work with the Descendants to stop a deadly cycle that has been going on since the first accused witch was hanged. If any town should have learned its lesson, it’s Salem. But history may be about to repeat itself.

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Tawney’s Review: This was a refreshing entertaining book that I read in one sweep. I loved how Mather’s brought in bullying and history through the Salem Witch Trials and a 300 year old curse.

Our main heroine Samantha moves from New York to Salem when her Dad slips into a mysterious coma. Once in Salem Sam finds she’s unwelcome and that her family is blamed for the witch trials. One group in particular isn’t happy to see her. Dressed in all black, they are the Descendants.

This story was intriguing with mysteries and great characters. It was slow at the beginning but once you get past the setup you’re hooked. Sam was a strong character that spoke the truth on her mind. Jaxon was a great sidekick but my favorite character was Elijah, the uptight ghost who made you laugh. I enjoyed the history woven in this book and the twist and turns Mather’s gives.

Should you read this? Yes! A great historical read with great imagination woven into each word.

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Actor, producer, cat whisperer, and pizza enthusiast. Author of HOW TO HANG A WITCH (Knopf/Random House)

Find Adriana Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagra