Read This!: INKMISTRESS by Audrey Coulthurst

Read This, Reviews,

InkmistressInkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst

Summary: Asra is a demigod with a dangerous gift: the ability to dictate the future by writing with her blood. To keep her power secret, she leads a quiet life as a healer on a remote mountain, content to help the people in her care and spend time with Ina, the mortal girl she loves. But Asra’s peaceful life is upended when bandits threaten Ina’s village and the king does nothing to help. Desperate to protect her people, Ina begs Asra for assistance in finding her manifest—the animal she’ll be able to change into as her rite of passage to adulthood. Asra uses her blood magic to help Ina, but her spell goes horribly wrong and the bandits destroy the village, killing Ina’s family. Unaware that Asra is at fault, Ina swears revenge on the king and takes a savage dragon as her manifest. To stop her, Asra must embark on a journey across the kingdom, becoming a player in lethal games of power among assassins, gods, and even the king himself. Most frightening of all, she discovers the dark secrets of her own mysterious history—and the terrible, powerful legacy she carries in her blood.

INKMISTRESS is quite simply one of the most beautiful fantasy novels I have ever read. A big-hearted protagonist grappling with her own power, a complex cultural and political system, a series of conflicts that pit our heroine’s deep desire for family against her determination to save her kingdom, two compelling love interests – who could ask for more? That one of those love interests is male and one is female, and that so many of the primary romantic relationships in the story are same-sex, is almost beside the point – except, of course, for the fact that gay and bisexual characters rarely appear so matter-of-factly in epic fantasy. The real strength of the book, to me, is the way it engages the mind in Asra’s moral dilemmas while equally touching the heart. (Because Hal = SWOON.) If you’re looking for a light-hearted fantasy novel full of your favorite tropes and clear-cut good guys and bad guys, look elsewhere. INKMISTRESS trades in deep, nuanced characters, moral complexity, and a story that often surprises in the best way, keeping the reader hooked until the incredibly satisfying conclusion.

INKMISTRESS is out now.

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NITA’S FIRST SIGNS Press Release

Little Hands Signing series, Nita's First Signs

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 Let’s Talk Family.

Contact: Kate Farrell, Publicist, Familius LLC kfarrell@familius.com

  • Review copy available upon request
  • High-res cover photo available

How Do I Sign? Nita, Show Us More!

From using her manners to communicating instead of crying, Nita shows little ones how to communicate with your grown-up.

SANGER, Calif., June 15 2018 – Baby sign language makes it easy to communicate with your child, and Nita makes it fun!

Nita and her parents teach ten essential signs in the context of a fun story, using repetition to encourage learning and to help break communication barriers between parents and preverbal children.

Even better, each page slides open to reveal accurate instructions on how to make each sign. Tabs on the side of each page make it simple to locate every sign for later reference.

Words include:

  • eat
  • drink
  • more

Written by a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter and teacher whose websites provide bonus tie-in resources, this book is the essential start to your baby’s sign language collection!

About the Author: Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, writer, teacher, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of nine books for parents, librarians, and educators, including Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press, 2013). Her debut young adult novel, Sword and Verse, was published by HarperCollins in January 2016. She has presented American Sign Language storytelling programs for children and families since 2002. Find more resources for signing with young children at her websites, www.storiesbyhand.com and www.storytimestuff.net.

About the Publisher: Familius is a family and parenting media publisher devoted to creating content that helps build strong values and happy families. As a digitally savvy, multi-media publisher, we share our family-driven content in multiple formats, including print, e-books, audio books, videos, articles and apps. Let’s Talk Family. http://www.familius.com

Book Details:

Title: Nita’s First Signs

Author: Kathy MacMillan

Illustrator: Sara Brezzi

ASL/Deaf Culture Advisor: Dr. Barbara Kannapell

Publisher: Familius

Publication: June 15, 2018

Price: $14.99

ISBN: 9781945547676

12 pages; Board book includes tabbed pages that split open to reveal instructions for each sign

*Available beginning June 15, 2018 from bookstores, online booksellers and www.familius.com

Read This!: THE SHIP BEYOND TIME by Heidi Heilig

Read This, Reviews,

The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl From Everywhere, #2)The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig

Summary: After what seems like a lifetime of following her father across the globe and through the centuries, Nix has finally taken the helm of their time-traveling ship. Her future—and the horizon—is bright. Until she learns she is destined to lose the one she loves. To end up like her father: alone, heartbroken. Unable to face losing Kashmir—best friend, thief, charmer extraordinaire—Nix sails her crew to a mythical utopia to meet a man who promises he can teach her how to manipulate time, to change history. But no place is perfect, not even paradise. And everything is constantly changing on this utopian island, including reality itself. If Nix can read the ever-shifting tides, perhaps she will finally harness her abilities. Perhaps she can control her destiny, too. Or perhaps her time will finally run out.

I loved THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE and I found myself utterly swept away by THE SHIP BEYOND TIME. It actually took me a couple of weeks to read it, not because it was hard to get through, but because this is the kind of book I wanted to just lose myself in, so I refused to even pick it up unless I had time to do so. This is a book to savor, from the lush, intricate worldbuilding, to the complex characters and their shifting relationships, to the rich premise that Heilig constantly takes in bold, unexpected directions. Heilig writes my very favorite kind of fantasy: the kind that engages both your brain and your heart. Nix is one of my favorite YA heroines; she’s smart and studious and full of agency, and strong without ever falling into Girl Warrior tropes. Her conflicted relationship with her father is one of the highlights of the books, and is heartbreakingly resolved in this book. And the swoon level in this book is high; let’s just say that getting several chapters from Kashmir’s point of view felt like a gift. If you’ve been looking for a wonderful fantasy novel to lose yourself in, dive deep into THE SHIP BEYOND TIME.

THE SHIP BEYOND TIME is out now.

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Read This!: THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas

Read This, Reviews,

The Hate U GiveThe Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life

Can I just say “READ IT!!” over and over again and call that a review? There are a lot of reviews out there that do a better job than I ever could of exploring the place of this book at this moment in society, but all I can say is how it impacted me as a reader. When a book gets as much buzz as this one has, and wins so many awards, I always go into reading it a little suspiciously, like, “Can it really be THAT good?” The answer, in this case, is “OMG absolutely!” Even all the accolades didn’t prepare me for what a gut punch of a book this would be, for how immersed I would become in the world of the story -and for how much, despite the heavy subject matter, I would truly enjoy spending time with Starr and the other characters. It’s an incredibly timely book, but its message and its story and the depth of its characters situate it as a classic for the ages. I full expect to see it on required reading lists for years to come.

THE HATE U GIVE is out now.

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Coming Even Sooner: DAGGER AND COIN

Dagger and Coin, Sword and Verse, Upcoming events

Yesterday I got some terrific news: the publication date of Dagger and Coin has been moved earlier, to October 9.  And Sword and Verse will now be released in paperback on September 4.

Of course this is exciting because it means that my ambitious, impatient, sarcastic, smart, determined heroine will be out in the world even sooner…but it’s also exciting because I get to announce that the book’s launch with be happening at the coolest place – the Maryland Renaissance Festival! I’ll be at signing at Page After Page Bookstore inside the festival village all day on October 13 and 14, with special Dagger and Coin launch festivities happening on Saturday, October 13. Mark your calendar!  Details to come!