About the Book
Book: Augmented
Author: Candace Kade
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Release Date: September 16, 2025
Lee Urban must win to survive.
After being sentenced to the banned list, half of the Asian Federation believes Lee Urban is a ticking time bomb that could end the world as they know it. They’re willing to do anything to erase her existence and silence her voice before she can take a stand.
There’s only one way to fight back: enroll in the Race to the Clouds. Winning the competition would garner global media attention and give Urban the coverage she needs to dismantle the enhancement programs. Unfortunately, it also happens to be the deadliest event of the year.
With less time to train than her rivals, Urban and her team must find a way to best the competition. But as enemies close in, riots erupt, and her homeland teeters on the brink of civil war, one thing is certain— she’s running out of time. Not just for herself, but for every Natural she represents.
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About the Author
Candace Kade is a recovering over-achiever who spends her time dreaming up stories typically involving tech, psychology, culture, and/or swords. She’s a certified Krav Maga assistant instructor and loves writing action-packed martial art scenes. A third culture kid, she considers Chengdu and OKC to be her homes.
When she’s not exploring new countries, she enjoys hiking in national parks, moving (again!), teaching her husband Mandarin, and keeping two baby humans alive. She can be bribed with boba tea, fluffy puppies, and breakfast tacos.
More from Candace
Have you ever broken a cherished possession?
I have. It was my porcelain mug that I bought while traveling through Ireland. The trip was so special and that cup always brought me happy memories as I sipped tea from it.
My husband tried to fix it for me, but the mug is not the same. It now sits tucked in the back of our cupboards too broken to be used but too precious to be throw away.
Being broken doesn’t mean something—or someone—loses purpose.
In kintsugi, the Japanese art form that involves intentionally breaking tea ware, the fragments left over are pieced back together with golden filling. The final result is more beautiful than the original unblemished version ever could be.
The brokenness enhances the tea ware’s beauty.
In my novel Augmented, I wanted to draw a comparison between brokenness and beauty. Just like kintsugi takes broken pottery and turns it into something beautiful, my protagonist Urban faces her own transformation. She is hopeless and feels like she can’t pick up the shattered pieces of her life. But as she tries out for the world’s most deadly race, she learns that being broken doesn’t mean what she thinks it does.
The things that happen to us have a purpose. If we let the Creator finish His masterpiece (us) He’ll use the fragmented pieces of our lives to make a beautiful finished work of art.
Urban feels the same way, believing her brokenness defines her. But through trial and grace, she discovers what it means to be made new.
No one is too broken to be saved or redeemed.
I wrote this book for anyone who’s ever felt lost, hopeless, or broken. We can do all things through Him who gives us strength.
Interview with the Author
- What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
While traveling in Ireland, I was able to visit C.S. Lewis’ old stomping grounds. It was magical to get to see the boarding school he went to (reminds me of something out of a book itself!), where he grew up, and discover all sorts of interesting facts about him. Ireland is such a wonderful place already. I felt so inspired as I sipped my black tea with milk and walked along the rocky shores of the cloudy Irish seafront.
- How do you select the names of your characters?
For each series the process is a little different. Because the Hybrid Series is near future sci-fi, I wanted names that are familiar but not necessarily normal in our current culture. Also, because the novels take place in a futuristic Beijing, I thought about how my Chinese friends all picked their names. Having spent nearly half my life in China, I noticed a lot of my friends, when picking their English names, would flip open a dictionary, point a finger, and whatever word they touched, became their name. Thus, my friends’ were called things like: Tractor, Single, Winter, Apple, Arrow, ect. Pulling from that line of thought, I wanted to find names that were equally random but with a bit more cohesion. I chose nature as the theme and picked most of my names around that: Stoney, Lillian, Coral, Ash, Everest, Blossom, Olive, ect. My main protagonist, Urban, is one of the rare exceptions to that rule to show how different she is from everyone else in her society.
- What was your hardest scene to write?
Probably the big fight scene. I love writing high-action scenes but they take a ton of work. Trying to visualize the surroundings, the weapons, all the people involved and their strengths and weaknesses and goals is hard. I would spend a little bit of time working on it each day and then, when I got stuck, jump to another part of the book. Slowly, the scene unfolded before my eyes and now it’s one of my absolute favorite parts!
- What comes first, the plot or characters?
Plot, for sure! People say they love the plot twists they didn’t see coming in my novels. Well, that doesn’t just happen. I usually start with a plot point and grow it until it has all the fun twists and turns I want and then back into who the characters should be.
- What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I used to like to do anything sporty (rock climbing, martial arts, Spartan races, basketball, ect). Now as a mom of two littles and with achy knees, I prefer milder hobbies that take up less time. Flower pressing and turning them into bookmarks is fun for me. When I’m child-free I love exploring new coffee shops and writing from them.
Blog Stops
The Lofty Pages, September 20
Life on Chickadee Lane, September 21
Wishful Endings, September 22
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 23 (Spotlight)
Simple Harvest Reads, September 24 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, September 25
Artistic Nobody, September 26 (Author Interview)
Guild Master, September 27 (Author Interview)
Blogging With Carol, September 27
Lily’s Corner, September 28
Tell Tale Book Reviews, September 28
Fiction Book Lover, September 29 (Author Interview)
Life on Chickadee Lane, September 30
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, October 1 (Author Interview)
A Reader’s Brain, October 2 (Spotlight)
Book Butterfly in Dreamland, October 3
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Candace is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.