Looking for a book for your kiddos this summer? I’m joining along with R&R Book Tours for their Book Blitz for Dylan Dover Into the Vortexby Lynne Howard. Let’s get lost in a book!
Dylan Dover: Into the Vortex
Genre: MG Fantasy/ Middle GradeDylan Dover was an ordinary boy... until a fall into another realm transformed his fate - and the fate of this immortal realm - forever.
Dylan believes he is a typical twelve-year-old until he stumbles into a vortex that miraculously transports him to the immortal dimension, a parallel universe.
Dylan not only learns that he is a warlock, but he also discovers a twin brother, extraordinary powers, and a secret prophecy that seems to have Dylan and his family at its crux. Dylan, along with his brother and their new-found wizard friend Thea, begin to unravel the mystery that surrounds their birth and the danger that threatens immortals and humans alike.
In a stunning debut, Lynne Howard’s Dylan Dover: Into the Vortex casts a potent reader’s charm over all youngsters clamoring for a new supernatural hero.
Lynne Howard, author of the Dylan Dover: Into the Vortex series, is a writer, lawyer, and teacher. Passionate about serving her community and dedicated to social justice, she lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband, Andrew, and their children, Matthew, Jessie, and Dylan.
Today in the spotlight are Tim DeRoche and Daniel González, author, and illustrator of the best-selling Ballad of Huck & Miguel, returning with a book of verse that will delight anyone who loves Lemony Snicket or Shel Silverstein with Tales of Whimsy Verses Woe. Read on!
Tales of Whimsy, Verses of Woe
Publication Date: January 24th, 2023 (In honor of Lewis Carroll’s birthday)
Genre: Children’s Humorous Poetry/ Grades 1 – 12
Publisher: Redtail Press
If your moral character is flimsy Or your wit be rather slow,
Oh dare not read these tales of whimsy For often do they end in woe.
Tales of Whimsy, Verses of Woe is quite possibly the most dangerous book of poetry ever written. Do you dare? It’s so good it will make you sneeze. What becomes of a girl who absolutely detests the color green? What about a king who joins a punk band? And the little boy who calls up God on the telephone? Monsters, bears, wizards, and talking vegetables―This book has something for everyone. Winner of the prestigious Baldersquash Medal, which honors the very best in highfalutin nonsense.
ADD To Goodreads
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Tim DeRoche emigrated to California to attend Pomona College, where he studied English literature. His first book, The Ballad of Huck & Miguel, was featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, the LA Review of Books, and the Mark Twain Forum. It was also selected by the Pasadena Public Library as the “One City, One Story” book for the Summer of 2019.
He has served as executive producer and writer of the children’s science series Grandpa’s Garage, produced by Turner, and is a graduate of the PBS Producers Academy at WGBH in Boston.
Tim lives with his wife Simone and three young kids in the La Crescenta neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Dragon Train Rebellion is book 2 in the Dragon Quest Series. Picking up two years after Dragon Train ( read the review here), where Jaiden learned he could communicate with dragons and help Skye, a blue dragon, recuse her family from captivity and enslavement.
Jaiden had returned home, but tension mounted again between Jaiden and his father, and when Skye returns, telling him the dragons are going to fight for their freedom, Jaiden hops aboard where Sky takes him to where the last remnants of the dragons live.
In the desert landscape they call Septrion, we meet the elder dragons who fought in the Dragon Wars of yore that had led to the state of the dragons today as dragon train pullers.
But when Skye and Caerulus’ children get abducted somehow by the humans, their battle for freedom gets started sooner than expected. Can Jaiden step up to fight alongside the dragons?
Targeted for YA-Teens I am an adult and absolutely love reading this fantasy adventure series so far. RJ The Story Guy whisks you back effortlessly into his medieval-style world, where humans and dragons exist. RJ writes in a refreshing way making his characters down-to-earth and relatable, especially in our young protagonist Jaiden, who has no clue about being a hero and second-guesses himself constantly but knows right from wrong and is passionate about correcting them.
RJ describes the dragons in majestic glory, from the large “Blues” to the more serpent-like “Golds and Silvers.” giving each a personality and a soul.
If you are looking for a wholesome book for your young pre-teen or have a teen that loves dragons, I highly recommend Dragon Train Rebellion, and don’t forget to read Book 1, Dragon Train,first!
5 out of 5 Stars!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RJ The Story Guy has lived in the Middle Rio Grande Valley most of his life. Recognized with awards for teaching, RJ taught high school English, speech, and drama. Now retired, he pursues writing, music, touring in his sports car, and volunteering. Writing as RJ Mirabal, his first novels were a fantasy trilogy set in New Mexico for mature readers called The Rio Grande Parallax. The books of the trilogy were all finalists in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards in 2013, 2015, and 2016.
As RJ The Story Guy, he has created two books about the Adventures of the Brown Dog (Trixie, his actual rescue dog) series of true and fantasy dog stories for all ages (finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards): Trixie Finds Her People and Trixie: Round Brown Ball of Dog.
Recently, he began a new Young Adult/Teen Reader series titled Dragon Train Quest: Dragon Train, Book 1, and Dragon Train Rebellion, Book 2.
RJ is a member of Southwest Writers and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, NM Chapter. All his RJ The Story Guy books have been winners in the New Mexico Press Women Book Awards and the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards contests since 2019. The first Trixie book was also a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (an international contest).
Additional information can be requested by filling out the Contact form on this website and detailing the information, photos, etc. needed. RJ is happy to be interviewed for print, audio, and video media.
Happy June to all! In the spotlight today is Grace Summit by Denise Roma. Let’s dive in more!
Grace Summit
Publication Date: September 2022
Genre: NA College Romance/ FF Romance (slightly literary bent)
Ann, Amelia, and Jackie arrive at Grace Summit Bible College with their own particular heartbreaks. Ann is lonely and hungry for belonging, Amelia is broken from abuse and separation from her child, and Jackie is searching for friendships to sustain her.
Ann and Amelia find the connection they seek in one another, but they must navigate the college’s religious mandates and eventually, the passage of decades. It is during those passing years that Jackie comes to understand the influence Amelia’s and Ann’s love story has had on her own life.
Grace Summit explores the lives of women coming of age in the late ’80s, navigating their places in a changing world. Giving each woman a voice to reflect on her story, it weaves together attraction, love, religion, and finally, aging, illness, and loss. It’s an achingly beautiful novel that spans cities and lifetimes, capturing the intensity of first loves and women’s friendships.
You can find Denise Roma’s poetry in After Hours, a Chicago journal of literature and visual art, and short fiction in the online literary journal Thread and the New Town Writer’s Off the Rocks magazine. Grace Summit is her first novel.
Denise lives in the Chicago area with her family. She loves reading, writing, and dancing on land or water and early morning air.
Using one young woman’s correspondence, we get a microhistory of the African American experience in early twentieth-century America.
Emma's Postcard Album: Black Lives in the Early Twentieth Century
by Faith Mitchell
Genre: History, African American history, African American Studies, Memoir
Published: December 2022
Synopsis
The turn of the twentieth century was an extraordinarily difficult period for African Americans, a time of unchecked lynchings, mob attacks, and rampant Jim Crow segregation. During these bleak years, Emma Crawford, a young African American woman living in Pennsylvania, corresponded by postcard with friends and family members and collected the cards she received from all over the country. Her album—spanning from 1906 to 1910 and analyzed in Emma's Postcard Album—becomes an entry point into a deeply textured understanding of the nuances and complexities of African American lives and the survival strategies that enabled people “to make a way from no way.” As snippets of lived experience, eye-catching visual images, and reflections of historical moments, the cards in the collection become sources for understanding not only African American life but also broader American history and culture.
In Emma's Postcard Album, Faith Mitchell innovatively places the contents of this postcard collection into specific historic and biographical contexts and provides a new interpretation of postcards as life writings, a much-neglected aspect of scholarship. Through these techniques, a riveting world that is far too little known is revealed, and new insights are gained into the perspectives and experiences of African Americans. Capping off these contributions, the text is a visual feast, illustrated with arresting images from the Golden Age of postcards as well as newspaper clippings and other archival material.
Absolutely beautiful! Faith Mitchell transports us back to the early twentieth century through the eyes and postcards of a young Black American woman Emma Crawford. Faith Mitchell’s own grandmother to be exact.
Mitchell found them in her mother’s trunk after her mother’s passing which she had kept from her own mother. Curious Mitchell realized that not only do these postcards grant her insight into her grandmother’s life but it showed a bigger story of what life was like for a Black American at that time.
For those who love ancestral history, Emma’s Postcards Album shines bright as we see a part of American history play out before our eyes in the most innovative way.
The postcards collected range from the years 1906-1910 as we gleam into Emma’s life as Mitchell weaves in historical facts and data of the times. Winner of the 2023 BCALA award for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation it is no surprise as Emma’s Postcards Album is a cemented piece of Black American history, and praised for its fresh telling.
What Emma’s Postcard Album shows is how hard Black Americans fought back against them and how we are still fighting today. Yet I like to look at the positivity in Emma’s Postcards Album at also how amazingly strong we as Black Americans are. I like viewing it as how far Black Americans have come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Faith Mitchell is a medical anthropologist whose career has bridged research, philanthropy, and social and health policy. In addition to numerous policy-related publications, she is the author of Hoodoo Medicine: Gullah Herbal Remedies and The Book of Secrets, Part 1. Mitchell is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute. She and her husband live in Northern Virginia.
Introducing MY24/7’s Herbal Eye Butter is crafted with real butter and transformed into what is called ghee(clarified butter) by cooking in a decoction of herbs till they are infused inside. Considered an Ayurvedic delicacy ghee is said to benefit the eyes and is used in a practice called “eye washing” in which they use the ghee.
Taking those principles Red Pantz developed it into their Herbal Eye Butter to assist in calming and pampering your eyes for a brighter, smoother texture. Revitalize the delicate eye area from the strain of long hours and excessive screen time. Your eyes just may thank you.
Applying herbal eye butter helps to smooth the skin and enhance complexion, according to Ayurveda. The ghee is beneficial for the eyes because it helps to balance pitta dosha, and our eyes are pitta organs, according to the ancient ayurvedic literature Charak Samhita.
In addition to being high in vitamin E, ghee is a strong source of antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins A, C, D, and K. Amalaki is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C, which benefits skin suppleness and brightness. It benefits skin issues and also has vitamin B, iron, calcium, phosphorus, carotene, protein, and fiber. To help calm, smooth, and firm the skin around the eyes while tenderly nourishing your eyes, Red Pantz created this special herbal combination and paired it with ghee.
Red Pantz is about health and self-care for more wellness, happiness, and productivity so you can do more and better things you love. Sustainably. Our approach is based on time-tested, ancient Ayurvedic wisdom mixed with research-backed modern science and many years of application in demanding corporate environments. Our products are packed with nature’s finest treasures to support you throughout the day, every day.
The MY24/7 brand originally came into existence as a fundraiser for fire victims in California. Red Pantz and MY24/7 continue to give back and pay, with portions of orders going to support St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital.
Dream Walker: The Council of Twelve Series (Book5)Genre: Fantasy/ Paranormal Romance/YA
Release Date: November 25, 2022
Synopsis
Koyu thought she had done her duty, but deep inside she knows it will never be over. She is bound to her master forever and will have to execute his every command. But when he demands she’ll invade his sworn enemy’s dreams, she chooses to rebel.
Koyu risks her existence to help the ‘other side’ by purposely disobeying her master's orders.
Koyu knows she'll pay with her life for her impertinence. Is there, indeed, no hope for her?
Having followed the series since book one I am ecstatic for book five! Each book is a stand-alone book on its own though so it doesn’t matter where you start (though starting at the beginning does make it more enjoyable.), either way, you are going to get hooked and want to go back and read the rest.
In book 5 Dream Walker we have introduced Koyu, a succubus demon with a heart of gold. She actually distastes her duty, her existence. When her master calls upon Koyu with a mission to seduce one of the Council of Twelve Angels, she is horrified. Unable to say no though she unwittingly says she will take the challenge giving her an upper hand. Not wanting to do it, Koyu bravely reaches out to the Council of Twelve to warn them.
When Koyu is whisked up to heaven to talk to the Council of Twelve and Koyu sees her target, a strange feeling starts to stir in Koyu. You can take a demon out of hell, but can you take the hell out of a demon?
Alexander takes the sexy succubus demon creature in a direction I didn’t know could be so tastefully done. She strikes gold again in her 5th book of the series.
Reading is my escapism. I want to be whisked away from this reality and into another and Alexander does not disappoint you. For a moment my troubles are gone and I am in heaven, or at least A.J.’s re-imagining of it. In every book she takes you on a delicious journey into her world which she lays out in a sweet poetic song of words. Lovely!
My Rating is 5 out of 5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.J. Alexander is a talented classical musician who has won several music contests in her youth. She is an accomplished skier and loves to swim, amongst other sports.
A.J. Alexander is the author of the award-winning ‘The Council of Twelve series, with five published books so far. She lives in Upstate New York with her beautiful senior Maine Coon cat. In her rare free time, she loves to meet friends or go for long nature walks.
A. J. Alexander learned reading and writing at the age of four and realized quite early in her education that she loves painting pictures with words. During her school time, she won poetry as well as short story contests. Later on, she participated in writing and poetry workshops to learn the craft. During her time at university, her education as a writer turned toward creative as well as journalistic writing. A. J. published several poems and short stories under a pen name. Currently, she is working on ‘The Council Of Twelve’ series. Writing fantasy books has always been her dream, and she looks forward to sharing her work with her audience.
Another spotlight today is Rule of the Aurora King the stunning next installment in the Artefacts of Ouranos series by Nisha J. Tuli. It’s currently on a blog book tour hosted by R&R Book Tours. Today I’d like to put it in the spotlight. Without further ado!
Rule of the Aurora King (Artefacts of Ouranos #2)
Publication Date: April 6th, 2023
Genre: Fantasy Romance/ Fantasy/ Fae“I am not his conquest. I am not his to claim. I am my own castle.”
Freed from the golden clutches of the Sun King, Lor now finds herself in the hands of Nadir, the Aurora Prince. Convinced she’s hiding something; he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make her talk. But Lor knows the value of secrets—she’s been keeping them her entire life—and she’s not letting hers go without a fight.
When Lor and Nadir team up to search for a lost item that holds the key to her past and her future, she isn’t sure if she can trust him. All she knows is she won’t fall for his promises and make the same mistakes again.
Lor also hasn’t forgotten her vow to destroy the Aurora King. As Atlas hunts her across Ouranos, Lor plots to bring down the Imperial Fae who took everything. But she soon realizes that the future of the continent is about so much more than just her shattered legacy.
The Rule of the Aurora King is the second book in the Artefacts of Ouranos series and combines romance, intrigue, action, and adventure. If you love enemies to lovers, fated mates. Get your copy today!
The Rule of the Aurora King is currently available at books2read
Also, Check out book 1 in the series!
Trial of the Sun Queen(Artefacts of Ouranos #1)
Ten women. A deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King’s heart.
Lor has endured twelve long years of torment under the Aurora King’s rule. Her only desire is to get free and pay him back for every moment of misery she’s endured.
When a surprise release finds her in the hands of the Sun King, Lor is thrust into the spotlight as she competes against nine other Tributes for the role of queen. If she wins his heart, she’ll earn her freedom and finally get her revenge.
But Lor doesn’t belong in the Sun Queen Trials. Not only does she not understand why she was freed, she isn’t a citizen of the Sun King’s court. The other Tributes resent her presence and will stop at nothing to ensure Lor is wiped off the gameboard, permanently.
Now Lor must win, because if she loses, she dies. Or worse, she’ll be sent back into the hands of the Aurora King.
This glittering fae romance is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer Armentrout, and Raven Kennedy. Trial of the Sun Queen is the first book in a series with an eventual happy ever after.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nisha J. Tuli is a Canadian fantasy romance author, whose books feature kick ass heroines, swoony love interests, and slow burns with plenty of heat. Fans of The Princess Bride and A Court of Thorns and Roses will find themselves at home in her worlds.
She loves to draw upon her Indian heritage to bring her stories to life, weaving together vibrant and compelling characters, settings, and plotlines. Her first novella Wicked is the Reaper became a BookTok hit, which she followed up with two more novels, including her latest, Trial of the Sun Queen, the first in a new series.
Nisha wants to leave her readers breathless and begging for more and enjoys making her characters suffer before giving them a much-deserved happily ever after. When she’s not writing or exploring, Nisha can be found enjoying travel, food, and camping with her partner, two kids, and their fluffy Samoyed.
Joining with R&R Book Tours this Thursday I am spotlighting the sassy adult romantic fantasy Fires of the Forsaken by Stephanie E. Donohue. Available for pre-order now read on as to why this book is on my spotlight list.
Fires of the Forsaken (Across #1)
Expected Publication Date: May 2023
Genre: Adult Fantasy/ Romantic FantasyAddie wanted a gosh-darn pizza.
Lass wanted to avoid being cooked over a spit.
Neither figured they’d end up with a one-way ticket to the end of days.
Addie did not have “getting plucked from the 21st century and thrown into a rudimentary fantasy world” on her “fun things to do at 30” checklist. Yet here she is, struggling to survive in the hellscape known as Sakar, a place where Wraiths flame-broil humans and Celestial armies wage war with each other over a centuries-old spat. Thankfully, Cheriour, the hunky commander of the human army, takes her under his wing—although he’s allergic to giving straight answers. And talking.
As Addie reluctantly starts to care for him, and the rest of the Sakarians, she also learns why she was sent to this world. And it’s a doozy…
The violent society of Sakar is the only home Lass has ever known, and it’s been a wretched one. She has spent her life being tormented and twisted into an inhuman hybrid by the Celestials and hunted by the humans who fear her. But she finds solace with a cocky, blue-eyed boy who comforts her, even after she accidentally slaughters innocents.
As Lass struggles to control her volatile powers, she slowly transforms into the monster the humans believe her to be. And even the boy she loves is in peril…
At the end of time, there is only fire. And neither Addie nor Lass will escape unscathed.
As a child, Stephanie E. Donohue roamed Narnia with the Pevensie siblings and rode the Hogwarts Express with Harry and his friends. She never tired of discovering new and magical worlds through the pages of a book. And, when the yearning to explore still wasn’t satiated, Stephanie turned to writing. With a pen and a few sheets of paper, she learned to craft new worlds, and vibrant characters to explore with.
That passion has never died. Stephanie still enjoys writing stories that take readers on exciting, and sometimes dangerous, adventures.
When she’s not writing, Stephanie can usually be found cuddling with her two cats, obsessively re-watching The Office, or rocking out to a Pound Fitness class.
A young sketch artist agrees to an in-house therapy session with a well-renowned psychiatrist as his life begins sprawling out of control after years of physical and verbal abuse have finally taken a toll on him.
Powerfully beautiful Marcellus Cox shines in his directorial debut with Mickey Hardaway.
Review
We are introduced to Mickey Hardaway, a struggling young artist who, unbeknownst to him, is haunted by his past childhood trauma. After losing his job, Mickey finds himself unable to handle life. His girlfriend Grace (Ashley Parchment) recommends an esteemed psychiatrist, Dr. Cameron Harden (Stephen Cofield Jr.) Mickey agrees, and it is in these sessions we learn of Mickey’s horrific childhood abuse from his father, Randall Hardaway (David Chattam ), and his fearful mother (Gayla Johnson).
Mickey has loved drawing since childhood, and he is good at it. When one of Mickey’s elementary school teachers, Mr. Sweeney(Denis L.A. White), encourages Mickey to attend a summer art class, Mickey sadly says his dad has said no. Mr. Sweeney, thinking this art class could really benefit Mickey, tries to appease Mickey’s dad and gets beat down by Mickey’s dad LITERALLY. Mickey needs to be realistic; he is told. That is just a glimpse of Mickey’s abuse; as Mickey continues his sessions with Dr. Harden, we see more and more. Sadly, his sessions with Dr. Harden always seem to be cut shorter and shorter, leaving Mickey with no answers. Mickey starts to feel resentful, and then finally, Mickey breaks.
Stephen Cofield (Dr. Cameron Harden) and Rashad Hunter (Mickey Hardaway) in Mickey Hardaway
Mickey Hardaway is a film every mental health practitioner should see, heck the whole world should see as Mickey Hardaway shows exactly how our mental health system fails us. Also, we as a society fail each other. So many people said they’d be there if Mickey needed anything, but no one was there. Only Mr. Sweeny seemed to have kept his word, but even Mr. Sweeney, in a way, failed somehow.
Shot entirely in black and white, the only color we get is when Mickey meets Grace as we see Grace is the only color and brightness in his painful black-and-white life.
David Chattam as Randall Hardway/ images courtesy of Marcellous Cox
Cox does a phenomenal job in his directorial debut. I applaud him so much and can relate deeply to this film. Much of it brought tears to my eyes. I enjoyed how Cox envisions Mickey’s slip into instability in an almost uneventful way till it’s too late, which is kind of true to life. When a person goes off the deep end, no one ever sees it coming. It is usually after the fact the signs are seen.
Rashad Hunter (Mickey Hardaway), Ashley Parchment (Grace Livingston) in Mickey Hardaway/ images courtesy of Marcellous Cox
Cox presents a beautiful piece that is flawless, in my opinion. Every shot has a meaning, and the cast is stellar. Every cast member commands each scene they are in. David Chattam (Randall Hardaway )gives a vicious performance as Mickey’s dad and delivers the cruelest line ever in a film I have ever heard.
Rashad Hunter (Mickey Hardaway), though, is the breakout star. He portrays Mickey with a realistic vulnerability you can not help but feel and relate to.
Mickey Hardaway is currently out on the film festival circuit and has won tons of awards, including:
*2023 Best feature: Lightreel Film Festival
*Best Feature: Roxbury International Film Fest
and
*Best Director: Athens International Monthly Arts Film Festival(For the full live, visit their IMDB page)
Freelance Writer Janny(Jan Marie)C 