Penguin Problems by @joryjohn Lane Smith #BookReview #Giveaway

    A penguin levels with human readers about what penguin life is really like—and it isn’t all fun and games.
 
Have you ever considered running away to Antarctica? Of course you have! Because it’s a land free of worries and responsibilities! All of your problems will surely be blown away by the icy winds of that lawless paradise! . . . Won’t they?
 
Think again, my friend. This penguin has come to tell you that his life down there is no more a picnic than yours is here. For starters, it is FREEZING. Also, penguins have a ton of natural predators. Plus, can you imagine trying to find your mom in a big ol’ crowd of identical penguins? No, thank you.
 
Yes, it seems there is no escaping the drudgery of your daily grind, whatever it might be. Or perhaps we’ve just learned that grumps are everywhere. . . .

The Pressed Fairy Journal of Madeline Cottington by Brian Froud, Wendy Froud #BookReview

    Renowned artist/author duo Brian and Wendy Froud present, for the first time, the backstory of Cottington Hall and its intriguing inhabitants: the Cottington family and the faeries living among them. The rise and fall of this eccentric British family gives us humorous, and sometimes tragic, glimpses into how the Cottingtons became inexorably entwined with the faeries during the late 19th and 20th centuries. When a descendant, Maddi, visits the Cottingtons’s dilapidated hall, she finds herself caught up in a story of intrigue and mystery. While reading the letters and journals of her ancestors and discovering a wealth of inventions aimed at allowing humans to visit the fairy realm unharmed, Maddi slowly becomes aware of the faeries and their world.

Also available from Brian and Wendy Froud: Brian Froud's Faeries' Tales and Brian Froud's Goblins: 10 1/2 Anniversary Edition.

#Thoughts with @Witchreader : #Booktube @readlikeanerd @KristenBOOKS @btwnchapters @AboutToRead

  Welcome to this weeks Thursday Thoughts.  This week I thought I would tell you what book tube channels I follow.  Enjoy! 

Swag & ARC Giveaway thanks to @KateElliottSFF

    In this thrilling sequel to World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's captivating young adult debut, a girl immersed in high-stakes competition holds the fate of a kingdom in her hands. 
Now a Challenger, Jessamy is moving up the ranks of the Fives--the complex athletic contest favored by the lowliest Commoners and the loftiest Patrons alike. Pitted against far more formidable adversaries, success is Jes's only option, as her prize money is essential to keeping her hidden family alive. She leaps at the chance to tour the countryside and face more competitors, but then a fatal attack on her traveling party puts Jes at the center of the war that Lord Kalliarkos--the prince she still loves--is fighting against their country's enemies. With a sinister overlord watching her every move and Kal's life on the line, Jes must now become more than a Fives champion.... She must become a warrior.

@LeahClifford is back with a BLOODY good young adult novel that you don’t want to miss. And at $2.99 – there’s no reason to!

 

Vial Things Synopsis

As an eighteen-year-old resurrectionist, Allie knows staying vigilant means staying alive. The blood of the resurrectionists is heavily regulated, only used with the express permission of the group’s leaders for fear of being discovered. She’s taken every precaution--self-defense classes since childhood, extensive weapons training with knives, and even going so far as to befriend a homeless boy named Ploy, who unknowingly trades a few nights a week on her couch in exchange for being a human tripwire to those after her blood.
But as Allie and Ploy’s feelings for each other grow, and a hunter starts taking out the resurrectionists of Fissure’s Whipp, Allie begins to realize even her best laid plans won’t be enough to keep both Ploy and herself safe.
Protecting a girl he shouldn’t love, from a threat he understands too well, Ploy must face his past to save his future in Allie’s world--a world where bringing back the dead can cost you your life.

P.S. I Like You by @kasiewest #BookReview

Signed, sealed, delivered…

While spacing out in chemistry class, Lily scribbles some of her favorite song lyrics onto her desk. The next day, she finds that someone has continued the lyrics on the desk and added a message to her. Intrigue!

Soon, Lily and her anonymous pen pal are exchanging full-on letters—sharing secrets, recommending bands, and opening up to each other. Lily realizes she’s kind of falling for this letter writer. Only, who is he? As Lily attempts to unravel the mystery and juggle school, friends, crushes, and her crazy family, she discovers that matters of the heart can’t always be spelled out…

Magical Realism meets CREEPY! in Vassa in the Night by @sarahporterbook #BookReview #Giveaway

    In the enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, the fashionable people put on cute shoes, go to parties in warehouses, drink on rooftops at sunset, and tell themselves they’ve arrived. A whole lot of Brooklyn is like that now—but not Vassa’s working-class neighborhood.

In Vassa’s neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling out again could become an issue. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters—and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission.

But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a tough-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and a ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Babs won’t be playing fair. . . .

Inspired by the Russian folktale Vassilissa the Beautiful and Sarah Porter’s years of experience teaching creative writing to New York City students.