I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the CHARLIE HERNÁNDEZ & THE GOLDEN DOOMS by Ryan Calejo Blog Tour hosted
by Rockstar Book Tours.
Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Author: Ryan Calejo
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Publisher: Aladdin
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 384
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
Description:
Inspired by Hispanic folklore, legends, and myths from the Iberian Peninsula and Central and South America, this bold sequel to Charlie Hernández & the League of Shadows, which Booklist called “a perfect pick for kids who love Rick Riordan” in a starred review, follows Charlie as he continues on his quest to embrace his morphling identity.
Charlie Hernandez still likes to think of himself as a normal kid. But what’s normal about being a demon-slaying preteen with an encyclopedic knowledge of Hispanic and Latino mythology who can partially manifest nearly any animal trait found in nature? Well, not much. But, Charlie believes he can get used to this new “normal,” because being able to sprout wings or morph fins is pretty cool.
But there is a downside: it means having to constantly watch his back for La
Mano Peluda’s sinister schemes. And when the leader of La Liga,
the Witch Queen Jo herself, is suddenly kidnapped, Charlie’s sure they’re at it
again.
Determined to save the queen and keep La Liga’s alliances intact,
Charlie and his good friend Violet Rey embark on a perilous journey to track down
her captors. As Charlie and Violet are drawn deeper into a world of monstruos and magia they
are soon left with more questions than answers—like, why do they keep hearing
rumors of dead men walking, and why is Charlie suddenly having visions of an
ancient evil: a necromancer priest who’s been dead for more than five
centuries?
Charlie’s abuela once told him that when dead men walk, the
living run in fear. And Charlie’s about to learn the truth of that—the hard
way.
Grab the first 2 books in
the CHARLIE HERNÁNDEZ series now!
Cover Video:
CHAPTER ONE
Death came for me at around lunchtime. I was walking out of Ms. Alonso’s third-period history, on my way to the cafeteria, and didn’t even see it coming. No one usually does. In fact, as I started down the hallway toward the little stairs plastered with prom posters, all I saw was a girl. And she didn’t look particularly deadly, either. She was, as a matter of fact, seriously pretty. I mean, who would’ve thought somebody that cute was gonna bring about the end of the world? Definitely not me, or else I wouldn’t’ve stood there like some starry-eyed goof, basically just gawking at her as she slipped her way between the streams of hungry middle schoolers and came right up to me.
“¿Perdona, tú eres Charlie Hernández?”
Large hazel eyes blinked up at me from beneath ridiculously long, ridiculously thick lashes, and I think I might’ve managed a couple of blinks myself. I think. . . .
She tried again. “Are you Charlie Hernández?”
And this time I managed a whole nod. (Impressive, I know.) But before I could work up to an “Uh,” or a “Huh,” or even an “Uh-huh, that’s me!” her hands snapped out, quick as a thought, and she was shoving me backward— back, back, back past the broken water fountain, past the row of second-floor lockers, past the little janitor’s closet with all the brooms inside, and through a door very clearly marked GIRLS’ RESTROOM.
“Hey, what are you DOING?” I hissed, watching her flip the dead bolt.
“Locking the door.”
“Yeah, that I can see. My question is, WHY?”
“¿Cuál es el problema?”
“The problem is that this is a girls’ bathroom!”
“So?”
“So there could’ve been A GIRL in here!”
“There is a girl in here.”
“WHAT! Where?” I whirled, my heart doing its best flippity-floppity, fish-out-of-water impersonation; and a moment later I felt the tap of a cold finger on my shoulder. “Right behind you . . .”
Ah. Her. Right.
As I turned back around, I couldn’t help noticing that she was now staring up at me the same sorta way someone might stare at a three-headed mule. “You’re . . . different than I expected,” she said doubtfully.
“Well, that’s kinda your fault for expecting. Most people don’t expect much from me. And it usually works out better for everyone that way.”
Her dark eyes narrowed. “You seem tense.”
“That’s because I am tense! And I’m getting outta here before someone catches us and I get even tenser!”
I started toward the door, which was definitely a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough. I should’ve gone running out of that bathroom and not stopped until I’d reached the North Pole. (Which, in case you were wondering, was approximately 3,972 miles from South Florida.)
“Wait!” Suddenly, Little Miss Shoves-a-Lot leapt in front of me, flinging her hands out like a traffic cop. “¡Necesito tu ayuda!”
And it was the fear—no, the pleading in those last few words (“I need your help”)—that really got me. She sounded alone. And scared. And near tears.
So I stopped. I stared at her, and she stared back. Her hair was thick and dark and wavy, and her skin was smooth and tan and so uniformly flawless that you had to wonder if she’d ever even had a single zit.
She was almost too perfect to be real. Which, come to think of it, should’ve been my first tip-off.
The second, though—easily—should’ve been her fashion sense. Or, rather, her lack thereof . . . She looked like someone who had been told how middle school kids liked to dress but hadn’t actually ever seen one. At least not in a while. Her hairstyle and bell-bottoms made her look like she’d just stepped out of Austin Powers’s groovy time machine, and her colorful purple sweater screamed eighties pop (and actually read, on one sleeve: THE 80S ROCK!).
She said, “I’m in trouble.”
“Trouble?” Confused, I shook my head. “Well, in that case, you should probably find a hall monitor. And those are usually found out in the halls. . . .”
“But I don’t need a hall monitor,” she said pleadingly. “I need a Morphling!”
Ryan Calejo is the author of the
Charlie Hernández series. He was born and raised in south Florida, where he
graduated from the University of Miami with a BA. He teaches swimming to
elementary school students, chess to middle school students, and writing to
high school students. Having been born into a family of immigrants and growing
up in the so-called “Capital of Latin America,” Ryan knows the importance of
diversity in our communities and is passionate about writing books that
children of all ethnicities can relate to.
Simon & Schuster Webpage | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon
Ends October 7th, midnight EST.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
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9/1/2022 |
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9/2/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
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Week Two:
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9/9/2022 |
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9/10/2022 |
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Week Three:
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9/11/2022 |
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9/14/2022 |
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9/17/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
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9/18/2022 |
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9/23/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/24/2022 |
Review |
Week Five:
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9/25/2022 |
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I love the excerpt and the cover.
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