Category: Science Fiction

Review: Resistance: A Graphic Novel

Title: Resistance: A Graphic Novel
Author: Val McDermid, Kathryn Briggs (illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 15, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A gritty, dark tale of infectious disease gone wrong – the timely graphic novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Val McDermid

‘A brilliant and timely story, told with McDermid’s verve, style and passion. I couldn’t stop turning the pages, even when I could barely take the tension. Wonderful.’ Denise Mina

It’s the summer solstice weekend, and 150,000 people descend on a farm in the northeast of England for an open-air music festival. At first, a spot of rain seems to be the only thing dampening the fun – until a mystery bug appears. Before long, the illness is spreading at an electrifying speed and seems resistant to all antibiotics. Can journalist Zoe Meadows track the outbreak to its source, and will a cure be found before the disease becomes a pandemic?

A heart-racing thriller, Resistance imagines a nightmare pandemic that seems only too credible in the wake of COVID-19. Number one bestseller and queen of crime Val McDermid has teamed up with illustrator Kathryn Briggs to create a masterful graphic novel.

Review:

Journalist Zoe Meadows went to a music festival in Scotland to report on it. She didn’t expect the festival to be the start of a worldwide pandemic. The first cases can be traced back to Zoe’s friend’s food truck. Since Zoe was at the site of the start of the pandemic, so she wants to investigate it herself. The world is in a race against the disease before it takes over the word.

I believe this story was originally written before the pandemic, but it is so creepy to read now. I’ve learned more about pandemics and viruses in the last year than I ever thought I would know. This story seemed much more plausible than if I had read it years ago.

The disease in this story took over in a different way than Covid-19 did in our world. It was more difficult for the medical experts to treat and figure out the disease in the story. I think we were very lucky to have a vaccine developed so quickly. The characters in the graphic novel weren’t so lucky.

I loved the art in this graphic novel. Each page was a separate piece of art. The images were coloured with shades of black, white, and gray. The backgrounds were often collages of different scenes or newspaper articles, but they related to the subject matter in the story on that particular page. This kind of patchwork art reflected the way the characters had to piece together the disease and how to fight it.

Resistance is an honest graphic novel about a global pandemic.

Thank you Grove Atlantic for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

We All Fall Down by Daniel Kalla

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

Have you read Resistance? What did you think of it?

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Review: Pizazz

Title: Pizazz
Author: Sophy Henn
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Publisher: Aladdin
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: June 1, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Discover the annoying side of being a superhero from snarky, reluctant hero Pizazz in this hilarious and highly illustrated new series for young middle graders—perfect for fans of Dog Man and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Most people think superhero work is awesome and fulfilling. Pizazz knows better. Whenever she’s in the middle of a movie or having fun with her friends, she has to dash off the save the world. And she’s always in the same outfit, including an embarrassing glittery cape, and the wedgies are unreal. Plus, being the good guy all the time is so not easy. Superheroes have bad days like everybody else, but Pizazz always has to be cheerful and noble and brave. More than anything, she just wants to be normal.

Review:

Pizazz is a superhero, but it isn’t easy. She has to dash off to fight villains while she’s with friends or even while she’s sleeping. And she always has to go to school the next day. Pizazz has to put on a happy face, because she’s a superhero who saves the world, even if she’s having a bad day. Plus, she thinks she has the worst superpower ever, but she has to use it sometimes to defeat villains. Even though Pizazz doesn’t like being a superhero, she’s always there to help her superhero family.

This was a fun superhero story. Pizazz feels like a lot of middle graders, which is uncomfortable with herself. She doesn’t like her place in her family because everyone else has a better superpower than her, even her little sister. She had to start at a new school so she didn’t feel included by the kids in her new class. Pizazz wanted to fit in with the popular kids, like her sister did, but she didn’t. Though most middle graders aren’t superheroes, I think a lot of them can relate to feeling out of place during that time in their life.

There were a few funny moments in this book. Pizazz and her family had a dog that would report to them on what villain they had to go fight. They had to fight unusual villains. There was Twerknado, who would twerk and destroy the city. There was also Goo Go, who was a giant baby fighting with baby toys. Pizazz’s secret superpower was saved and only revealed at the end of the book, so that was a funny part since she hated it so much but always ended up using it.

Pizazz is a fun start to a new series!

Thank you Simon Kids for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

How to Be a Supervillain by Michael Fry

Have you read Pizazz? What did you think of it?

Review: A Universe of Wishes

Title: A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology
Author: Dhonielle Clayton (editor)
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, LGBT, Short Stories
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Source: Purchased from Owlcrate
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

From We Need Diverse Books, the organization behind Flying Lessons & Other Stories, comes a young adult fantasy short story collection featuring some of the best own-voices children’s authors, including New York Times bestselling authors Libba Bray (The Diviners), Victoria Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic), Natalie C. Parker (Seafire), and many more. Edited by Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles).

In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.

AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, Victoria Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone, and a to-be-announced debut author/short-story contest winner

Review:

This is a collection of fantasy and science fiction stories written by diverse authors. These stories had characters of a variety of races, religions, and gender identities.

I used to think that I didn’t like short stories because the ones I read in school were literary and complicated to understand. If I had been introduced to collections like this book when I was younger, I would have read many more short stories before now!

Two of the stories are from the worlds of fantasy book series. The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story by Libby Bray is from the Gemma Doyle series. A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab is from the Shades of Magic series. I’ve only read the Shades of Magic series, so it was fun to see this story from before the events of the series. I really want to read the Gemma Doyle series after reading that story.

I enjoyed all of these stories. I would read any of them if they were expanded into a full length novel. I had only read a handful of these authors before. I will definitely be reading more of the authors that were new to me.

I highly recommend this collection to YA fantasy and science fiction readers!

What to read next:

Vampires Never Get Old; Tales With Fresh Bite by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker (editors)

Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles (editor)

Have you read A Universe of Wishes? What did you think of it?

Review: Stargazer

Title: Stargazer
Author: Anthony Cleveland
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Source: Diamond Book Distributors via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Years ago Shae, her brother Kenny, and two childhood friends experienced a traumatic, unexplainable event that left Kenny scarred for life. Kenny commits himself to the belief that what they experienced was an alien abduction. Twenty years later and the friends have since drifted apart, but the sudden, mysterious disappearance of Kenny leads the group to reunite and discover the truth of what took place all those years ago.

Review:

When they were in middle school, Shae, her brother Kenny, and her two friends had an alien encounter that left her brother scarred for life. He had an accident and became obsessed with alien abductions. Now, twenty years later, Kenny mysteriously disappears, and only Shae and her friends have the key to finding him.

This was an entertaining story. There was a lot of mystery around the alien abduction when they were kids. It seemed like it really happened, but they were young so no one believed them. Even when they got older, Shae had to wonder if it really happened. Once her brother went missing as an adult, she had no choice but to believe he had actually been abducted by aliens.

This story alternated between the present and twenty years ago when the kids first encountered the aliens. The first time this happened, the two timelines were labeled so it was easy to see the time jump. However, the other times there wasn’t a label to indicate that the time period was changing. It was a little confusing to get used to at first. The older timeline had illustrations in more pink colours and the present story was in blue colours, which made it a little easier to tell them apart. It would have been a smoother transition if each jump in time was labeled.

I really enjoyed this sci fi graphic novel!

Thank you Diamond Book Distributors for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Villainous by Stonie Williams

Dark One, Vol. 1 by Brandon Sanderson, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly

Have you read Stargazer? What did you think of it?

Review: Victories Greater Than Death (Unstoppable #1)

Title: Victories Greater Than Death (Unstoppable #1)
Author: Charlie Jane Anders
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBT
Publisher: Tor Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 13, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Outsmart Your Enemies. Outrun the Galaxy.

Tina never worries about being ‘ordinary’—she doesn’t have to, since she’s known practically forever that she’s not just Tina Mains, average teenager and beloved daughter. She’s also the keeper of an interplanetary rescue beacon, and one day soon, it’s going to activate, and then her dreams of saving all the worlds and adventuring among the stars will finally be possible. Tina’s legacy, after all, is intergalactic—she is the hidden clone of a famed alien hero, left on Earth disguised as a human to give the universe another chance to defeat a terrible evil.

But when the beacon activates, it turns out that Tina’s destiny isn’t quite what she expected. Things are far more dangerous than she ever assumed. Luckily, Tina is surrounded by a crew she can trust, and her best friend Rachel, and she is still determined to save all the worlds. But first she’ll have to save herself.

Buckle up your seatbelt for this thrilling sci-fi adventure set against an intergalactic war from international bestselling author Charlie Jane Anders.

Review:

Tina Mains isn’t an ordinary girl. She was raised by her mother on Earth, but she was actually sent to her mother as an alien clone. Tina was given human DNA so she could blend in on Earth. Now, teenage Tina is being called up to space to fulfill her destiny and return to the role as Captain Thaoh, the person she was cloned from. However, the procedure to return Thaoh’s memories to Tina doesn’t go as planned, so she can’t take on the role of captain. She ends up bringing her best friend Rachael up to space with her, where they join the space crew on an adventure to save all the worlds in space.

This was a gender diverse story. Many of the characters in space were from different species, but they all introduced themselves with their name and then their preferred pronouns. I loved seeing this unity between the worlds, where they had the same form of introduction, even though each of the residents of the different worlds had different appearances and languages. I found this introduction funny at times when an enemy would introduce themself. They would take the time to say their name and pronoun before announcing that they were going to attack. This created a delay in the attack, which could have been avoided without introducing themselves, but it shows how important gender diversity is to their world.

This story was also really funny. The beginning seemed like a comedy of errors when everything went wrong. When Tina was supposed to become the captain she was cloned from, the procedure went wrong so she remained the human Tina. This ruined all of their work of making sure Tina was raised to replace Captain Thaoh. This was followed by another funny scene where they tried to recruit intelligent humans to join the crew. The way they found humans that were smart enough to join them was through a puzzle app. However, the humans they found may have been good at a game on their phone, but they weren’t necessarily the smartest people on Earth. These are just a few of the funny parts of this book.

This was a fun science fiction story with a humorous twist. I can’t wait to read the next book!

Thank you Tor Teen for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Have you read Victories Greater Than Death? What did you think of it?

Review: The Infinity Courts (The Infinity Courts #1)

Title: The Infinity Courts (The Infinity Courts #1)
Author: Akemi Dawn Bowman
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto is certain her life is just beginning. She has a great family, just graduated high school, and is on her way to a party where her entire class is waiting for her—including, most importantly, the boy she’s been in love with for years.

The only problem? She’s murdered before she gets there.

When Nami wakes up, she learns she’s in a place called Infinity, where human consciousness goes when physical bodies die. She quickly discovers that Ophelia, a virtual assistant widely used by humans on Earth, has taken over the afterlife and is now posing as a queen, forcing humans into servitude the way she’d been forced to serve in the real world. Even worse, Ophelia is inching closer and closer to accomplishing her grand plans of eradicating human existence once and for all.

As Nami works with a team of rebels to bring down Ophelia and save the humans under her imprisonment, she is forced to reckon with her past, her future, and what it is that truly makes us human.
From award-winning author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes an incisive, action-packed tale that explores big questions about technology, grief, love, and humanity.

Review:

Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto was preparing for her high school graduation when she was suddenly killed. She wakes up in a place called Infinity, where she’s offered a pill to numb the human pain that her consciousness still feels. She’s rescued by a team of rebels who are working against Queen Ophelia. Ophelia was the virtual assistant that everyone used on Earth, but she’s taken over Infinity with plans to erase humans and fill the world with her Residents. Nami is special because though she is human, she can alter her appearance to look like a Resident. Nami has to work with the rebel group to save the humans and defeat Ophelia and her sons.

This was an original story about death. I was enjoying Nami’s story in the first few chapters, where she was living like a normal teenager. Then, she was murdered and sent to Infinity, the afterlife for human consciousness. It was strange to be thrown into this new world that is so different from our world, but it was fast paced and mysterious that I had to keep reading.

This world had complicated relationships between the humans and the Residents. The humans served the Residents, and didn’t have awareness. The pill that they were offered after waking up in Infinity removed any awareness they had, so they could follow orders from the Residents. There were different courts that they could be sent to, including War and Death, which didn’t have positive outcomes for the humans sent there. The rare few who could escape without taking the pill and keep their awareness tried to rebel against the Residents.

The final chapters of this book were really surprising. There was a character who I found suspicious from the beginning. I was right in suspecting there was something wrong with that character but I couldn’t figure out what it was. I hope there will be a sequel because I really want to know what happens next!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Have you read The Infinity Courts? What did you think of it?

Review: Pleasant Grove

Title: Pleasant Grove
Author: Jason Price
Genre: Middle Grade, Science Fiction
Publisher: Self-published
Source: Author
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 29, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Welcome to Pleasant Grove, a quiet small town where neighbor helps neighbor and doors are left unlocked at night-an unspoiled paradise with one peculiar feature: It’s enclosed by a glass dome.

No one can leave.
No one can enter.
No one can survive beyond the dome.

But then, a visitor arrives from the outside.

When 12-year-old Agnes Goodwin discovers a strange boy with no memory, she teams up with her best friends to unravel the mystery. Their extraordinary adventure will threaten everything they know…and everyone they love.

Review:

Twelve-year-old Agnes Goodwin lives in Pleasant Grove which is a town under a dome. Everything they need can be found in the dome. Their food is grown there and everyone works. Everyone knows each other and all the children go to school together. One day, Agnes sees a boy that she’s never seen before. This makes her start to wonder what is outside the dome. This strange boy must have come from somewhere else since she doesn’t know him. She brings her friends to investigate the dome, but what they discover threatens their town and life as they know it.

This was a thrilling science fiction story. It had a lot of similarities to the show Stranger Things and the Stephen King book Under the Dome. The people of Pleasant Grove had everything they needed in the dome, but there had to be something outside it. The story has a science fiction ending that made sense for the story.

This story is classified as a middle grade story, but the writing was more mature than writing for a middle grade reader. Just because the main character is of middle grade age, doesn’t mean the story has to be targeted to a middle grade reader. Some of the descriptive words were strange and unusual, such as “a family of strawberries” instead of a few or a handful of strawberries. The language could have been simpler and it would have made more sense.

This is a great story for fans of Stranger Things! This ebook will be free on Amazon from Feb. 22-26, so go check it out!

Thank you Jason Price for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Runaway Mix by Brenna Yovanoff

Whispering Pines by Heidi Lang and Kati Bartkowski

Have you read Pleasant Grove? What did you think of it?

Blog Tour Review: We Could Be Heroes

Title: We Could Be Heroes
Author: Mike Chen
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Mira Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 26, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

An extraordinary and emotional adventure about unlikely friends and the power of choosing who you want to be.

Jamie woke up in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people’s memories—a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.

Zoe is also searching for her past, and using her abilities of speed and strength…to deliver fast food. And she’ll occasionally put on a cool suit and beat up bad guys, if she feels like it.

When the archrivals meet in a memory-loss support group, they realize the only way to reveal their hidden pasts might be through each other. As they uncover an ongoing threat, suddenly much more is at stake than their fragile friendship. With countless people at risk, Zoe and Jamie will have to recognize that sometimes being a hero starts with trusting someone else—and yourself.

Review:

Jamie woke up one day in an apartment with a note that said he has a superpower to read and erase minds. He decided to use that power to rob banks, giving him the name Mind Robber. Zoe also woke up in an apartment with a note that said she has super strength and a name tag with Zoe Wong written on it. Zoe stops criminals and has been given the name Throwing Star. When Jamie and Zoe clash, they start to realize there are similarities between their pasts. The two vigilantes work together to figure out where they came from.

This was such a thrilling superhero story. It started out with Jamie and Zoe in action, with him robbing a bank and her trying to stop him. It developed into a broader story about identity. There were loads of secrets that they kept from each other and that they had to learn along the way. I really couldn’t put this book down.

My only criticism is that the ending felt a little long. There was a long, technical action scene. However, the final pages were definitely worth the wait!

This is a great science fiction superhero story!

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

About the author:

Mike Chen is a lifelong writer, from crafting fan fiction as a child to somehow getting paid for words as an adult. He has contributed to major geek websites (The Mary Sue, The Portalist, Tor) and covered the NHL for mainstream media outlets. A member of SFWA and Codex Writers, Mike lives in the Bay Area, where he can be found playing video games and watching Doctor Who with his wife, daughter, and rescue animals. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @mikechenwriter

Have you read We Could Be Heroes? What did you think of it?

Review: Unleashed (Jinxed #2)

Title: Unleashed (Jinxed #2)
Author: Amy McCulloch
Genre: Middle Grade, Science Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 5, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The Golden Compass for the digital age in this action-packed sequel to Jinxed.

When Lacey Chu wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of how she got there, she knows something went really wrong. And with her cat baku, Jinx, missing in action and MONCHA, the company behind the invention of the robot pet, threatening her family, she isn’t sure who to turn to for answers.

When Lacey is expelled and her mom starts acting strangely after the latest update from MONCHA, Lacey and her friends work together to get to the bottom of it and discover a sinister plot at the heart of the corporation.

Lacey must use all her skills if she has a chance of stopping MONCHA from carrying out their plans. But can she take on the biggest tech company in North America armed with only a level 1 robot beetle and her friends at her side?

Review:

Lacey Chu wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of how she got there. Her baku, her personal digital pet, is missing. After Lacey is discharged from the hospital, her mother starts behaving strangely and doesn’t remember their previous conversations. Then, Lacey is expelled from her elite school. An update to everyone’s bakus, which are run by the company MONCHA, is reprogramming the way people think. Now no one can see the problems with this company taking over everything. Lacey and her friends have to take on MONCHA on their own to save everyone from being reprogrammed by this software update.

This story was very timely with the way that the young students had to stand up to make a change in the real world. Lacey is the one who figured out what was happening with their bakus and how to fix them. Her and her friends had the courage to stand up to a large corporation, and since they were underestimated by the leaders, they were more successful than the adults who went against the company.

Lacey is an inspiring character. She’s very smart and determined to do what’s right. She had to go through some tough challenges, such as when her dad left suddenly when she was a kid and when her mom started acting strangely after getting the update from the company. Lacey also had to be creative with figuring out how to get around the update that would remove her memory of what was going on. She was a fast thinker and strong character.

This is a great conclusion to the Jinxed series!

Thank you Sourcebooks Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel by Sheela Chari

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Other books in the series:

Have you read Unleashed? What did you think of it?

Blog Tour Review: Whispering Pines

Title: Whispering Pines
Author: Heidi Lang and Kati Bartkowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Horror, Science Fiction
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A young boy and girl who must protect their small town from otherworldly forces threatening to destroy it.

Rae’s father vanished without a trace—and Rae knows what happened to him. But no one believes her when she says that her father didn’t run off, that he was actually taken. Now, a year of therapy later, Rae’s mother decides they need a fresh start, and so they move to a new town in the hope that life can return to normal.

The problem is, there is nothing normal about the town of Whispering Pines.

No one knows this better than Caden. He’s lived in Whispering Pines his entire life, and he’s seen more than his fair share of weird—starting with his own family, as the town is the perfect home base for his mother’s ghost hunting business.

When several kids go missing and then show up like zombies with their eyes removed, many locals brush it off. Just another day in Whispering Pines. But Caden has a dark secret, one that may explain why someone is stealing eyes. And Rae, who knows how it feels to not be believed, may be just the person Caden needs to help him put things right.

Review:

Rae’s father disappeared after making a disturbing discovery at his job. Her mother moved her and her older sister across the country to a small town called Whispering Pines after her father’s disappearance. Whispering Pines is a strange town that has people who walk goats, and a rule at the school that you can’t walk around with garlic around your neck. Rae moves in across the street from Caden, whose family has a ghost hunting business. Caden’s brother also disappeared, during a ghost hunting mission. Now more students are disappearing, and the ones who return are missing their eyes. Rae and Caden investigate what is happening in their town, before they disappear too.

This story reminded me a lot of Stranger Things. There is a large science laboratory in the town. One of the men who works there, Patrick, always seems to show up just when something goes wrong in the town. There seemed to be something supernatural happening, as well as some science experiments gone wrong.

I loved the quirky town of Whispering Pines. This setting was a character itself. It was named after the woods, that make a whispering sound in the wind. There were odd rules for the town, such as no wearing garlic. It was known for people walking their goats, which was also odd. These elements were strange but also funny.

I was so surprised at the ending. The epilogue started a new storyline for the next book, which sounds even more exciting than this one. I’m going to have a hard time waiting for the next book!

Thank you Margaret K. McElderry Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Last Pick by Jason Walz

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

About the authors:

Heidi Lang managed to stumble upon the two best jobs in the world: writing for kids and walking dogs. If she’s not out on the trails surrounded by wagging tails and puppy kisses, she’s probably hunched over her laptop working on her next book. She lives in northern California with her husband and two adventure-loving dogs, and she is the coauthor of the Mystic Cooking Chronicles and Whispering Pines. Find her on Twitter @HidLang, or visit the website she shares with her writing partner at HeidiandKatiWrite.com.

Kati Bartkowski was originally drawn to illustration before she got swept up in the world of words. Nowadays she’s a fan of creating fantastical creatures and feisty heroines in both mediums. If she’s not reading, writing, or drawing, she’s probably chasing after her high energy little girl. She lives in northern California and is the coauthor of the Mystic Cooking Chronicles and Whispering Pines. Find her on Twitter @KTBartkowski, or visit the website she shares with her writing partner at HeidiandKatiWrite.com.

Blog tour schedule:

Have you read Whispering Pines? What did you think of it?