The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by Deb Caletti: Blog Tour & Author Interview

First of all, thank you so much for letting me interview you! I’ve been a fan of your work since I was 13 years old and picked up Honey, Baby, Sweetheart for the first time (quickly followed by the rest of your catalog). What is your biggest motivator for writing books for teens?

Ahhh! Thank you so much for connecting to my books over the years. Hearing from readers who’ve grown up with me just seriously fills my heart. Being part of your lives like this, being able to (maybe, just maybe!) be a guide or an outreached hand through my work, are my biggest motivators. I’ve always wanted to give my readers what books have given me – understanding, refuge, and a sense of being seen. I think younger readers particularly need this.

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Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino: Blog Tour & Book Review

Not Good for Maidens was a new release I was excited for, but also a little hesitant of. The premise sounded intense, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect going into this one. But I actually think that was the best way to experience it! Not Good for Maidens has a lot of adventure, intrigue, and horror within its pages, and much like Lou herself, it’s impossible to fully know what you’re getting into until you dive in head first.

Not Good for Maidens takes place across two timelines. One set present-day, following Louisa Wickett-Stevens whose world turns upside down when she finds out her teenage aunt Neela has been trapped in the nefarious goblin market her mother had intentionally kept secret from Lou her entire life. The second takes place 18 years earlier and follows Lou’s aunt May, a witch in training, as she begins a dangerous but exhilarating romance with Eitra, a goblin from the market.

Both find themselves venturing into the depths of the goblin market, with all its danger and gore, to save the ones they love. But venturing into the goblin market means there’s a very real risk they might never return…

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler: Blog Tour & Book Review

Cool for the Summer was one of my favorite reads from 2021, so you know I was pumped when I found out about Dahlia Adler’s newest novel, Home Field Advantage! As a queer girl myself who was a cheerleader back in the day, I definitely had high hopes for this novel.

And, oh my god, this book did not let me down!

This is the sort of book I wish could have been around when I was in high school. It literally would have defined me. I probably would have walked around never letting it out of my sight, always attached to my person or tucked away in my bag – for MONTHS. It would have been transformative. 📣🏈💕

The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna: Blog Tour & Book Review

Deka returns once again, her friends in tow (a found family of deathshrieks, alaki, and ex-jatu alike), and the recently awakened goddesses behind her – a true force to be reckoned with. But things in Otera are never how they may first appear. And more is brewing under the surface than even Deka the Nuru, the daughter of the goddesses, realizes. Revelations that will once again shake Deka to her core, and send everything she thought was true crumbling to pieces…

In The Merciless Ones, Forna takes Otera, a world already filled to the brim with a vast, rich, and diverse culture, and expands it even further! Through the sequel to The Gilded Ones, Deka’s world is further explored, more locations visited, more residents introduced, and even more of its history brought to light.

Primal Animals by Julia Lynn Rubin: Blog Tour & Book Review

Arlee Gold is spending the summer before her Junior year at Camp Rockaway – the prestige college prep camp that boasts of being the place rich, influential families send their teenagers in the summer. Arlee herself is a legacy – and a pretty notorious one if the other campers’ reactions to her are anything to go by – her mother attended when she was a teen herself. The same mother who is certain that this is the exact thing Arlee needs to put her past finally behind her and start anew. And, despite the fact Arlee is seriously terrified of bugs, she can’t help but hope so too. Especially after meeting her bunkmate, Winnie.

But then Arlee gets invited to join a secret society of women at the camp that goes back generations. A little vary, Arlee nevertheless agrees, hoping that this is the key to building lasting relationships with her campmates. Too bad the society’s initiation process involves a little bit more than what Arlee thought she was signing up for…