Blog Tour: The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg just released yesterday and we are thrilled to be a part of this blog tour. Both Christy and I devour sci-fi books on the regular and I am so excited for this thrilling immersive fantasy! We are also here for the resistance aspect of this book, so we put together some thoughts on female rage and some books that explore it to check out. Thank you Fierce Reads for having us on tour. Pick up The Kingdom, out now!

Feature

The Importance of Female Rage

“You do not kneel or bend, I told myself. To anyone. You continue.” 
― Somaiya Daud, Mirage

Listen, women and girls are allowed to be angry. They should always have the option to express any emotion especially when coping with mistreatment and assault. We are tired of the gendered stereotypes and the ‘right’ emotions one should feel, or the fact that if a girl is angry she must be hysterical. It’s a double standard and it is great to see books including these topics in such a timely and accessible way.

“Shame is the best teacher.” 
― Suzanne Young, Girls with Sharp Sticks

In The Kingdom Jess Rothenberg definitely includes some heavy topics, such as what is humanity, sexual assault, objectification, commodification, and entitlement over women.

“But boys will be boys, our favorite phrase that excuses so many things, while the only thing we have for the opposite gender is women, said with disdain and punctuated with an eye roll.” 
― Mindy McGinnis, The Female of the Species

Having women get angry over the mistreatment of other women is very timely and Jess makes this topic very accessible and consumable for a teen audience. I am really happy that this topic was a central theme.

“We should teach our girls that snapping is ok, instead of waiting for someone else to break them.” 
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Shout

Once you read The Kingdom and need more books that allow teens to be angry and take revenge check out these books!

“In the end, it does not matter what a story is about. It only matters who gets to tell it.” 
― Jess Rothenberg, The Kingdom

Book Recommendations

Sadie

by Courtney Summers
Published by: Wednesday Books
on September 4, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Bookshop
Goodreads

A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about.

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

The Female of the Species

by Mindy McGinnis
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
on September 20, 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Bookshop
Goodreads

A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives.

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

Girls of Paper and Fire (Girls of Paper and Fire, #1)

by Natasha Ngan
Published by: Jimmy Patterson Books
on November 6, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Bookshop
Goodreads

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most cruel.

But this year, there's a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it's Lei they're after--the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king's consort. But Lei isn't content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable--she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

TW: violence and sexual abuse.

Damsel

by Elana K. Arnold
Published by: Balzer + Bray
on October 2, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Bookshop
Goodreads

The rite has existed for as long as anyone can remember: when the prince-who-will-be-king comes of age, he must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have always been.

When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess, welcomed to the court.

However, as soon as her first night falls, she begins to realize that not all is as it seems, that there is more to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows–and that the greatest threats to her life may not be behind her, but here, in front of her.

Shout

by Laurie Halse Anderson
Published by: Penguin Young Readers Group
on March 12, 2019
IndieBound
Goodreads

A searing poetic memoir and call to action from the bestselling and award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson!

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #metoo and #timesup, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice-- and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

Girls with Sharp Sticks (Girls with Sharp Sticks, #1)

by Suzanne Young
Published by: Simon Pulse
on March 19, 2019
IndieBound
Goodreads

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardians, the all-girl boarding school offers an array of studies and activities, from “Growing a Beautiful and Prosperous Garden” to “Art Appreciation” and “Interior Design.” The girls learn to be the best society has to offer. Absent is the difficult math coursework, or the unnecessary sciences or current events. They are obedient young ladies, free from arrogance or defiance. Until Mena starts to realize that their carefully controlled existence may not be quite as it appears.

As Mena and her friends begin to uncover the dark secrets of what’s actually happening there—and who they really are—the girls of Innovations will find out what they are truly capable of. Because some of the prettiest flowers have the sharpest thorns.

Mirage (Mirage, #1)

by Somaiya Daud
Published by: Flatiron Books
on August 28, 2018
IndieBound
Goodreads

In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.

But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place.

As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death.