Cover Spotlight - Pirates, Pirates! - INSPIRING TEENS BLOG HOP – 14-19 October

INSPIRING TEENS BLOG HOP – 14-19 October

Cover Spotlight

The cover for Pirates, Pirates! is my favourite of all three series covers so far. This time, I wanted Govin to stand back, as if he were merely watching the story unfold, since Tayla is solving most of the mystery on her own. I also wanted the cover to show that Tayla is diving into dangerous waters, so to speak. Her investigation of a murder she witnessed soon puts her own life at stake, but Tayla doesn’t give up. Willing to risk everything for the sake of a dead sailor she didn’t even know, she finds herself ensnared in a web of intrigues, greed, and piracy.

The background shows the open sea. Pirates, Pirates! mostly takes place in the harbour district of Davon so that’s the area depicted on the cover (at least part of the area).

My illustrator Svenja Liv did an amazing job on the cover. I love her attention to details, like the cobblestones and waves, and Tayla’s stunning eyes that match the colour of the title on this cover. She’s a very talented young artist from Ireland and also does my illustrations for the Miro the Dragon series. If you want to check out more of her work, go visit http://svenjaliv.com.

Book description

Imagine you witness a murder, but have no clue who the man was, or why he had to die. Imagine you stumble into a rat's nest of piracy and greed, and put your own life at stake for the sake of justice. Imagine you don't know who you can still trust....

No matter how she looked at it, she ended up with far too many suspects. How should she ever get to the bottom of the attack and the murder if almost half the harbour population had a motive?

Amazon US link http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DLYL9T8

Amazon UK link http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DLYL9T8

 

Saoirse O’Mara is a writer of children’s and YA books, mostly in the fantasy and mystery genres. She lives in Germany with her husband, her muse, and her imagination. In 2011, she “met” Tayla and Govin, who then demanded to be written into a story; The Lost Diadem, part one of the A Rogue’s Tale series, was published in 2012. Apart from them, a tiny dragon named Miro requires her attention. He’s the main character in her children’s book series, Miro the Dragon, which is published under the name of Theresa Berg. You can also find Miro on Facebook: http://facebook.com/MiroDrakonia






TWITTER HANDLE – @saoirseomara
FB AUTHOR PAGE – http://facebook.com/ARoguesTale

WEBSITE – http://saoirseomara.wordpress.com

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Leah and the Jackhammer by Adam Ortyl - Review by Jess Mountifield

Story Overview:

Ostracized for the unique magical abilities, Leah lives on the fringes of a harsh and cruel world. Her one friend is, Sir Ursa, the teddy bear she magically brought to life.

But things get dangerous for Leah and Sir Ursa after she finds the legendary Jackhammer, a lost relic from a time when the world was new. A tool such as the Jackhammer cannot go unnoticed long, and with its awakening it draws the attention of dark forces. And when they kidnap Sir Ursa and drag him into the tunnels, it's up to Leah to use the Jackhammer and save her precious friend.

Cover: 16/20

The cover had some brilliant artwork on it and helps give the young fantasy feel that the rest of the book has although the old skool feel isn't quite my cup of tea. As a girl I'd have been put off a little by the cover feeling a bit masculine but I think I'd have given the book a chance anyway with the girl's name in the title.

Characters: 17/20

This book had an excellent if a tad stereotypical cast, plus Sir Ursa the teddy bear. I think I'd have felt like the cast were nothing particularly new and special if it weren't for Sir Ursa but with him it made the whole lot of them feel more fresh and I found myself wishing I was Leah at several moments.

Storyline: 15/20

The story is a fairly standard, young girl goes somewhere she shouldn't, finds something evil and continues putting herself in danger to try and save the day. The parents don't believe her etc so, although this is done well and does suit the target audience, I didn't feel blown away. I do think it might get a bit more original with the rest of the series though so I'm definitely not put off reading more.

There would also be the occasional plot point, especially involving Leah's actions and her emotions that I didn't entirely understand. I wasn't sure whether the anger was a good thing and whether it was all naturally Leah or not and didn't have it explained quite as much as I'd have wanted to and I'm hoping it's explained more in the next book.

Style: 12/20

This was where I was most confused. For a lot of the book it felt very much like a young adult fantasy and maybe even a child's book but there were a few points that were quite violent or had a bit of gore described to a level I wouldn't expect from a book that otherwise felt so young. I could have been misled by the age and gender of the main character but I know at the age I'd have considered reading a book like this I'd have struggled with the gore, so it left me a bit confused as to who the target audience was.

Spelling and Grammar: 18/20

I noticed a handful of mistakes (6-7) and for the most part I could work out what was meant quickly and move on so no real worries on that front.

Conclusion: 78/100

This was a very easy read and I barely put it down. I loved Sir Ursa and do think this is the kind of book I'd have loved as a kid, minus the violence. I will be looking out for the sequel for sure as I want to find out more.

Buy Leah and the Jackhammer from Amazon.com

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Review by Jess Mountifield for "Kings of the World" by Matt Pike

Story Overview:

The galaxy is on the brink of war and only four dysfunctional, hormone-driven teenagers from Earth stand in its way. God help us all.

It didn’t take Cooper long to come to the conclusion that space sucks. It seems everyone there despises humans, everything’s too far away and the travel makes you heave. Worse still, Cooper’s stuck there with his best mate, The Ginge – who can’t tell where games end and reality begins - and two other former classmates who want to beat the crap out of him.

Oh yeah, and people, well… alien people are trying to kill them.

Space does have some good points. The boys can have anything they wish for, all they have to do is ask it … or think it. Plus they are now, somehow, Earth’s leaders - as in, more important than the President of the USA.

If Cooper can only stop the other boys from gorging on their every desire, chasing the most human looking alien women and fighting each other he might convince everyone humans aren’t the galactic equivalent of white trash.

But things are about to get a whole lot worse. War looms and Cooper and his inept sidekicks are caught in the middle. They, the Earth and the Galaxy will never be the same again.

Cover: 19/20

Love the cover for this book. Cute, quirky, geeky and a perfect portrayal of the mood of this book. Only drawback is that the titles a little difficult to read on the smaller sizes of cover.

Characters: 18/20

Only a couple of pages in and I was in love with the main character Cooper. The author had really got the teenage mindset down perfectly. Very occasionally some of the repetitiveness of the other character's flaws annoyed me but it was really only occasionally and for the most part they were perfect too.

I also really liked how big the alien world felt with all the many different aliens from all sorts of different planets. All of them were very well thought through.

Storyline: 16/20

I found the storyline a little stretched at times, but it was more minor things and mostly to do with the timeline. After all the time the boys were away from earth I'd have thought they'd have made a bit more progress in terms of trade and a few other things that I don't want to mention to not spoil the book but I liked the general storyline and how it built to the final events.

Style: 20/20

The style was almost spot on and was very quirky, cute and felt very much like I was reading a teenagers life. Really really liked the style and the battle scenes were very well done. Can't fault the style at all

Spelling and Grammar: 15/20

Only noticed a handful of mistakes so only knocked off a point for that but I did get confused a few times when the story changed scene and there was no break in the text or *** to mark that we were somewhere else or following someone else's thoughts. I really would have appreciated that and it's the only way this book really let me down at all. It's not technically a spelling or grammar issue but it's formatting so I figured it was best here.

Conclusion: 88/100

Great book with a fantastic cast of teenage boys and varied amazing aliens. I laughed aloud at several points and thoroughly enjoyed the whole read. I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

Buy Kings of the World from Amazon.com Buy Kings of the World from Amazon.co.uk