Skip to main content

Blog Tour: Castle of Concrete by Katia Raina

Castle of Concrete by Katia Raina

Publication Date: June 11, 2019
Young Europe Books
eBook & Paperback; 304 Pages
Genre: YA Historical Fiction


Synopsis: In 1990-1991, when the history of Russia and the entire Soviet Union is being revisited and the rules are changing, a fifteen-year-old Jewish girl, Sonya Solovay, reunites with her dissident mother after twelve years of hiding out in Siberia–her life’s dream realized. Still, she sees herself as a typical Soviet citizen: a shy, quiet, obedient, barely-there girl, dissolving into the past, her country’s and her own. Determined to break into her new existence, Sonya tries out a shining new persona, but most of her efforts backfire. One mysterious boy notices her, wants to hear her stories, makes her feel like she is the shiniest part of his world. Everything else might as well fade away–her distant and hungry-for-gossip classmates, the equally shy Jewish friend who doesn’t always seem to understand her, the growing tension with her fiercely Jewish Mama, the rumors of an impending communist coup. More and more, Sonya spends time with her “rescuer” at a construction site she calls “castle.” So what if he uses an occasional anti-Semitic slur?

    In the shadow of a crane, among metal pipes and concrete blocks, she finds it easy, falling, falling in love with a muddy-eyed boy she knows so little about. As for being Jewish in a country where the Republics are supposed to be “sisters” and the People brothers,” what does one’s nationality have to do with anything?

    All the while, Sonya’s mama is falling in love also: she is falling in love with shiny America, a land where being different seems to be celebrated, and not everyone is so very Russian and snow-white. The place sounds amazing, but so far away. Will Sonya ever find her way there?


Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

Praise

    “This book stole my heart. Gorgeously crafted and deliciously romantic, Castle of Concrete left me breathless until the very end.” ―Heather Demetrios, author of I’ll Meet You There

    “In Katia Raina’s fascinating and sympathetic Castle of Concrete, the concerns of young adulthood are amplified tenfold against a background of historical upheavals. . . . [A] riveting story about growing up in dark political times.” ―Foreword Reviews (starred review)

     “Castle of Concrete is constructed of the finest story materials: complex characters, page flipping suspense, and exquisite details. All in a troubled historical landscape. The story kept me reading with pounding heart.” ―Joyce Moyer Hostetter, author of the award-winning Bakers Mountain Series

    “Readers won’t easily forget spunky Sonya, struggling to understand her Jewish roots amid rising anti-Semitism, her activist mother’s secrets, and her attraction to two boys, each of them dangerous in their own way.” ―Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of the award-winning Gringolandia

    “A tour de force about the Russian people, and their first, tentative steps toward what had been denied for generations–a private life in all its imperfect glory. And then comes the ending.” ―Lynda Durrant, author of The Last Skirt


About the Author

    When she was a child, Katia Raina played at construction sites and believed in magic mirrors. She emigrated from Russia at the age of almost sixteen. A former journalist and currently a middle school English teacher in Washington, D.C., she has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives with her family just outside of D.C., and still believes in magic.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads


Blog Tour Schedule

Friday, August 16 R
Review at Fictitiouswonderland 
  
Sunday, August 18 
Review at Passages to the Past 

Monday, August 19 
Interview at Passages to the Past 

Thursday, August 22 
Excerpt at I'm All About Books 

 Friday, August 23 
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time 

Monday, August 26 
Spotlight at History from a Woman’s Perspective 

Tuesday, August 27 
Review at Books In Their Natural Habitat 

Wednesday, August 28 
Review at Locks, Hooks and Books

Giveaway

     During the Blog Tour, we are giving away a paperback copy of Castle of Concrete! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on August 28th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.

  Castle of Concrete 

Comments

  1. Thank you for featuring CASTLE OF CONCRETE!

    Amy
    HF Virtual Book Tours

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley: A Book Review

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) Author: Lucinda Riley Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Atria Release Date: 2015 Pages: 463 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings. Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to

Blog Tour: Clarissa: A Clean and Wholesome American Historical Romance by Jean Jacobsen

  Book Details: Book Title :   Clarissa: A Clean & Wholesome American Historical Romance by Jean Jacobsen Category :  Adult Fiction (18+) ,  324 pages Genre :  Historical Romance Publisher :  Jean Jacobsen Release date:    Feb 2020 Content Rating :  G: Wholesome Book Description:      Tragedy brings them together. Will love tear them apart?      New York City, 1832. Clarissa Tanner is carefree and lighthearted until the sudden death of her parents. Forced to pay off family debts or lose her horse farm, she's given one choice: auction off her beloved horses or reluctantly enter 1830s New York Society social season to face the dreaded marriage market.      Nicholas is a man on a mission, searching for his missing brother. Fearing Liam may be the victim of foul play, Nicholas needs to keep a low-profile while conducting his search. He takes a position as a dance instructor, providing refresher lessons to the beautiful but distracted Clarissa.      ​Clarissa and Nicholas find a con

Katharine Parr: The Sixth Wife (Six Tudor Queens #6) by Alison Weir: A Book Review

Kath arine Parr: The Sixth Wife (Six Tudor Queens #6) Author: Alison Weir Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Books Release Date: 2021 Pages: 544 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir brings her Tudor Queens series to a close with the remarkable story of Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, who manages to survive him and remarry, only to be thrown into a romantic intrigue that threatens the very throne of England.      Having sent his much-beloved but deceitful young wife Katheryn Howard to her beheading, King Henry fixes his lonely eyes on a more mature woman, thirty-year-old, twice-widowed Katharine Parr. She, however, is in love with Sir Thomas Seymour, brother to the late Queen Jane. Aware of his rival, Henry sends him abroad, leaving Katharine no choice but to become Henry’s sixth queen in 1543. The king is no longer in any condition to father a child, but Katharine is content to mo