Welcome to the book blitz for City of Spells by Alexandra Christo, organized by XPresso Book Tours. We hosts are free to post any day from March 8th to 12th, so keep your eyes open for others celebrating this book and don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
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About the Book
City of Spells
Into the Crooked Place Book Two
by Alexandra Christo
Published 9 March 2021
Feiwel & Friends
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 352
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City of Spells, the follow-up to Alexandra Christo’s gritty YA fantasy, Into the Crooked Place, finds the world on the brink of war and four unlikely allies facing sacrifices they had never imagined.
After the loss of Wesley and the horrifying reveal that Zekia is helping the Kingpin of her own free will, Tavia, Saxony, and Karam flee to Saxony’s home to rebuild their rebellion. Meanwhile, trapped in the Kingpin’s darkness, Wesley must fight against the deadly magic that invades his mind and find a way back to his friends before it’s too late.
As the Kingpin’s dark magic spreads and his army conquers Creije, these four unlikely friends have to decide just how far they’ll go―and how much they are willing to sacrifice―to win.
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Excerpt
Zekia raised the gun to the man’s head.
She ‘d never shot someone before. She’d never needed to.
She wondered if it would feel different to destroy a person without magic.
She heard the shuffle as the soldiers behind the barricade gritted their teeth and adjusted their weapons. She was standing in the center, between her army and theirs, and if she killed this man, they’d fire their guns and her Crafters would fire their magic.
More of the dead screaming through her mind.
Zekia closed her eyes. Her finger squeezed against the trigger and— “Don’t.”
Wesley was a shadow over her.
“Kid,” he said, placing his cuffed hand on top of hers. “Don’t.”
Zekia looked up at Wesley.
He was a little skinnier than when they’d first taken him, with hollowed cheeks and a chin she pictured cutting her finger on. He was also very tall, especially when Zekia was standing side by side with him like this. Then again, Wesley was also a good few years older than her and Zekia suspected that when she got to be his age, she ‘d be just as big.
Wesley still wore a suit, but it was stained with his blood. And his eyes, stamped purple as the sleeplessness mixed into bruising, held pupils that were nothing but large black circles stealing all the color from him.
He had been stubborn and he had been punished for it, because sometimes hurting people was the only way to save them. Dante Ashwood had taught her that lesson well. And once she finally got Wesley to give in, he would be so proud of her strength.
When she finally got Wesley to give in, everything would be okay. They would be a family.
Zekia just had to try a little harder.
“Will you join us if I let him go?” Zekia asked Wesley. “Will you join us now that Creije is on the line?”
In an ideal world, Wesley would have said yes.
He would have taken her hand and said he’d be her big brother.
He would have told Zekia that he liked the view from his high horse very much, but that he liked the view from a throne a lot more.
Instead, Wesley lifted his hand from hers and said, “I wouldn’t join you if my life was on the line.”
“Don’t you think it is already?”
Book One
Into the Crooked Place
Into the Crooked Place Book One
by Alexandra Christo
Published 8 October 2019
Feiwel & Friends
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 384
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Into the Crooked Place begins a gritty two-book YA fantasy series from Alexandra Christo, the author of To Kill a Kingdom.
The streets of Creije are for the deadly and the dreamers, and four crooks in particular know just how much magic they need up their sleeve to survive.
Tavia, a busker ready to pack up her dark-magic wares and turn her back on Creije for good. She’ll do anything to put her crimes behind her.
Wesley, the closest thing Creije has to a gangster. After growing up on streets hungry enough to swallow the weak whole, he won’t stop until he has brought the entire realm to kneel before him.
Karam, a warrior who spends her days watching over the city’s worst criminals and her nights in the fighting rings, making a deadly name for herself.
And Saxony, a resistance fighter hiding from the very people who destroyed her family, and willing to do whatever it takes to get her revenge.
Everything in their lives is going to plan, until Tavia makes a crucial mistake: she delivers a vial of dark magic—a weapon she didn’t know she had—to someone she cares about, sparking the greatest conflict in decades. Now these four magical outsiders must come together to save their home and the world, before it’s too late. But with enemies at all sides, they can trust nobody. Least of all each other.
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About the Author
Alexandra Christo decided to write books when she was four and her teacher told her she couldn’t be a fairy. She has a BA in Creative Writing and works as a copywriter in London, both of which make her sound more grown up than she feels. When she’s not busy making up stories, she can be found buying far too many cushions and organizing food crawls all over the city. Alexandra currently lives in Hertfordshire with an abundance of cacti (because they’re the only plants she can keep alive).
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Giveaway Alert!
One lucky follower of the blitz will win a print copy of City of Spells (US/Canada only.)
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An intriguing synopsis and excerpt, this sounds like a must read book and series for my granddaughter and I. Thank you for sharing the book and author details