Lisa's Looking Foward to #7 - February 26th, March 5th, and March 12th, 2019

So the next couple weeks either only have 1 book, or maybe 2, so I'm going to do three weeks worth of new releases.

From my ARC list for February 26th:

Of course, beautiful cover, and it sounds really good.  Plus I've been seeing it all over the blogosphere from the lucky people who got ARCs of it.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. Herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters her mother vows to purge.

Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant Dauphin. Forced to hide in the derelict sewers beneath the city, any hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible—until Josse’s path collides with Mirabelle’s, and he finds a surprising ally in his sworn enemy.

She's a deadly poisoner. He's a bastard prince. Together, they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?



From my ARC list for March 5th:

I don't know, any time I see Manic Pixie Dream, I want to read it.  I don't know why.  

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Riley lives in TropeTown, where everyone plays stock roles in novels. Riley, a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, is sent to group therapy after going off-script. Riley knows that breaking the rules again could get him terminated, yet he feels there must be more to life than recycling the same clich�s for readers' entertainment. Then he meets Zelda, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Geek Chic subtype), and falls head over heels in love. Zelda's in therapy too, along with several other Manic Pixies. But TropeTown has a dark secret, and if Riley and his fellow Manic Pixies don't get to the bottom of it, they may all be terminated. 

I have a contact now with Simon and Schuster.  She used to be at another publisher, and this is the type of book she would have emailed to ask if I was interested in.  I'm hoping in the future I'll get on the list for those with her new  publisher, although now I'm missing a contact at Disney and am missing out on books there it seems.    Also, beautiful cover, besides how good it sounds!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
At night, Las Mal Criadas own these streets.

Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That roles brings with it violent throw downs and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but the sixteen-year-old grows weary of the life. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city's benevolent founder and cross the border in a search for a mysterious gang the Ashé Ryders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles other crews and her own doubts, but the closer she gets to her goal, the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone— she cares about.

Nalah must do the unspeakable to get what she wants—a place to call home. But is a home just where you live? Or who you choose to protect?


From my ARC list for March 12th

Okay, as soon as you read the blurb below, you'll understand why this one sounds so good!  And then, that cover?!  How could you not be drawn to it!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Pan's Labyrinth meets The Hazel Wood in this novel about a girl with terrifying visions and a wish-granting witch whose lives collide in the most unexpected of ways.

The waking forest has secrets. To Rhea, it appears like a mirage, dark and dense, at the very edge of her backyard. But when she reaches out to touch it, the forest vanishes. She's desperate to know more--until she finds a peculiar boy who offers to reveal its secrets. If she plays a game.

To the Witch, the forest is her home, where she sits on her throne of carved bone, waiting for dreaming children to beg her to grant their wishes. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives and asks her what she wishes for, but the Witch sends him away. And then the uninvited guest returns.

The strangers are just the beginning. Something is stirring in the forest, and when Rhea's and the Witch's paths collide, a truth more treacherous and deadly than either could ever imagine surfaces. But how much are they willing to risk to survive?     


Final Thoughts:
Have you read any of these?  Were you one of the lucky ones to get an ARC of any of these?  Do you have contacts with certain publishers that you look forward to hearing from?  Will you be adding any to your TBR list?  And hey, while you're visiting, go check out my weekly giveaway on my Clear Your TBR post HERE. 

Review and Book Tour: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

I have to say thanks to Edelweiss and Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  I was definitely intrigued by the synopsis, and then when I read the story, I definitely enjoyed it and was glad to have the chance.  Also thanks to Fantastic Flying Book Club Tours for allowing me to be a part of this tour.  You can check out the rest of the schedule for the tour HERE.

The book is told from four different viewpoints, all high school students in Seattle.  And all of them are dealing with normal teen issues like graduating from high school, as well as now an asteroid that is hurtling towards Earth and possibly ending their futures.  I know that a lot of times changes in characters can be confusing when you're reading a book. But I feel like the author did a great job, each chapter had the name of who it was, just in case, and each person has a different enough voice that you could tell who it was very quickly just by reading. 

First is Peter.  Peter is the "man on campus" in that he is a star athlete, on the student council, dating the hottest girl in school, and just very popular.  But one day he is in the dark room at school, and he sees a girl, and he kisses her.  There's just something about her, so different from what he's used to, and he can't seem to help himself.  That girl is Eliza.

When Peter kisses Eliza, it doesn't go unnoticed as another girl, who is friends with Peter's girlfriend just happens to burst into the dark room in the middle of their kiss.  Thanks to that, Eliza gets a horrible reputation from the rumors that those girls then spread about her.  So she kind of gives in and becomes what the rumors say.  But her life isn't great outside of school either.  Her mother left her and her father, and her father has cancer and has to go to the hospital.

The third character we hear from is Andy.  Andy is your total slacker/trouble maker.  He is a skateboarder, and also has a not so great home life.  His dad is gone, and his mother married a rich man that they now live with.  The house they live in has one of those "mother-in-law" apartments, which he calls a ma-in-law, (which I love that nickname!), and he gets to live in that.  It also becomes a party hangout for his friends.  Where no one checks in on them.  He doesn't get much attention from his mom or stepdad.  He also has an issue with his best friend Bobo for not coming through on a pact they'd make. And he's not really a ladies man, so he will end up with a goal of finally hooking up with a girl before the asteroid, Ardor, hits.  And he settles on Eliza.

The last character is Anita.  She comes from a family that wants her to go to Princeton, and expects her to be academically superior in all ways.  Yet Anita has always felt drawn to singing.  Unfortunately her father is very rigid and won't allow it.  When her grades aren't as good as they need to be, and she only gets provisional acceptance into Princeton, she begins to wonder if she is going to be able to live with the life her father wants for her.  And with the asteroid coming, they all are really looking at their choices and futures, or lack of futures, to decide what is right for them.

As it becomes more clear that the asteroid is headed for Earth, things begin to spiral out of control in the world outside of their own lives, martial law comes, school changes, public places start closing, causing looting, and arson, as well as places catching on fire just because of all the other things going on.  These four will be thrown together more and more, into a word I learned from this book, a karass, which is a group of people linked together in a cosmically significant manner.  Andy came up with this term from when they read Vonnegut in school.  Together they must figure out how to come to terms with this future and what their feelings for themselves, each other, their families, and the world around them are.

I like that what is happening in the world seems realistic to me.  It's not mega-crazy rioting, but it is rioting.  I like that there were words used in the book that may not be easily known by all teens, but were words that they might be learning in high school.  Like karass, or gulag.  I liked how realistic the characters were. They weren't perfect, they had the real types of reactions to how others treated them, and that was perfect.  I like that the asteroid was there, but not the whole story, although the science teacher in me would have loved more about that.  I will definitely put this book on the list for books to order for the high school library where I work. 

Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard

Thanks to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book in June 2013.  I loved the idea of reading a book about boys who were genetically designed in a lab to be the clones of serial killers.  While I wasn't quite sure what the scientific research in this would be, other than maybe to see if it was nature or nurture that caused their violence, it just sounded like a unique story.  And that it definitely was.
The main character is Jeff, and he was cloned from Jeffrey Dahmer.  He was raised by one of  the actual scientists.  Told his mother died in a car accident when he was younger, that he was also in, and that is why he can't remember her.  Well, the book starts out with his "dad" telling him that is actually not true, and leaving him with papers explaining what really he was, and then being left alone.  Left alone until men from the DSTI labs come to take away everything his father has left.  He hides in his father's secret room until they go.  Until another man shows up, Castillo.  Castillo has been hired by the labs, or maybe the government, to find all the clones that were just set free from the labs.  Set free probably by Jeff's father, and amidst murders of doctors, nurses, and other people at the labs.  At first Castillo think that Jeff can help him.  Until one night Castillo gives him some money, and tells him to get lost.  Jeff can't just take the money and leave.  He has nowhere to go, and he figures that Castillo is his best chance at finding his father.  Along the trip to find these cloned serial killers, Jeff and Castillo's relationship will change.  As Jeff begins to see what kind of life he really had growing up, how he was actually lucky compared to some clones that were subjected to some of the horrible same abuses their originals dealt with, he finds that Castillo's messed up life kind of fits well and matches his needs for a friend.
I loved the idea of this book.  And it is a good story, had a good plot, characters, all of that.  Only, it kind of started slow.  They sit in a hotel room for a LONG time at the beginning.  And it is kind of boring.  I know that is the point of it, but it made it hard to get going in the book and stay hooked at first.  If you keep going, and give it time, it will get you hooked to where you are wanting to keep reading because you need to know what is going to happen.  So just keep that in mind.  I found the information about the serial killers that was included, which also included pictures of them, was fascinating.  The back story of Jeff's father, the scientist, and how he wondered if he himself might have been related to one of the possible suspects of Jack the Ripper, was interesting, so that added as well.  Again, I could see it being a hard read for someone who needs to get right into the story, but if you can push through that first part, and just keep reading for the info on the serial killers, I think it is enjoyable.

Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Simon and Schuster for sending a copy of this ARC to the Barnes and Noble where I work part time. I was so thrilled to see this, as I loved The Guinea Pig Diaries by this same author. Although, when I went to Goodreads.com to see what I had rated that book, I found I'd never marked it read! I must have read it before Goodreads was around, or at least before I found it. All I can say that A.J. Jacobs is hilarious. Once again I laughed out loud as I read about him throwing himself wholeheartedly into his experiences in order to write his books and articles.
In Drop Dead Healthy, Jacobs has decided to become the healthiest man in the world. This after a health scare on a vacation with his family. This isn't just a book about losing weight, although he does discuss this, it is about all the different parts of the body (almost all) and what you should do to take care of each part. Also during this time we get a window into what is going on in his life, and we get to learn about his grandfather, and his relationship with him, and as is fitting (but very sad), we also learn about his grandfather's health descent and death. Again I love his talk about his family, I just would love to meet his wife, or see her talk on a talk show, just to find out how she puts up with him. Now, because this was an ARC, I know there are things that weren't put into the book, it even says that as you read with pages reserved for things that aren't there yet. So I can only talk about the things in the book that I could read. Jacobs goes basically with a new body part or system for each chapter, although some of them could be tied together. I like how he not only follows up on what you have heard about in the mainstream media, but even searches out lesser known "experts" and ideas for health. I really like how he points out how so many health reports are either conflicting, soon discovered to not have scientific evidence to back them up, or maybe slanted by who sponsored them. I feel like these are things the American people don't always think about when a newscaster announces some new, big health news. I also liked how at the back he condensed several things into the top 6 things for you to remember about that topic. For example he gives tips on how to eat less, both for the normal person, and for the obsessed. One of the main ideas that carries throughout the book is one I wish I could do. It is the treadmill desk. I know that I watch a lot of tv and play on the computer a lot. And as a teacher, I do a lot of grading as well. I have always thought it would be perfect to have the treadmill every day as I watched my recording of The Young and the Restless. But just to have a treadmill to be constantly walking during that stuff would be great. My problems are I have nowhere in my house to fit it, as well as money, and I'm not sure what my new puppy would think of it, I'm afraid she'd get hurt. Sooo, maybe someday I'll enact that idea.
I want to point out a couple parts of the book that I had to mark the pages to share. First, in the chapter about the adrenal gland, or having less stress, he goes to a laughter club. And at one point he talks about there being a young adult author in the club with him. Well of course, I'm curious as to who this YA author is, because I'm nosy and love YA authors. Also, he talks about she catches him chuckling, which makes her start laughing, and then he starts laughing harder. I love moments like that. They seem to happen to me and my mom a lot. One of us will just get so tickled by something, we can't stop laughing, to where we snort when we try to stop and hold it in, and finally just give in and are crying from laughing so hard. And forget looking at each other when we're trying to stop, just a look and we bust out laughing again. But again, I want to know who this YA author in NYC is. Anyone know? :-)
And the other thing I marked was about smoking. I have been anti-smoking as long as I can remember. So much that while I don't remember it, my step-dad says he quit smoking because at about 5 years old I came home with a kit to quit smoking, and he figured if a 5 year old knew how bad it was, why didn't he? I've also lost both my grandmother and grandfather to lung cancer from smoking. Neither one was fun to watch, and my grandmother was so young when it happened. In the book Jacobs mentions a fact that Cigarettes are still the leading preventable cause of death in America. And that just astounds me. I don't understand the draw of them, I've never had ANY desire to even try one. But I guess I've just had the examples in my life to show me. Not that those examples always work, I have a cousin, who also was there watching our grandfather die a few years ago from lung cancer, and he still smokes. I just don't understand it.
Once again the book is hilarious, and I know I just have to read the author's other books, The Year of Living Biblically, and The Know-It-All.
**EDIT**  I forgot to mention one of the things in the book that did really stick with me!  You are not supposed to read while going to the bathroom.  That is supposedly bad for that part of your health.  Unfortunately, some days that is one of the few times I get to read, so probably not going to stop that!  :-)

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