Blog Tour with Giveaway: Santa Muerte - The Daniela Story by Lucina Stone

Book info:

Title:  Santa Muerte - The Daniela Story
Author:  Lucina Stone
Genre:  NA Folklore/Science Fiction
Release Date:  January 11th, 2016

Summary from Goodreads:

Lucina Stone blends Mexican folklore with modern technology and time travel in this seductive new series where the lines between right and wrong, protagonist and antagonist, truth and fiction, love and lust, and life and death have never been more blurred.

THE YEAR IS 2030. IN A DRAMATIC, final attempt to free her inner demons, twenty-year-old Daniela Delgado tempts fate and winds up on a strange farm in 1923. With an olive complexion due to her Mexican/Italian heritage and a fresh pixie cut, she is mistaken for a “boy of color.” Her only shot at survival now is to play it cool, pose as “Danny,” and figure out how to get back home to her two, loving moms.

And then she meets Daphne—an abused, motherless farm girl in desperate need of freedom and a friend. Having escaped Daphne’s father, the two of them are now roaming the streets of New York City disguised as a young aristocrat and her male servant. They’re running out of money, and ideas. And Daniela thought living in 2030 was tough.

But her solar powered smart phone works. And there’s someone within range. She pings them. A selfie of an attractive male comes in with the text: I’m Lain. Who the f--- are you? Even in that moment, Daniela knows this can’t be safe, but what are her choices? They meet Lain at a speakeasy on the Lower East Side. When Daniela reveals her last name, Lain says the only Delgado he knows is Anaya—the head of the Santa Muerte Coven of witches in Merida, Mexico. And then he hints that Daniela is a liar, even though she rocks a man’s three-piece suit like no woman he’s ever met. And as for her tattoos? Don’t get Lain started….

Despite the intrigue, Daniela adds Lain to the list of folks Daphne and she must outrun to stay alive. But as they plan their trip to Mexico, they soon discover that list is much longer than they thought. And they uncover a few other things, too, about Daniela’s true identity….

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Author info:

Stone, a Latina young adult book author from Morris County, New Jersey was the 2016 winner of two awards of the prestigious International Latino Book Awards for Best Sci/Fi novel and Best New Author. Santa Muerte- The Daniela Story (Story Merchant Books Press, 2016 release) tackles diversity in science fiction and fantasy by using folklore and culture.

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Giveaway:
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YA Bound Book Tours

  

The Living by Matt de la Pena

First of all, thanks to Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I've read one book by this author before, We Were Here, when I was reading to help select one of my state library association's book award nominees for the year.  And it was a good book.  But basically a realistic fiction story, and it seems the other books by this author that I've seen on library shelves are also realistic fiction.  So, I guess that might give this one a way a bit.  It seems to be more of a thriller than a drama type piece.  Not that there isn't drama, relationship, Mexican boy problems, family problems are all ones that you see.  I'm normally not the biggest reader of realistic fiction, not that I don't always seem to enjoy the ones that I read, I just don't seek them out to read.  So I was very pleased to get not only this author's great writing, but also a story that was more like what I normally enjoy.
The main character is Shy.  And to help raise money for his goal of going to college, he's taken a job for the summer aboard a cruise ship.  The first cruise started out pretty well until one of the passengers commits suicide by jumping off the boat right in front of Shy.  So now he is still having trouble sleeping because he keeps seeing the moment reply over whenever he closes his eyes.  Fortunately he has found a confidante in one of the other staff members, and her name is Carmen.  Carmen is great because she comes from a background very similar to Shy's.  Unfortunately, Carmen is already engaged to a law student back home.  So while Shy finds himself very attracted to Carmen, he must struggle to keep their relationship as friends only.  But Carmen has said she is there for him any time he needs someone to talk to.  Which Shy will even take her up on late at night.  On this 2nd cruise things seem to be okay.  Until Shy is alerted to the fact that there is someone in a black suit going around asking questions about him.  Shy has only told people the basics, not any of the odd conversation he had with the man before he jumped.  So now he feels like he's being watched, plus at one point he goes back to his cabin to find it's been ransacked.  Nothing is missing, just everything has been pulled out as if it has been searched for something. 
One thing in their background that both Shy and Carmen have in common is that they've lost someone to this new disease called Romero's disease.  Shy's grandmother, and Carmen's father.  While all this stuff is going on, Shy also gets an email from his mother telling him it is urgent for him to try to Skype with her the next day.  When he is finally able to do that, it is as he dreaded, bad news.  Now his nephew has been diagnosed with Romero's disease.  His mother does say there is possibly a vaccination that if they caught it in time can help.  Shortly after this talk, Shy has another strange interaction with some passengers.  An older gentleman starts talking to him at the pool and invites him to dinner with his daughter and her friend.  These two girls are kind of snooty, and so of course Shy doesn't want to go, especially since the crew is not allowed to do this anyway. 
At dinner, an announcement comes over the ship's speakers saying that a storm is headed their way and they will have to ask all passengers to stay inside and off the decks.  Shy goes out to clear the deck and pull the tables and chairs and even the stand he uses to pass things out and put them into a safe area to make sure they don't go off the side of the boat.  Shy knows this means a serious storm, as he's never had to do this, and he can see the fear in his co-worker/boss's eyes.  On the deck he sees the snooty girls from before, one of them is crying. 
Then he goes back in to the dining hall.  And there is another announcement, this one saying that a huge earthquake has hit the west coast of the United States, and there is massive damage from Washington state all the way down to Mexico.  When images of the destruction are shown on the dining room screens, areas that are where Carmen and Shy are from are shown in complete disarray.  About this time passengers are told to go back to their rooms, not to stay in larger areas like the dining room because a tsunami is headed their way.  Life jackets are passed out to everyone.  But as they begin panicking, it soon becomes too late for them to get to safety because the  ship is hit.  Shy watches the wave come through one of the windows.  At this point the story takes the turn for suspense.  There are not enough life boats as the wave hits and knocks many off.  Many people won't even make the life boats as the first strike of the first wave has killed many.  And even once they get into life boats, there are sharks, and the waves aren't done coming.  And who will be able to help with all the destruction back in the United States where the help would come from.  The ship is supposed to be near something called the Hidden Islands.  So if they can only make it that far, what could they find?  Help?
I'll stop there, and let you read the story yourself.  There are many other little side stories and characters I've not talked about, so much for you to read and discover yourself.  I will say it is going to have a sequel, thank goodness, because it ends on a major cliffhanger.

Gateway 16: We Were Here by Matt De La Pena

Once again, another boy protagonist. A Mexican boy again strangely enough. Seems like a theme, although I guess this is really on the 2nd one on the list. This was a pretty good book. I do like again how this is a boy that knows it isn't cool to read and be smart, but still does it on the sly. Our main character is Miguel. Miguel starts out in Juvie, then shortly after is sent to a group home. We get the idea that he did something violent. We learn a lot about his brother Diego, who he idolizes. There are 2 other boys at the group home that he becomes friends with unintentionally through the fact that they all decided to run from the group home and go to Mexico. It is on the journey that we learn about all of them. Mong, the seemingly psycho boy that Miguel gets in a fight with almost as soon as he walks into the group home. Mong is life-threatiningly sick we find out. And Rondell, a big black kid, that actually was Miguel's roommate when he got to Juvie, and he always calls Miguel, Mexico, even though Miguel has always lived in the United States. Rondell is not quite all there, and when he gets into a rage, he will keep beating until someone dies.

I kind of guessed what Miguel did before he actually confessed to it, in fact, I caught on pretty quick. I won't give it away in case you're going to read it. A good book, but violent at times. Again, the next book I even picked up is also a male protagonist. Pretty sure, if I get these last 10 books done in the next 20 days, I'll read a really girly book after. :-)

Gateway 14: Muchacho by Louanne Johnson

I have to admit I was not looking forward to this book. It didn't sound good. Boy was I wrong. Maybe if I'd paid attention to who it was written by, the same woman who wrote the memoir that became the movie Dangerous Minds, I would have known better.

This book is told from a Mexican boy's point of view. His name is Eddie. He has a rough life. He's been sent to a special school because of his anger and fighting. He has lots of things in his life that work to try to keep him from finishing school. But Eddie is a secret reader. Eddie is a secret writer as well.

What I loved about this book, from the first page I was hooked. When he began talking about the teacher that kind of really inspired him throughout this book. And how she got kicked/chased out, and while he did nothing to stop it, or let her know at the time that she did reach him, throughout the book he references things she did or talked about with them.

And I love that this book is written just how I'm sure most students think. I can hear these same ideas coming from the things my students say. The why do we need to know this? I know it was written by a teacher/adult, but I also am sure she based it on those writings from her students and how she knew them from working with them. I do love how the kids says testing is ruining school even for the students who like it. Something I am wholly onboard with.

Other than a bit of language and risque themes, but still all realistic for high school kids, this is one of my highest recommendations for the Gateway list for next year. I loved, loved, loved, loved it!!! Might even have it as a staff rec at the bookstore at some point.