A perfect option for your middle grade October reads!
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Laekan Zea Kemp for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with complimentary ARC and media kit!
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Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Kwame Alexander for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary media kit!
If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the tour, you can find the tour schedule here.
Dreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions.
11-year-old Kofi Offin dreams of water. Its mysterious, immersive quality. The rich, earthy scent of the current. The clearness, its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets…
Kofi has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, in the village where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. Some say he moves like a minnow, not just an ordinary boy so he’s hoping to finally prove himself in front of Ama and his friends in a swimming contest against his older, stronger cousin.
But before this can take place, a festival comes to the villages of Upper and Lower Kwanta and Kofi’s brother is chosen to represent Upper Kwanta in the wrestling contest. Encircled by cheering spectators and sounding drums, the two wrestlers from different villages kneel, ready to fight.
You are only fine, until you are not.
The match is over before it has barely begun, when the unthinkable–a sudden death–occurs…
The river does not care how grown you are.
As his world turns upside down, Kofi soon ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.
For a list of warnings, tropes, and representation for this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com.
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, and New York Times Bestselling author of 36 books, including SWING, BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI, co-authored with James Patterson, REBOUND, which was shortlisted for prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, The Caldecott Medal and Newbery Honor-winning picture book, THE UNDEFEATED, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and his NEWBERY medal-winning middle grade novel, THE CROSSOVER. A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. In 2018, he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. He is the writer and executive producer of THE CROSSOVER TV series on Disney+. The fall of 2022 will see the release of book one of a new trilogy, THE DOOR OF NO RETURN.
Author Links:
A funny and cute fake-dating/parental-catfish love story.
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Jesse Q. Sutanto for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with complimentary eARC and media kit!
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A historical mystery novel taking place during the height of WWII
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Ellie Marney for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with complimentary ARC and media kit!
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A book that explores important topics, but in a way that was too heavy-handed for my tastes
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Deb Caletti for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with complimentary eARC and media kit!
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Amira & Hamza: The War to Save the Worlds — 3.5 stars
Amira & Hamza: The Quest for the Ring of Power — 4 stars
A fun middle grade fantasy series full of good lessons and good laughs
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Samira Ahmed for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with complimentary ARCs and media kit!
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A quick and fun romance novella
Thank you so much to Rachel at https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/ and D.C. Hope for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary eARC and blog tour media kit!
Purchase on Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3UpoGSO
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A very atmospheric horror/thriller novel
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Alison Ames for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary ARC and media kit!
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Heartbreaking while being thought provoking and uplifting
Thank you so much to The Write Reads and E.B. Lee for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary ARC and media kit!
Purchase this book (affiliate link): Amazon
E. B. Lee was raised in Weston, CT and enjoyed the best of a then-rural town and easy access to the high-energy world of New York City. She brings together elements of both in her debut work of literary fiction, Clean Sweep, a heartfelt story of human connection, tough choices, and compassion. Prior to writing, Ms. Lee was a flower farmer and worked in the environmental field. She earned a Masters Degree from Yale School of the Environment and undergraduate degree from Yale. E.B. Lee now writes in North Carolina and Connecticut.
Book CWs
For a list of warnings, tropes, and representation for this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com.
Premise
Carli Morris is looking forward to a quiet retirement. Earning billions from the sale of her Madison Avenue ad agency, she dreams of spending her golden years painting and giving back to society. But the heartbreaking discovery of a homeless woman poisoned to death on the streets of Manhattan reopens the wounds of Carli’s own tragic loss.
Realizing her busy career turned her away from the vulnerable, she throws herself on a mission to get the defenseless off the streets. But as she sacrifices her own needs to support others, her new colleague’s mental illness and Carli’s unresolved grief collide in a staggering sequence of events that will alter her life forever.
Can Carli dig deep and make a powerful, personal impact?
Clean Sweep is a dynamic literary novel. If you like moving revelations, gut-wrenching decisions, and life-affirming transformations, then you’ll love E. B. Lee’s enlightening tale.
Review (No Spoilers)
Hi everyone! I signed up for a bunch of tours back-to-back (oops!). Today’s book is an adult literary fiction novel that gives readers a sort of inner look into what it’s like to be homeless. The main character of this novel, Carli, is a volunteer for a place that helps provide for and look after several homeless people in the area. They not only have frequent soup kitchens, but they also do almost daily check-ups and provide medical care when necessary.
The thing I enjoyed most about this book was the fact that it highly emphasized both empathy and respect in regards to those who are less fortunate. Instead of judging homeless people or people with mental illness for their actions or how they look, Carli and her team work to get to know them as human beings while respecting their personal autonomy. They try to get them to find shelters, accept medical help, and overcome addiction, but they never push too hard if the person is not ready or willing to take that step.
On top of the plot about taking care of each of the homeless charges that Carli has, there are also plots revolving around Carli’s missing brother and a possible criminal harming people on the streets. For a book that had a lot of plots going, I felt like it took a while to pick up. I found myself bored for a good portion of the beginning, but once the story finally picked up, it kept my attention much more. I’m not much of a literary fiction reader so this wasn’t really for me, but definitely check this out if you are!
Disclaimer: Most posts made on this blog will include affiliate links, identified by the phrase (affiliate link). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This comes at no additional cost to you.
A suitable end to this fantastic trilogy
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Jennifer Lynn Barnes for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary ARC and media kit!
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