#city spies james ponti

[fishyupmywishy]

@needlesandnilbogs has gotten the Tumblr community for City Spies approved!

If anyone wants to join, whether you read the books and want a fandom to participate in or if you haven’t and simply want to see what City Spies is like, please DM them or me, or reblog this and put it in the notes.

It would be nice to have some more people to interact with about the fandom than just us lol

[needlesandnilbogs]

City Spies Tumblr Community

Found out that invitation links exist, so I’m bringing this around again: @fishyupmywishy and I are running the City Spies tumblr community, and here’s an invite link for anyone interested! I’m still around to answer any questions or concerns but now I don’t have to be the only one with invite power!

[razreads]

 Justice doesn’t require a membership card. Just a sense of right and wrong.

James Ponti, City Spies

[mollyhats]

If you liked The Mysterious Benedict Society, try...

Book rec post!

If you liked The Mysterious Benedict Society for...

...found family of kid spies, try

City Spies by James Ponti

Brooklyn, a hacker, is recruited into a family of orphans who handle missions for MI6 under the protective eye of the eccentric "Mother," an agent who started accidentally collecting orphans while searching for his own lost children. If you love TMBS for a bunch of kids (and peculiar adults) forming a tight-knit family against a background of espionage, this book is perfect for you!

...the world of Stonetown and it's slightly off-kilter worldbuilding, try

The Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Milo lives in a smuggler's hotel with his parents, but he expects a quiet family Christmas--until guests start piling in, each with their own secrets and hidden agendas. Milo and his new friend Meddy decide to investigate, using a TTRPG as their guide. The connection to TMBS is harder to pin down here, but there's a definite vibe. They feel like they could take place in the same world.

...the puzzles, riddles, and games, try

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

Before the grand opening of a new library, Kyle and several of his classmates are invited to a lock-in---but little do they know, they're in for a wild night of escape room puzzles that will require all of their gifts to solve. If you love the riddles and tricks of TMBS, as well as the ways the Society uses their different strengths to get through all kinds of puzzles, this is a great choice.

...a lonely kid passing strange trials to enter a new world and family, try

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Morrigan was cursed to die on her 12th birthday, but instead she's swept away to a magical world and offered a chance to participate in a series of trials to join the prestigious Wundrous Society and be safe from the curse. But there's so much she doesn't know, and the things she learns about this strange new world might pale in comparison to what she learns about herself. The trials she faces feel very similar to Mr. Benedict's, and there's plenty else to continue the comparison once we get past them (in either book): quirky mentors, lonely orphans, world-shaking plots, a strange school.

[littengamer909]

Mother, soon after being poisoned, kidnapped, held in an abandoned building, and repeatedly and violently interrogated: how can i theater kid my way out of this one

[winwin17]

If you are looking for more wholesome characters & interactions like Morrigan and Jupiter's in Nevermoor, I highly recommend the City Spies series by James Ponti. While it's not a fantasy series and it's set in the real world, there are plenty of exciting kid spy adventures and adopted-father-figure moments.

Basically, it's perfect for people like me who are

A) asexual and feel like romance clutters up stories

B) have daddy issues and need to devour all the wholesome father figure interactions

C) still want to read exciting stories where there are realistic and relatable characters

[yourtwistedlies]

NEW CITY SPIES BOOK COMING OUT FEBRUARY 6TH 2024 AHHH ITS CALLED MISSION MANHATTAN I LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT.

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[middlegradeeveryday]

City Spies by James Ponti

Summary:

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sara is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.

No one said saving the world was easy��

Book Type: Novel

Genre: Spy Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Science Fiction

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour + #Review: CITY SPIES: CITY OF THE DEAD by James Ponti (w/ #giveaway)!

Welcome to Book-Keeping and my stop on the Rockstar Book Tours blog tour for the fourth installment in the City Spies series by James Ponti, City Spies: City of the Dead, which releases next Tuesday, 7 February! If you’ve followed my reviews before, you’ll know what a huge fan I am of this series, so I’m thrilled to tell you all about this latest installment. You can also find my review and a giveaway below!

About the Book

title: City Spies: City of the Dead author: James Ponti publisher: Aladdin release date: 7 February 2023

In this fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies go codebreaking in Cairo in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls. Codename Kathmandu, better known as Kat, loves logic and order, has a favorite eight-digit number, and can spot a pattern from a mile away. So when a series of cyberattacks hits key locations in London while the spies are testing security for the British Museum, it’s clear that Kat’s skill for finding reason in what seems like randomness makes her the perfect candidate to lead the job. And while the team follows the deciphered messages to Egypt and the ancient City of the Dead to discover who is behind the attacks and why, Kat soon realizes that there’s another layer to the mystery. With more players, more clues, and involving higher levels of British Intelligence than ever before, this mission is one of the most complex that the group has faced to date. And it’s also going to bring about a change to the City Spies…

Add to Goodreads  Purchase the Book Check out the Book Trailer

Grab the rest of the City Spies books now!

About the Author

JAMES PONTI (he/him/his) is the New York Times bestselling author of three middle grade book series: City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series, about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath Manhattan. His books have appeared on more than fifteen different state award lists and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle Grade. James is also an Emmy– nominated television writer and producer who has worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History, and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports. He lives with his family in Orlando, Florida. 

Connect with James: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

My 5-Star Review

If you’ve followed my reviews for any length of time, you may know just how much I love this middle grade series. My son and I have both read them all (though he hasn’t yet gotten his hands on this latest one!), and we’ve also read, both separately and out loud together, Mr. Ponti’s Dead City series, which we also love. (He has also read the Framed! series, though I have not.) Naturally I was going to jump at the chance to read and review book four! (You can find my reviews of book one here and book two here.)

While I suppose you technically could read this as a standalone, I would highly recommend reading the first three books first -- you’ll get a much better feel for the characters, and they’re totally all worth reading! In each book, a different one of our “city spies” (their codenames are each the cities in which they were found) is the alpha, or leader, of the mission. In book four, it’s Kat’s turn, and she leads in several missions throughout the book, which take the spies from London to Berlin to, ultimately, Cairo and Luxor, Egypt. Kat has always been a favorite character of mine -- she has Asperger’s and is able to see patterns amid all the chaos of life. She’s truly brilliant and refreshingly honest and plain-spoken! The spies continue hot on the heels of Umbra in this installment, and there’s a surprise addition to the City Spies team that no one was expecting. I literally read the entire book in one sitting; I just couldn’t stop flipping the pages!

I highly, highly recommend this series for all middle grade readers (will be especially good for reluctant readers!), as well as anyone who just enjoys a good spy thriller (one appropriate for kids, of course). This installment continues the unbroken string of five-star reviews for each book in the series. And with *that ending*, I can’t wait to read book five!

Rating: 5 stars!

**Disclosure: I received a copy of the book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review of the book.

About the Giveaway

One (1) lucky winner will receive a finished copy of City Spies: City of the Dead by James Ponti! This one is US only and ends on 6 February 2023. Enter via the Rafflecopter below, and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Blog Tour + James’ Tours

Here’s the schedule for this second and final week of the blog tour, as well as James’ schedule of tours for the book launch!

Blog Tour, Week Two:

1/30/2023 - Nerdophiles��- Review 1/30/2023 - Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog - Review/IG Post

1/31/2023 - Wanderingwitchreads - TikTok Review/IG Post 1/31/2023 - Review Thick And Thin - Review/IG Post

2/1/2023 - @ChristenKrumm - IG Review 2/1/2023 - Two Points of Interest - Review

2/2/2023 - Book-Keeping - Review/IG Post 2/2/2023 - @bookmama85 - IG Review

2/3/2023 - OneMoreExclamation - Review/IG Post 2/3/2023 - @froggyreadteach - IG Review

James’ launch tours:

Monday, February 7, 2023 at 6:00pm CT Virtual launch event hosted by Blue Willow Bookshop (Houston, TX) In conversation with Kelly Yang (author of NEW FROM HERE and FINALLY SEEN)

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 7:00pm ET In-person event hosted by Little Shop of Stories (Decatur, GA) In conversation with Laurel Snyder (author of ORPHAN ISLAND and CHARLIE & MOUSE)

Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 6:00pm ET In-person event hosted by Malaprop’s (Asheville, NC) In conversation with Alan Gratz (author of REFUGEE, GROUND ZERO, and TWO DEGREES)

Friday, February 10, 2023 at 5:00pm ET In-person event hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers (Madison, CT) In conversation with Lauren Tarshis (author of the I SURVIVED series)

Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 3:00pm ET In-person event hosted by Books of Wonder (New York, NY) In conversation with Sayantani DasGupta (author of THE FIRE QUEEN series), Chris Grabenstein (author of DOG SQUAD and THE SMARTEST KID IN THE UNIVERSE), and Karina Yan Glaser (author of THE VANDERBEEKERS series)

Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 2:00pm CT In-person event at St. Louis Public Library hosted by The Novel Neighbor (St. Louis, MO) In conversation with George Jreije (author of SHAD HADID AND THE ALCHEMISTS OF ALEXANDRIA)

Monday, February 13, 2023 at 7:00pm CT In-person event hosted by Wild Rumpus Books for Young Readers (Minneapolis, MN) In conversation with Jacqueline West (author of THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE and LONG LOST)

Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 5:30pm ET In-person event hosted by Quail Ridge Books (Raleigh, NC) In conversation with Kwame Mbalia (author of the TRISTAN STRONG series)

Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 10:30am ET In-person event hosted by Politics & Prose (Washington, D.C.)

Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 2:00pm ET In-person event hosted by The International Spy Museum (Washington, D.C.)

Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 2:00pm ET In-person event hosted at Lake Highland Prep School hosted by Writer’s Block Bookstore (Orlando, FL) In conversation with Jerry Craft (author of NEW KID and CLASS ACT)

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

Lisel & Po by Lauren Oliver

Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice,until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.

That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable.

Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein

Jim Marlow and his strange-looking Martian friend Willis were allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tuned into a treacherous plot that threatened all the colonists on Mars, and it set Jim off on a terrfying adventure that could save--or destroy--them all!

The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton

It's their very first adventure and the Secret Seven super-sleuths are already on the trail of a mystery! The gang are dressed in disguise, following a lead to a spooky old house in the snow...

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

"A road's a kind of holy thing," said Roger the Minstrel to his son, Adam. "That's why it's a good work to keep a road in repair, like giving alms to the poor or tending the sick. It's open to the sun and wind and rain. It brings all kinds of people and all parts of England together. And it's home to a minstrel, even though he may happen to be sleeping in a castle."

And Adam, though only eleven, was to remember his father's words when his beloved dog, Nick, was stolen and Roger had disappeared and he found himself traveling alone along these same great roads, searching the fairs and market towns for his father and his dog.

The Squire's Tales by Gerald Morris

Life for the young orphan Terence has been peaceful, living with Trevisant, the old Hermit in a quiet, isolated wood.

That is, until the day a strange green sprite leads him to Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, who is on his way to Camelot hoping to be knighted. Trevisant can see the future and knows that Terence must leave to serve as Gawain's squire. From that moment on, Terence's life is filled with heart-stopping adventure as he helps damsels-in-distress, fights battles with devious men, and protects King Arthur from his many enemies.

Along the way, Terence is amazed at his skills and new-found magical abilities. Were these a gift from his unknown parents? As Gawain continues his quest for knighthood, Terence searches for answers to the riddles in his own past.

The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix

Tal has lived his whole life in darkness. He has never left his home, a mysterious castle of seven towers. He does not see the threat that will tear apart his family and his world. But Tal cannot stay safe forever. When danger strikes, he must desperately climb the Red Tower to steal a Sunstone. He reaches the top... ...and then he falls into a strange and unknown world of warriors, ice ships, and hidden magic. There Tal makes an enemy who will save his life and holds the key to his future.

The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston

There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe... even though they've been dead for centuries.

But that's how everything is at Green Knowe. The ancient manor hides as many stories as it does dusty old rooms.

And the master of the house is great-grandmother Oldknow, whose storytelling mixes present and past with the oldest magic in the world.

Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are identical twins at Sweet Valley High. They're both popular, smart, and gorgeous, but that's where the similarity ends. Elizabeth is friendly, outgoing, and sincere—nothing like her snobbish and conniving twin. Jessica gets what she wants—at school, with friends, and especially with boys.

This time, Jessica has set her sights on Todd Wilkins, the handsome star of the basketball team—the one boy that Elizabeth really likes. Elizabeth doesn't want to lose him, but what Jessica wants, Jessica usually gets ... even if it ends up hurting her sister.

City Spies by James Ponti

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sarah is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.

No one said saving the world was easy…

Carrie's War by Nina Bawden

Albert, Carrie and young Nick are war-time evacuees whose lives get so tangled up with the people they've come to live among that the war and their real families seem to belong to another world. Carrie and Nick are billeted in Wales with old Mr Evans, who is so mean and cold, and his timid mouse of a sister, Lou, who suddenly starts having secrets.

Their friend Albert is luckier, living in Druid's Bottom with warm-hearted Hepzibah Green and the strange Mister Johnny, who can talk to animals but not to human beings. Carrie and Nick visit him there whenever they can for Hepzibah makes life exciting and enticing with her stories and delicious cooking. Gradually they begin to feel more at ease in their war-time home, but then, in trying to heal the rift between Mr Evans and his estranged sister, and save Druid's Bottom, Carrie does a terrible thing which is to haunt her for years to come.

[random-fandom-chaos]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: City Spies Series - James Ponti Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Alexandra "Monty" Montgomery & Mother Characters: Mother (City Spies), Alexandra "Monty" Montgomery Summary:

Mother was fairly exhausted from the last mission, getting kidnapped and everything. After a long talk with Monty, they sat on the couch in the little “house” as Mother called it (really just the little room by the air strip) It was dark and late at night, the stars shining as Mother rested his head on her shoulder. “I’ll just lay here for a while..”

(SPOILERS FOR 5TH BOOK MISSION MANHATTAN)

TAGS:

@afunky-jester

@needlesandnilbogs

@littengamer909

@vincent-charlie

[needlesandnilbogs]

Known Facts About City Spies Book 6 and Beyond

collated at the Avid Reader bookstore event/signing in Davis, CA, on 6/23/24

On future books:

City Spies book 6 is finished and in the proofreading stage. It will probably be released in February 2025, he's allowed to share the title and cover as of this week.

City Spies 6 is called "London Calling" and the cover (which I briefly saw on his phone screen) is predominantly yellow and green

Robert is the protagonist and the Mother/Clementine/Robert/Annie larger plot will be completely resolved in book 6

There will be at least 8 total city spies books, likely 10

Sherlock society 1 is coming out in September

He's going to be on a two book a year release schedule -- February city spies and September Sherlock society

On research/past books/writing

he writes the first draft then goes to the places to research them

he talks to a lot of experts -- for city spies this includes a bookseller's husband who's ex-cia and planned the mission in forbidden city for him, for Sherlock society he got to go on a Miami marine patrol police boat

the city spies books work best with three cities they go to, boat being hostage in the first paragraph of golden gate is based on kid saying plot took ages to get to Big Thing in book 1 so now every book starts with a big thing happening. The middle city is the city of adventure and city alluded to in the title.

He did not get to physically go to Russia or China or Egypt but he did go to Venice after first draft of mission manhattan, went to every location in the book, then used pictures he took there

Washington he got a friend to show him the abandoned spots very unsafely, including embassy row and the empty Iranian embassy which fascinated him

He walked around Iranian embassy and the United Kingdom and Brazil embassies are actually across from it, the security didn't like him taking those pictures as much but it inspired him

If he could choose one song that best represents mission manhattan/city spies: We are family

when he writes a series he's trying to answer a single question and the books are all different variants on the answer. For city spies it's "what is a family"

he puts his life into the books, especially with a parent being missing and trying to find that connection

Middle grade advice: Write from the pain of when you're thirteen

"As a consumer of art we still believe in magic, but there is no magic […] we're faking the magic, it's just sweat. You forget what they're doing is sweat too."

he and his writing friends all feel like imposters. He talks to ppl who've won newberries and still feel like imposters and then they finally have little clicks that say maybe they can do this, like when his publisher said maybe he didn't need blurbs on his books anymore

Research is for accuracy and he hates being wrong and sometimes he hand waves but it gives him inspiration

real life is better than fiction

On Clementine, Mother, their kids:

book 6 resolves all the issues with clemmie and mother and the kids but not all the series's problems

"In the end as I wrote Clementine I wasn't sure how she was going to end up," he "wrestled writing her every time"

"Clementine is a puzzle" kat says, based on a thing a fan said

Good or bad, accidental or not, Clementine is the most interesting character bc you don't know what side she's on

On public libraries and independent bookstores:

About the nypl: "it's the most fascinating thing to me, this library. It's the Vatican of American books."

There aren't easy answers to the problem of cutting funding for libraries, there's a reason independent bookstores and libraries are valuable and it's bc this type of event matters and they have so many services

"Public libraries are one of the greatest things, as far as altruism, our society has ever created"

When it becomes an issue of books being banned it's not good, it's not okay

These are important issues and it's not simple but access to books written by "not just middle aged white guys like me" is really important

what gets lost is book recs and new authors

"the power we have in the exchange of ideas is valuable"

it's stuff that's been sitting there for a while and failed miserably and then gets popular, libraries and independent bookstores are part of that

TikTok is the single largest driving force in youth literature and it may not exist in a year

On the potential City Spies movie:

MGM studios bought the right to city spies film series before they were bought by Amazon

This happened because there's a Guatemalan woman who's the head of development at mgm, and she has twelve year old twin brothers who are reading city spies, she hears the story and says that sounds like a movie, reads the first page and is hooked, reached out and acquired the rights and then he heard nothing for ages

Amazon bought mgm and he thought it was done but they liked city spies, they hired a producer and then writers strike blocked any development but they now have a writer

He's staying out of the writing process, his background in film is making a lot of connections but also means he knows to stay out of it (though if he's asked he'd be enthusiastic to help)

he gets on set one day and gets two tickets to premiere

Movie in theaters not tv show

doesn't really believe it will happen yet because spy school was gonna be a movie then it wasn't

"I would wait to start worrying about following it till later", he doesn't talk about it really even to friends

MGM made an announcement to variety and so everyone found out

He and his wife hope it will happen (cause it's cutting down time till she can retire), she's his health insurance and it's why it seems a lot of writers end up married to teachers and have insurance through them

tagging @fishyupmywishy also

[razreads]

You don’t have to be part of a group to understand that they’re being mistreated.  

James Ponti, City Spies

[city-spies-confessions]

Yo yo! (Mod pls share ur opinion)

But honestly, am I a BIG fan of Mother? Yes. Does this mean what I’m going to say it bias? No.

but we got a Brooklyn Centered book (book 1) Sydney centered book (book 2) Paris centered book (book 3) and Book 4 is about Kat book 5 is about Rio

I Don’t doubt the next book might be about Cairo or Annie. But if James ponti decides to extend the series (he said he hopes to make at least 7 books at least that’s why I’ve heard) since book 6 might be Cairo (or not since we saw how Cairo was found, and we had some of book 5 mixed in with centering him and the other for Rio) Or Annie (if she decides to join) but if not.

hear me out.

James Ponti should make a Mother centered one of Monty

Even if they’re such a parental figure character we don’t really have much information. It would be cool on having one of those flashback chapters talking about how they were recruited. Going back to where they grew up. It would be so heartwarming.

I hope for a Mother centered book, how his world is, maybe angst too

Monty would explore more on who her parents where as she grew up her hobbies, and maybe angst too

But If Ponti makes the next book about Cairo and if Annie joins [book 6] (maybe) book 7 is about her (maybe idk how much he’s gonna write for the series since he’s such a good author and focusing mainly on his other series, but really this is just an opinion of mine) if [Ponti] does do this then if he writes more book 8 and 9 could be Mother and Monty centered! Maybe as a bonus book 10 (could be the last book if he writes) could be about clementine!

Thank you for reading I’m sorry for all the words I’ve had this in my head for two months and I got back into my city spies grind—

That'd be very cool, but I doubt it since city spies is already a bit different from his other books since it's third person, plus it's middle grade and most of those books stay in the main perspectives of children.

[afunky-jester]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: City Spies Series - James Ponti Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Alexandra "Monty" Montgomery & Mother, Brooklyn & Kat & Alexandra “Monty” Montgomery & Mother & Paris & Rio & Sydney, Mother & Cairo (City Spies) Characters: Mother (City Spies), Alexandra "Monty" Montgomery Additional Tags: Angst, Whump, Torture, Kidnapping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

He swore he'd be more careful after last time, he didn't want the others worrying about his safety and whereabouts. It'd give them too much to stress about, they were kids!

Too bad that he didn't pay attention for those precious few seconds. Now he needs a helping hand

Or

Mother tries to have fun by himself for once after the events of the fifth book, and gets kidnapped yet again.

[fishyupmywishy]

Rio and Sydney spar

Or

Rio sucks at fighting and Sydney got the job to help him