Today’s Free Book Alert was not my typical read. I’m honestly not a “swashbuckling” type of girl, but when I looked at the list of authors for this little collection I couldn’t refuse. Not to mention the price was perfect! FREE! Take a look…

Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure by Margaret Peterson Haddix, D.J. MacHale, Alan Snow, Jane Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, Anne Ursu, Kai Meyer, Holly Black, Obert Skye, and Linda Buckley-Archer
SWASHBUCKLING FANTASY features excerpts from 10 series by bestselling and critically acclaimed authors such as Margaret Petersen Haddix, author of the Shadow Children series, D.J. MacHale, author of the Pendragon series, Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies and Holly Black, author of Valiant. This online sampler also highlights six debut series from rising stars in fantasy, including Kai Meyer, Jane Johnson and Obert Skye. This fantasy sampler is the perfect way to introduce middle grade through teen readers to alternate worlds, distant pasts and fantastic creatures!

I love that this book gives you a taste of so many great possibilities! I’m such a sucker for “samples” though they tend to have an end purchase attached, it’s still fun to get a taste of something you might not have otherwise picked up.

Pick it up here:
Kindle Book
B&N Nook
Goodreads

For more Free Book Alerts check take a look at Juju’s site, Tales of Whimsy “Free Kindle Book Alerts” and/or Gina’s site Hott Books “Free Friday” (which is primarily for Nook owners). Both have an excellent selection and inspired me to start sharing my random finds! Thanks gals!

PS…I’m not responsible for the prices going up, so make sure to grab these books quickly before it’s too late!

Recommend Me is a weekly event hosted by Kate at The Neverending Shelf. All you have to do to participate is share a book that you loved reading for whatever reason. It can be something you read yesterday or years ago.

Tithe, Valiant and Ironside by Holly Black

Published by McElderry a division of Simon and Schuster Children’s Books

Publishers Summary for Tithe: Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms — a struggle that could very well mean her death.

“So, part of the reason I included all three of this series together for my ‘Recommend Me‘ today is because you really have to read the entire series together. As a huge fan of Holly Black’s I reveled in each of the books individually, but after numerous recommendations to friends & family I’ve come to realize I may be alone in my feelings. Most of the friends/family that have read them after I had said the books didn’t really come together until they read the last one, Ironside. Which I agree, to a point, because in the last book the previous two stories collide and you have the whole picture there for the reading.

“However you go about it I would highly recommend any or all of these books. I devoured them and they still hold a special place on my bookshelf. I hope you enjoy them as well!”

Other titles by Holly Black that you may be interested in:

White Cat (Curse Workers, Book One) (This one is at the top of my wish list!)

My Review for: The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide; The Seeing Stone; Lucinda’s Secret; The Ironwood Tree; The Wrath of Mulgrath
Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: The Nixies Song; A Giant Problem; The Wyrm King

These books were purchased for our home library.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, Lucinda’s Secret, The Ironwood Tree, and The Wrath of Mulgrath

by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Pages: 672 Total (5 books)

Ages: 9-12

Publisher’s Summary: It all started with a mysterious letter left at a tiny bookstore for authors Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Its closing lines: “We just want people to know about this. The stuff that has happened to us could happen to anyone.” Little could they imagine the remarkable adventure that awaited them as they followed Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace and a strange old book into a world filled with elves, goblins, dwarves, trolls, and a fantastical menagerie of other creatures. The oddest part is in entering that world, they didn’t leave this one!

“Beautiful books. Before I go any further I need to talk about the illustrations and the books themselves. I’m a sucker for a gorgeous book with deckle edge and amazing illustrations which this set of books has in spades. Each book has an illustrated cover that carries on throughout the entirety of the story. As I turned the pages I found myself wanting to find another piece of art to admire and enhance my reading; I wasn’t disappointed. Toni DiTerlizzi did an amazing job with these books, as he does with all of his books, and brings to life something you would normally only be able to dream about. For me personally I think it’s something appealing to both boys and girls, beautiful, but definitely gruesome enough for the toughest boy.

“Being as I’m a huge fan of anything by Holly Black I read these with great anticipation. In fact I read the entire series in a matter of hours. Black’s imagination coupled with the imagery of DiTerlizzi was astounding. Most of the time I think I read these types of books because as a child I was wholly too serious and as an adult I need a reprieve. It’s just hard for me to believe any individual could come up with a story full of imaginary characters and things/places that you had never heard of. But Black does it with such ease that I’m sure she’s lived there her entire life.

“As for the story of the three Grace children…normal, typical every day kids doing what more than half of America’s children do, cope with divorced parents and moving on with life. Only to have their world flipped upside down, but not by their parents, but a fantastical world they never knew existed until moving to their Aunt Lucinda’s home. Jared stumbles upon a secret room filled with treasures from his great grandfather’s past as well as a field guide that changes their view of the world forever.

“I will warn, some of the situations and images in these books are a bit graphic. Depending on how sensitive your child is you may want to wait until they are a bit older to have them read them or they may end up with a few bad dreams. With that one exception I will say these are wonderful books, one’s that I will definitely be sharing with my own kiddos when they are a bit older.”

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 10 and up for both boys and girls who love to imagine something amazing begins outside their very own doorstep!

“On a side note, there are three new books in the series and the third has just recently come out. Watch the trailer for it below:”

These books were given to me as a gift for my birthday last year for use in our home library.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.