May 19, 2014

Audiobook Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway!! -- Zoe & Zak and the Tiger Temple by Lars Guignard

zoe&zak
 
Zoe & Zak and the Tiger Temple by Lars Guignard 
Read by Sonja Field
Genre: Middle Grade Magic, Fantasy Adventure. Ages 8-13

About the Book:
Zoe and Zak have learned some things since their first semester at Moonstock Himalayan Academy in India: #1 Don't trust the parrots. #2 Don't eat the food. #3 And most importantly . . . don't stick around if something crawls out of the lava hole beneath your school. Last semester, Zoe and Zak returned the first lost Noble Truth to its rightful home. Now, the seventh graders are back in India for their second semester at Moonstock, their boarding school high in the Himalayan mountains where impossible things seem to happen on a regular basis. School kicks off with the Activity Week Challenge in the tiny mountain kingdom of Bhutan where the students must deliver medical supplies. Things take a turn for the worse when Zak becomes deathly ill after an encounter with a strange floating bubble. On returning to Moonstock, Zoe and Zak discover that a creature has come through the lava hole far below their dormitory. When Zoe and Zak follow the creature, they soon learn what they must do. They have been tasked with finding the second lost Noble Truth--the Tiger Eye of Justice. Finding the Tiger Eye sounds like an impossible mission, and it's only made more confusing when Zak discovers that he has been given a powerful gift to help with the task. But Zak's new gift is a double-edged sword, and if Zoe and Zak don't find the Tiger Eye quickly, Zak's time will run out. The Tiger Temple takes Zoe and Zak deep into an exotic world of magical enchantment and heart-pounding action. It promises to be the most thrilling Zoe and Zak adventure yet.
Audio sample is under the cover on the audible page if you want to sample it.

Audible |  iTunes | Amazon  | GoodReads

Rating:

Zoe and Zak’s adventures are so entertaining I love listening to them. In this, the third book in the series, Zoe and Zak are back at Moonstock Academy and have been sent on the mission to find the 2nd lost noble truth- The Tiger Eye of Justice.  This was a wonderful plot for the third book, it continues on the original series quite well and leaving the number of Noble Truths open ended allows for so many other books in the next books…I found that clever.

A few things had me really hooked while listening to this installment; the first was that there was more urgency to their adventure. Not that someone was taken or anything like that, but Zak is sick and in order to make sure he gets well again they must complete the mission in a certain timeline. Another was that Zak has a lot more of a role in this book, since he is affected by the outcome he has a larger role in the overall adventure. And lastly, there is a parrot, he is hilarious – I think he was my favorite part of this book!

Zoe is her normal self, considering herself the planner and one that knows best. Zak again is the more adventurous of the two but he is really smart and I love their dynamic when they work together. Other characters were just as interesting and fun to follow, we learn more about Tuk, Zak’s roommate and his businesses on the campus of the academy and a little about Jill – they are both super supportive and helpful. Also thrown in is a mysterious new kid who is causing trouble for everyone.

Like his other books Guignard does a wonderful job of interspersing the adventure with a lot of interesting history and facts, and he does it in a way that does not seem like learning. I think this is a great series and continue to love that it is set in India, which allows for an explosion of cultural information and history to be provided to young readers.


About the Author:
  Prior to writing novels, Lars Guignard wrote for film and television. As a teenager he attended boarding school in the Indian Himalayas and his experiences there provided the inspiration for the Zoe and Zak series which now include: Zoe & Zak and the Ghost Leopardand Zoe & Zak and the Yogi’s Curse and Zoe & Zak and the Tiger Temple.
He lives in the Pacific Northwest where he dodges bears and cougars while hiking & skiing the magnificent Coast Mountain Range.
For news about new releases, please join his email list here: Zoe&ZakAdventures@gmail.com
He can also be reached at the following places:
Website: www.larsguignard.com
About the Narrator: 
Sonja Field combines her life-long passion for reading with her skill as an actress to bring audiobooks to life! A dynamic and versatile narrator, she has logged hundreds of hours recording textbooks with an organization called Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. She loved recording the action-packed Zoe & Zak and the Yogi’s Curse because of its wealth of colorful, quirky, and memorable characters.    

Giveaway: 2 audiobooks of Zoe & Zak and the Tiger Temple (INT- where audible is accessible)

a Rafflecopter giveaway  
This tour was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

4 comments:

  1. So glad you enjoyed this one! I just love this series!

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  2. It's such a great series! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  3. Thanks for the listen, Stephanie. The series is, above all, supposed to be fun, so I'm glad you're enjoying it. I actually do have a number for the Noble Truths, as the series is pretty well planned out, but I won't be revealing it quite yet. The parrot cracks me up too. Thanks again for your thoughtful review.

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