Book Info:
Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publishing Date: September 14, 2021
Synopsis:
A gothic YA fantasy debut about a young woman striving to break her sister’s curse and stop the killing in her small French town
Seventeen-year-old Marie mixes perfumes to sell on market day in her small eighteenth-century French town. She wants to make enough to save a dowry for her sister, Ama, in hopes of Ama marrying well and Marie living in the level of freedom afforded only to spinster aunts. But her perfumes are more than sweet scents in cheap, cut-glass bottles: A certain few are laced with death. Marie laces the perfume delicately—not with poison but with a hint of honeysuckle she’s trained her sister to respond to. Marie marks her victim, and Ama attacks. But she doesn’t attack as a girl. She kills as a beast.
Marking Ama’s victims controls the damage to keep suspicion at bay. But when a young boy turns up dead one morning, Marie is forced to acknowledge she might be losing control of Ama. And if she can’t control her, she’ll have to cure her. Marie knows the only place she’ll find the cure is in the mansion where Ama was cursed in the first place, home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. But once she gets into the mansion, she discovers dark secrets hidden away—secrets of the curse, of Lord Sebastien . . . and of herself.
Book Links:
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stalking-shadows-cyla-panin/1138773828?ean=9781419752650
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781419752650
About the Author:
Cyla Panin is an MG, YA and Adult Author who prefers to look at the world through a dusting of magic.
After spending most of her childhood wanting to escape into the wonderful worlds her favourite authors created, she’s now using her own words to craft magical places. When not writing, Cyla can be found playing dinosaurs with her two young boys, watching swashbuckling and/or period TV shows with her husband, and, of course, reading.
Her YA debut, STALKING SHADOWS will be out with Amulet, Abrams Fall 2021. She is represented by Chloe Seager of the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV, and Film Agency.
Author Links:
Website: www.cylapanin.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cylapanin/
Tour Schedule:
When I first saw the tour info I was taken aback by the cover of the book and the fact that it was a gothic Beauty and The Beast Retelling. I only have recently gotten into YA and not many books have truly excited me so much that I wouldn't go to bed to after I am really really tired and end up reading to 3am in the morning and Stalking Shadows was one of them. I can't believe that this Cyla's debut the writing is so beautiful and the world building so magnificent it gives the reader a chance to feel that they are part of the story. There are so many twists and turns in this story at times I was like OMG. You think you know the story of Beauty and The Beast then think again as Cyla will surprise you like she did me. Marie was an amazing character her strength and the need to protect her sister at any cost was remarkable she was no wallflower. Then you had Sebastian at first I was unsure but he actually made a pretty good match for Marie and for Cyla to make her characters POC was genius. Can we have more please as there still isn't enough in my view in YA fantasy. But the character to pull at my heart strings was the little cherub Lucien I really wanted to take him home and look after him. I am very grateful to TBR Tours & Beyond for giving me a slot and to the publishers for gifting me a copy. For all these reasons and the fact that I could not read anything else for a day after finishing Stalking Shadows so I could savour my total enjoyment which does not happen that very often. I am giving this 5 stars to infinity