Hi friends! Welcome to my spotlight on the tour organized by TheWriteReads for Star Quest Academy: Above and Beyond by Adrian Lynch. Check out my post to learn more about the book and the author.
About the Book
Title:Star Quest Academy: Above and Beyond Author: Adrian Lynch Age Category: Middle Grade Genre: Science Fiction Length: 280 Pages Published: February 13, 2025 Buy the Book: Amazon Add on Goodreadsand TheStoryGraph
For centuries, trillions of life forms throughout space have allowed humanity to believe we’re alone in the Universe. Any alien who dared to befriend us has met an unfortunate end: eaten, squashed, sent to a zoo, or even planted in a garden pot. But our advances in space exploration now threaten every civilisation across the Cosmos.
Amelia, a savvy, street-smart orphan, is one of four exceptional children selected from around the globe to represent humanity in the Human Inclusion Programme at the intergalactic Star Quest Academy. Here, they’ll unravel the Universe’s wonders, explore strange new worlds, and encounter magical creatures. Earth’s safety from invasion hinges on their success as cadets, but if any of them fail, Earth will be invaded by ruthless warlords.
When a series of sinister incidents jeopardise their mission, it becomes clear that someone – or something – wants them to fail. To save their world, the cadets must overcome their differences and combine their unique skills.
About the Author
Adrian was born a long time ago in Harrow Weald, North London. He is dyslexic, which wasn’t allowed in those unenlightened times. As a kid, when he wasn’t learning to be ‘normal’, (he failed), he would hang out in the nearby bluebell-carpeted woods. To him, they harboured space aliens, mysterious creatures and the ghosts of Grims Dyke whose mournful songs rustled autumnal leaves. This inspired stories that Adrian would tell eager audiences for pocket money.
Following successful careers within the NHS and as a Company Director, Adrian obtained a BA degree in Creative Writing from the Open University and is now bringing those fantastical stories to life in his novels. The Star Quest Academy – Above and Beyond is the first to be published. Adrian hopes that it will be as exciting and fun to read as it was to write.
Hi friends! I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the CLARA POOLE AND THE LONG WAY ROUND by Taylor Tyng Blog Tour hosted
by Rockstar
Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Mr. Lemoncello meets the Amazing Race in this quirky high-octane
balloon-racing middle grade around-the-world adventure.
When an unintended flight over Michigan in her class science project—a lawn
chair held aloft by balloons—brings her instant celebrity, Clara Poole is
invited to be the spokesperson for a round-the-world adventure race. But when
her overprotective father refuses, Clara forges his signature in a moment of
defiance and runs away to Paris to take her place in the skies. If only she’d
read the fine print first.
Partnered with a veteran aeronaut who wants nothing to do with her, Clara faces
down ten treacherous stages in a race around the world—capturing flags in the
perilous mountains of Nepal; being a guest of honor at a maybe-wedding in the
Saharan desert; flying through rings of fire in Hong Kong—all while learning
the ropes alongside a colorful cast of international competitors.
But there are more dangers ahead. Someone is trying to sabotage the
competition. And surviving this race means Clara must come to terms with the
tragedy that set her fleeing to the skies in the first place, and accepting
that forgiving herself isn’t a process she has to undertake alone.
Gorgeous prose and winning characters combine in this quirky, often-hilarious,
sometimes heart-breaking, and thoroughly captivating middle grade adventure
series starter from an incredible new talent.
Clara watched from her plastic lawn chair as the news vans sped below. There were more now—fifteen by her count—jockeying for position among the flashing lights and blaring sirens of an endless string of police cars. She had been in the air for over six hours, long enough for every news outlet within a hundred miles to scramble a team of reporters, locate her, and join the hunt. Finding her hadn’t been difficult. After all, how many twelve-year-old girls were hurtling through the skies of Michigan in a plastic lawn chair tied to hundreds of colorful balloons?
Clara closed her eyes as the wind whipped her face. She felt more herself. At least more than she had in the year since the accident, before she became the girl her father had always wanted her to be—the safe version of Clara Poole.
Still, as freeing as the heights were, she knew it was only a matter of time until she’d have to land. Soon the pinks and purples of the evening sky would be replaced with the black of night. She would reach the coast, and then once over Lake Michigan, things would turn very serious, very quickly.
A symphony of honks blared from the convoy below as another van swerved to the head of the pack. But this vehicle was not a news van. It was a minivan—Clara’s family’s mini- van. She knew this not because of its powder-blue exterior or the cargo carrier on top, but from the panic-stricken face of her Grandma Sue screaming through the moonroof. Yet, as much as it pained Clara to cause her grandmother such fright, it was the person driving whose emotional state concerned her the most. For underneath his red baseball cap, Clara knew her father’s face must be an equally vivid shade of anger.
Not that this was new. His face was always like that these days—fed up with and fuming over one of her countless poor choices. Eyes down ...feet on the ground ...safety first ... think before you act. Those had been her life directives ever since the accident, reminders given freely each day by one Mr. Oliver Poole, risk-averse father extraordinaire. She could only imagine the lecture awaiting her when she finally touched down.
About Taylor Tyng:
Taylor Tyng has worked as a designer, animator,
film editor, and software CEO. He finds endless
joy in writing for middle-grade readers, who are no longer
children but not quite adults. He lives
in
Massachusetts with his family. Visit him online at TaylorTyng.com.
