by Sandy
Lender
GENRE: YA Fantasy
BLURB:
“Move the Stars” offers
a sometimes-humorous, but always magical, story of 16-year-old Ava Stonebreaker
finding and using her voice for the good of her world. With Eddag Fen afire
behind her, she journeys to her father’s home, at first fearing she returns to
him with failure as her legacy. Bringing with her a half-blood fae, a star
reader’s apprentice and news of storm stars closing in, she also carries hope.
Fanciful creatures have encouraged her to seek out the giant dragons beyond
Modric’s Pass. With spunky shoulder dragons and the endangered arabesque to
whom she sings accompanying her, Ava devises and undertakes a daring plan to
re-shake the world…and move the stars.
Excerpt:
Flaming
boulders tore through the sky, trailing columns of clouds as they plummeted
toward the ground. While many of them drilled directly into the dirt near the
travelers, a number of the larger meteors streamed toward the fen behind them
at sharp angles. A smaller stone, the size of a man’s fist, slammed the ground
not two paces from Ava’s foot, showering her with pebbles and heat. She gasped.
“The
trees are afire!” Goira screamed. As if she would have run back to the fen for
shelter, Goira had turned back toward the tree line.
With
the yelps of her elder companions shouting advice at each other and the fire
rocks pounding the ground around her, a rush of worry and flurry rose in Ava’s
chest. It tightened her muscles until they squeezed her ribs. Her heart rate
quickened as she bent her knees slightly, ready to flee one direction or
another.
Where
could she run? No one could guess where the pelting stones would hit next with
their breaking blasts tearing and crashing through tree branches behind them
and pounding and bounding across hard earth in front of them. The cacophony
deafened her.
Putting
her hands to her ears, she closed her eyes and froze in place. Whether it was
the fear of being crushed to death or the need to protect the lives sheltered
on her body amid the chaos, she needed to block out the insanity that had
erupted around her. Block out the insanity and think.
Think
of a solution.
The
earth always offered a solution.
She
opened her eyes to scan the swells and dips of the earth stretched out before
them. Dotted now with flaming stones partially sunk in the dirt, the ground
offered her the answer. Shelves of stone.
“Follow
me!” Ava shouted above the sounds of sizzling fires and bursting rocks.
Goira
faltered, torn between the desire to run for the breaking, burning trees or to
follow the star reader’s apprentice who didn’t hesitate to follow a child.
My Review:
The Earth is dying and being destroyed, a sixteen-year-old
girl Ava Stonebreaker is given the task of saving the world by moving the
stars. Ava and her team of friends start out on a mission to find the giant
dragons to help them put the world back on its axes.
Eva and her friends stop by villages along the way to rest. When
Eva tells the villagers of their plans and what they are going to do there are
people everywhere they stop who want to help Ava and her friends fix the Earth
by moving the stars.
Ava may only be sixteen but she has a way with people. It is
like she brightens up the room when she walks in and the people like her immediately.
It’s like she knows what to say to someone to help them or get them to help
her. She is a kind hearted person with a great big heart and wants to take care
of and save everyone and she always sees the good in everyone she meets.
Move the Stars is an eye opening experience that will make
you stop and think about what we are doing to the Earth today and wondering if
what Ava and her friends are trying to do can be done and is it that simple.
I got more out of Move the Stars than just fixing the Earth.
I saw Move the Stars as humans/people taking and taking and never giving back.
Always wanting someone to help them but never stopping to look around them and
wondering who they could help today. What can they do to give back?
Ava did just this she didn’t just ask someone to help her
she offered them something in return. She didn’t just demand to be given
something as if it was owned to her she ask and then gave back.
Will Ava and her friends find the giant dragons in time to
save the Earth? If they find the giant dragons can they help move the stars? Can
Ava move the stars to save the world?
Move the Stars was a short read but it helped to open my
eyes and heart a little bit more to what may be going on in the world today.
Well at least it is something to think about. I believe Move the Stars will
stay with me for a long time to come. I really and truly enjoyed following Ava
and her friends on their journey and meeting all the new characters as they
arrived on the scene and visiting all the different villages to and learning of
their culture and way of life.
If you are looking for a short read with a heartfelt story
then Move the Stars just may be your next read. Pick up your copy today to
begin this wonderful journey with Ava and all her friends.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sandy
Lender is a magazine editor by day and author of girl-power fantasy novels by
night. You can check out her author page on
Amazon or
follow her facebook page at Fantasy Author Sandy
Lender. She
lives in Florida where she volunteers in sea turtle conservation and parrot
rescue. Sandy Lender Ink Inc., headquartered in Central Florida, is her
umbrella company for the copywriting, editing, and marketing services she
offers. With a four-year degree in English and 28-year career in publishing,
Sandy brings a deep understanding of public relations and journalism to a
variety of projects. Her successes include traditionally and self-published
novels, hundreds of magazine articles, multiple short stories in competitive
anthologies, a couple APEX technical writing awards, a 2019 Imadjinn Best
Literary Fiction Novel Award for her #MeToo novel She’s Not Broken, and a 2020
Pushcart Prize nomination for her short story Woman off the Grid. In December,
she finally updated her website at www.SandyLenderInk.com and released her first non-fiction book
“How to Train Your Human: a guide for parrots,” which she wrote from a parrot’s
point of view. With a new publisher taking over her “Choices” series this
summer, she’s launching the “Gentle Dragons” series on her own, starting with
Ava’s story in Move the Stars.
Buy links:
Giveaway:
$10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.
12 comments:
The cover is so gorgeous!! Love the color.
Great post and I appreciate getting to find out about another great book. Thanks for all you do and for the hard work you put into this. Greatly appreciated!
Good morning, Avid Reader, and THANK YOU for this amazing review. I'll be working today, but I'll check in to chat with folks by EOD. I hope everyone has an unshakable day! ;)
...waving at Mya...
Good to see you again this week! (I dig purple.)
Sounds like an interesting read. I hope your book is a success.
Sounds like a great read.
Congrats on the release. I like the title of the book.
How did you come up with the title of the book?
What character was the most fun to write?
This sounds SUPER timely for this day and age. I see people all the time, walking past someone who's struggling and not giving a care. The world would be a better place if everyone started thinking about what would be good for their communities, their neighbors, and not just them!
Have you read any good books in quarantine. Congrats on the release.
Such a cool concept for the cover! It looks amazing.
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