Title Reveal: Rebel of The Sands #3 by Alwyn Hamilton

Hey All! I am super stoked to be helping Alwyn reveal the title to the third book in the Rebel of the Sands series! The book doesn't release till March 2018 but I am super excited! I freaking LOVE this series!

So here we go....

The title is....

HERO AT THE FALL!!!!

And here's the synopsis!

The breathless finale to the New York Times bestselling Rebel of the Sands series will have you on the edge of your seat until the dust from the final battle clears!

When gunslinging Amani Al'Hiza escaped her dead-end town, she never imagined she'd join a revolution, let alone lead one. But after the bloodthirsty Sultan of Miraji imprisoned the Rebel Prince Ahmed in the mythical city of Eremot, she doesn't have a choice. Armed with only her revolver, her wits, and her untameable Demdji powers, Amani must rally her skeleton crew of rebels for a rescue mission through the unforgiving desert to a place that, according to maps, doesn't exist. As she watches those she loves most lay their lives on the line against ghouls and enemy soldiers, Amani questions whether she can be the leader they need or if she is leading them all to their deaths.

Add it to you Goodreads!

Haven't heard of the series? Check it out!

Title: TRAITOR TO THE THRONE(Rebel of the Sands #2)

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Release Date: March 7, 2017
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 528
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Audible | TBD | B&N | iBooks

The sizzling, un-put-downable sequel to the bestselling Rebel of the Sands!

Mere months ago, gunslinger Amani al'Hiza fled her dead-end hometown on the back of a mythical horse with the mysterious foreigner Jin, seeking only her own freedom. Now she's fighting to liberate the entire desert nation of Miraji from a bloodthirsty sultan who slew his own father to capture the throne. 

When Amani finds herself thrust into the epicenter of the regime—the Sultan's palace—she's determined to bring the tyrant down. Desperate to uncover the Sultan's secrets by spying on his court, she tries to forget that Jin disappeared just as she was getting closest to him, and that she's a prisoner of the enemy. But the longer she remains, the more she questions whether the Sultan is really the villain she's been told he is, and who’s the real traitor to her sun-bleached, magic-filled homeland.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Miraji, about the rebellion, about djinni and Jin and the Blue-Eyed Bandit. In Traitor to the Throne, the only certainty is that everything will change.

Title: REBEL OF THE SANDS

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Release Date: March 8, 2016
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 400
Formats: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, eBook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Audible | TBD | B&N | iBooks

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is. 

About Alwyn:

Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone-deafness. She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France for Cambridge University to study History of Art at King’s College, and then to London where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

Blog Tour- TRAITOR TO THE THRONE by Alwyn Hamilton An Interview & Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on blog tour for TRAITOR TO THE THRONE by Alwyn Hamilton! I LOVE this series so freaking much! I have an interview with Alwyn to share with you today! 

Haven't heard of TRAITOR TO THE THRONE? Check it out!

Title: TRAITOR TO THE THRONE(Rebel of the Sands #2)

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Release Date: March 7, 2017
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 528
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Audible | B&N | iBooks

The sizzling, un-put-downable sequel to the bestselling Rebel of the Sands!

Mere months ago, gunslinger Amani al'Hiza fled her dead-end hometown on the back of a mythical horse with the mysterious foreigner Jin, seeking only her own freedom. Now she's fighting to liberate the entire desert nation of Miraji from a bloodthirsty sultan who slew his own father to capture the throne. 

When Amani finds herself thrust into the epicenter of the regime—the Sultan's palace—she's determined to bring the tyrant down. Desperate to uncover the Sultan's secrets by spying on his court, she tries to forget that Jin disappeared just as she was getting closest to him, and that she's a prisoner of the enemy. But the longer she remains, the more she questions whether the Sultan is really the villain she's been told he is, and who’s the real traitor to her sun-bleached, magic-filled homeland.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Miraji, about the rebellion, about djinni and Jin and the Blue-Eyed Bandit. In Traitor to the Throne, the only certainty is that everything will change.

Now on to the interview!

Hey Alwyn!! First I want to say welcome to Two Chicks on Books I’m glad you could stop by for a chat! TRAITOR TO THE THRONE was freaking AWESOME and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

Thanks so much! So so glad you enjoyed it!

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about the events leading up to TRAITOR TO THE THRONE and the characters?

REBEL OF THE SANDS is about a young female sharpshooter named Amani going from being single-mindedly set on the goal of escaping her small town, to becoming part of something bigger than herself: A Rebellion lead by Prince Ahmed, who is intent on dethroning his cruel father. Also part of the rebellion is Prince Ahmed’s half brother Jin, the Rebel Prince’s brother, and Amani’s love interest. And Shazad, a general’s daughter, all around brainy badass, and Amani’s eventual BFF.

Also joining the cause are a handful of Demdji, the children of mortal women and immortal Djinn fathers, who are born with certain superpowers. The Twins, Izz and Maz who can shapeshift into animals, Imin who can shapeshift into other human bodies, and Hala and Delila who can summon illusions.

Amani discovers that she is also one of them and has the power to manipulate the desert sand.

Traitor to the Throne picks up about six months after the end of REBEL with Amani firmly ensconced in the Rebellion and starting to master her powers, just in time for the rug to get pulled out from under the rebels, and Amani to wind up captured by the enemy.

So do we have a title for book 3 yet?

No quiiiiite. Though I’d say it’s down to a few final contenders. I’m notoriously bad with titles though. The folder for all of the REBEL books is still called “Wild West Arabian Nights” which was the document name while I worked on it. So I don’t think I’ll be the one to come up with the one which is perfect.

Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?

Not consciously I don’t think. Tragically I don’t know a Jin or Sam IRL. Though I did dedicate TRAITOR to my friend Rachel “Who always watches my back” which is a line from the book about the friendship between Shazad and Amani.

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

Hands down my favorite was Sam. He is a new character who appears about a 1/3^rd of the way into the book. The best way to describe him is that he thinks he’s Cary Elwes as Wesley in the Princess Bride but he’s actually way more Cary Elwes as Robin Hood Men in tights.

I don’t really find I dislike writing anyone because if I did they probably wouldn’t survive very long. But Hala can be tricky, because she is so very negative and she keeps everything on lockdown. Sometimes I don’t even know if her snark is because she hates someone or just for the sake of it.

What is your favorite passage/scene in TRAITOR TO THE THRONE?

I really liked writing the dinner between Amani and the Sultan because on the surface it is a perfectly polite conversation, albeit with a pretty heavy political theme (and we all know it’s impolite to bring up politics at a dinner party). But it’s a defining moment for Amani where she seriously starts to doubt every belief that drives her actions, and there is a lot going on under the calm surface in the relationship between these two enemies.

What kind of research did you have to do for the story?

Most of my research this time around was about life in the Harems specifically because about half of the book is set there. I remember sending a text to a friend when I was in the middle of reading it basically summing up my findings as “it’s just like an 80’s High School, but with more infanticide.” Which…is maybe fairly reductive. But not inaccurate.

Who is your ultimate book boyfriend?

W.W Hale the Third from Ally Carter’s HEIST SOCIETY. Or maybe Arin from Marie Rutkoski’s THE WINNER’S CURSE. Or…Kash from Heidi Heilig’s THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE. Do I have to pick just one?

What inspired you to write YA?

How much I loved reading it mainly. I took a brief detour through non YA after university before finding my way back to reading YA. And I realized that what I loved about YA that adult didn’t give me as much of was that it was all about characters becoming who they were going to be, and the big moments, the firsts, the life changing and defining moments that were going to make them who they were going to turn out to be. Whereas in adult I was getting a lot of flashbacks to those moments as backstory and explanation. And I just preferred to actually get to be on that path of self discovery with characters.

Lightening Round Questions

What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?

I’m working my way through the Short Stories from Stephanie Perkins’ SUMMER DAYS, SUMMER NIGHTS, because it is cold and dark out.

I’m seriously excited to get to Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. I loved her SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY series and I can’t believe I have not gotten to TRUTHWITCH yet!

What Hogwarts House would the Sorting Hat place you in?

Hufflepuff! (And proud)

Twitter or Facebook?

Twitter, 100%

Favorite Superhero?

Rorschach from Watchmen

Favorite TV show?

Obsessed with Netflix’s LOVESICK at the moment. Of all time, maybe Avatar The Last Airbender.

Sweet or Salty?

Salty. Give me Pretzels or give me Death.

Any Phobias?

Heights. Or actually…falling. I’m fine with heights as long as I’m entirely enclosed. It’s as soon as there is an open gap, my whole body freezes up.

Also, I’m not great with small spaces.

And mice and bats freak me out.

So…yes, a lot of phobias.

Song you can’t get enough of right now?

“How Far I’ll go” sung by Auli’l Cravalho, from the Moana Soundtrack.

2017 Movie you’re most looking forward to?

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

(With Guardians of the Galaxy and Beauty and The Beast tied in a slightly distant second place).

Thanks so much Alwyn for answering my questions! I can’t wait for everyone to read TRAITOR TO THE THRONE!

About Alwyn:

Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone-deafness. She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France for Cambridge University to study History of Art at King’s College, and then to London where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

Giveaway Details:

Enter for a chance to win one (1) grand prize set of Alwyn Hamilton’s books, including a paperback copy of Rebel of the Sands and a hardcover of Traitor to the Throne, or to win one (1) of five (5) paperback copies of Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton (ARV: $10.99 each).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on March 6, 2017 and 12:00 AM on March 27, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about March 29, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

 Week One:

3/6 – The YA Book Traveler – Mood Board

3/7 – Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Author Q&A

3/8 – Love is Not a Triangle – Review

3/9 – Mundie Moms – Review + Favorite Quotes

3/10 – Butter My Books – Guest Post

Week Two:

3/13 – Brittany’s Book Rambles – Guest Post

3/14 – The Eater of Books! – Favorite Quotes

3/15 – Two Chicks on Books – Author Q&A

3/16 – Lost in Lit – Review

3/17 – My Friends Are Fiction – Review

Week Three:

3/20 – The Yong Folks – Author Q&A

3/21 – The Book Addict’s Guide – Traitor Candle

3/22 – Seeing Double in Neverland – Review

3/23 – Bookworm Everlasting – Review

3/24 – Fiction Fare – Guest Post 

Grab book 1 now!

Blog Tour- REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on blog tour for REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton! I LOVED this book! I have a guest post to share with you today! 

Haven't heard of REBEL OF THE SANDS? Check it out!

Title: REBEL OF THE SANDS

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Release Date: March 8, 2016
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 400
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iBooks

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is. 

Now on to the guest posst!

Please describe your 1-2 biggest inspirations as a writer and how this contributed to the book.

I have a very long convoluted answer to the very simple question “where are you from?” that I can give when people really want it. It explains my passports, my accent, my name, and my current expat living situation. But I don’t usually give it unless people continue to push after I give my short answer is “I was born in Toronto, but I grew up in France.”

The thing you need to know is that I was born speaking English and wen to School in French. Growing up bilingual can mean a lot of things for a lot of people. For me it meant that I never had to read a book I didn’t chose myself in English. All my assigned reading growing up was done in French. All my English reading I chose for myself. 

I chose fantasy for myself and by myself.  I didn’t have any English speaking peers to influence me. All my friends were reading Tintin in French, and Le Petit Nicholas. I never knew what was popular in English so never cared. A few nannies tried to pass on their love of Sweet Valley High and Babysitter’s Club and Ramona Quimby. But I just didn’t get it. These were North American School Experiences that meant nothing to me. And I figured if I was going to be reading about a totally foreign world it might as well have swords.

So I chose Tamora Pierce’s Alanna. I chose Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword. I chose Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar Series. I chose Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forrest Chronicles. I read and I read and I read. And when I was done I had absolutely no one to talk to about the books I was reading. 

None of my friends had any clue what I was talking about and a lot of my favourites weren’t translated. Now, if I’m loving a book I bleed my feelings all over Twitter and I even have a pretty easy time finding someone IRL who will listen to me theorize in detail about a character. But the Internet wouldn’t really become a thing until I was well into High School. And then it was mostly MSN Messenger with my friends instead of doing homework. Which meant that, when I was a kid, reading became such an intensely private internal thing for me that I distinctly remember getting upset to the point of tears when my little brother read one of my books and gave our parents with the plot as he went, chapter by chapter, showing his progress. Books were private I tried to explain to him, he was breaking some kind of nebulous pact with the book by talking about them.

He looked at me like I was crazy. This was fair. Especially since I clearly I needed an outlet. I have always been like that. I’m that person who actually liked tests because I needed somewhere to put all the information I’d been taking down and to make it useful.

So I started writing.

Looking back, those early stories straddle the line between fanfiction with different character names and just, outright, plagiarism. I read Alanna and then wrote a story about a girl at a training school for knights. Fiction was the only communication I was getting in my first language outside of my family. Sometimes I think of it like I was writing back to these books who were talking to me.

Things changed. Eventually my reading got more international. Harry Potter and Game of Thrones came to France and I was finally able to talk about books with my friends as we read the same thing. And I’ve also, obviously, learned how not to copy since those early days. But I’d be lying if I said that Rebel of the Sands doesn’t have lots of little bits of those books I tore through in the dark ages when I couldn’t talk to anyone about them. Alanna’s Crossdressing. The Blue Sword’s Desert. Valdemar’s oppressive sexism. The Enchanted Forrest’s re-examined magic system. They’re all in there. All little snippets of the conversations we had when I had no one else to talk to in my first language, built up into my own long letter back to them.

About Alwyn:

Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone-deafness. She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France for Cambridge University to study History of Art at King’s College, and then to London where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

Top Ten Tuesday (51)- Top Ten 2016 Debuts Novels I am Looking Forward To

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

December 1: Top Ten 2016 Debuts Novels I am Looking Forward To

Well I'm a big cheater since I've read some of the 2016 debut's I'm most looking forward to but, since they're awesome I'm putting them on this list anyways. The top 4 are the ones I've read.

1. BURNING GLASS by Kathryn Purdie.

2. INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor

3. SWORD AND VERSE by Kathy MacMillan

4. THE CROWN'S GAME by Evelyn Skye

5. THE STAR TOUCHED QUEEN by Roshani Chokshi

6. THE READER by Traci Chee

7.  A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON by Samantha Mabry

8. REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton

9. A SHADOW BRIGHT AND BURNING by Jessica Clueless

10. REVENGE AND THE WILD by Michelle Modesto

So what about you? What 2016 debut books are you looking forward to? And come back next week for my Top Ten New-To-Me Favorite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015!

Hugs,

Jaime

Dying To Read (113)- REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton

Hey y’all thanks for stopping by to see my Dying to Read post and of course as always I have to give credit to the lovely Jill over at Breaking the Spine for the Waiting on Wednesday Meme!

This sounds so flipping good I'm loving the amount of fantasy novels coming out!!

Title: REBEL OF THE SANDS

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Release Date: March 8, 2016
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 400
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon 

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is. 

So what do you think? Will you be adding this to your pile? What are you dying to read this week?