Book Your Future Reads is a feature on Stories in Space where I put a spotlight on upcoming releases that deserve recognition, a spot on your to be read lists, and to be your next pre-order purchases. Through this feature I want highlight novels I am excited about and novels I think you should be excited about too. This week I’m putting a spotlight on two upcoming Christmas themed novels: One Way or Another by Kara McDowell and Christmas Wishes by Sue Moorcroft.
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The Navigator’s Touch by Julia Ember
Publication Date: September 13, 2018.
Publisher: Duet Books.
Genres: Fantasy and Young Adult.
Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice
Synopsis: After invaders destroyed her village, murdered her family, and took her prisoner, shield-maiden Ragna is hungry for revenge. A trained warrior, she is ready to fight for her home, but with only a mermaid and a crew of disloyal mercenaries to aid her, Ragna knows she needs new allies. Guided by the magical maps on her skin, battling storms and mutiny, Ragna sets sail across the Northern Sea.
She petitions the Jarl in Skjordal for aid, but despite Ragna’s rank and fighting ability, the Jarl sees only a young girl, too inexperienced to lead, unworthy of help. To prove herself to the Jarl and win her crew’s respect, Ragna undertakes a dangerous expedition. But when forced to decide between her own freedom and the fate of her crew, what will she sacrifice to save what’s left of her home?
Inspired by Norse mythology and J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, this companion novel to The Seafarer’s Kiss is a tale of vengeance, valor, honor, and redemption.
Thank you Duet Books for my ARC of The Navigator’s Touch. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
The Navigator’s Touch is about Ragna, a teenage girl and trained warrior who is hungry for revenge after she was kidnapped, her village destroyed, and family murdered. The story is inspired by Norse mythology which is seen through the involvement of Norse gods, one who has a very specific connection to Ragna and the magical maps displayed all over her skin.
Read More »Two years later, Sigrid gave birth to a girl. At first, the child seemed unremarkable. Astrid came into the world screaming, demanding attention and reverence, a small mirror of her mother. But a few days later, curious markings developed on the baby’s pale skin. Lines of latitude stretched across her chest and legs, and, as the days passed, cobalt continents and oceans of cerulean blue appeared.
Hey aliens! I see you’ve found your way to this blog post dedicated to The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. This book truly blew me away with its magic and the feelings it gave me. If you haven’t seen it yet, I posted a review of this book last week where I go into detail of what it is about this book that makes it so special. Let’s just say it’s a lot. Because this book was so amazing and the fact that it’s actually being adapted into a movie, I decided to make an unofficial soundtrack for the book. Like the book, these songs are about the universe, destiny, and epic love. This story of two teens who spent one single day together in NYC, and how their day together changes not only their lives but the lives of those they encounter during that day, is one you do not want to miss.
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Publication Date: November 1, 2016.
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books.
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, and Romance.
Recommendation: I highly recommend this book.
Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice
Synopsis: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
The Sun Is Also a Star is a book I have had on my to be read list for quite some time, and it did not disappoint when I finally read it. If you are in search of a young adult story that will pull you in, make you both laugh and cry, and at the same time be thought-provoking in the way it portrays what is meant to be and what choices shape our future, look no further. The Sun Is Also a Star has it all and is the perfect blend of sweet, sour, and bitter in the same way that reality and uncertainty is. The story’s two main characters are both of color — Natasha is Jamaican and Daniel is Korean-American — and the book itself shows the way immigration in the U.S. works.
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Hi readers and welcome to my blog post for the Star-Touched Stories blog tour. Here you can expect a thorough review of the book, purchase links, early praise, and more. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi
Publication Date: August 7, 2018.
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press.
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, and Short Stories.
Rating: 
Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice
Synopsis: Three lush and adventurous stories in the Star-Touched world.
Death and Night
He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes.
Poison and Gold
Now that her wish for a choice has come true, Aasha struggles to control her powers. But when an opportunity to help Queen Gauri and King Vikram’s new reign presents itself, she is thrown into the path of the fearsome yet enchanting Spy Mistress. To help her friends, Aasha will have to battle her insecurities and perhaps, along the way, find love.
Rose and Sword
There is a tale whispered in the dark of the Empire of Bharat-Jain. A tale of a bride who loses her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding. But is it a tale or a truth?
Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for my ARC of Star-Touched Stories. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Star-Touched Stories is an anthology filled with three stories from the world established in The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi. The three stories are beautifully written and I was blown away by their excellence, their originality, and the way they made me feel. This book was so much better, so much more than I ever could have imagined. I have decided to review the three novellas separately for you to truly see what makes them magical.
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Hi galaxy travelers and readers! I hope all is well with you. Here in Sweden, there is still a raging heatwave (like in most of Europe at the moment) and I’m just trying to survive it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the summer and I love the heat but this is really not good for the environment. We at least need a little rain, nature is dying. However, despite all of that, I managed to write up this blog post for you all. This book playlist for A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi was truly difficult to make, I wanted it to be just perfect. I really love this book and Gauri and Vikram which is why I want this playlist to really represent their relationship and the journey they go in A Crown of Wishes. I redid the playlist at least twice but the end results made all the hard work worth it. This is a playlist I’m really proud of. If you haven’t read the amazing books in The Star-Touched Queen series, I really recommend you do so. Roshani Chokshi’s words are magical and her world even more so. You can add the series to your TBR on Goodreads and purchase specifically A Crown of Wishes on Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes & Noble, The Ripped Bodice, and Adlibris.
Hi, galaxy travelers and book readers! I’m back with another blog post and this one is all about diverse books in need of some love from you guys. It is said to be something magical about the number 50, at least in regards to the number of book reviews a novel needs to have on Amazon in order to unlock certain marketing privileges. Because of this, I decided to mention 15 books with less than 50 reviews on Amazon that you should totally buy, read, and support by leaving a review. If you have followed my blog for a while you might recognize this concept and ask, haven’t I seen a post similar to this one before and the truth is that, yes, you have. In August 2017, I did post a blog post called Twelve Diverse Books Flying Under The Radar and the purpose of that post was the same as this one — to recommend books in need of love and book reviews because they have less than 50 reviews on Amazon. To make things easier I have made a key that you can follow when you go through the list,
★ is seen with books that have less than 100 ratings on Goodreads,
✿ is shown next to books with queer authors, and
✱ is the symbol that is shown next to the books written by authors of color.
Disclaimer: I have not read all of these books so be aware that there might be incorrect information, and that’s on me. I have taken the information on here from synopses and reviews I researched for this post.
Now go forth and support these amazing books and authors. The books are sorted in alphabetical order after their title and they truly deserve your support. I hope you’ll find your next read in one of these fifteen books. Don’t forget to write a review when you’re done, just a sentence is enough!
Hi, there world travelers and fellow book slayers! I’m here with a wrap-up post for June, maybe a bit late but it’s here nonetheless. June was a great month for me. My summer vacation from University started, I got all As on my assignments, I went to Gran Canaria with my mom, I saw Arctic Monkeys live, and lastly, I read lots of books. In June I read 12 books which feels like a personal record of some sort. I talked about what I read during my vacation in my blog post Books I Read in Gran Canaria. However, I got more read during the month than the books I mentioned in that post so I thought I’d list them all here together with my ratings of them.
Hi there people in the galaxy! Another year has gone by, and though my reading has been rather slow the second half of the year because of University, I’m still very proud of myself for the 55 books I’ve read this year. A couple of years ago that number would have seemed impossible to achieve. There have been so many great gems this year and I have decided to list my seven favorite books of the year. These really deserve all of the love in the world and if you haven’t read any of them yet, I hope you’ll add them to your 2018 TBR.
Publication Date: October 3, 2017.
Publisher: Entangled Teen.
Genres: Young Adult and Science Fiction.
Rating:
Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish. But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them.
Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with Dahlia, her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother’s shadow, and to unlearn Epsilon’s darkest secret. They’ll both have to commit treason to find the truth.
During one twenty-seven-hour night, if they can’t stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, the things they wish for will never come true, and the things they fear will be all that’s left.
27 Hours is a sweeping, thrilling story featuring a stellar cast of queer teenagers battling to save their homes and possibly every human on Sahara as the clock ticks down to zero.
Thank you, Macmillan and Entangled Teen, for my ARC of 27 Hours. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Before I read this book I was so intrigued by the world Tristina Wright has created in 27 Hours and I have now truly fallen in love with it. 27 Hours is an action-packed character driven story which will have you rooting for the main characters while you at the same time get to know this new world far away in outer space. There’s romance, friendship, family and so much more which are all explored through the four POVs of Rumor Mora, Jude Welton, Nyx Llorca, and Braeden Tennant. Through these four different teenagers, we are taken on a journey where everything they’ve ever believed will be challenged and thus they must fight for their survival and for what’s right.
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