Blog Tour: Legacy

I am super excited to be hosting a stop on the blog tour for LEGACY by Shannon Messenger! I love this series and if you haven't read it yet, you're in luck. Check out the giveaway below.

About the Book:

Title: LEGACY (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8)

Author: Shannon Messenger

Pub. Date: November 5, 2019

Publisher: Aladdin

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 816

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B and N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

Illusions shatter—and Sophie and her friends face impossible choices—in this astonishing eighth book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

Only this first edition includes an exclusive extra scene from Tam’s point of view as well as beautiful illustrated endpapers from Shannon Messenger.

Sophie Foster wants answers. But after a lifetime of lies, sometimes the truth is the most dangerous discovery. Even the smallest secret comes with terrifying new responsibilities.

And Sophie’s not the only one with blank spots in her past, or mysteries surrounding her family. She and her friends are part of something much bigger than they imagined—and their roles have already been chosen for them.

Every clue drags them deeper into the conspiracy. Every memory forces them to question everything—especially one another. And the harder they fight, the more the lines blur between friend and enemy. 

The series:

My Thoughts:

I've loved this series since reading an ARC of the first book, Keeper of the Lost Cities. Check out my previous reviews. It's a series that I love recommending to middle grade readers. And I love it when they come back and ask for the next book in the series. It's addictive!

I was lucky enough to meet Shannon during her last book tour. She's super sweet.

About Shannon:

SHANNON MESSENGER graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she learned—among other things—that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She’s studied art, screenwriting, and film production, but realized her real passion was writing stories for children. She’s the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the award-winning middle grade series, Keeper of the Lost Cities, as well as the Sky Fall series for young adults. Her books have been featured on multiple state reading lists, published in numerous countries, and translated into many different languages. She lives in Southern California with an embarrassing number of cats. Visit her online at shannonmessenger.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @sw_messenger and on Facebook @KepperOfTheLostCities.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads

 Follow the Tour:

11/11/2019	The Book Tower	Spotlight
11/12/2019	Lisa-Queen of Random	Spotlight
11/13/2019	Character Madness and Musings	Spotlight
11/14/2019	Sometimes Leelynn Reads	Spotlight
11/15/2019	YA Book Nerd	Spotlight

Giveaway Details:

4 winners will receive FULL hardcover sets of THE KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES Series, US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Book Review: Royal Holiday

 * Book 4 in the Wedding Date series * 

When Maddie's job takes her to England for Christmas, she asks her mom to accompany her. Vivian's excited to travel, especially since after the first of the year, things will drastically change at work. This will be her last vacation for a while. She's also proud of her daughter for her accomplishments. While Maddie's helping the Duchess, she'll be able to relax.

When she meets the Queen's Royal Secretary - the two of them hit it off. Soon, he taking her on private tours of the estate, horseback riding, and more.

Malcolm and Vivian talk for hours, spending as much time together as they can. But what happens when the clock strikes midnight and Vivian must return home? 

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I loved the Christmas moments and the festivities. I loved learning more about Maddie's mom. I loved her romance with Malcom. I loved the royal moments - meeting the Queen, seeing the palace, moments with the Duchess. I loved how Vivian and Malcolm couldn't keep away from each other, enjoyed their conversations, and helped each other with family and job drama. Another fun book in this series. 

Cover Thoughts: Seriously cute

Source: My library

Library Recommendation: Grab this holiday novel for your romance collection

Picture Book Review: Grace Goes to Washington

Grace learns about the different branches of government as she and the rest of the student council decide how to spend money from the school's fundraiser. Everyone has a different idea.

I loved this second Grace book. It talked about compromise, government, voting, and kindness. The message from the book is great. The illustrations are amazing. I loved the quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. about a kind world. There's also an author's note about getting involved. I hope there are many more Grace books to come.

A must have book for your school and public libraries.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookmarks

This week's topic is favorite bookmarks. I have several that I love.  And I lost quite a few during the last two years because Emma got mad and chewed them up. 

Here are five bookmarks that I love. Two are from author friends.

Two were gifts.

And the pizza one is from a library.

I have lots of food bookmarks from libraries.

My favorite ones of those are the scratch and sniff ones. There's a s'mores one that smells delightful.

But there are really awesome ones on Etsy too. And they make great gifts!

Here are just a few of those:

Just One More Chapter

Sarah J Maas

Disney Princesses

Hot Chocolate Mug

Harry Potter

If You Like Pins (18)

I haven't done one of these in a while and I've been reading some great books lately. 

So here are some new If You Like Pins!

Books Featured:

American Royals

Luxe

Princess Diaries

Her Royal Highness

Truly Madly Royally

The Season

Countess Below Stairs

Books Featured:

Past Perfect Life

The Rest of the Story

Small Town Hearts

I Wonder Who You Are

Better Than the Best Plan

American Panda

From Twinkle with Love

Books Featured:

Pretend She's Here

The Night She Disappeared

The Naturals

One of Us is Lying

I Hunt Killers

Killer Instinct

#MurderTrending

Books Featured:

Run, Hide, Fight Back

No Safety in Numbers

This is Not a Drill

This is Where it Ends

Give A Boy a Gun

Hate List

Endgame

Books Featured:

Tweet Cute (upcoming)

TTYL

Coming Up for Air

Matter of Heart

Love and Gelato

Stay Sweet

Taste Test

Books Featured:

What Kind of Girl

Moxie

Ask Me Anything

Shut Out

Watch Us Rise

The Nowhere Girls 

Speak

Embers of Memory Game

I was super excited about this game because I'm a HUGE Sarah J Maas fan.

I love that there's a card game because of a book series.

The art work in the cards is amazing.

It took us a little bit to get into the game.

We lost the game - with the way we shuffled the cards, winning was impossible.

How cool is it that a series of books became so popular that there's a game because of them?

I was surprised that the game was set before the Kingdom of Ash. I assumed it would be during Throne of Glass to hook more people into reading the book series.

I loved that it was a cooperative game, even though you're not allowed to speak about strategy. 

I really enjoyed played this game. Fans of the book will be interested in playing.

* Game sent for review

Book Spotlight: Awesome Achievers

Each book has twelve mini biographies about lesser known people who made amazing achievements in science and technology. The biographies are followed by humorous writings - sometimes poems, songs, comics, or  conversations.  Learning and humor go together well. 

The twelve people chosen are diverse. Readers might have heard of some of them (especially Sally Ride), but many will be new to readers. I loved learning about Roberta Williams as I played some of those computer games growing up. But knew nothing about her.