The Magpie's Library: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

I loved her sci-fi YA

Transferral (DCB, 2015)

and

Tangled Planet (DCB, 2017)

and now

author KATE BLAIR

is set to launch 

her middle-grade fantasy

The Magpie's Library

Written by Kate Blair

DCB

9781770865549

208 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2019

on

Thursday, May 23, 2019

6:30 p.m.

at

Bakka-Phoenix
84 Harbord Street
Toronto, ON

From DCB's website at https://www.dcbyoungreaders.com/the-magpies-library:

Silva and her family visit her grandfather, only to find his health has taken a bad turn. As they struggle with this news, Silva seeks escape in books – at the local library.

But she gets more than she bargained for when a magpie guides her to a secret, magical room containing books that she can not only read, but that she can live. Silva finds herself in the worlds of the characters … who all turn out to be real people. People she knows.

There’s a catch, though: she soon discovers that the magpie has lured her to these books for selfish and dark reasons. Going back to the books could mean losing her soul …

Books without Boundaries: YA fantasy authors talk crossover appeal

On  

Saturday, June 16, 2018

2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

at

Bakka Phoenix Books
84 Harbord Street
Toronto, ON

outstanding authors of young adult fantasy

Erin Bow

James Bow

Lena Coakley

V. S. McGrath 

L. E. Sterling 

will participate in a panel discussion about the crossover appeal of young adult novels

 In addition to meeting a quintet of authors of YA speculative fiction
and hearing them discuss their books,
there will be an opportunity to purchase books
and get them signed!

The Reckless Rescue (The Explorers, Book 2): Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Author of books for middle graders and young adults

Adrienne Kress 

is launching 

the sequel to The Explorers Book 1 

The Door in the Alley

 Written by Adrienne Kress

Illustrated by Matthew C. Rockefeller

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

9781101940051

305 pp.

Ages 8-13

2017

The Reckless Rescue

The Explorers Book 2

 Written by Adrienne Kress

Illustrated by Matthew C. Rockefeller

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

 978-1-101-94009-9

384 pp.

Ages 8-13

April 2018 

on

Saturday, April 21, 2018

3 - 6 p.m.

at

Bakka-Phoenix Books

84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON

From Penguin Random House Canada website: 

More mystery, more bravery, more danger, and one amazingly reckless rescue await in the second book in the Explorers series! The perfect read for fans of The Name of This Book Is a Secret and The Mysterious Benedict Society!

Reader! Your attention is greatly needed. We have left things unresolved! What began as your average story of a boy stumbling upon a pig in a teeny hat and a secret international explorers society has turned into an adventure of epic proportions.

  *  The bad news: The boy (Sebastian) has been kidnapped by a trio of troublesome thugs.
  *  The good news: His new friend Evie has promised to rescue him!
  *  The bad news: Sebastian has been taken halfway around the world.
  *  The good news: Evie has famous explorer and former Filipendulous Five member Catherine Lind at her side!
  *  The bad news: There's still the whole matter of Evie's grandfather (and the leader of the Filipendulous Five) somewhere out there in grave danger.
  *  The good news: Pursuing Sebastian will lead Evie and Catherine to another member of the Filipendulous Five, who might be able to help!

This missive is a call to action and an invitation to join in mystery, bravery, and danger. There will be new people to meet, new places to see, and some dancing along the way. And one amazingly reckless rescue.

Retrieved from 

https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/534143/explorers-reckless-rescue#9781101940099 on April 3, 2018.

Tess of the Road: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Rachel Hartman

who brought the world her award-winning book

Seraphina 

Written by Rachel Hartman

Doubleday Canada

9780385668392

480 pp.

Ages 14+

2012

Reviewed here

and its sequel

Shadow Scale

Written by Rachel Hartman

Doubleday Canada

9780385668606

608 pp.

Ages 14+

2015

is back with a third book in her fantasy series!

Her new young adult fantasy novel

Tess of the Road

Written by Rachel Hartman

Penguin Teen

9780385685887

544 pp.

Ages 14+

February 27, 2018

launches

March 31, 2018

3-5 p.m.

at

Bakka-Phoenix

84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON

From Penguin Random House Canada website:

In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can't make a scene at your sister's wedding and break a relative's nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.

Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it's a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl--a subspecies of dragon--who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she's tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.

Retrieved from https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/253139/tess-of-the-road-by-rachel-hartman/9781101931288/ on February 21, 2018.

The Defiant: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

It's almost here!

The sequel to
The Valiant

 Written by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins

978-1-44344-628-0

372 pp.

Ages 13+

February 2017

Reviewed here

is launching next month!

Book 2 in Lesley Livingston's historical fantasy

 about a female gladiator 

The Defiant

Written by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins

978-1-44344-631-0

384 pp.

Ages 13+

Out January 23, 2018

launches

on

Thursday, February 8, 2018

at

7:00 pm 

at 

Dominion Pub and Kitchen

500 Queen Street East

Toronto, ON


This event is open to all ages. 

There will be:
live music
light refreshments
and
books on sale courtesy of Bakka-Phoenix Books.

The promotional synopsis on HarperCollins Canada's website tells this of The Defiant's story:

Fallon was warned.

Now she is about to pay the price for winning the love of the Roman people as Caesar’s victorious gladiatrix.

Fallon thought she’d won her freedom, but choosing to stay comes at a cost. She and her warrior sisters are thrust into a vicious conflict with a rival gladiator academy. In the middle of the night, the Ludus Achillea falls under siege and only Fallon and a lucky few are able to flee.

Together, they embark on a mission to take back the home Fallon has fought so hard for, and to free their fellow gladiatrices. But dark conspiracies and vicious power struggles confront Fallon at every turn, threatening not just her honor and her love for Roman soldier Cai, but the very heart of the ancient Roman empire.

On the journey that will define her future, the only people who might possibly help the girl known as Victrix and her sisters are a tribe of long-forgotten mythic Amazon warriors.

The only trouble is, they might just kill her first.

That Inevitable Victorian Thing: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

I know it's a little late notice but, if you can, you really must go!

E. K. Johnston

YA author 

of

extraordinary fantasy, sci fi and more

is launching her newest book

That Inevitable Victorian Thing

Written by E. K. Johnston

Dutton Books for Young Readers

978-1101994979

336 pp.

Ages 12+

October, 2017

today

October 13, 2017

at

6:30-9:00 p.m.

at

 Bakka-Phoenix Books

84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON

From Penguin Random House website:

Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess of the empire, a direct descendent of Victoria I, the queen who changed the course of history. The imperial tradition of genetically arranged matchmaking will soon guide Margaret into a politically advantageous marriage. But before she does her duty, she’ll have one summer of freedom and privacy in a far corner of empire. Posing as a commoner in Toronto, she meets Helena Marcus, daughter of one of the empire’s greatest placement geneticists, and August Callaghan, the heir to a powerful shipping firm currently besieged by American pirates. In a summer of high-society debutante balls, politically charged tea parties, and romantic country dances, Margaret, Helena, and August discover they share an extraordinary bond and maybe a one-in-a-million chance to have what they want and to change the world in the process.

Set in a near-future world where the British Empire was preserved not by the cost of blood and theft but by the effort of repatriation and promises kept, That Inevitable Victorian Thing is a surprising, romantic, and thought-provoking story of love, duty, and the small moments that can change people and the world.

Retrieved from 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/532329/

that-inevitable-victorian-thing-by-ek-johnston/9781101994979/ 

on October 13, 2017.

A Mortal Song: Book launch (Toronto)

Join 

Megan Crewe 

author of

and

for the release of her newest YA fantasy

A Mortal Song

by Megan Crewe
Another World Press

978-0995216907

316 pp.

Ages 12+

September 2016

on 

Saturday, September 17, 2016

2-4 p.m.

at Bakka-Phoenix Books

84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The book is described by the author herself as follows:

Sora's life was full of magic—until she discovered it was all a lie. 

Heir to Mt. Fuji's spirit kingdom, Sora yearns to finally take on the sacred kami duties. But just as she confronts her parents to make a plea, a ghostly army invades the mountain. Barely escaping with her life, Sora follows her mother's last instructions to a heart-wrenching discovery: she is a human changeling, raised as a decoy while her parents' true daughter remained safe but unaware in modern-day Tokyo. Her powers were only borrowed, never her own. Now, with the world's natural cycles falling into chaos and the ghosts plotting an even more deadly assault, it falls on her to train the unprepared kami princess. 

As Sora struggles with her emerging human weaknesses and the draw of an unanticipated ally with secrets of his own, she vows to keep fighting for her loved ones and the world they once protected. But for one mortal girl to make a difference in this desperate war between the spirits, she may have to give up the only home she's ever known.

Retrieved from http://megancrewe.com/song/index.html on August 26, 2016.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Here's what you can look forward to at this book launch:

• Japanese snacks

• book swag

• reading and Q & A with Megan Crewe
and, of course,

• book sales and signing

Congrats to Megan Crewe on her newest YA fantasy!

Transferral: Book Launch (Toronto)

DCB /

Dancing Cat Books

 is pleased to launch its newest young adult science fiction book

Transferral

by Kate Blair

978-1-770864542

Dancing Cat Books

240 pp.

Ages 13+

October, 2015

on

OCTOBER 3, 2015

at

3 p.m.

at

BAKKA-PHOENIX BOOKS
84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON
 

Transferral takes place in an alternate version London, England, where a miraculous medical treatment - one which allows the sick to be completely cured by transferring their illnesses into the bodies of the healthy - has been turned into a form of criminal punishment.

Into this world is born Talia Hale, who upon befriending two children from a "diseased" neighbourhood, finds herself at odds with her politician father, whose campaign to be elected prime minister includes a promise to crack down on her new friends' community.