fuonlyknew

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I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the BETWEEN MONSTERS AND MARVELS by Alysa Wishingrad Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours.

 

Check out my Review and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

 

BETWEEN MONSTERS AND MARVELS

by Alysa Wishingrad

 

 

Pub. Date: September 12, 2023

Publisher: HarperCollins

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 400

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Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/BETWEEN-MONSTERS-AND-MARVELS 

 

A standalone high-stakes middle grade fantasy by Alysa Wishingrad, author of the Junior
Library Guild Gold Standard selection The Verdigris Pawn.

Monsters are still lurking on Barrow’s Bay.

Dare Coates is sure of it. No drifter or ruffian could have killed her father, the Captain
of the Guard, while he was on patrol. But everyone insists that monsters have
been gone for years now. Dare’s mother. Her classmates. Even the governor, who
swiftly marries her mother just months after her father’s death.

Dare’s suspicions grow even stronger when the governor suddenly ships her off to the
mainland, away from any hope of uncovering the truth about her father’s death.

Or so she thinks. Soon Dare finds solid proof that monsters still exist and she starts to
question everything she’s always known. Was her father who she thought he was?
Who can she trust? Where is the line between good and evil?

The truth hides behind danger and deception. But with the help of an unlikely crew of
cohorts and a stray beastie, nothing can stop Dare from finding out what
happened to her father and exposing who the real monsters are.

Perfect for fans of Ellen Oh’s Spirit Hunters and Lauren Oliver’s The
Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street.  

 

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MY REVIEW

I loved, loved, loved this books. I loved Dare. She had so much to overcome. The mystery surrounding her father’s death. The mystery of the monsters. Are they responsible for his murder? Her mother remarries quickly and then she’s shipped off of the island. The only home she’s ever known. The mainland is now her home. It’s cold and dirty. And those monsters. She’ll have to be wary of the human ones too.

Dare was so brave and quick thinking. She didn’t always have all the answers but she didn’t act rashly. She also had some stalwart friends. I loved them too. And I don’t want to forget Beastie. I’ll leave that one for you to meet.

And I loved the monsters.  If you could imagine it, it was in this book. Deadly when riled. And they were armed with some formidable weapons and the fights were thrilling.

I don’t think I’ve ever read such a suspenseful story aimed at middle grade readers. I found myself leaning forward as I was reading some scenes. Just like I would if I was watching it on the TV.

Alysa Wishingrad is a new author for me and I can’t wait to go see what else she’s written.

I did mention that I loved this book, didn’t I?!

5 STARS

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Enjoy this peek inside:

Dare Coates was an awful girl.

Everyone on Barrow’s Bay said so. The adults, hiding behind satin-gloved hands, whispered it through tight-lipped sneers. But the children said it out loud, every chance they got. On the streets, in class, and they were saying it now as Dare stalked out of the schoolhouse.

 

She didn’t even want to be in that pathetic Founder’s Day pageant, let alone play the monster. But then she’d be condemned to repeating the entire year’s lessons under the schoolmarm’s tutelage. There was awful, and then there was the unbearable.

 

Dare tried to lose Francis Cooper and the rest of the class as they trailed after her, slinging taunts and teases all the way through the center of town. She wound past the shops, around the gazebo on the village green, and even into the middle of the street, hoping to ditch them amid the passing carriages and wagons. And still she made no effort to conceal that her stockings were torn, her hair a tangle of knots, and the left sleeve of her favorite dress was ripped wide open. Instead, she kept her gaze pegged dead ahead and her upper lip fixed in a snarl, a warning to passersby to steer clear.

It’d always been easy enough to ignore them when they teased her that her hair wasn’t done in the latest style, for rescuing a spider from certain death at the hands of one of the boys, or for having no shame about speaking her mind. In fact, she went out of her way to be a walking affront to everything the GOOD people of Barrow’s Bay valued—beauty, conformity, and the sparkle of wealth. She was happy to be a thornbush among the lilies, for even the sharpest thorns serve a purpose. They’re a warning, protection. A defense.

And Dare was more than content to shine every one of her points and angles until they gleamed.

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About Alysa Wishingrad:

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Alysa
Wishingrad writes
fantastical stories for young readers, tales that ask; is the truth really
true? Her favorite stories are those that meld the historical with the
fantastic, and that find ways to shine a light on both the things that divide
and unite us all. The Verdigris Pawn, a Junior Library Guild Gold
Standard Selection, is her debut novel. Alysa lives in the Hudson Valley with
her family and two demanding rescue dogs. You can find her at www.
alysawishingrad.com or on Twitter at @awishingrad or Instagram at @alysawishingradwrites.

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2 winners will receive a finished copy of BETWEEN MONSTERS AND MARVELS Bookmarks and
stickers, US Only.

Ends October

3rd, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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