BLOG TOUR --- Are You Scared, Darth Vader? by Adam Rex [Review + Giveaway]

Title: Are You Scard, Darth Vader?
Authors(s): Adam Rex
Publication Date: July 3, 2018
Edition: Hardcover, ebook; 48 pages
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & 
Noble - iBooks - The Book Depository

Tour Schedule

Week One:

10/22/2018- YA Books Central- Review

10/23/2018- Oh Hey! Books.- Excerpt

10/24/2018- BookHounds YA- Excerpt

10/25/2018- The Pages In-Between- Review

10/26/2018- What A Nerd Girl Says- Review

Week Two:

10/29/2018- Eli to the nth- Review

10/30/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review

10/31/2018- Such A Novel Idea- Review

11/1/2018- Novel Novice- Review
11/2/2018- Two Points of Interest- Review

The Summary

It's midnight and the moon is full, but Darth Vader isn't scared.

OF COURSE I AM NOT SCARED.

Nothing can scare Lord Vader!

CORRECT.

Not monsters or witches or ghosts, and especially not the dark.

So what is Darth Vader scared of?

Read on in Adam Rex's hilarious and spooky Star Wars tale to find out!

YOU WILL LEARN NOTHING.

(Goodreads)

Review

This is the perfect mash-up of Halloween and Star Wars.  Featuring creepy monsters, and everyone's favorite Sith Lord, Darth Vader, both fans and non-fans will fall in love with Are You Scared, Darth Vader? by Adam Rex.

As with any picture book, the illustrations really make the story come alive.  All of the colors are muted, except for the text of the narrator, which appears in bright neon yellow.  This contrast makes the book both easy to read, and lends it an eerie quality, which is perfect for a story that features werewolves, vampires, and ghosts (check out an except below).

As the reader follows the journey of the narrator to scare Darth Vader, you find out that is a pretty tall task for one of the most feared villains in the galaxy.  Super humorous, and just on the right side of creepy for the little ones, this will be an enjoyable story for both kiddos and parents.

And don't worry, you totally find out what Darth Vader is afraid of, but SHHH no spoilers!

Final Rating

About the Author

Adam Rex grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, the middle of three children. He was neither the smart one (older brother) or the cute one (younger sister), but he was the one who could draw. He took a lot of art classes as a kid, trying to learn to draw better, and started painting when he was 11. Later he got a BFA from the University of Arizona, and met his physicist wife Marie (who is both the smart and cute one).

Adam and Marie live in Tucson, where Adam draws, paints, writes, spends too much time on the internet, and listens to public radio. Adam is nearsighted, bad at all sports, learning to play the theremin, and usually in need of a shave. He can carry a tune, if you don't mind the tune getting dropped and stepped on occasionally. He never remembers anyone's name until he's heard it at least three times. He likes animals, spacemen, Mexican food, Ethiopian food, monsters, puppets, comic books, 19th century art, skeletons, bugs, and robots.

His first picture book, THE DIRTY COWBOY by Amy Timberlake, was published by FSG in 2003. His picture book FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH, a collection of stories about monsters and their problems, was a New York Times Bestseller. 2007 saw the release of his first novel, THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY, which was adapted into the DreamWorks film HOME in 2014. He has illustrated the work of many authors, including Jon Scieszka, Mac Barnett, Neil Gaiman, Jeff Kinney, David Lubar, Kate DiCamillo, Eoin Colfer, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Paul Fieg.

Garlic and crosses are useless against Adam. Sunlight has been shown to be at least moderately effective. A silver bullet does the trick. Pretty much any bullet, really.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads 

Giveaway

3 winners will receive a finished copy of Are You Scared, Darth Vader?, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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BLOG TOUR --- Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks [Review + Giveaway]

Title: Sanity & Tallulah
Authors(s): Molly Brooks
Publication Date: October 16, 2018
Edition: Hardcover, paperback, ebook; 240 pages
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & 
Noble - iBooks - The Book Depository

Tour Schedule

Week One:

10/8/2018- A Backwards Story- Review

10/9/2018- Christen Krumm, Writer- Review

10/10/2018- The Layaway Dragon- Review

10/11/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

10/12/2018- The OWL- Review

Week Two:

10/15/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert- Review

10/16/2018- Beagles & Books- Review

10/17/2018- Utopia State of Mind- Excerpt

10/18/2018- YA Books Central- Interview

10/19/2018- Eli to the nth- Review

The Summary

Sanity Jones and Tallulah Vega are best friends on Wilnick, the dilapidated space station they call home at the end of the galaxy. So naturally, when gifted scientist Sanity uses her lab skills and energy allowance to create a definitely-illegal-but-impossibly-cute three-headed kitten, she has to show Tallulah. But Princess, Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds is a bit of a handful, and it isn't long before the kitten escapes to wreak havoc on the space station. The girls will have to turn Wilnick upside down to find her, but not before causing the whole place to evacuate! Can they save their home before it's too late?

Readers will be over the moon for this rollicking space adventure by debut author Molly Brooks.

(Goodreads)

Review

Sanity is not your typical kid; she is a science prodigy and has bio-engineered a very illegal, very cute creature: a three-headed cat named Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds (or more specifically, Princess, Sparkle, and Destroyer of Worlds -- the full name usage is a funny joke that readers will smile at).  Of course, Sanity's best friend, Tallulah, is mixed up in it, helping Sanity keep the cat hidden from her own mother, Dr. Vega, senior scientist on board the space station Wilnick.

Of course Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds is discovered and quarantined, but you can't have a sci-fi adventure without something going wrong, so soon enough the girls discover PSDW has gotten loose.  Right after, things start to be nibbled on around the space station wreaking havoc.  Right away, PSDW is pointed to as the culprit.  Sanity and Tallulah must race against the adults on the station to find PSDW to both keep her safe, and save their home.  But not everything is as it seems.

Sanity & Tallulah has it all: friendship, hijinks, science, humor, a diverse cast, and love.  Love for family, love for their home, and love for each other.  Love pours out from this book; both from the author's writing and from the characters themselves.  Mix that together with a science experiment on the loose, and a high-stakes search to save their home, you'll fall in love with Sanity Jones and Tallulah Vega-Davisson.

The writing was full of humor and felt very real, even with the setting being a space station.  Sanity and Tallulah are great leading ladies, who have a total synchronicity that only BFFs can get.  All the adults on board are also great!  Dr. Vega, Tallulah's mom, is a whip-smart, no-nonsense lady who clearly loves both girls.  The girls' fathers are both featured prominently as well, Sanity's being the head of the space station and Tallulah's being a supply runner.  All of the characters are well delveoped and the illustrations are used to hint that there's more to all of them then we have been told.  This will make the readers want more stories set in this world.

But what really makes this book feel grounded, even in the midst of the sci-fi shenanigans, is that the author showcases diversity in her characters. Sanity is black, Tallulah is biracial (Latinx/white), Dr. Vega is a Latinx woman in charge of the whole science department, Sanity's father is a black man in charge of the whole space station, and her mom is part of the military in this world.  There is another department head who is Asian.  There are both gay and straight couples.  And Tallulah's dad has a prosthetic leg.  All of this diversity is refreshing and makes the story come alive even more.

This is one of the best graphic novels I've read in a while.  I couldn't put it down, and was so sad when it was over.  Molly Brooks hit it out of the park with her debut novel, and I can't wait to see what else she has in her.  Hopefully, it is more of Sanity & Tallulah!

Don't forget to enter below for your chance to win a finished edition of the book, and Sanity & Tallulah is out in stores now, so pick up a copy!

The cutest lab experiment you ever did see!

Final Rating

About the Author

Molly brooks is a freelance illustrator/comics-maker in Brooklyn by way of Nashville.

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads 

Giveaway

3 winners will win a finished copy of 

 SANITY & TALLULAH, US Only.

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COVER REVEAL - Blastaway by Melissa Landers

I'm so excited to be able to share this cover!  Courtesy of  Melissa Landers and Rockstar Book Tours, I am a part of the reveal for the cover, and an exclusive content, for BLASTAWAY, Melissa's new Middle Grade Sci-Fi which releases Summer 2019! Check out the awesome cover and the excerpt below!

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Title: BLASTAWAY

Author: Melissa Landers

Pub. Date: Summer 2019

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: ?

Find it: Goodreads

Pitched as "Home Alone in space," a young science prodigy who runs away in his family spaceship must team up with a plucky mutant to save the Earth from destruction.

Scheduled for publication Summer 2019.

Exclusive Excerpt!

At some point, I must have fallen asleep.

I say that for two reasons. First, my chin was wet with drool, and I hardly ever slobber on myself when I’m awake. And second, I was no longer on Earth.

I sat bolt upright and stared out the window as distant stars whizzed past in a blur. There were no planets in sight, and judging by the swirling purple nebula ahead of me, this wasn’t the way to Nana’s house. I checked the navigation screen and felt my mouth drop open. The flashing beacon that represented my ship was halfway between Earth and Fasti.

(So you see, it is totally possible to steal a spaceship on accident.)

I guess my hand hit the EXECUTE button when I fell asleep.  And because it would take just as long for me to turn around and go home as it would to finish my journey, it made sense to keep going, right? Either way, my parents would ground me into the afterlife, so I might as well earn the sentence, right?

Right.

An electric thrill rushed through my veins when I thought about the possibilities that lay ahead of me. Anything could happen on this trip. Literally anything. I could discover a brand-new element. Or meet a secret race of aliens. Or invent a new energy source. Or eat so much chocolate that I puked. Either way, I had complete freedom to make this journey into whatever I wanted, and once I realized that, there was no freaking way I could turn back. It was like the universe had dropped a gift in my lap, a gift I had no intention of returning.    

I wiped the drool off my chin and smiled.

“Hold onto your stars, Fasti. Here I come.”

About Melissa:

Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn’t afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public—just ask her kids. She lives just outside Cincinnati in the town of Loveland, “Sweetheart of Ohio.”

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads

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Top Ten Tuesday - Authors I'd Love To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010.  It has since moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Authors I'd Love To Meet

I love this question.  It's like that idea of who would you invite to dinner, if you could.  So while this probably means authors who are alive, I'm throwing in a few deceased authors too.  Because if this is my wish list, these would be the ones on it.

Let's start with the deceased authors first.

Emily Dickinson - Her poetry was the reason I got into writing.  The way she crafts language is beautiful and heartbreaking.  I would love to meet her, of course she being a recluse, I don't know if she'd be thrilled to meet me.

William Shakespeare - I couldn't claim to have an English Literature degree if I didn't include my main man Will.  He is responsible for some many words in the English language (take a linguistics class, it's very interesting) and again his command of language is amazing.

Now for the still alive folks.

Tamora Pierce - She is the one author that I would do almost anything to meet.  She is my idol for fantasy writing.  She was the first author that I binge read her books; I have every single one of them, all wishing for her signature inside.  I love her, and if you haven't read her books, then you are missing out big time.  I recommend starting with Alanna: The First Adventure!

J.K. Rowling - I think this one is pretty obvious.  I fell in love with a boy named Harry when I was 11 years old, and I haven't fallen out of love yet.  While I know there's been some problematic things happening lately, I can never forget the joy she has brought with Harry and his friends.  I am a life-long Hufflepuff, so just to be able to pick her brain would be a real treat!

Laurell K. Hamilton - So Laurell writes adult supernatural fiction, like ADULT adult.  But I first read the 3rd book in her Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, The Laughing Corpse, when I was in 9th grade. Yes, completely out of order, completely inappropriate, completely hooked.  If you're looking for a series about vampires, shapeshifters, and sex, whelp here you go.  I am personally partial to her Merry Gentry series (which is set in the same world), as it's about the Fae.  I'm all about sexy, sexy fae.  My go-to feel good (no pun intended) books.

Susin Nielsen - A new to me author this year, I read her book Optimists Die First in January, and loved her writing.  I quickly devoured her other books, and she is now an auto-buy author for me.  She handles family, grief, mental illness, suicide, friendship, divorce, and much more with exquisite depth and nuance.  I feel like I am a part of her characters lives, and whether the book is Young Adult or Middle Grade, it is perfect.  She is a contemporary author that you need to read!

Marissa Meyer - If you're looking for a fantastic fairy-tale re-imagined series, then look no further than Marissa's The Luner Chronicles.  She takes Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White and mixes them with sci-fi.  The end result is excellent!  She also has other amazing books, one that remixes Alice in Wonderland and then a superhero series that's presented with a twist.  Everything is so good, so she's a definite to meet author.

Seanan McGuire - I had never read a book by Seanan before this year, and, boy, have I been missing out.  I will say that I've only read her Wayward Children series, but, man, oh man, what a series it is!  This is such a beautiful and haunting fantasy series.  A series that I never want to end, I want to ask so many questions about her thoughts on the development of fantasy worlds/tropes.

Becky Albertalli - So you've probably heard of Becky because of Love, Simon, the movie based on her book Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda.  Which I loved, but the book that really sealed the deal was The Upside of Unrequited. I am Molly, the main character.  I connected so hard to this book, and it does have a connection with the Simon universe, which was fun.  But yeah, contemporary romantic humor is Becky's thing.

Courtney Summers - If you want dark, intense contemporary stop here because Courtney dishes it hard.  From rape to murder to abuse, Courtney tackles the hard to digest subjects and doesn't shy away from the raw reality.  If I had to choose one book to start you off, it would be Sadie, her newest book.  It is amazing, and a book not to be missed!

So there's my list of all the authors I want to meet.  But more than meet them, I want to have a conversation with them.  Also, I find it interesting that this list is 90% women, which was not intentional, but definitely shows the mindset I am in right now with all the crap going on in this country against women. 

Who are your must-meet authors, living or dead?  Let me know!  Maybe I'll meet some new favorites!

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BLOG TOUR --- Del Toro Moon by Darby Karchut [Review + Giveaway]

Title: Del Toro Moon
Authors(s): Darby Karchut
Edition: Paperback, ebook; 224 pages
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Publication Date: October 2, 2018
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & 
Noble - Book Depository

Tour Schedule

Week One:

9/24/2018- BookHounds YA- Interview

9/25/2018- Oh Hey! Books.- Excerpt

9/26/2018- Random Bookish Banter- Review

9/27/2018- Patriotic Bookaholic- Review

9/28/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert- Review

Week Two:

10/1/2018- Eli to the nth- Review

10/2/2018- Beagles and Books- Review

10/3/2018- Daily Waffle- Excerpt

10/4/2018- LA Bookworm- Review
10/5/2018- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt

The Summary

“Ride hard, swing hard, and take out as many of those creepy critters as you can.”

Twelve year old Matt Del Toro is the greenest greenhorn in his family’s centuries-old business: riding down and destroying wolf-like monsters, known as skinners. Now, with those creatures multiplying, both in number and ferocity, Matt must saddle up and match his father’s skills at monster whacking. Odds of doing that? Yeah, about a trillion to one. Because Matt’s father is the legendary Javier Del Toro—hunter, scholar, and a true caballero: a gentleman of the horse.

Luckily, Matt has twelve hundred pounds of backup in his best friend—El Cid, an Andalusian war stallion with the ability of human speech, more fighting savvy than a medieval knight, and a heart as big and steadfast as the Rocky Mountains.

Serious horse power.

Those skinners don’t stand a chance.

(Goodreads)

Review

Del Toro Moon is a great addition to any middle grade book collection.  Full of adventure, danger, and family connections, the pace never stops, even in the quiet moments who feel an underlying urgency because of the nature of what the Del Toro family does: kills monsters.

While I believe both girls and boys would enjoy this book, it is definitely slanted toward boys, and that's totally awesome!  We need more books to entice boys back into reading, and to open them to the wide world of books out there.  Del Toro Moon is just that gateway book.  It has humor in the form of the wise-cracking main character, Matt, who is just learning the family-trade (to quote a favorite TV show): saving people, hunting things. There is great bickering between him and his older brother, which allows the love to really shine through.  And that was another big part of the book: family.  Family was at the center of everything, and you could really see how Matt, his father, and brother all stuck together.

And while there is humor and family throughout, there are also terrifying, hold-your-breath moments when the Del Toros are facing down the Skinners, disgusting wolf-like creatures that look like "a bloodied, fresh-skinned carcass".  This legacy of hunting and killing these Skinners comes all the way from the Spanish knights who were tasked with protecting the world from this evil. The Del Toros are descended from one of the greatest of these knights: Santiago Del Toro.  They take this sacred duty very seriously, and help protect everyone from this evil.

But the characters to really steal the show are the Del Toros partners, the talking Andalusian war horses, El Cid, Turk, and Izzy.  Yep, that's right, these horses talk.  I loved this part of the story because these horses are really distinct characters and brave partners in the fight against the Skinners.  

Very well crafted mix of humor, adventure, horror, and love, Del Toro Moon by Darby Karchut was a fan, fast-paced book, one that is sure to entertain all readers!

Final Rating

About the Author

Darby Karchut is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby is busy wrangling words.

Her books include the best selling middle grade series, The Adventure of Finn MacCullen and Griffin Rising. Coolest thing ever: her YA debut novel, Griffin Rising, has been optioned for film. 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads 

Giveaway

1 Winner will receive a signed finished copy of DEL TORO MOON, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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