Hi friends!
Welcome to my stop for the blog tour organized by TBR and Beyond Tours for Tessa Miyata is No Hero by Julie Abe. Check out the tour post to learn more about the book, the author, and how you can get your own copy. Make sure you show the other hosts some love as well - the link to the schedule is below.
Happy reading everyone!
Tessa Miyata is No Hero by Julie Abe Tour Schedule (TBR and Beyond Tours)
About the Book
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publishing date: August 22nd, 2023
Rep: Japanese, Japanese-American, Asian
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
A thrilling and charming middle grade fantasy steeped in Japanese lore and mythology, perfect for fans of the Zachary Ying series.
Tessa Miyata has never fit in. When she and her two sisters are told they will be staying at their grandparents in Japan, Tessa is thrilled. A summer in Japan could be her chance to go on an adventure worthy of impressing her classmates back home.
Her hopes are quickly dashed when, all too soon, she realizes that life in Japan is just like being in California: her sisters are old enough to go into Tokyo, while she can’t even go to the corner store by herself. Plus, her grandparents want her to stay home with the neighbor kid, thirteen-year-old Jin Uehara, who’s made it clear he’s too cool to spend time with a weirdo like her.
When Tessa is finally allowed to go to Tokyo, it’s only to join her grandpa’s retiree aerobic class with none other than Jin. Their disastrous forced hang out comes crashing to a halt when Tessa and Jin break the Miyata family’s precious heirloom—accidentally releasing the malicious samurai god Taira Masakado and discovering a hidden part of the city where gods and mythological creatures walk among humans—including their new companion, a mythical nine-tailed fox who may be more trouble than he is help.
Despite doing everything to avoid spending another minute together, Tessa and Jin must now work together to stop Taira Masakado before he traps them—and the rest of Tokyo—under his command, forever.
Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan and Graci Kim, this brand new fantasy adventure will grip readers from the very first page and never let go.
Release Date: August 22, 2023
Format: eARC (Courtesy of Publisher and TBR and Beyond Tours)
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
From the perspective of being a fantasy book, the author introduces readers to many figures from traditional Japanese stories and folktales. For example, the villain of the story is a former samurai who was inadvertently freed from his prison due to Tessa’s actions. Many of the moments in the story also serve as love letters to Japanese culture and food. The author makes some of the less widely recognized elements easy to understand for readers of any age, and doesn’t try to oversimplify things to the point of dumbing it down (which I appreciate).
While I was entranced by the fantasy elements of this book, the author also captured my attention with how well she encapsulated the feeling of not belonging when you are middle school age. Tessa in particular is incredibly lonely, and lacks a sense of place both from a cultural and social standpoint. I related to this so much, especially when so many figures were telling her no matter what she would not be a hero to the point she almost believes it herself. As an underdog, she had a lot to work through but I was rooting for her the entire way.
Sura Siu did an excellent job bringing Tessa’s adventures to life with her performance in the audiobook narration. I was very surprised by the ending of the book, though there's no major cliffhanger to worry about. As this is supposed to be the first part in a new series, I’m curious to see what happens next for Tessa and her friends in the next installment. If you’re looking for a book that honors elements of Japanese culture and mythology, this would be a great choice.
Thank you to the author, the publisher Little Brown Young Readers, NetGalley, and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing me with a complimentary review copy of the book as part of my participation in the tour. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review Tessa Miyata is No Hero immensely. Please note - I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All opinions expressed in the review are my own and not influenced in any way.
About the Author
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.
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