Today I’m thrilled to share with you a spotlight for Zoraida Córdova’s recently published novel Incendiary, book one in her Hollow Crown series. As soon as I saw the cover for this book and read its blurb, I knew it this was one that I needed to read. I was unfortunately unable to finish making my way through this story for my slotted spot of this tour (presented by the lovely ladies over at Fantastic Flying Book Club), but I’ve made just past the 50% mark, and I’m LOVING it so far. Keep scrolling for the other stops on the tour, a snippet from the prologue, and the giveaway. A full review is forthcoming!
For more information and links to all the other blogs participating in this tour, be sure to visit The Fantastic Flying Book Club!
April 28th
The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club
April 29th
Novel Lives | Fangirl Pixie Blog | A Dream Within A Dream | The Reading Life | The Clever Reader
April 30th
Whispers & Wonder | Lauren’s Boookshelf | Write, Read, Repeat | L.M. Durand | dinipandareads
May 1st
Moonlight Rendezvous | Wishful Endings | biblioxytocin | Your Words My Ink | Books and Zebras
May 2nd
Confessions of a YA Reader | The Little Mouse | Sometimes Leelynn Reads | Captivated Reading | The Reading Chemist
May 3rd
The Bookish Ballad | Book Briefs | Foals, Fiction & Filigree | Dazzled by Books | The Perks of Being Noura
May 4th
Here’s to Happy Endings | In Between Book Pages | Frayed Books | Books.Bags.Burgers | @womanon | Adele Is Reading
The Book
SERIES: Hollow Crown (#1)
PUBLISHED: April 28, 2020 by Disney-Hyperion
PAGES: 384
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy
CHECK IT OUT ON
AVAILABLE AT
The Blurb
I am Renata Convida.
I have lived a hundred stolen lives.
Now I live my own.
Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King’s Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata’s ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King’s Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.
Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred–or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned “hollow” during her time in the palace.
When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez’s top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.
But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom–and end the war that has cost her everything.
The Author
Zoraida Córdova is the author of many fantasy novels including Star Wars: A Crash of Fate, the Brooklyn Brujas series, and The Vicious Deep trilogy. Her novel Labyrinth Lost won the International Book Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2017. Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, and Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft. Her upcoming books include Incendiary, book one in the Hollow Crown duology (Hyperion 2020) and she’s the co-editor of Vampires Never Get Old (Imprint 2020). Zoraida was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. When she isn’t working on her next novel, she’s planning her next adventure.
WEBSITE: https://zoraidacordova.com/
The Excerpt
PROLOGUE: 317 A.C.
CELESTE SAN MARINA DUG A GRAVE THAT NIGHT.
The season’s drought had hardened the earth in Esmeraldas, and every strike of her shovel sent pain up her arms, making her muscles twitch and her bones ache. But still she kept digging, dust sticking to rivulets of sweat coursing down her weathered tan skin.
The half moon hid behind thick clouds that refused to break, and the only light came from the dying oil lamp beside the body loosely wrapped in linens. Thrusting the shovel back into the ground, she didn’t stop until her palms were blistered red, and there was a hole deep enough for the body. Then she sank to her knees beside him.
“You deserved better, Rodrigue,” the spymaster said, a trem- ble in her voice. Had she more warning, more help, she could have given him the traditional burial, but in times like this, an unmarked grave was all they had.
She reached around his neck and cut the leather cord that held his alman stone—the single remnant of Rodrigue’s legacy—and slipped the jagged white crystal into the pocket sewn inside her gray tunic. The stone rested beside a single glass vial carried by every other Moria spy in the kingdom, right over her heart. How many more secrets would she have to collect before she could rest?
Rest was out of the question for that night. With all her strength, Celeste pushed the body into the waiting grave and proceeded to shovel the mountain of earth on top of him.
Another dead Moria. Another dead rebel.
The Giveaway
PRIZE: Win a copy of Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova (US Only)
STARTS: April 28, 2020
ENDS: May 12, 2020
Happy Reading!
🖤
1 comment
[…] Whispers & Wonder – Review + InstagramLauren’s Boookshelf – Review + Playlist + InstagramWrite, Read, Repeat – Review + InstagramL.M. Durand – Review + Favourite Quotesdinipandareads – Review + Favourite Quotes […]