Blog Tour: Legend of Gasparilla by S.T. Fernandez

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the LEGEND OF GASPARILLA by S.T. Fernandez Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: THE LEGEND OF GASPARILLA

Author: S.T. Fernandez

Pub. Date: November 7, 2023

Publisher: Azalea Press

Formats:  Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages: 355

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/THE-LEGEND-OF-GASPARILLA

Bridgerton meets Pirates of the Caribbean in a story many argue is not a myth but a legend.

Admiral José Gaspar of the Spanish Royal Navy had it all: the love of his life, Joséfa de Mayorga; the confidence of the King; and a plan to become one of the most successful merchants in all of Spain. But when a jilted former lover accuses him of stealing the crown jewels, he escapes Sevilla only to realize he’s duped into piracy, further staining his legacy. Gaspar continues down an immoral path he works relentlessly to resist. The dream life he yearned for with Joséfa slowly slips away, his reputation far too ruined to be worthy of her honor.

After having her beloved ripped from her life, Joséfa and Gaspar’s friends work tirelessly to clear his name to no avail. When fate finally hands her a chance, she sets sail to find José, but fate is both friend and foe. Joséfa discovers the man she lost is different from the viscous pirate she rescues from certain death.

When infamous pirate hunter Lieutenant Kearny of the USS Enterprise sets his sights on the new pirate, Gaspar must decide between a dark and perilous addiction to piracy or living a subdued life in the shadows. His darker inhibitions may take his soul hostage, and Joséfa’s love may not be enough to save him.

 

 Review: coming soon

About S.T. Fernandez:

S.T. Fernandez, known as Stephanie, is originally from Orlando, Florida, and was born to two parents from La Isla del Encanto, Puerto Rico. She now resides in the beautiful small beach town of Ventura, California with her husband and their two wiener puppies.

Stephanie is an avid reader of all levels of spicy, steamy romance—mostly in fantasy, historical, or paranormal genres. Just as much as she enjoys disappearing into a good book, creating a story that readers can disappear into brings her immense joy.

She is currently working on her second book in the fantasy romance genre, full of wonderfully diverse characters and themes. S.T. Fernandez’s fantasy romance intertwines Puerto Rico’s Taino indigenous culture’s beautiful themes and language into a fantasy world. She is thrilled and excited to present it to readers when completed.

www.stfernandez.com

Instagram: @stfernandezwrites | TikTok: @stfernandezwrites

Twitter: @stfernandez | Facebook: Click Here to Join S.T. Fernandez’s Official Fan Group

Goodreads

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of THE LEGEND OF GASPARILLA, US Only.

Ends December 5th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

11/1/2023	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Blog Spotlight/IG Post
11/2/2023	Introvert Booklover	Excerpt/IG Post
11/3/2023	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt/IG Post

Week Two:

11/6/2023	Writer of Wrongs	Excerpt
11/7/2023	Lifestyle of Me	Review
11/8/2023	jlreadstoperpetuity	IG Review/TikTok Post
11/9/2023	GryffindorBookishNerd	IG Review
11/10/2023	Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's	Review/IG Post

Week Three:

11/13/2023	the original B00K nerd	IG Review/Facebook Post
11/14/2023	traceyreadsandrambles	Review/IG Post
11/15/2023	Rajiv's Reviews	Review/IG Post
11/16/2023	@anitralovesbooksanddogs	IG Review
11/17/2023	jaimes_mystical_library	IG Review

Week Four:

11/20/2023	Callisto’s calling	IG Review/LFL Drop Pic
11/21/2023	Country Mamas With Kids	Review/IG Post
11/22/2023	@froggyreadteach	IG Review
11/23/2023	Locks, Hooks and Books	Review
11/24/2023	Confessions of the Perfect Mom	Review/IG Post

Week Five:

11/27/2023	A Blue Box Full of Books	IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post
11/28/2023	Popthebutterfly Reads	Review/IG Post
11/29/2023	@lexijava	IG Review
11/30/2023	The Momma Spot	Review

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles as Newspaper Headlines

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

This topic is kind of easy and kind of hard. Every title that is shown are books that I have read this year. 

Review: Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater *SPOILERS*

 I usually don't review books that I read outloud to my kids, but this one is an exception. My kids and I have been getting more into our Scottish ancestry and heritage and my oldest daughter's favorite movie is Brave. She relates to Merida so much because we butt heads all the time. I just hope one day she doesn't curse me to turn into a bear...lol. Anyways, she begged me to get this book from the library and make it a read aloud, so I did.

This takes place after the events of the movie because it is referenced multiple times. Merida has just come back home to DunBroch from traveling the world. Her triplet brothers are growing up and she has a new "sister" named Leezie who is getting ready for a Christmas wedding. Leezie is one of the housekeepers who lost her parents but she doesn't really clean or do anything that a servant is supposed to do and no one really cares. 

One night Merida hears a knock on the kitchen door and she follows this man and finds out it is the God of Ruin, Feradach and  he has come to destroy DunBroch because it is not changing for the better. Merida decides to make a bargain with Feradach and the Callieach who is the Goddess of Growth agrees to the bargain and gives Merida a year to change DunBroch and her family for the better. 

A month or two ago I started Duolingo again and started a Gaelic course. Gaelic is a Scottish language and sadly it is dying. The names of the villages and people was very fun to say and my daughters got so much enjoyment out of hearing me say it with the accent. 

Sadly this book was not a 5 out of 5 stars for me because the ending was just rushed and didn't end the way it should have. Merida wanted Feradach to ruin her because she didn't change but she did because she fell in love with him. I wanted her to be with Feradach. 

Also the cliffhanger with the knock at the end just broke me. I want a sequel. I want a freaking continuation. I don't want to come up with my own conclusion like so many authors say when they end their books on cliffhangers. That's just a cop out and lazy writing. 

Hello November// Sunday Post #58

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly from The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

It is November and we all came down with colds. It either came from the kids I am babysitting from their school or my husband's new co workers at Lowes. Our Halloween plans were ruined because of rain and we were all disappointed. We would have walked if we weren't already sick because we have done it before but my husband and I just could not muster up the energy. 

The day after is usually our recovery day anyways because the neighborhood we trick or treat at is a 300 house subdivision and that is a crap ton of walking. But this year we just stayed in our pajamas and cuddled in blankets because we were still feeling crappy and the weather started to turn. It got down to 29F and that is way to cold for South Carolina in November. 

I just wish that I was able to control the weather and be able to enjoy the outside and pool time all year long. Also not a fan of the clocks going back an hour. Last year I had my first bout with seasonal depression and I am dreading the winter. Growing up I used to love it getting dark earlier and now I just want the sun to stay. 

Reading updates: I read Spy Family volume 4. Loved it. It got me a little sad and angry with how the dogs were being treated. Especially the German Shepherd. If ya'll didn't know I have 2 dogs and 4 cats. 

I also finished Frankenstein on audio and I disliked it. The audiobook narrator was not good. His voice gave me a headache and I had to listen on 2.5 speed just for it to sound normal. I understood how the monster talked, but I was not going to listen to it like that for 7+ hours. 

The next 2 books I am going to be picking up are graphic novels. The titles are The Autumnal and Sheets. They are ones that I wanted to read on Halloween and didn't get to because of sickness and work and CHILDREN! My human ones and not the furbabies, although they are little terrors when they want to be.

I am also going to be starting a non fiction read aloud with my kids. They watched the movie Hidden Figures a couple weeks ago and loved it, so we are going to be reading that. I am looking forward to it and see what didn't make it into the movie. 

I am also going to be picking up The Importance of Ernest and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde. I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray and my oldest just read The Importance of Being Ernest for her Lit and Comp class and loved it, so I have it out from the library. I am going to be listening to those on audio since they are plays and I am thinking about counting each play as one towards my Goodreads goal. It is separate audiobooks, so it's not cheating.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Blog Tour: Tagging Freedom by Rhonda Roumani

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the TAGGING FREEDOM by Rhonda Roumani Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: TAGGING FREEDOM

Author: Rhonda Roumani

Pub. Date: November 7, 2023

Publisher: Union Square Kids

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages: 288

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/TAGGING-FREEDOM 

Out of the revolutions across the Arab world, comes this inspirational story of with hope, freedom, and belonging, perfect for fans of Other Words for Home and A Good Kind of Trouble.

Kareem Haddad of Damascus, Syria, never dreamed of becoming a graffiti artist. But when a group of boys from another town tag subversive slogans outside their school, and another boy is killed while in custody, Kareem and his friends are inspired to start secretly tagmessages of freedom around their city.

Meanwhile, in the United States, his cousin, Samira, has been trying to make her own mark. Anxious to fit in at school, she joins the Spirit Squad where her natural artistic ability attracts the attention of the popular leader. Then Kareem is sent to live with Sam’s family, and their worlds collide. As graffitied messages appear around town and all eyes turn to Kareem, Sam must make a choice: does she shy away to protect her new social status, or does she stand with her cousin?  

Informed by her time as a journalist, author Rhonda Roumani's Tagging Freedom is a thoughtful look at the intersection between art and activism, infused with rich details and a realistic portrayal of how war affects and inspires children, similar to middle grade books for middle schoolers by Aisha Saeed, The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandi, or Refugee by Alan Gratz.

 

Review: coming soon

 

About Rhonda Roumani:

Rhonda Roumani is a Syrian American journalist who lived in Syria as a reporter for U.S. newspapers. She has written about Islam, the Arab world, and Muslim-American issues for more than two decades. Currently, she is a contributing fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC. Rhonda lives in Connecticut with her family.

Sign up for Rhonda’s newsletter! (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of TAGGING FREEDOM, US Only.

Ends November 14th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

10/30/2023	YA Books Central	Guest Post/IG Post
10/31/2023	The Momma Spot	Guest Post
11/1/2023	Two Chicks on Books	Guest Post/IG Post
11/2/2023	Callisto’s calling	IG Review
11/3/2023	Lifestyle of Me	Review/IG Post

Week Two:

11/6/2023	One More Exclamation	Review/IG Post
11/7/2023	Country Mamas With Kids	Review/IG Post
11/8/2023	Confessions of the Perfect Mom	Review/IG Post
11/9/2023	Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's	Review/IG Post
11/10/2023	The Litt Librarian	Review/IG Post

Review: Spy Family Volume 4 by Tatsuya Endo *SPOILERS*

 

All about dogs. The cover is a major spoiler for this since it was revealed at the end of volume 3 that Anya wanted a dog as her reward for getting a Stella Star. They start off by going to pet stores and Anya wanting a small dog because Yor can't keep her thoughts quiet. She thinks that every big dog is dangerous and will eat Anya. 

Lois gets called away on a mission, so he makes the excuse that every man makes when something comes up. He has to go poop. Apparently he is in there a while, when he is really trying to find a group of terrorist who are using dogs as bombs. Anya sees something that she shouldn't and gets kidnapped.

The white dog on the cover becomes her savior and he had abilities as well, but I won't spoil that bit. I did get a little upset because one of the bomb dogs was a German Shepherd and he was getting so mistreated and it also showed how the white dog gained his abilities and it was heartbreaking. It reminded me of Rocket Raccoon all over again. 

How the white dog gets his name also makes me emotional because the first cat that my husband gave me was a black kitten with white feet and I named her Socks. Her front paws looked like ankle socks and her back paws looked like knee high socks. 

This has to be my favorite volume so far because it caused me to be sad and angry while also being happy and laughing a ton.