Cover Reveal: KEY LIME SKY by Al Hess

 

Book Details

Title: Key Lime Sky
Author: Al Hess
Publisher: Angry Robot Books
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Cover Artist: Al Hess
Cover Designer: Karen Smith
Preorder Link: https://bookshop.org/a/67041/https://angryrobotbooks.my.canva.site/key-lime-sky

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Synopsis: 
Denver Bryant’s passion for pie has sent him across Wyoming searching for the best slices, but his food blog is a failure and its trickling income isn’t enough to pay his rent next month.

Driving home from a roadside diner, Denver witnesses a UFO explode directly over his tiny town of Muddy Gap. When he questions his neighbors, he seems to be the only one to care that the residents’ strange behavior and a shower of hail-that-isn’t-hail could be evidence of something extraterrestrial. Frustrated that his reputation as town eccentric is impeding his quest for answers, he details the events on his failing blog, and his online popularity skyrockets, driving him to search for answers.

The only person in town who takes him seriously is handsome bartender, Ezra. They investigate over pie and the possibility of romance, but when people start vanishing and reality folds in on itself, it’s suddenly a race against time to find the extraterrestrial source and destroy it before it consumes not only Muddy Gap but everything beyond. Denver’s always been more outsider than hero, but he’s determined to ensure that a world with Ezra – and with pie – still exists tomorrow.

About the Author: 
Al Hess is the author of World Running Down (“Hess satisfyingly explores the complexity of building your identity in a world of winners and losers” Washington Post), Yours Celestially, and the award-winning Hep Cats of Boise series. When not hunched before a computer screen, Al can be found at his art desk. He does portraits in both pencil and oil paint, and loves drawing fellow authors’ characters nearly as much as his own. He writes cozy and uplifting stories with queer, trans, and neurodiverse representation.

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Blog Tour: THE QUEER GIRL IS GOING TO BE OKAY

 

Synopsis: 
Thank you to Hear Our Voices tour for allowing me to take part in this! Make sure to check out the schedule to follow all the amazing hosts!

Queer Love. Something Dawn wants, desperately, but does not have. But maybe, if she can capture it, film it, interview the people who have it, queer love will be hers someday. Or, at least, she'll have made a documentary about it. A documentary that, hopefully, will win Dawn a scholarship to film school. Many obstacles stand in the way of completing her film, but her best friends Edie and Georgia are there to help her reach her goal, no matter what it takes.

A touching and joyous story of queer friendship and girlhood set in the vibrant city of Houston, THE QUEER GIRL IS GOING TO BE OKAY will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you believe that eventually, everything will be okay.

Disclaimer: I am a bookshop.org affiliate and may earn a commision on books bought using the link on my page.

Review: A RIVER OF GOLDEN BONES by A.K. Mulford

 

Book Details

Title: A River of Golden Bones
Series: The Golden Court, Book #1
Author: A.K. Mulford
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: December 5, 2023
Genre(s): Adult, LGBT, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 400
Bookshop Purchase Link: https://bookshop.org/a/67041/9780063291423

Review: SIR CALLIE AND THE DRAGON'S ROOST by Esme Symes-Smith

 

Book Details

Title: Sir Callie and the Dragon's Roost
Series: Sir Callie, Book #2
Author: Esme Symes-Smith
Publisher: Labyrinth Road
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genre(s): Middle Grade, LGBT, Fantasy
Pages: 400
Bookshop Purchase Link: https://bookshop.org/a/67041/9780593485828

Blog Tour: SIR CALLIE AND THE DRAGON'S ROOST review

 

Review: 
I have a full 1,000+ word review written out for this book, but I definitely don't want to overwhelm anyone during this tour. Firstly: all of my thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours, Labyrinth Road, and Penguin Random House for allowing me to take part in this tour! It is truly an honor! Make sure to check out the other tour stops and see what else the hosts have to say! Secondly: if you've been following me since last year you might remember my obsession with the first book in this series. I am no less obsessed with this book! Thirdly: while I love this book deeply, it does contain triggering content so I strongly recommend checking the content warnings before reading.

I find Esme to be a very strong writer but I think where she truly excels is in her writing of the main characters. Callie, Elowen, Willow, and Edwyn are some of the most three-dimensional characters that I've ever met in a fantasy novel! They all have intricacies that allow them to work together but also cause them to argue at times. They're struggling from the traumas they have been through, but they also want to help the others through their struggles. These characters are brilliant and I adore them with every part of my heart.

Esme also does a really, really good job at exploring the intricacies in this world. The many sides of a war and the truths that aren't always the truths. The people who are caught in the crossfire and suffer the most. The people who wind other's around their fingers to get the results they want. This is a tough topic to approach, especially in a middle-grade novel, but I think they do a very good job.

The settings in this book are also amazing, even if they aren't positive settings! Helston is written wonderfully and the Dragon's Roost is something that I would love to see illustrations of. I'm pretty sure I said it after the first book and I'll say it again: I really want a movie or TV show to be made from these books.

The emotional hold that this book and the first book have on me is indelible! I have such a deep love for these books and such an earnest admiration for Esme that it's hard to be matched. I am eagerly anticipating the third book, especially after how this book ended.

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Synopsis: 
The battle is won, but the war is far from over. In this thrilling sequel, a twelve-year-old nonbinary hopeful knight fights for the heart of their kingdom in a magical medieval world filled with dragons, shape-shifters, and witches.

Thanks to Callie and their friends, Helston seems to be changing for the better: Boys are allowed to explore their magic, and girls are permitted to train as warriors. Callie is an official Helston page, Willow in on track to become king, and Elowen and Edwyn are finally safe and free of their father. Everything is...perfect.

Except it isn’t.

Not in Helston, where every step forward is accompanied by a storm of opposition. Even Queen Ewella and Sir Nick are struggling against the wave of fear and anti-magical sentiment growing daily, while the encroaching threat from across the bridge looms.

Callie isn’t foolish; they notice the suspicious glances thrown Neal’s way and hear the doubtful murmurs following Willow. They know what people think about them, too. Tolerance is not the same as acceptance, and when the fragile peace finally shatters, Callie and their friends have no choice but to leave their home and run.

On the other side of the bridge, old secrets are revealed and new allegiances are formed that will throw into question everything Callie thought they knew about their world. Including what it means to be a hero.

Disclaimer: I am a bookshop.org affiliate and may earn a commision on books bought using the link on my page.

Book Tour: EMMETT by L.C. Rosen

 

Book Details

Title: Emmett
Author: L.C. Rosen
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genre(s): Young Adult, LGBT, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 272
Bookshop Purchase Link: https://bookshop.org/a/67041/9780316524773