SPOTLIGHT AUDIO - ADVENTURE - LIVING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD - SUMMER by S. J. Barratt Narrator Gill Mills

Twelve-year-old Tabitha returns to the remote Shetland island of Papala expecting adventure – not a mystery linked to an ancient selkie legend.

As pollution threatens the coastline and the island faces an uncertain future, Tabitha and her twin brother Timothy, must uncover the truth before the islanders lose both their livelihood and their home.

Living at the Edge of the World – Summer
The Papala Island Adventure, #3
written by S. J. Barratt
narrated by Gill Mills
Genre: Middle Grade Eco Adventure 

When twelve-year-old Tabitha returns to the remote Shetland island of Papala, she expects adventure with her twin brother and friends–not trouble.

As their ferry approaches Papala, Tabitha discovers what appears to be a selkie skin drifting in the harbour. Local legend says the skin belongs to a mythical creature–half human, half seal–and that if it is not returned before midnight, the island will be cursed with generations of bad luck.

But Papala is already under threat. Pollution creeps along the coast, the bird sanctuary is at risk, and the island’s owner plans to sell. With time running out, Tabitha and her brother must uncover the truth and convince the islanders to protect their home.

A lyrical eco-adventure for those who enjoy atmospheric island stories like The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle, with the adventurous spirit of Malamander by Thomas Taylor.

 

“Educational storytelling doesn't come any better than this.”  Dieter Korger, Science fiction author for adults.

This story has a little of everything that 9-12+year-olds love to read: ocean life, adventure, animals, science and suspense. The list goes on and the pages keep turning!" - Janet Ashmore, children’s writer

“The fast pace and beautifully vivid descriptions add to the richness of the story. Judy Wollin, Writer Fun Fast Reads” 

 “I am still as thrilled with this third volume of the Papala Island Adventure Series: the writing is top-notch, the plot is gripping, and we are getting attached to the characters. This time, the main themes are environmental conscience, and whether it's even worth fighting against a global problem.

An uplifting and important read for young people.” - Anne-Chat – Amazon 5 star review

Amazon * Amazon ebook * Apple * Google * Bookbub * Goodreads

 

Don’t miss the first two Papala Island Adventures!

Living at the Edge of the World – Winter

The Papala Island Adventure, #1

Audible * Amazon ebook

 

Living at the Edge of the World – Spring

The Papala Island Adventure, #2

Audible * Amazon ebook

S. J. Barratt is a self-published, professionally edited children’s author whose eco-themed stories celebrate the connection between people and the natural world. Rooted in an English countryside upbringing and shaped by a career in agriculture, she blends a gardener’s curiosity with a storyteller’s warmth to her writing. Now based in Lyon, France, Suzanne creates tales that inspire middle-grade readers to swap screen time for green time—and rediscover the wonders waiting just outside their door.

Website * Facebook *Instagram * TikTok * Bookbub * Goodreads

A former BBC broadcaster and journalist, Gill Mills brings over 20 years of experience in entertainment to her narration. Known for her warm, resonant voice, she began her voice career while DJing on BBC Radio 1 and has since voiced numerous TV and audio productions. She now runs a content company specialising in podcast and film production from her studio in East London.

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Enter the Living the the Edge of the World – Summer Giveaway Here

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SPOTLIGHT - YA/MIDDLE GRADE - SPACE CATS: Making Enemies (Space Cats, #1) by Craig A. Price & Shayne Price

Space Cats: Making Enemies

Space Cats, #1

by Craig A. Price and Shayne Price

Date of Publication: July 16th 2024

Publisher: Claymore Publishing

Cover Artist: Shayne Price with Craig’s typography.

Genre: Sci-Fi, Middle Grade, YA

ISBN: 9781946968111 

ISBN: 9781946968128 

ASIN: B0CSXTWH2H

Number of pages: 162

Word Count: 27,223

Tagline: Cats are out to explore the galaxy… dogs are ready to protect it.

BLURB

In the vast expanse of the galaxy, feline explorers from the Cat Exploration Corporation, led by the ambitious Blake, yearn to make their mark and unveil the secrets of uncharted space. All Blake desires is to honor his father's legacy and contribute to the endless curiosity of catkind. Meanwhile, Shadow, a loyal canine under the banner of the Tofferis Empire, is determined to pass his trials and stand as a stalwart guardian, protecting the very galaxy the cats seek to explore.

At the forefront of the Mineral Mining Corporation, Jade, a charismatic catsplorer, spearheads daring expeditions into uncharted territories. His mission: to unearth valuable minerals crucial for advancing feline exploration. Little do they know that their individual aspirations will intertwine in an unexpected political showdown, where cats and dogs are at the center of a cosmic power struggle.

As Blake, Shadow, and Jade navigate the complexities of interstellar politics, allegiances are tested, and the line between friend and foe blurs against the backdrop of unexplored galaxies. In "Space Cats: Making Enemies," the first installment of the series, these unsuspecting heroes find themselves entangled in a captivating space opera with a feline twist. Will they emerge victorious, or will the clash of paws and claws reshape the destiny of the cosmos? Embark on a thrilling journey that combines cosmic curiosity, canine loyalty, and the indomitable spirit of feline explorers. 

If you're a fan of space adventures where the stakes are as high as the humor is charming, "Space Cats: Making Enemies" awaits your cosmic companionship.

Claymore Publishing      Books2Read 

Book Trailer:  https://youtu.be/j1RNOYhlQtU   

Excerpt:
"I have a bad feeling about this," Ryan muttered.
"Don't be ridiculous," Jade replied, leading the way toward the temple. "We came here for the minerals, and we're going to find them."
As they approached the temple, they could see that it was ancient, with large stone columns and carvings covering the walls. They made their way inside, and the mineral finder began to beep rapidly.
"There it is," Jade said, pointing to a door at the end of the chamber. "That's where the scanner is leading us."
They cautiously approached the door, which was adorned with strange symbols and carvings. Jade hesitated for a moment, but then pushed the door open.
When the door creaked open, they saw a blinding light emanating from inside the chamber. They shielded their eyes and cautiously stepped inside, drawn toward the powerful energy source.
Jade and his team crept through the temple. The air grew colder, and they felt a sense of unease.
The mineral finder beeped louder as they approached the large chamber door. Ryan, the team's technician, examined the door and found that it was heavily secured.
They noticed strange markings etched on the walls. The markings resembled scratches, as if claws or sharp objects made them. Upon closer inspection, Jade realized the markings were actually a form of language, but one that he had never seen before.
Ryan, who had some expertise in ancient languages, inspected the markings. "This isn't any language that I recognize," he said, furrowing his brow in concentration. "It looks like some kind of primitive tool made it, like a claw or a rock."
Jasper, who had been scanning the temple with his handheld device, interrupted. "Guys, I'm getting some strange readings here," he said, pointing to his device. "It looks like there's some kind of energy emanating from the walls themselves."
Jade walked over to Jasper. "That's strange." He looked at the device. "There's definitely something here, but I can't quite make out what it is."
"It seems to radiate from behind this door." Jade touched a door at the end of the hallway with strange markings.
Jasper, the team's muscle, stepped forward and used his strength to force the door open. Inside the chamber, they found a glowing orb emitting a powerful energy. Jade approached the orb and scrutinized it, trying to identify its properties.
As he did so, the orb suddenly flared up with a blinding light, knocking the team off their feet.
When they regained their senses, they found the orb had disappeared and the chamber was now empty.

Jade, Ryan, and Jasper looked at each other, stunned by what had just happened. They realized they had stumbled upon something beyond their understanding and knew that they needed to report their findings to their superiors. Before they could head back to their shuttle, the darkness faded once again, and the center of the room gleamed with a small object. A crystal. It flickered slightly.

Authors Info

Craig A. Price Jr. is a USA Today bestselling author of Claymore of Calthoria Trilogy, Dragon's Call Trilogy, Dragonia Empire Series, Space Gh0st Adventures Series, and several other titles available in alternate realities. He loves to read, write, cast spells, and spend time with his beautiful wife and three children. He dreams to one day become a full-time wizard, but until then, he'll settle for being an author. With more than a dozen novels under his belt now, it's only a matter of time before he settles for world domination, but until then, you can follow his author journey as he takes over one reader's soul at a time.

Craig lives on the Alabama Gulf Coast, among the ravenous mosquitos, humidity, and deadly predators. If you spot him in the wild, he can be dangerous, but will often be tamed by a Mountain Dew and Reese's.

Shayne Price is the son of Craig A. Price, and hopes to one day become a Geologist. He likes to play sports and video games. He was behind all the plot in this book. He is a sophomore in high school and attends classes at the University of Alabama. 

https://claymorepublishing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/CraigAPriceJr/ 

https://www.tiktok.com/@authorcraigaprice 

https://www.amazon.com/author/craigapricejr 

https://www.goodreads.com/craigapricejr 

https://www.youtube.com/CraigAPriceJr 

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/craig-a-price-jr 

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BOOK BLITZ w/EXCERPT - MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY - THE SECRET OF SWEET TREATS KINGDON (The Board Game Chronicles, #1) by Kim Davis

The Secret of Sweet Treats Kingdom

The Board Game Chronicles, #1

by Kim Davis

Publication date: January 30th 2024

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Middle-Grade

BLURB

Book includes a fun recipe for kids!

Amber Addison is fed up with her kindergartener sister. It’s Ava’s fault she’s missing her best friend’s birthday party, the most anticipated event in their sixth-grade class. To make matters worse, Ava has coerced her into playing Sweet Treats board game and she keeps losing to a five-year-old. When Amber’s irritation gets the best of her, she throws the game, destroying it.

As the board disintegrates, the two girls are swept into a swirling vortex and they find themselves in the middle of Sweet Treats kingdom. Ava is kidnapped by an evil queen, and Amber finds herself relying on a mint-green rabbit to help her find her way to Bonbon Castle with the hope of finding her sister. Along the way, she encounters more sweets than she could ever eat along with fantastical beings. Some will become her friend and others create danger that she must survive in order to save her sister and find their way home.

Goodreads

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

EXCERPT:

A rumbling sound filled my ears and the ground started tilting and rolling. The light hanging over the dining room table began swaying and the wood mini-blinds rubbing against the windows sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard.

“Amber?” Ava grabbed my hand and held on tight.

“Don’t worry. It’s just an earthquake.” Growing up in Southern California you got used to this kind of thing. “Remember what they taught you at school? Drop, cover, and hold on?”

I pulled her toward the dining room table to hide beneath it, although I was positive by the time we got into position the quake would be over.

We were ten steps away from the table when Ava stopped walking. She yanked my arm and started pulling me backward, toward the family room. I heard the crash of glass breaking on the kitchen tile and was glad I had flip-flops on. Our family portrait fell from the dining room wall, the glass splintering from the black frame sent shards of glass flying across the room. A small piece caught my ankle, sending a sting up my leg.

“Knock it off, shrimp. We need to get under the table right now!” While I had been in several earthquakes, this felt different. It wasn’t slowing or stopping, like I thought it would. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was scared. Could this be the “big one” grownups talked about?

Instead of letting me lead her toward the dining table, Ava began pulling me harder toward the family room. With my feet sliding on the slick tile, I couldn’t stop.

“What’s that?” I had never heard my sister screech like that before, so I turned around to see what she was talking about.

The small fragments of the Sweet Treats board game were hovering in midair, swirling in a circle, going faster and faster. The floor tilted us toward the flying pieces, and we were slipping toward the growing whirlwind. The edge of the vortex was expanding outward at a rapid rate, while the center was a dark, black hole. It looked like a giant vacuum hose, and it was sucking us toward it.

My terrified sister started screaming, clinging to my legs. “Do something, Amber!”

I started shrieking as I tripped over Ava, and we were pulled head first into the middle of the vortex.

 

Author Info

Kim Davis lives in Southern California with her husband and mini Goldendoodle puppy, Missy. When she's not spending time with her granddaughters or chasing the puppy around, she can be found either writing on her next book, or working on her blog, Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder, or in the kitchen baking up yummy treats to share.

She also writes the Cupcake Catering cozy mystery series, the Aromatherapy Apothecary Mystery series, The Board Game Chronicles middle grade series, and a suspense novel, A Game of Deceit, written under K. A. Davis, along with several children’s nature articles in a variety of magazines.

Kim Davis is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub

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SPOTLIGHT - MIDDLE GRADE CONTEMPORARY - MY BIG HEART-SHAPED FAIL by Cindy Callaghan

A tween comedy-of-errors that chronicles the most cringe-worthy day of 13 year-old Abby Gray's life.

My Big Heart-Shaped Fail
by Cindy Callaghan
Genre: Tween, Upper Middle-Grade Contemporary Fiction

Award-winning middle-grade novel from the author of Just Add Magic and Saltwater Secrets . . . . 

 In this hourly time-stamped, action-packed tween comedy of errors, Abby Gray, feeling weighed down by her secrets and lies, lets five balloons float into the sky with her deepest secrets attached to them in a desperate attempt to clear her conscience. Her relief is short-lived, though: the next day, those balloons start dropping one by one at her school, revealing Abby’s innermost thoughts to both friends and frenemies and creating hilarious misinterpretations of crushes amongst her peers.

This is the worst day of her life . . . or is it? Before the last bell rings, Abby manages to integrate the oddball who is blackmailing her into her friend group and to fix the mix-ups the notes have caused—not only getting couples back together but also making a few new love matches—and finally comes clean as the author of the notes that have created such chaos.

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

The Girl Who Ruined Christmas
by Cindy Callaghan

Award-winning middle-grade Christmas novel from the author of Just Add Magic and Saltwater Secrets . . . . 

Imagine you’re a tween visiting a small town that loves nothing more than its prize fir—a perfect Christmas tree destined for the White House. Now picture yourself accidentally destroying that tree, making you public enemy number one. Lastly, imagine that to repay your debt, you have to remain in said town for the Christmas season.

That’s what happens to Brady Bancroft.

When Brady ruins Harper Hollow Fall’s prize tree, she’s sentenced to stay in the holiday-festooned town for the month of December. At first, she couldn’t be more depressed about the whole situation; but during her month there, she is surprised to discover that there’s much more than pine needles to the little town holding her captive. In the end, Harper Hollow Falls reminds Brady of the true meaning of Christmas—and she, in turn, saves the town.

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

Cindy Callaghan is the award-winning author of eleven MG novels including JUST ADD MAGIC and JUST ADD MAGIC 2: POTION PROBLEMS, which were made into an Emmy-nominated Amazon Original series now in its fifth season and distributed world-wide via Nickelodeon. She’s well-known for the best-selling Lost In… books: LOST IN LONDON, LOST IN PARIS, LOST IN ROME, LOST IN HOLLYWOOD, and LOST IN IRELAND. Her Agatha award-winning stand-alone SYDNEY MACKENZIE KNOCKS ‘EM DEAD sells out every year around Halloween.

Her 2020 book SALTWATER SECRETS, which is nominated for an Agatha Award, won Delaware Press Association and National Federation of Press Women’s awards, and two International Book Awards, is set up by a major studio.

Triple-award-winning THE GIRL WHO RUINED CHRISTMAS, (October 2021) sold out its first print run before Thanksgiving. MY BIG HEART-SHAPED FAIL has won three awards since it's 2022 launch. These books along with original concepts are actively being shopped to producers, networks and streamers along with Cindy’s robust portfolio of original features and series.

A Jersey girl at heart, Cindy lives in Delaware with her family and rescued-pets.

Website * Facebook * X * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

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SPOTLIGHT Audio - MIDDLE GRADE - VILLAIN'S VACATION (Secret Supers, #2) by Andy Zach Narrator Michael Stafford

VILLAIN'S VACATION
Secret Supers, #2
by Andy Zach
Narrator: Michael Stafford
Length: 3 hours 10 minutes
Released: May 5th 2021
Publisher: Jule Inc.
Genre: Middle Grade; Science Fiction

Four disabled seventh graders with superpowers take a vacation at Coaster World. They need a break from fighting criminals. Ever since the beginning of the school year when they acquired their unusual abilities, they've been training and using those powers to fight crime in their town. 

Little do they know, the arch villain they recently defeated also loves coasters and is vacationing at Coaster World. Worse, the villain wants revenge. Nothing less than turning these teens to a life of crime will satisfy. 

Can Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey withstand the villain's attacks? Or will they become Super Villains? 

You can only find out by listening to Villain's Vacation.

 

Andy Zach was born Anastasius Zacharias, in Greece. His parents were both zombies. Growing up, he loved animals of all kinds. After moving to the United States as a child, in high school, he won a science fair by bringing toads back from suspended animation. Before turning to fiction, Andy published his Ph.D. thesis "Methods of Revivification for Various Species of the Kingdom Animalia" in the prestigious JAPM, Journal of Paranormal Medicine. Andy, in addition to being the foremost expert on paranormal animals, enjoys breeding phoenixes. He lives in Illinois with his five phoenixes. With his first book, "Zombie Turkeys" Andy blazed new ground in paranormal humor. The second book in his Life After Life Chronicles, "My Undead Mother-in-law" expands the zombie plague from turkeys to humans, with hilarious results. You can find both volumes on Amazon Kindle, Createspace print, and Audible audiobook editions. Not content to keep in zombies earthbound, Andy puts them afloat in his third book, "Paranormal Privateers". Just when you thought every funny zombie trope had been explored, new humorous horizons open up. You can get "Paranormal Privateers" in Kindle and print formats. The audiobook is available now on Audible. Having conquered paranormal animal humor in his first series, Andy Zach launches into middle school superhero genre with Secret Supers. Four disabled seventh graders all get superpowers. Who knew a disability could be so useful for hiding a superpower? But the four friends, Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey confront problems that can't be solved by superpowers.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Goodreads⎮Amazon

 

   

Michael Stafford received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in 2017 from ACU. He has been performing professionally since 2013. He has performed in regional and educational theaters across Texas for over a decade. In addition to his voiceover and narration work, Michael teaches Theatre and Technical Theatre in Amarillo. Michael would like to thank Andy for being flexible and so great to work with. Michael would also like to thank his wife and daughter for their continuous love and support. 

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