Friday Featured Spotlight ~ The Write Reads Blog Tour: Silverbirds by Rocky Magaña

 

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The Write Reads Blog Tour Spotlight ~ Silverbirds by Rocky Magaña

In a land ravaged by war and haunted by fire-breathing silverbirds, Kosha is the last thread in a bloodline unraveled by violence. His father was a man who believed in wisdom over weapons, his mother a woman who fought for a future that would never come, and his brother a boy who disappeared into the mountains, chasing a cause that would devour him whole. Now, Kosha walks alone, armed with nothing but a bow and the impossible weight of revenge pressing against his ribs.

As Kosha crosses the wasteland toward the land of the silverbirds, he carries more than his grief—he carries the ghosts of his father's wisdom, his mother's defiance, and his brother's sins. He carries the weight of every choice that led him to this moment. And with each step, he must Is he the last survivor of his family's story, or its final casualty?

A harrowing, lyrical journey through war, loss, and the brutal choices that shape a legacy, this novel asks what it means to inherit a fight—and whether a boy with nothing left to lose can change the course of his own history.

Never Closer

On an ordinary day in 2017, Jo receives a phone call about her 18-year-old daughter, Jessie. It is the call that every parent dreads. In 1940, 17-year-old Alice ties on her facemask and enters a laboratory to harvest a potential new miracle drug called penicillin. The lives of these women become entwined when Jo finds Alice’s diary in a vintage handbag. Past and present overlap and merge as life-changing events resonate for them all across the gulf of time.

This is a story about a diary opening a door on the past, chronicling a young woman’s determination to succeed against all odds, while unknowingly inspiring others to step into a better life. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, the infancy of antibiotics and a modern medical emergency and its consequences, it not only reminds us how fortunate we are to live now, but also serves as a stark warning about the fragility of life and the dangers of complacency.

Guns & Almond Milk

Meet Luke Archer, a British Egyptian doctor who struggles to be from two worlds at the same time. He's working in one of the world's most dangerous hospitals in Yemen. When rebel forces take over the city, a group of Western mercenaries take refuge inside the hospital and Luke and his team find themselves in the middle of a deadly clash. To make matters worse, leading the mercenaries is an unwelcome figure from Luke's past. After years saving the lives of others, Luke needs to face the demons of his past in order to save his own.

Set in the UK and Yemen, Guns & Almond Milk is a literary thriller that deals with identity, diversity and old coins of arguable value. It's The Sympathizer mixed with M.A.S.H by the way of Ramy.

2023 TWR Book Round Up

 

15 tour reviews

Whew!

I also did 14 spotlights which I included after the review list. There are several spotlight tours that I wanted to read the books, but just didn't have the time and/or energy. 

Real Life 2023 has been a real shit year. 

BBNYA 2023 Spotlight ~ The Tick and The Tock of the Crocodile Clock

An aspiring writer from the Southside of Glasgow, Wendy is in a rut. She tries to brighten her call-centre job by shoehorning as many long words as possible into conversations with customers. But her manager isn’t amused by that and, after a public dressing-down, Wendy walks out.

Jobless and depressed, she finds consolation in a surprise friendship with another disgruntled ex-colleague, wild-child painter Cat, who encourages her to live more dangerously. It’s just what Wendy needs and it’s also brilliant for her creative juices. But a black cloud is about to overshadow this new-found liberation, as well as to put Wendy on the wrong side of the law.

Fresh, insightful and funny, as well as unflinchingly honest about the tougher side of life, Kenny Boyle’s debut novel takes us deep into the psyche of a likeable misfit who treads a fine line between reality and fantasy – and just wants the world to see her true self.

BBNYA 2023 Spotlight ~ Glory Unbound

Shackled to a controlling boyfriend by gold bracelets locked on her wrists, will she ever learn to live on her own terms?

Chicago, 1984. Glory Bishop wishes to feel safe in love. Rescued by her unwanted fiancé from her abusive mother’s violence, the seventeen-year-old warily moves into his wealthy mom’s luxurious house to get away. Overwhelmed and confused by the kindness and grace her host shows, Glory struggles to know how to behave.

Blossoming in the new environment where she is treated like a princess, the scarred teenager finally starts to feel good about her life. But when her controlling intended crashes her senior prom, she’s mortified when he roughly drags her away from her drunken friends.

Can she accept an offer of freedom and independence, or will she fall further under his control?

Glory Unbound is the dramatic second book in the GLORY BISHOP women’s literary fiction series. If you like brave characters, tense twists and turns, and unwavering hope, then you’ll adore Deborah L. King’s powerful story of self-determination.

2022 Book Round Up

 

This year has been my worst year yet in terms of numbers. 62 books read (or listened to) including two re-reads on my birthday. Ugh. That is my lowest number since I've been keeping track (2012).

7 audiobooks

10 monster porn

25 tour books

7 from Red Adept Publishing

3 from BBNYA

& several more! 

But obviously not that many. Because 62.

However, it's been a great year in terms of quality, 

with 55 of the 62 rated 4 bites or above.

5 bites ~ 15

4 bites and a nibble ~ 23

4 bites ~ 17

2022 TWR Book Tour Round Up

 

18 tour reviews

Whew!

I also did 13 spotlights which I included after the reviews.

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Clean Sweep

 

Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

Clean Sweep

A desperate need to help. A past that can't be forgotten. Can one selfless woman save the lives of those living on the streets of Manhattan? And at what cost?
 
After selling her Madison Avenue ad agency, Carli Morris dreams of spending time painting and giving back to society. But an overnight mission to help the street homeless brings the heartbreaking discovery of a homeless woman poisoned to death on the streets and immediately reopens the wounds of Carli's own tragic loss.
 
Carli can't turn her back. She throws herself into 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?

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Carnival of Ash

 

Amazon

The Carnival of Ash

Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter.

Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city’s poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present. A war that threatens not only to destroy Cadenza but remove it from history altogether…

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: These Walls Were Never Really There

 

Amazon

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Under the Bridge

 

Amazon

These Wall Were Never Really There

Based on the author's own experiences of leaving home and travelling across Europe on less than a pound a day, "These Walls Were Never Really There" is a compelling true story described by publishing editors as ‘immersive and moving’ and ‘a potential prizewinner in the making’.

Initially set in the heart of Manchester's homeless community, These Walls follows twenty-year-old Cameron, who is propelled on a physical and spiritual journey which will take him far from the life he once knew.

A surprising story about mental health, friendship and redemption, this compelling debut will take you on a journey across Europe and beyond, as Cameron and his travelling companion Jacob navigate perilous border crossings, packs of wolves, and the harsh realities of life on the road.

Set against the backdrop of the emerging Arab Spring, Cameron and Jacob will have their friendship pushed to its limits as they find themselves trapped thousands of miles away from home…