Our Friend is Here!is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.
I love having old friends of the Pond visiting us again! In July last year, I had the delight of having Lillie Lainoff visit us to talk about her favourite sword-wielding girls in fiction and history! At the time, her stabby YA debut, One for All was releasing in a distant seven months. Fast forward to today, and One for All releases in just a little under two weeks! So, I am so thrilled and happy to have Lillie Lainoff visiting us again today, this time for an author interview that I loved.
Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It’s the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive Squire training program.
It’s not how she imagined it, though. Aiza must navigate new friendships, rivalries, and rigorous training under the unyielding General Hende, all while hiding her Ornu background. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that the “greater good” that Bayt-Sajji’s military promises might not include her, and that the recruits might be in greater danger than she ever imagined.
Aiza will have to choose, once and for all: loyalty to her heart and heritage, or loyalty to the Empire.
I received a digital advanced readers copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I read Squire thinking it would be a story about knighthood and heroism. In a way, Squire is about those two things, but it was also, unexpectedly yet to my delight, so much more. Set in alternate history Middle East, Squire follows Aiza, a young girl of the fictional Ornu people who dreams of becoming a Knight for the Bayt-Sajji Empire – not only for the glory of it, but also because it will offer a path to full citizenship. Hiding her Ornu background, Aiza enlists to become a Squire, but discovers that the ‘greater good’ promised by military is not at all what she initially believed.
Our Friend is Here!is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.
A little over a year ago, I had dinner with Chloe Gong and the friend who connected us when Chloe was back home in Aotearoa (New Zealand). At the time, These Violent Delights hadn’t released yet and we yarned about books, upcoming debut life, and all the other things that friends talk about over pasta and ice cream. Then, I told Chloe that, one day when she comes back home, we’d go out and celebrate all of her successes. Because of how the world is right now, travel is hard – and I don’t think we’ll get the chance to celebrate in-person for awhile longer. But, even though Chloe can’t visit me in Aotearoa, she can, however, visit me at the Pond – which brings us to this truly exciting and wonderful post today.
Since their parents’ strange disappearance several years ago, 12-year-old twins Mei and Yun have been raised by their grandfather, who makes the best mooncakes around using a secret ingredient.
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Harvest Festival, the emperor sends his son to sample Grandpa’s renowned mooncakes—but instead of tasting wonderful, they are horrible and bitter, strangely mirroring the odd, gloomy atmosphere and attitudes that have been washing over the village in the last few days. Grandpa is arrested for insulting and harming the prince, and Mei and Yun realize they are the only two people who will come to Grandpa’s aid.
The twins set out on foot for the long journey to the emperor’s palace where Grandpa’s being taken, but a surprising stop in the eerie City of Ashes, a visit with the legendary, mystical Jade Rabbit, and an encounter with a powerful poet whose enchanted words spread curses, influence just how Mei and Yun will manage to clear their grandfather’s name.
I received a digital advanced readers copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
If you are looking for an action-packed, sweeping adventure that will keep you entertained and intrigued with its historical, fantasy, and even mystery elements, then look no further than The Dreamweavers, a lovely middle-grade historical fantasy releasing next month!
Two intrepid girls hunt for a legendary treasure on the deadly high seas in this YA remix of the classic adventure novel Treasure Island.
1826. The sun is setting on the golden age of piracy, and the legendary Dragon Fleet, the scourge of the South China Sea, is no more. Its ruthless leader, a woman known only as the Head of the Dragon, is now only a story, like the ones Xiang has grown up with all her life. She desperately wants to prove her worth, especially to her mother, a shrewd business woman who never seems to have enough time for Xiang. Her father is also only a story, dead at sea before Xiang was born. Her only memento of him is a pendant she always wears, a simple but plain piece of gold jewelry.
But the pendant’s true nature is revealed when a mysterious girl named Anh steals it, only to return it to Xiang in exchange for her help in decoding the tiny map scroll hidden inside. The revelation that Xiang’s father sailed with the Dragon Fleet and tucked away this secret changes everything. Rumor has it that the legendary Head of the Dragon had one last treasure—the plunder of a thousand ports — that for decades has only been a myth, a fool’s journey.
Xiang is convinced this map could lead to the fabled treasure. Captivated with the thrill of adventure, she joins Anh and her motley crew off in pursuit of the island. But the girls soon find that the sea—and especially those who sail it—are far more dangerous than the legends led them to believe.
I was provided an eARC of this book from the author. This does not influence my opinion in any way.
One of the best feelings in the world is reading a book that you were excited for, a book that you were anxiously anticipating, and then to discover that it was better than you could have ever imagined. A Clash of Steel was that book for me. Though loving A Clash of Steel should have come as no surprise – I have, after all, read and loved every single book that C.B. Lee has ever written – I was blown away by A Clash of Steel, its spirit, and its delightful sense of adventure.
The Quiet Pond 