I am so excited to be on this tour, everyone! Thank you to TBR AND BEYOND for hosting it!
Julie Abe is the author of the EVA EVERGREEN, SEMI-MAGICAL WITCH middle grade fantasy series; the middle grade fantasy ALLIANA, GIRL OF DRAGONS; and the young adult novel THE CHARMED LIST. She has lived in Silicon Valley, spent many humid summers in Japan, and currently basks in the sunshine of Southern California with never enough books or tea, where she creates stories about magical adventures
Title: Alliana, Girl of Dragons
Author: Julie Abe
Publisher: Little Brown, Books for Young Readers
Release Date: August 2nd, 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy
Page Count: 336 pages
Once upon a time, Alliana believed in dreams and fairy tales as sweet as spun-sugar clouds. Alliana wished on shooting stars, sure that someday she and her grandmother would be able to travel to the capital city to see the queen. Then her grandmother passed away—and those dreams disappeared in a disenchanted puff.
Now Alliana’s forced to attend to the whims of her wicked stepmother—with long days of cleaning her stepfamily’s inn as her skin burns raw or staying up until the crack of dawn to embroider her stepsister’s ball gowns. Until she meets two beings who change her life forever—the first is a young nightdragon who Alliana discovers she can magically talk to. And the second is Nela, a young witch.
Nela needs Alliana’s help navigating the mysterious abyss, filled with dangerous beasts, a place Alliana knows by heart. Alliana sees Nela’s request as a chance to break free of her stepmother’s shadow and to seize a chance at a life she’s barely dared to hope for—but there’s a risk. If caught, Alliana will be stuck working for her stepmother for the rest of her life. Can Alliana truly make wisps of dreams into her own, better-than-a-fairy-tale happily ever after?
Inspired by the Japanese Cinderella story and set in the same world as the Eva Evergreen series, this story can be read as a standalone.
"I am more than a girl of dust. I am not going to be forgotten. This is not where my story ends."
Hi, and welcome to the show where you'll see my teeth gnashing in anger, and my heart shattering into a million pieces. In this episode, I'll be going through a myriad of emotions while I tell you about Julie Abe's newest book.
Alliana, Girl of Dragons, is a Japanese Cinderella story but at heart, it's the story of a girl who wants nothing more than to find her place in the world. After the disappearance of her father, she's stuck working at the inn with her step-mother and step-siblings. They work her to the bone, and they're unapologetic about it. Alliana's only refuge is her grandmother from her stepmother's ex-husband and her friend, an aspiring baker. After her grandmother's death, Alliana is left with a note asking her not to leave her only family behind, despite their ill intentions. Much to my chagrin, she stays and endures their cruelty until one day she finds a baby night dragon and a young witch named Nela and her world suddenly takes a turn.
Can I just say how much I wanted to reach into my kindle and shake Alliana's stepbrother? He is infuriating and the author has written him and his stepmother perfectly. Alliana endures so much and I admire her restraint (I cannot say I react very well to any injustices). I did love seeing her overcome her struggles and break out into her own. She only wants to honor her grandmother's wishes, but gosh, were they aggravating!
This is set in the same world as Eva Evergreen, where some people are magical and some are not. There is magic, which adds to the wonderful story. My only qualm is that I wanted to see Alliana bond a bit more with Kabo, the night dragon. Also, more dragons. More of them. haha
I cheered at the end like literally dropped my kindle and clapped. I rooted so hard for Alliana and her friends and wanted to gather them all into squishy hugs by the time the resolution came.
This book took me on a journey of emotions and I may never recover! I hope to God there is a book two because I need to know some things and I CAN NOT LIVE LIKE THIS.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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