Lisa's Looking Forward To - #2 (with giveaway) - January 13th, 2019

You might have noticed this new post I started last weekend HERE.  I think I might add to it a bit, make it a little more like a Sunday post, or a weekly wrap-up post.  I don't know.  We'll see. But for now I am adding one extra thing, at the end I have a giveaway!  I'm going to do one giveaway a week with this post.  I need to probably get rid of more of the ARCs I have.  They don't always seem to go for Books for Trade when I try that, and sometimes I do giveaways, but I thought maybe I'd do a giveaway each week.  So check it out below the books I'm sharing for this week.

These are the books on my list that will be published on January 15th, 2019:

I'm all about any kind of retelling, and this is a retelling of a story I don't know, and I often find those the most interesting, because then I want to go back and find the original tale to learn more about it.  I also am interested to read a James Patterson Presents story, as I have yet to do that as far as I know.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
A modern retelling of a classic Indian legend, 96 Words for Love is a coming-of-age story.


Ever since her acceptance to UCLA, 17-year-old Raya Liston has been quietly freaking out. She feels simultaneously lost and trapped by a future already mapped out for her.

Then her beloved grandmother dies, and Raya jumps at the chance to spend her last free summer at the ashram in India where her grandmother met and fell in love with her grandfather. Raya hopes to find her center and her true path. But she didn't expect to fall in love... with a country of beautiful contradictions, her fiercely loyal cousin, a local girl with a passion for reading, and a boy who teaches her that in Sanskrit, there are 96 different ways to say the word "love."

A modern retelling of the classic Indian legend of Shakuntala and Dushyanta.

I read and enjoyed The Star-Touched Queen by this author, but have yet to get around to any of her other books. But as always, they always seem to be ones I want.  Not to mention the beautiful covers.  Now for some reason, I feel like I already saw this out on the shelves at the bookstore where I work, but I could be wrong.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Set in a darkly glamorous world, The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

 So, I haven't read either of those yet.  What about you?  Have you read either? Would you recommend them if you have?  If not, will you be adding any to your TBR?  If you leave a comment below, that is one entry into the giveaway!

Giveaway:
So, I think once a week, whenever I do this post, I'm going to give away a couple books from my Books for Trade pile.  The picture below is what I currently have, although between this post and next Saturday, the ending day, that may change by one or two. But I'll let the winner know when I email them.  You will get to pick one book, and I will add one other one of my choice to mail to you.  Unfortunately this is going to be US only giveaway.  :-(  I can't figure out how to do international without spending a ton on postage.  I mean if you really wanted the books, I guess you could send me the money through Paypal to cover the difference between shipping in the US and International.  But otherwise, I can't afford to do it.  Here are the books:

  
a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 Books of Summer Challenge

I've decided that I am going to join into this challenge hosted by Cathy at 746 Books.  I mean I read so much during the summer anyway, so this should be an easy one!  Here's the information on the challenge:


1 summer.
96 Days.
20 Books.

 From now until 5 September I will be attempting to read my 20 Books of Summer along with Cathy at 746 Books. Why not join in with your own 20 (or 10, or 15!), read along with some of the books, or just cheer us on as we try to get our TBR piles down?

Here are my 20 books I hope to finish this summer, although I may change them as my mood changes, or other books show up on my shelves, also some will be egalleys or ARCs that I will be reading, as well as audiobooks of course! 

1.  The Head of Medusa (Elementals #3) by Michelle Madow
2.  Empire of Dust (Blood of Gods and Royals #2) by Eleanor Herman
3.  Black River Falls by Jeff Hirsch
4.  And I Darken by Kiersten White
5.  The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie Stiefvater
6.  Losing It by Emma Rathbone
7.  Gifted by H.A. Swain
8.  Girl in the Shadows (Girl on a Wire #2) by Gwenda Bond
9.  Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine
10.  Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2) by Rachel Caine
11.  The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison
12.  The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich
13.  Nash (Marked Men #4) by Jay Crownover
14.  Before Jamaica Lane (On Dublin Street #3) by Samantha Young
15.  Finding It (Losing It #3) by Cora Carmack
16.  Wake the Hollow by Gaby Triana
17.  Pure (Covenant #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
18.  The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost
19.  The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole
20.  The Shadow Cabinet (Shades of London #3) by Maureen Johnson

I know I'll read more than that, but I'm going to set those up as my to-reads among all the others I will probably read.

4th Annual September is for Sequels Challenge Sign Ups

Am I the only blogger/reader who falls in love with the first book in a series, and then as I get more and more books to review, more firsts in new series, the sequels tend to sit on my shelf?  I mean I have to buy the sequels right away, usually once they come out, but then they sit on my shelves as I work my way through review books and other new series.  Well, a few years ago I had an idea for a challenge, (well to give credit to who I got the idea from, it was Ems Reviews Books).    Seeing all the challenges that other blogs did, I thought I would set aside the month of September to try to get through as many of those sequels, whatever point of the series I was at, anywhere from #2 to #5, or beyond.  I think the first year I had about 10 people participate, only 6 the 2nd year, but back up to 13 last year.  I'm hoping by getting this posted earlier in the month, maybe I can get some more people this year.  This fits right in with many other challenges, such as the TBR Pile Challenge, End of Series Challenge, etc.  I'm also going to host a Giveaway Hop to go with this, and will link back to that as soon as I get it posted as well.


Objective:
To read and review a minimum of 4 sequels between the dates of September 1st and 30th, 2015. My goal is to read 8 books, that's only 2 a week, which is the less than I set my goal for last year. But, I know that I still have lots of e-galleys to try to get through for the next few months, because I wasn't good about not requesting everything until just recently.  I also will be in New Orleans the last weekend in September, and while I intend to have books, and my Nook with me, (they always go when I travel), I'm not sure how much time I'll get to spend reading.  Plus, one of my books is a pretty big, thick one, so it will take longer than the others will.  But here is my plan, even though it may change as the month goes by:

1.  Arianna's Destiny by Michelle Sodaro
2.  Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu
3. Evertrue (Everneath #3) by Brodi Ashton
4. Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray
5.  The Storm (The Rain #2) by Virginia Bergin
6. Infinite (New Souls #3) by Jodi Meadows
7. End of Days (Penryn and the End of Days #3) by Susan Ee
8. The White Rose (The Lone City #2) by Amy Ewing

Rules:

• It would be good if you had a blog to post reviews, or you can be a Goodreads Member and post your reviews on the site.  I'll open it up to people who want to post reviews on Amazon or Barnes and Noble as well.
• The book must be a sequel - it can be any # in the series, just not the first book.  Prequels can count if they were published AFTER the first one in the series.  You can do e-books, even ARCs or e-galleys, as well as good old fashioned books.  And, I'll even let you count the little 1.5 novellas that are often published as e-books only.  
• The deadline to sign up and participate is September 15th.  
• You must post on your blog an entry that has a list of the sequels you're planning to read, but it doesn't have to be complete, or you could even just post your goal, do you plan to read 8, or more?  You can always go back as the month proceeds and enter the books as you read and review them.  If you don't have a blog, then you can just post a comment on this post listing your goals.
• Make sure you grab the button and put it in your entry post, or on the sidebar of your blog.

 In the sign up form below, you need to give me your name and blog name, Ex:  Lisa (Lisa Loves Lit) or just your blog name is okay, and then a link to your original post that set your goal or listed the books you were reading.  If you are not a blogger, and can't do that post, if you only review on Goodreads, then leave me a link to your profile page on Goodreads so that I can follow you to see your reviews.  If you only review on Amazon or Barnes and  Noble, you can leave me a link to one of your reviews on that site.  Everyone who signs up to participate will be entered once into an end of the month giveaway of a $20 Gift card to Barnes and Noble or Amazon if you prefer, and I may increase the amount of the gift card if I get very many people signed up to participate!  If the winner is International and can't use either of those gift cards, I will let them choose up to $20 worth of books from The Book Depository.  There will also be a way to post a link to each of your reviews in order to earn extra points into the giveaway, that will be with the Rafflecopter below the Sign Up form. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves - March 1st, 2015

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  It's a rather large haul this week.  Most free, but a few purchased.  I want to show you just why I probably don't need to be buying anymore books, which a picture of my bookcase that is just for books I haven't read yet.

That brown bookcase is full of books I haven't read yet.  Every single shelf.  And they are packed into the shelves.  And that's not all.  On my entertainment center in the living room are my ARCs that I'm trying to get read before they are published.  So, you can see why I need to stop getting new books.  But, once again, I failed miserable at that this week.  

Physical ARCs:

The first I got as part of a blog tour I'm going to be participating in.  The 2nd was at the bookstore where I work part time and I got my hands on it last night! So excited to read both of them!

Books won:

I won an autographed copy of the first one from Jessi at Novel Heartbeat.  I've already read it, but loved it, and so glad to have a copy of it!   The other two are books I've heard great things about and I won them from Mary at Bookhounds/BookhoundsYA. 

Physical books purchased:

The first one is a really cool book that I think I saw featured in Entertainment Weekly magazine awhile back, and I thought as a librarian it would be a good book to have.  Bone Season is one that I've heard a lot about, and I was so excited when I saw it in the bargain section of the bookstore where I work. The hardcover of the book for only $5.98, plus my employee 30% discount, well, I couldn't pass it up.  Same for the last book.  I am a huge Twilight fan, and this was on the bargain table for $9.98, and it was originally $39.99.  I couldn't pass up getting it to add to my collection of all things Twilight, again especially when I factored my 30% off that low price.

E-galleys:
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The first one is from Netgalley, and the other two are from Edelweiss.  I think I might have figured out a way to save myself on the Netgalley stats.  Not to download them till closer to when I'm going to actually read them. But I will still put them in my little book where I keep track of what egalleys I want to read when.  Maybe that will help?

Free ebooks:
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The first one just sounds like a cute, fun read. The 2nd one I downloaded for free as part of an entry into a giveaway on the author's blog.

So, that is what I added to both real and virtual shelves this week. What books joined your collection this week?

And while you're here, you should stop by and enter my giveaway for Bones and All  HERE.

2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge #2015TBRPile

I didn't do this last year, and feel like it would be a good one to try again this year.  As before it is sponsored by Bookish.  I got a lot of ARCs at BEA that I really wanted to read, but got messed up in my plan when September and my Sequel Challenge came around.  So those are kind of top on my list.  As well as some books that I had been given or won in giveaways.  So, I'll set my goal to the same number I've done in the past, I plan to read 11-20 books from my TBR pile between January 1st, 2015 and December 31st, 2015. All the books have to have been published in 2014 or before.  Any new books don't count as cleaning out your TBR pile.  I think the fact that they will be doing link ups on the 25th of every other month is going to be helpful for me to doing that.  With the challenge I participated in this past year, I was able to do updates every two months, until October that is, then I got behind.  I hate to pick exactly what I'll read, as I tend to go with what the mood fits at the time, but here are some that I'm hoping I will pick up for this challenge:

• Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
• Endgame: The Calling by James Frey and Nils Johnston-Shelton
• Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle
• The Walled City by Ryan Graudin
• Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater
• Fallen by Lauren Kate
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Time  Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
• Arianna's Destiny by Michelle Sodaro
• Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

The top 5 are ones that I got at BEA, so really hope to get them read.  Others are ones that I really need to read.  If you are interested in participating, click on the link on Bookish above to go get signed up.

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon #TackleTBR

This is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and I heard about it from her when she signed up for my 3rd Annual September is for Sequels Challenge.  And really, the two go together perfectly!  The sequels I plan to read will be partly from my TBR shelf, so during the dates of the challenge, September 8th - 20th, I will do my best to read the sequels that are from my TBR shelf as opposed to the ones I got from the library.  Here are the rules:

The Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon begins Monday, September 8th and ends Saturday, September 20th. You do not have to be a blogger to sign up. Just use your Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Tumblr instead (the place you're going to post updates on). You just need to be able to leave a link. For signing up, you should create a sign-up post and use that as your link (the URL field) you'll use in the linky below.

Please sign up by using the linky at the end of the this post. You MUST be signed up in the linky to enter any related giveaways and participate in the challenges. You are required to post a sign-up post (with or without goals, we will be posting goals too, but that isn't required as a separate post) and a wrap-up post (at the end of the read-a-thon) to be eligible for the giveaway. Everything else and how you participate is up to you.

You can sign up through September 17th.

You're welcome to participate as much or as little as you'd like. The read-a-thon is to encourage us all to read so that we can tackle those tbr piles, not to cause extra stress. ;) You will see requests for updates, but there are no requirements that you leave an update every day. Daily updates are great, though, to help us all stay motivated and cheer each other on. If you do want to post a daily update, here is a simple template (omit or add things as you like):

(Day of the week)
What I read today:
Today's finished books:
Total number of finished books:
Titles of finished books:

We will be using hashtag #TackleTBR on Twitter for updates and tweets. I'd love for you to include me in your tweets too @TresSherm. This is also a great way to find others participating and give some encouragement.

There will be a giveaway that I will host for all read-a-thon participants. I haven't completely decided on what all will be on there, but I'll know by the time this begins. A little mystery is always good, right? :) You should know that it will at least include a $15 Amazon gift card.

Here are the books I think I am going to read during that time:

• Asunder by Jodi Meadows
• The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
• Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
• Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

These are all somewhat thick books, so with only 12 days for this challenge, picking four books is one every three days.  I  think that is probably fair.  

Now if this read-a-thon sounds like something you'd like to join into, you can click the picture at the top and it will take you back to the sign up page.  And if you want, you can click on my link above to go to my September is for Sequels Challenge and sign up for that too.  I'm also co-hosting a Giveaway Hop with I Am a Reader that signs up close this week, click on the button below to go sign up.

And there's one more week to enter the huge giveaway I have for my 5th Blogoversary earlier this month.  Click on the button below for that:

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books to Read or not to Read?

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish.  This week's theme:


 Top Ten Books I'm Not Sure I Want To Read (books you may have bought but aren't sure if you are into it anymore, books you wanted to read but heard mixed things about, hyped books you aren't sure about --- basically any book that has you going, "TO READ OR NOT TO READ?"

This is one that I thought sounded interesting, so let's see what are those 10 books that I bought or got ahold of somehow, but now I'm just not sure if I'm ever going to read it.

1. 

Now I know that so many people just love this book, and I met the author awhile back and just loved her. But I am just not sure that it is my type of book.  I'm not really what you'd call a "high fantasy" reader.  I have a UK version of this book that I won in a contest.  But I will probably trade that on YA Book Exchange for something that I know I want.

2.

I'm not sure about this one either.  I bought it when I was working at the bookstore and there was the big trend of all the classics being re-done with either vampires or zombies.  Now it sits on my TBR shelf.

3.

 

This is one that everyone said I should read.  But it just never sounded that great to me.  I saw the movie, which was very visually amazing, and it did have an interesting story.  But I just can't see ever spending the time to read it.

4.  

 

I went through a phase when I was really into memoirs, and so I grabbed this one as a good deal one year on our Christmas 40% off employee sale.  Again still sitting on my TBR shelf. And I just don't have the inclination to pick it up.

5.  

 

Now this one should be right up my alley, I love a good dystopian.  And I've heard such great things about this!  But every time I pick it up, I just can't get very far into it.

6.  

So I am normally a huge Stephen King fan.  But when the first few books in The Dark Tower series came out, I struggled through them.  Again they are so much more fantasy than I prefer to read.  When the newer ones came out, I made sure to buy them, but they're still sitting on my shelf as I don't seem to ever be in the mood to read them.

7. 

 

I thought The Lovely Bones and Lucky by this author were really emotionally touching, great reads.  And so I got this book while I was part of a books through the mail club.  But again, I've just not had any inclination to do anything with it other than leave it sitting on my TBR shelf.

8.  

 

This is another book I've heard so many good things about. But I just never seem to feel like it is worth picking up and reading.

9.  

 

This is the very first book that was ever loaned to me on a Nook.  Actually the only one I think. At the time I didn't have a Nook, just used my app on my phone.  But I didn't read it before the loan expired.  And while it has been on the bargain tables at Barnes and Noble before, I didn't ever get around to buying it.

10.  

 

I had an ARC of this and it sat on my shelf for a long time. Finally I took it back into the bookstore where I work part time and left it for someone else to read.  It still sounds good every time I read the synopsis, but again, I never find myself reaching for it.

So, what books did you think you wanted to read, but now aren't quite so sure? 

While you're here, don't forget to enter my 5th Blogoversary Giveaway, just click on the picture below.

And I also have a sign up for a Blog Hop and my September is for Sequels Challenge for you to sign up for with the buttons below.

Review: Perfection by J.L. Spelbring

First thanks to Spencer Hill Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  It actually came out this July, at least in the US.  And I think the sequel, Flawed, which I also have an e-galley of, comes out in August.  So it is nice having them to read together.  Although I tend to read an e-book/galley then a physical book, so as to try to keep up on all my TBR piles, both real and virtual.  So I will be reading the sequel after the book I'm reading now.  Anyway, I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book.  It is dystopian for sure, but it is also an alternate history story, something I haven't read much of, but have always been intrigued.  This one is set in a world where Hitler won the war.

The main character is Ellyssa, and she was created by who she calls her father, Dr. Hirch.  He is planning to complete Hitler's dream of the perfect Aryan pure race.  And so he is creating children in his laboratory, at The Center.  Not only are they creating the perfect children, with special traits, they are also training those who are "almost" perfect to be the police force, basically a present day Gestapo.  The story begins with Ellyssa running away from the Center.  She's found something in the files that she isn't supposed to read that make her not want to be a part of all of the testing and plans.  It all began when she heard a young man saying "Kansas City" to her as he was being dragged down the hall.  But he wasn't saying this out loud, it was in her mind.  And he did this several times, until she knew that he was dead, killed as other Renegades were.  Renegades are the people that wouldn't be part of the Pure Race.  In this alternate time, people are blond, different shades, and only Ellyssa's white blond hair is really the "perfect" color.  Blue eyes are the norm, as well as the light color skin. 

Of course as soon as Ellyssa is found to be missing, they send out one of their Gestapo detectives, Ms. Petersen.  So now she is on the run.  She finally is able to get away and get on the train, she knows she must head to Kansas City.  That is where the boy told her.  But soon someone figures out she is on the train, and so now she must jump, even though the train is still going at normal speed.  She isn't really concerned, as her advanced physical traits should help her to make it off with as little injury as possible.  Unfortunately it isn't that easy, and she does become injured.  Not only that, she had to leave all her food and supplies on the train.  She trudges along, until finally she can go no more and sees a small ghost town.  I believe it is called Deepwater in the book.  When she stumbles into a store and thinks she will hide there from those chasing her, she runs into some renegades. And while her superior fighting skills help her at first, she is knocked out and taken back to their camp. 

This is where she meets Rein and his brother Woody.  The leader of this group of Renegades is named Jordan, and if he can accept her, then the rest of the group should too.  But as she grows to know them, and see just how wrong what her father was doing, she also knows that she is now putting them in danger, since she is being looked for.  And she doesn't know the lengths that her father will go to to get her back.  But knowing what the final plan is according to the files she found, she only knows she must protect these people, all people, and that will mean going back to the Center.

Definitely a good read.  I was very interested in how things were working.  I would like to know more about the actual society, maybe some more of the history of the time period between the end of the war and "today".  We did get some information later on in the story, which in a way, I kind of like now that I think about it after finishing the book.  When I started I felt like I needed to know more about what happened to make her run away.  But the way it was worked into the story was really pretty great.  As Ellyssa let down her guard and learned more about the world and people outside of her home, we also kind of learned more about her.  I will be interested to read the sequel and see what will happen after where we left off.  And, as I have lived in Missouri my whole life, I love that this story is set for the most part in so many Missouri places!  Places I've lived or been.  For instance, they talk about Warrensburg, and that's where I went to college!  So, I was hooked from that point on.  Plus, partly in Chicago, I am a big fan of the city Chicago.

Top 10 Tuesday - Top 10 Books On My Spring 2014 TBR Pile

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish.   

This week we are talking about the books that are priority on our spring 2014 reading list -- old and new!

And my most anticipated spring read is:

Now, I don't actually have all of these sitting on an actual TBR shelf, be it physical or e-book.  But, the ones that are not in hand right now, I will be buying, or am still hoping to get an e-galley or ARC of.  The last two are kind of going into summer reading, but as May is still before summer, kind of, I'm counting them as spring reads.  

Those are the books I can't wait to read this spring.  What books are your top 10 to read this spring?