Lisa's Looking Foward To #16 - June 4th, 2019

Back to joining up with the Waiting on Wednesday Posts, and the Can't Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  Now, there are a LOT of books on my list for next Tuesday, so sit back and get ready to scroll!

From my ARC list for June 4th:

Love the cover and the blurb below!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Mlynowski, this heartfelt and humorous contemporary take on Sense and Sensibility follows two sisters—complete opposites—who discover the secrets they’ve been keeping make them more alike than they’d realized.

For two sisters as different as Plum and Ginny, getting on each other’s nerves is par for the course. But when the family’s finances hit a snag, sending chaos through the house in a way only characters from a Jane Austen novel could understand, the two drift apart like they never have before. Plum, a self-described social outcast, strikes up a secret friendship with the class jock, while Ginny’s usual high-strung nature escalates to pure hysterics.

But this has always been the sisters’ dynamic. So why does everything feel different this year? Maybe because Ginny is going to leave for college soon. Maybe because Plum finally has something that she doesn’t have to share with her self-involved older sister. Or maybe because the girls are forced to examine who they really are instead of who their late father said they were. And who each girl discovers—beneath the years of missing their dad—could either bring them closer together…or drive them further apart.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

Sounds like a great #ownvoices type of story.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Katsuyamas never quit—but seventeen-year-old CJ doesn’t even know where to start. She’s never lived up to her mom’s type A ambition, and she’s perfectly happy just helping her aunt, Hannah, at their family’s flower shop.

She doesn’t buy into Hannah’s romantic ideas about flowers and their hidden meanings, but when it comes to arranging the perfect bouquet, CJ discovers a knack she never knew she had. A skill she might even be proud of.

Then her mom decides to sell the shop—to the family who swindled CJ’s grandparents when thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII. Soon a rift threatens to splinter CJ’s family, friends, and their entire Northern California community; and for the first time, CJ has found something she wants to fight for.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

So, I really enjoyed the first two in the series.  I guess they did not make an ARC for the third, so I didn't get one.  Plus as I've mentioned before, my Disney contact has moved to another publisher, and so I no longer have anyone to contact there anyway.  I don't know that I like this cover as much as I did the first two:  Royal Bastards and City of Bastards.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A year has passed since the fall of Lightspire. The Inquisitor Miles Hampstedt has usurped the throne and rules Noveris with a blood-soaked iron fist. Tilla and her friends have become hardened rebels in the Unbroken, a band of guerilla fighters hiding out in the fringes of the Kingdom. Tilla is plagued with doubt and regret; Lyriana struggles with the burdens of being a fugitive Queen; Zell atones for his guilt by killing for the cause. And even as they all fight, they know their cause is doomed, that with very passing day Miles' power grows, his army of Bloodmages spreading to cover the continent.

Then a raid on an outpost produces two unexpected prisoners: Lord Elric Kent himself, now a prisoner obsessed with revenge, and Syan See, a strange girl from the Red Wastes. Tilla struggles with the emotional weight of confronting her father, but it's Syan that offers the true revelation. She demonstrates a new incredible kind of magic, and speaks of a secret civilization hidden in isolation in the mysterious Wastes. With Miles' forces closing in, Tilla and her friends (alongside a hostage Lord Kent) set out to make contact with Syan's people, to make an pact that could turn the war. The journey will test their character, forge unlikely alliances, reveal the horrifying true nature of magic, and set in motion a battle that will determine the fate of Noveris itself.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.  

Love that cover!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Critically-acclaimed author Leah Thomas blends a small-town setting with the secrets of a long-ago crime, in a compelling novel about breaking free from the past.

In Samsboro, Kentucky, Kalyn Spence's name is inseparable from the brutal murder her father committed when he was a teenager. Forced to return to town, Kalyn must attend school under a pseudonym . . . or face the lingering anger of Samsboro's citizens, who refuse to forget the crime.

Gus Peake has never had the luxury of redefining himself. A Samsboro native, he's either known as the "disabled kid" because of his cerebral palsy, or as the kid whose dad was murdered. Gus just wants to be known as himself.

When Gus meets Kalyn, her frankness is refreshing, and they form a deep friendship. Until their families' pasts emerge. And when the accepted version of the truth is questioned, Kalyn and Gus are caught in the center of a national uproar. Can they break free from a legacy of inherited lies and chart their own paths forward?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

Love the cover, love the blurb!  I've been seeing this around the blogosphere a lot lately, wishing I'd had time to get to it.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match, a partner who will help secure the future of her people. Now that day has finally come.

But after an excruciatingly public rejection from her closest childhood friend, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic, where a series of potential suitors awaits—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

From English castle gardens to the fjords of Norge, and under the eye of the dreaded Imperiya Yotne, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

I have an ARC of this one, will be reading or am reading it as this is posted.  Will post a review probably right before pub date.
Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there—murderer, or monster?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

I won an ARC of this from Bookish First, and by the time this post actually goes live, I will have read it.  My review will be sometime over the next few days!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

From Danielle Vega, YA’s answer to Stephen King, comes a new paranormal novel about dark family secrets, deep-seated vengeance, and the horrifying truth that evil often lurks in the unlikeliest of places.

Hendricks Becker-O’Malley is new in town, and she’s bringing baggage with her. With a dark and wild past, Hendricks doesn’t think the small town her parents moved her to has much to offer her in terms of excitement. She plans on laying low, but when she’s suddenly welcomed into the popular crowd at school, things don’t go as expected.

Hendricks learns from her new friends that the fixer-upper her parents are so excited about is notorious in town. Local legend says it’s haunted. Hendricks doesn’t believe it. Until she’s forced to. Blood-curdling screams erupt from the basement, her little brother wakes up covered in scratches, and something, or someone pushes her dad down the stairs. With help from the mysterious boy next door, Hendricks makes it her mission to take down the ghosts . . . if they don’t take her first.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

Sounds like a cute romance kind of story.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Modern love plus online anonymity is a recipe for romantic disaster in this lighthearted new romance from the author of The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love.

How bad can one little virtual lie be?

NYU freshman Mariam Vakilian hasn’t dated anyone in five months, not since her high school sweetheart Caleb broke up with her. So, when she decides to take advantage of an expiring coupon and try out a new virtual reality dating service, it’s sort of a big deal.

It’s an even bigger deal when it chooses as one of her three matches none other than Caleb himself. That has to be a sign, right?

Except that her other match, Jeremy, just happens to be her new best friend IRL.

Mariam’s heart is telling her one thing, but the app is telling her another. So, which should she trust? Is all fair in modern love?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

So the former science teacher in me just loves the cover. And it sounds like a fun read!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A fun, witty, light-hearted romantic comedy―The Rosie Project, for teens

Seventeen-year-old Amalia Yaabez and Ezra Holtz couldn’t be more different. They’ve known (and avoided) each other their whole lives; she unable to stand his buttoned-up, arrogant, perfect disposition, and he unwilling to deal with her slacker, rule-breaking way of moving through the world.

When they are unhappily paired on an AP Psychology project, they come across an old psychological study that posits that anyone can fall in love with anyone, if you put them through the right scientific, psychological steps. They decide to put that theory to the test for their project, matching couples from different walks of high school life to see if science really can create love.

As they go through the whirlwind of the experiment, Ezra and Amalia realize that maybe it’s not just the couples they matched who are falling for each other . . .

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.  

Beautiful cover, and I like the library aspect of it.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I've got an e-galley of this one to read, and it sounds really good!  I should be posting my review of it on it's release date.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

High school finally behind her, Winnie is all set to attend college in the fall. But first she's spending her summer days working at her granny’s diner and begins spending her midnights with Dallas—the boy she loves to hate and hates that she likes. Winnie lives in Misty Haven, a small town where secrets are impossible to keep—like when Winnie allegedly snaps on Dr. Skinner, which results in everyone feeling compelled to give her weight loss advice for her own good. Because they care that’s she’s “too fat.”

Winnie dreams of someday inheriting the diner—but it'll go away if they can't make money, and fast. Winnie has a solution—win a televised cooking competition and make bank. But Granny doesn't want her to enter—so Winnie has to find a way around her formidable grandmother. Can she come out on top?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 


Final Thoughts:
 Several that I have copies of to read ahead.  One that I wish I did.  I left off one that has been a big controversial title and that the publication was cancelled on, although I heard it is now back on.  Have you read any of these yet?  Are they on your TBR?  And hey, while you're here, you should go try to win some of my ARCs from Cleaning Up My TBR Post HERE. The US only giveaway is open till Friday at midnight.

Two YA Reviews: Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone and City of Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

I am a teensy bit behind on getting the reviews posted for these books. They came out this past week, and I meant to have them read ahead of time.  I'm hoping that the new plan I've set in place with my blogging calendar will help me to get things posted before the publishing date.  I'm good if I've set an actual review date with a tour or the publisher, but I don't always hold myself to the same standard when the review is not part of a schedule that someone else has given me.  Bad me, as long as I've been blogging, I should know better. But I will now be putting those reviews on my calendar for myself.  Anyway, both of these books were suggested and sent to me from Disney-Hyperion.  One was the sequel to a book I'd read this same time last year, and the other was by an author that is new to me.  I enjoyed both.

*The gifting of these advanced reader copies did not influence my opinion in any way.

Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone:

Genre:  YA Contemporary
Published:  June 5th, 2018
Source:  Physical ARC from publisher
My rating:  4 stars

Synopsis:
Next-door neighbors and ex-best friends Hannah and Emory haven’t spoken in months. Not since the fight—the one where they said things they couldn’t take back.

Now, Emory is fine-tuning her UCLA performing arts application and trying to make the most of the months she has left with her boyfriend, Luke, before they head off to separate colleges. Meanwhile, Hannah’s strong faith is shaken when her family’s financial problems come to light, and she finds herself turning to unexpected places—and people—for answers to the difficult questions she’s suddenly facing.

No matter how much Hannah and Emory desperately want to bridge the thirty-six steps between their bedroom windows, they can’t. Not anymore.

Until their paths cross unexpectedly when, one night, Hannah finds Luke doubled over in his car outside her house. In the aftermath of the accident, all three struggle to understand what happened in their own ways. But when a devastating secret about Hannah and Emory’s argument ultimately comes to light, they must all reexamine the things they hold true.

In alternating chapters, a skeptic and a believer piece together the story of their complex relationship and the boy caught somewhere in the middle. New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone deftly crafts a moving portrait of faith, love, and friendship.

My Review: 
My first book by this author is not a disappointment.  I really enjoyed it, had trouble putting it down as I was reading.  There was a lot of great character interaction in this story.  I had a tiny inkling what might have happened to cause the rift between Hannah and Emory, although really, it was pretty much downplayed because of how the talk with Hannah and her dad sounded.  I couldn't quite imagine what Hannah would have whispered in Luke's ear that could have caused him to think what he did, until he said what it was.  In that instant, things made sense.  Everyone's lives and stories were woven together so seamlessly that it ended up being a great ending, happy, yet realistic, in my opinion.  

I could totally see why and how Hannah's doubts developed.  It seemed fair to me.  And I mean, come on, she was a teenager!  That's the time all of that usually does take place.  Emory's detachment and negativeness toward her relationship with Luke was frustrating, until we find out just what had happened the day she and Hannah's friendship ended.  Then, it was understandable, even if I don't agree with how she always dealt with things.  Again, probably what she did was more realistic than the romantic in me that wanted her to give a chance to things that weren't likely for couples of that age, couples getting ready to go away to college, in different states.

I do wish we'd gotten a little more about Emory's mother earlier in the story.  As it was, not knowing kind of made me not like her more throughout the book, whereas if I'd known, I might have been more understanding with her decisions much earlier.   

Overall, a good story, and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

City of Bastards (Royal Bastards #2) by Andrew Shvarts:

Genre:  YA Fantasy
Published:  June 5th, 2018
Source:  Physical ARC from publisher
My rating:  4 stars

Synopsis:
Tilla, bastard of House Kent, has it made. Safe from her murderous father in the dazzling capital of Lightspire, she lives a life of luxury under the protection of the Volaris King, alongside her boyfriend Zell and best friend, Princess Lyriana.

So why isn’t she happy? Maybe it’s the whispers and stares that follow her wherever she goes, as the daughter of the traitor waging war against Lightspire. Or maybe it’s the memories of her beloved brother, Jax, who lies cold in his grave even as she tries to settle into a life in the city's prestigious University.

Then, Tilla stumbles upon the body of a classmate, a friend. The authorities are quick to rule it a suicide and sweep it under the rug, but when Tilla herself is attacked by a mysterious man with terrifying powers, she’s convinced of a conspiracy. Her friends beg her to stay silent; what she's suggesting is impossible... and treasonous.

But Tilla can't, won't, let it go. And the deeper she digs, the more questions she uncovers. How is the West beating the supposedly invincible Lightspire Mages in battle? Is it connected to the shadowy cult wreaking havoc in Lightspire? Nothing is as it seems in the glorious capital, and Tilla’s presence might just be the spark that sets the Kingdom aflame.

My Review:
First, if you haven't started this series yet, you may want to stop here before I give any spoilers, and go check out my review of the first book in the series, Royal Bastards.   If you're caught up, please, read on!

One nice thing was that the author did a great job of weaving details from book one throughout the story as it started, so that I got caught up quickly with what happened in the first book, even thought it had been a year since I'd read it.  I will concur with a fellow blogger, Nicole over at Feed Your Fiction Addiction who said that this one did not suffer from the usual sophomore slump that a lot of second books in a series have.  There were a lot of twists and turns in this that I didn't necessarily see coming.  There were betrayals galore!  Some from people that made you very sad, and some from others.  And in the end, some of those weren't quite as bad as I'd felt at first, and then the others were pretty major!  Lots of mystery and intrigue in the court of the Lightspire king.  Not to mention that the whole myth and reality of the magic the mages and people of this capital used was a big lie.  

This was a good fantasy story, continuing an original idea from book one, and I'm now going to be eager to read book three.  I guess I've got a year to wait! 
 

Can't Wait Wednesday #30: City of Bastards (Royal Bastards #2) by Andrew Shvarts

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.  My choice this week is a sequel to a book that was definitely a unique story I got to read this past summer.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

While war rages in her Western homeland, Tilla of House Kent is far away, safely cloistered as a ward of the King in Lightspire. She's best friends with the Princess, treated like nobility, and is even given a spot at the prestigious University, where only the Kingdom's finest are educated. And yet, she finds herself unhappy, haunted by memories of her beloved brother, Jax, and plagued by a deeper sense of uncertainty, of not fitting in.

Her boyfriend, Zell, who is now a recruit for the City Watch, puts on a brave face to hide the pain of leaving behind his Zitochi identity, while Princess Lyriana, stripped of her role as Mage, has begun rebelling against her conservative upbringing: drinking, partying, and hooking up with random boys.

Then, Tilla returns to her quarters one night to find the cold body of her roommate. The girl was the daughter of an Eastern diplomat, well-known to be troubled, so the school has no trouble ruling it a suicide and sweeping it under the rug. Tilla doesn't buy it. And despite the urging of just about everyone in her life, she can't let it go. She digs deeper, along with Zell, Lyriana, and the Archmagus-to-be Ellarion, unearthing a conspiracy that goes from the highest of the nobility to the most dangerous depths of its criminal underbelly...and whose sinister mastermind is a face all too familiar.

Have you read the first book, Royal Bastards, yet?  If you click on the title there, you can go read my review of it.  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Review: Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

Book info:

Title:  Royal Bastards
Author:  Andrew Shvarts
Genre:  YA fantasy
Release Date:  May 30th, 2016
Source:  Requested ARC from publisher, Disney Hyperion Teens
My rating:  4 stars

Synopsis:

Being a bastard blows. Tilla would know. Her father, Lord Kent of the Western Province, loved her as a child, but cast her aside as soon as he had trueborn children.

At sixteen, Tilla spends her days exploring long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle with her stablehand half brother, Jax, and her nights drinking with the servants, passing out on Jax’s floor while her castle bedroom collects dust. Tilla secretly longs to sit by her father’s side, resplendent in a sparkling gown, enjoying feasts with the rest of the family. Instead, she sits with the other bastards, like Miles of House Hampstedt, an awkward scholar who’s been in love with Tilla since they were children.

Then, at a feast honoring the visiting princess Lyriana, the royal shocks everyone by choosing to sit at the Bastards’ Table. Before she knows it, Tilla is leading the sheltered princess on a late-night escapade. Along with Jax, Miles, and fellow bastard Zell, a Zitochi warrior from the north, they stumble upon a crime they were never meant to witness.

Rebellion is brewing in the west, and a brutal coup leaves Lyriana’s uncle, the Royal Archmagus, dead—with Lyriana next on the list. The group flees for their lives, relentlessly pursued by murderous mercenaries; their own parents have put a price on their heads to prevent the king and his powerful Royal Mages from discovering their treachery.

The bastards band together, realizing they alone have the power to prevent a civil war that will tear their kingdom apart—if they can warn the king in time. And if they can survive the journey . . .

My Review:
My rating:  4 stars

I had been seeing this book around many blogs earlier this year on the Waiting on Wednesday posts, and I'd been intrigued by the idea behind it, especially with the tiny hint of  Game of Thrones aspect to it.  So I emailed the publisher and requested it.  I am so glad that I did, because I really enjoyed it!  The characters were very interesting and ones that you wanted to know more about.  I loved the sibling relationship between Jax and Tilla.  I empathized with Miles and his obvious unrequited love for Tilla, but also was intrigued to find out more about Zell, the boy who did catch her attention.  The princess, Lyriana, was not the princess that might have shown up in this type of a story, she wasn't the type that would be annoying and make those around her roll their eyes in the frustration of dealing with her.  Not that she was in any way prepared for what happened when their little group had to run.  She had always been pretty much pampered and taken care of, as she was a true heir, not a bastard like Zell, Tilla, Miles, and Jax in his own way.  There were real losses in this story, people you really did grow to love and want to see them go on and escape the mess they had found themselves in.  I don't know if this is going to be a series or not for sure.  But it ended in a way that makes me want more story.  Not all the loose ends were tied up, not all the issues were solved  But it did end in a way that I guess will work in case the author doesn't get a sequel.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it isn't going to end this way though.  
One funny thing I want to mention, when they talked about their ancestors, the Titans.  Something about the description, as well as their "origin" myth in this world, made me think that maybe there might be more to the story than just a fantasy world.  Of course, it could just be my crazy imagination with it, and I don't want to say exactly what I was thinking, because I'm probably just being crazy.  If you read it, and get any weird thoughts based on those two things though, come back and tell me!  We can discuss it.  :-)
I definitely recommend this one.  The title may be a bit shocking, and I wonder how well it will go over in my school library, but it is one that I really do want my students to have a chance to read if they get the chance.