Synopsis (from goodreads.com):
I am Renata Convida.
I have lived a hundred stolen lives.
Now I live my own.
Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King's Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata's ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King's Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.
Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred--or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned "hollow" during her time in the palace.
When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez's top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.
But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom--and end the war that has cost her everything.
M Y T H O U G H T S Incendiary, which is the first book in the Hollow Crown series, starts off slowly. Renata is a Robari who has a special power to steal people's memories. She was kidnapped at a young age by the King's justice in order to harness her power and use it for the court's benefit. Renata eventually is able to escape the grasp of royalty and joins the radical movement as a Whisperer, one of the rebel spies working against the crown. The rebel spies seek to help Moria escape the kingdom. However, as a memory thief who leaves victims as a hollow shell once memories are stolen, people are wary to trust her. Justice Mendes and the Royal family of Selvina use Ren to dissolve magic users.
Zoraida Córdova immerses readers in a rich world with fantastic characters and an intricate story plotline. I would love to learn more about how the magic system works in this world and I hope to see more of the evolution of the magic system in future installments of the Hollow Crown series. Ren is in a difficult position where she can get killed fairly easily as she teeters on a thin line between helping the Crown or helping the Whisperers. Furthermore, when she has feelings for Dez, who is the leader of the Whispers, she needs to find where her alliance lies. This complex struggle of doing what is right looms throughout the novel and Ren needs to pave the path by herself.
Incendiary is about revenge, betrayal, figuring out who is trustworthy and fighting for your own rights. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the Hollow Crown series will bring.
Although this event recap for the Boston stop for the Belles and Brujas Tour is super late, I finally have this out for all of my readers! Thank you to the Brookline Public Library and Brookline Booksmith for making this amazing event happen. The Boston tour stop occurred on Tuesday, June 5th. The Belles and Brujas tour is celebrating Dhonielle Clayton’s The Belles and Zoraida Córdova’s Bruja Born, both books that were released earlier this year. Also joining the duo include special guests Julie C. Dao, author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, and Sasha Alsberg, co-author of Zenith.
Magic and mayhem are part of the cross-section of books. Dhonielle asks the panelists, what drew them to magic and fantasy? Zoraida mentioned how she is looking for magic to transport into books. If you’re a teen at the age of 14 and you read about a character of the same age doing these incredible things, you have the sense that you can overcome what the character overcomes. Zoraida fell in love with Amelia Atwater’s vampire books when she was a teen. Julie mentions how “fantasy is freedom.” She first fell in love with The Mists of Avalon. Sasha talked about how she always wanted to be an astronomer but she sucks at math. She fell in love with sci-fi and is a big Star Trekkie. Dhonielle said that her dad is a big nerd and loves space opera, comics and that they always went to the bookstore every Saturday. She always loved to read and she escaped reality and things that happened at school through reading. Dhonielle claims, “fantasy is an escape and it’s a place for me find strong women.”
Dhonielle asked the panelists about the strength of their characters. Zoraida describes the Brooklyn Brujas as “Charmed but brown.” Each sister has her own book. The sisters are average girls but they have powers that they don’t know what to do with. Magic comes from them. The magic doesn’t come from romantic love or from others. Magic is inward and it climbs outwards. Dhonielle claims she likes villains more than heroes. Julie always loved fairytales. She rooted for the go-getters for what they want. Julie always wanted to write a story about a woman who has ambition and has a driving force of life. She wanted to write about a woman with agency instead of the pure and the innocent. Sasha and co-author Lindsay Cummings wanted to write about how girls should be in real life. They wanted to break stereotypes of the catty fighting. They both wanted to hone in on close and healthy friendships between females and to turn around the stigma.
In terms of world building, Dhonielle asks, how do you build your world? Sasha wrote three years ago and used a lot of spreadsheets about anything space related. She based it on what is real or what was a theory. Sasha made magic out of them and manipulated concepts. It was a hands on experience creating worlds and she had fun creating a map to figure out how the world will look like. Zoraida made a map in visualize where everything is going to be and worked from there. When Julie was writing book two, Kingdom of a Blazing Phoenix, there is a canon you have to stick to and the world building has to be similar. Dhonielle mentioned that her second book in the Belles series is called Everlasting Rose. Both Dhonielle and Julie agreed world building helps to write the second book. Dhonielle and Sasha often forget something that happened previously in the story during drafting like the spelling of characters' names. Sasha also said that she has dyslexia and spells characters names wrong all the time.
Dhonielle aks the very important question, “do we have the responsibility to tell teens the truth?” Zoraida writes about certain subjects and bridges lines. We should be telling the truth to kids and teens. The difference with kids reading YA compared to adults reading is huge. The teens want to belong to what they read. They want a sense of identity about who they are. Julie agrees with Zoraida and said that teens are going to inherit the world. She doesn’t like how Disney sanitizes fairy tales. Julie wants to show women who are ambitious and power hungry and not wanting a man to save them. Sasha learned a lot from YA and what she read from books when she was in her teens. She wants teens to learn a lot from what she writes as well. Dhonielle wants to “write about teens how they are and not what they should be.” She claims we need to get better telling the truth and not cleaning everything up. Don't give into the pressure and lens to a certain way.
When a question was brought up about whether the authors would want to be a hero or a villain, Sasha and Dhonielle both said villain and Zoraida and Julie answered with hero. There was also a conversation about a Hufflepuff exterior but a Slytherin interior. Sasha asks everyone “would you want your book to be adapted into a play or a musical?” In unison, Julie and Zoraida said musical! They talked about dance numbers and combusting into song. Dhonielle said her books will be dark if it was a musical and opted for the play. Sasha talked about dancing space pirates with a possible Captain Jack Sparrow for her’s. Zoraida then chimes in “ballet?” to Sasha. Another question that was asked was would you be on the always be on the run for seven years or be in jail for years. Julie said jail because she is such a Hufflepuff. Sasha, Dhonielle and Zoraida said on the run. Each author was asked if they would want their book be misspelled or have the cover changed. For some odd reason the conversation shifted to alpacas smiling to corgis. Zoraida even mentioned how Eric Smith is a corgi king!
Back to more serious questions, what has added to help grow the genre in regarding how adults gravitate toward YA. Zoraida writes about death a lot because when you are older, you think more about mortality. Teens often feel immortal. Dhonielle mentioned how lately YA caters to the nostalgic teen experience and that is why we need to write more about the truth. She would like to see more teens at book events and in signing lines. One of the issues is the structure of books. We need to change that. She says that we need to change the structure for teens to get books. Dhonielle hopes YA books will find a way to make it into school and class syllabi. We need fresh voices. Teens want books about drama, kisses, witches and more. She believes that there should be new classics read in school and no more Mice and Men type of books. Julie writes for herself but she writes for teens. She writes about destiny vs. choice. Sasha a in-between. She is not a teen but not quite an adult. At age 18, she was writing for herself. She believes that literature is universal.
In terms of reading, Dhonielle described how Holly Black’s books “creates new experiences.” She loved “following into the woods.” Zoraida hated reading until she was 13. Librarians and teachers always told her to read The House on Mango Street or How the Garcias Lost Their Accents. Zoraida claims, “I love reading myths and I wanted to create my own myths.” A question was asked regarding the research for world building. Dhonielle said she did research on the beauty industry for months before creating a loose outline for The Belles. Zoraida talks about her Brooklyn Brujas series and how there is no handbook for what she is writing about. However, there are superstitions which she researched. She also looked up the Day of the Dead and made sure she doesn’t replicate certain things. She claims, “I figured out what I wanted to avoid when researching in order to create my own world.” Julie is a plotter. When she has enough research to create a book bible, then she writes the book. She read and watched a lot about the Silk Road for Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. Sasha used a spreadsheet and did a lot of research on current Celtic mythology that isn’t quite mainstream. She also did a lot of fact checking. Sasha mentioned how she loves watching documentaries and that “it’s so fascinating and so different.”
I had a great time and the turn out was pretty decent. It was nice to see a variety of different authors and different genres. A lot of book swag was handed out and there were a couple of raffles at the event. I love how the event was taken place in the teen room at the library. There was plenty of time to meet the authors and to chat with them and of course to get books signed.
Thank you Sourcebooks for this wonderful opportunity to
showcase Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova. Not only is Labyrinth Lost a
magical novel about family and coming-of-age but it’s a book like no other. You
can check out my review here. Don’t forget to check out the rafflecopter
giveaway at the bottom of the post.
Synopsis: Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…
PRAISE FOR LABYRINTH LOST
“This work is a magical journey from start to finish... A compelling must-have for teens”
–School Library Journal, STARRED review
“Córdova’s (the Vicious Deep series) magic-infused, delightfully dark story introduces readers to an engrossing, Latin American–inspired fantasy setting and an irresistible heroine”
–Publishers Weekly
“A brilliant brown-girl-in-Brooklyn update on Alice in Wonderland and Dante’s Inferno. Very creepy, very magical, very necessary.”
—Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowshaper
“Labyrinth Lost is morelike reading Paradise Found. Zoraida Córdova brings us a new generation of witches, enchanting and complex. And every page is filled with magic.”
—Danielle Page, New York Times bestselling author of Dorothy Must Die
Córdova’s world will leave you breathless, and her magic will ignite an envy so green you’ll wish you were born a bruja. Delightfully dark and enchanting. An un-putdownable book.”
-Dhonielle Clayton, author of The Belles and Shiny Broken Pieces
“Córdova’s rich exploration of Latin American culture, her healthy portrayal of bisexuality and her unique voice allow this novel to stand out among its many peers.”
–RT Book Reviews
“Cordova draws inspiration from Ecuadorian, Spanish, African, Mexican, and Caribbean folklore and mythology to craft a page-turning tale about a young bruja unsure of her place in the world.”
“Córdova pulls elements from Greek mythology and Spanish and Latin American legends to craft a memorable world in Los Lagos, a supernatural realm that is as fascinating as it is threatening. The history and customs of Alex’s family’s type of witchery are also carefully constructed, giving readers a complete world to sink into with satisfaction and wonder.”
-Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“This succeeds with its lush use of Latin American mythologies, an unexpected love story, and, above all, in Alex’s complicated relationship with her family. Alex is a necessary heroine, and this dark fantasy nicely”
-Booklist
LABYRINTH LOST BOOK TRAILER
LABYRINTH LOST EXCERPT
1
Follow our voices, sister.
Tell us the secret of your death.
—-Resurrection Canto, Book of Cantos
T
he second time I saw my dead aunt Rosaria, she was dancing.
Earlier that day, my mom had warned me, pressing a long, red fingernail on the tip of my nose, “Alejandra, don’t go downstairs when the Circle arrives.”
But I was seven and asked too many questions. Every Sunday, cars piled up in our driveway, down the street, and around the corner of our old, narrow house in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Mom’s Circle usually brought cellophane--wrapped dishes and jars of dirt and tubs of brackish water that made the Hudson River look clean. This time, they carried something more.
When my sisters started snoring, I threw off my covers and crept down the stairs. The floorboards were uneven and creaky, but I was good at not being seen. Fuzzy, yellow streetlight shone through our attic window and followed me down every flight until I reached the basement.
A soft hum made its way through the thin walls. I remember thinking I should listen to my mom’s warning and go back upstairs. But our house had been restless all week, and Lula, Rose, and I were shoved into the attic, out of the way while the grown--ups prepared the funeral. I wanted out. I wanted to see.
The night was moonless and cold one week after the Witch’s New Year, when Aunt Rosaria died of a sickness that made her skin yellow like hundred--year--old paper and her nails turn black as coal. We tried to make her beautiful again. My sisters and I spent all day weaving good luck charms from peonies, corn husks, and string—-one loop over, under, two loops over, under. Not even the morticians, the Magos de Muerte, could fix her once--lovely face.
Aunt Rosaria was dead. I was there when we mourned her. I was there when we buried her. Then, I watched my father and two others shoulder a dirty cloth bundle into the house, and I knew I couldn’t stay in bed, no matter what my mother said.
So I opened the basement door.
Red light bathed the steep stairs. I leaned my head toward the light, toward the beating sound of drums and sharp plucks of fat, nylon guitar strings.
A soft mew followed by whiskers against my arm made my heart jump to the back of my rib cage. I bit my tongue to stop the scream. It was just my cat, Miluna. She stared at me with her white, glowing eyes and hissed a warning, as if telling me to turn back. But Aunt Rosaria was my godmother, my family, my friend. And I wanted to see her again.
“Sh!” I brushed the cat’s head back.
Miluna nudged my leg, then ran away as the singing started.
I took my first step down, into the warm, red light. Raspy voices called out to our gods, the Deos, asking for blessings beyond the veil of our worlds. Their melody pulled me step by step until I was crouched at the bottom of the landing.
They were dancing.
Brujas and brujos were dressed in mourning white, their faces painted in the aspects of the dead, white clay and black coal to trace the bones. They danced in two circles—-the outer ring going clockwise, the inner counterclockwise—hands clasped tight, voices vibrating to the pulsing drums.
And in the middle was Aunt Rosaria.
Her body jerked upward. Her black hair pooled in the air like she was suspended in water. There was still dirt on her skin. The white skirt we buried her in billowed around her slender legs. Black smoke slithered out of her open mouth. It weaved in and out of the circle—-one loop over, under, two loops over, under. It tugged Aunt Rosaria higher and higher, matching the rhythm of the canto.
Then, the black smoke perked up and changed its target. It could smell me. I tried to backpedal, but the tiles were slick, and I slid toward the circle. My head smacked the tiles. Pain splintered my skull, and a broken scream lodged in my throat.
The music stopped. Heavy, tired breaths filled the silence of the pulsing red dark. The enchantment was broken. Aunt Rosaria’s reanimated corpse turned to me. Her body purged black smoke, lowering her back to the ground. Her ankles cracked where the bone was brittle, but still she took a step. Her dead eyes gaped at me. Her wrinkled mouth growled my name: Alejandra.
She took another step. Her ankle turned and broke at the joint, sending her flying forward. She landed on top of me. The rot of her skin filled my nose, and grave dirt fell into my eyes.
Tongues clucked against crooked teeth. The voices of the circle hissed, “What’s the girl doing out of bed?”
There was the scent of extinguished candles and melting wax. Decay and perfume oil smothered me until they pulled the body away.
My mother jerked me up by the ear, pulling me up two flights of stairs until I was back in my bed, the scream stuck in my throat like a stone.
“Never,” she said. “You hear me, Alejandra? Never break a Circle.”
I lay still. So still that after a while, she brushed my hair, thinking I had fallen asleep.
I wasn’t. How could I ever sleep again? Blood and rot and smoke and whispers filled my head.
“One day you’ll learn,” she whispered.
Then she went back down the street--lit stairs, down into the warm red light and to Aunt Rosaria’s body. My mother clapped her hands, drums beat, strings plucked, and she said, “Again.”
About Zoraida Córdova
Zoraida Córdova was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. She is the author of the Vicious Deep trilogy, the On the Verge series, and the Brooklyn Brujas series. She loves black coffee, snark, and still believes in magic. Send her a tweet @Zlikeinzorro or visit her at zoraidacordova.com.
For more information about Zoraida Córdova, check out her social media platforms.
Giveaway for 2 Copies of Labyrinth Lost with signed Labyrinth Lost Bookmarks. Giveaway runs September 6th - September 19th (US & Canada only). Giveaway provided by Sourcebooks.
Title:Labyrinth Lost Author: Zoraida Córdova Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Publication date: September 6, 2016 Pages: 336 Source/format: e-ARC from publisher
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Synopsis (from goodreads.com): "Enchanting and complex. Every page is filled with magic."-Danielle Paige, New York Times best-selling author of Dorothy Must Die
Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation...and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can't trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland...
Praise for Labyrinth Lost:
"Zoraida Cordova's prose enchants from start to finish. Labyrinth Lost is pure magic." -Melissa Grey, author of The Girl at Midnight
"Magical and empowering, Labyrinth Lost is an incredible heroine's journey filled with mythos come to life; but at its heart, honors the importance of love and family." -Cindy Pon, author of Serpentine and Silver Phoenix
"A brilliant brown-girl-in-Brooklyn update on Alice in Wonderland and Dante's Inferno. Very creepy, very magical, very necessary." -Daniel Jose Older, author of Shadowshaper
"Labyrinth Lost is a magical story of love, family, and finding yourself. Enchanting from start to finish." -Amy Tintera, author of Ruined.
M Y T H O U G H T S
Alejandra Mortiz (Alex) lives with her mother and her sisters Lula and Rose in Brooklyn, New York. Alex always wanted to have a normal life without magic. Alex is approaching her Deathday and her powers have not waken yet. Deathday, a bruja's coming-of-age ceremony, is similar to a quinceañera.
After wakening her powers, Alex unfortunately find out that she is one of the most powerful brujas of her generation, an Encantrix. When she casts a canto to rid of her magic, something goes wrong. Instead of her magic gone, her family ends up being trapped in another dimension. With the help of Nova, a brujo, Alex enters Los Lagos to save her loved ones.
The family dynamics are strong between the females in the family. I also like the connection between living and the dead. The first person perspective works well in Labyrinth Lost. Zoraida Córdova creates a world with magic and diversity. Córdova enlightens her readers with Latin American culture and folklore. There aren't many paranormal books rich with culture and diversity in terms of ethnicity and bisexuality.
Labyrinth Lost is an bewitching coming-of-age journey exploding with magic, love and family values. Labyrinth Lost sets a new bar for paranormal fantasy!
I am fortunate enough to be on the #RWFSquad street team for Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova. Go team Star Circle! I have read several of Córdova's books before and I was super excited to pick up Labyrinth Lost. I am currently reading it and I am falling with love with the characters and the world building. If you're interested in paranormal fantasy and witches, definitely check out Labyrinth Lost, which is the first book in the Brooklyn Brujas series.
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Publication Date: September 6, 2016 Pages: 336
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Enchanting and complex. Every page is filled with magic."-Danielle Paige, New York Times best-selling author of Dorothy Must Die
Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation...and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can't trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland...
Title:Luck on the Line Author: Zoraida Córdova Publisher: Diversion Books Publication date: November 11, 2014 Pages: 231 Source/format: e-ARC from the publisher on Netgalley
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Synopsis (from Goodreads): To turn her life around, she’ll have to stand the heat. To fulfill his dreams, he’ll have to get Lucky.
Despite her name, Lucky Pierce has always felt a little cursed. Refusing to settle for less or settle down, she changes jobs as often as she changes boyfriends. When her celebrity chef mother challenges her to finish something, Lucky agrees to help her launch Boston’s next hot restaurant, The Star. Even if it means working with the infuriating, egotistical, and undeniably sexy head chef.
James loves being known as Boston’s hottest bad boy in the kitchen, but if he wants to build a reputation as a serious chef, he has to make this restaurant work and keep his scandalous past out of the headlines. Getting involved with his boss’s spoiled, sharp-tongued daughter is definitely not on the menu.
As the launch of The Star looms and the tension and chemistry heat up in the kitchen, they’re going to need more than a little luck to keep everything from boiling over. My Thoughts:
The first sentence of Luck on the Line hooked me right away. The fact that Lucky Pierce meets a guy at a local coffee joint only to find out that he works for her mom as an executive chef at a top of the line restaurant is priceless. Also, can I say that this chef is also a TV celebrity on Sliced Champion? Even though Lucky is sexually attracted to Chef James Hughes, his personality turns Lucky off but eventually, Lucky warms up to James.
Lucky lives in New York and is helping her mother, Stella, open a restaurant named The Star on the waterfront of Boston. Despite her name Lucky, Lucky is super clumsy and has been bouncing around from job to job. Lucky has tried culinary, bartending, journalism and currently she is working on photography. Of course right before a huge tasting event, Stella decides to go to New York without telling Lucky in person. Stella seems to have a habit for leaving out these small details. Felicity, Stella's assistant, is the messenger. Lucky is pretty much in charge until Stella comes back to Boston. There is something in James' past that Lucky is trying to figure out. Is he hiding something? Does Clarissa Adams, the reporter, know about his past?
With Stella being out of town, Lucky gets a bit closer to James. FYI..there are a few sexy time scenes in Luck on the Line in case you didn't realize already. Lucky can't help herself in swooning over James during the whole entire book. She describes his muscles, arms and his eyes. They hooked up once after a Fenway game at her mother's place. James formally asks Lucky to dinner and the next thing you know it, they are intertwined together.
One thing that bothered me about this book was the mention of sea green eyes. They are mentioned over ten times. I understand mentioning sea green eyes a few times but it was a bit overkill. But overall I enjoyed the book. I liked seeing Lucky trying to figure who she is and what she wants in life. I love the different relationship dynamics between Lucky and Stella, James, Felicity and Bradley. The pacing of the book is good and I love the character development. And because I am a big foodie, I love books incorporating the food industry. My mouth was pretty much watering when I was reading some of the menu items offered at The Star. I actually thought it was brilliant that Córdova used "Lucky" by Britney Spears for some inspiration for names in this book.
Want to find out more about what happens when Stella returns to Boston? Want to hear more about Lucky and James? Pick up Luck on the Line and find out!
Luck on the Line is the first book in the On the Verge trilogy. Thank you to Diversion Books and Netgalley for providing the e-ARC to review.
Title: Incendiary
