Lisa's Looking Forward To #32 - October 1st, 2019

Back to joining up with the Waiting on Wednesday Posts, and the Can't Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  Once again there are a ton of books out next week that I'm excited for, although a few less than last week.

From my ARC list for October 1st, 2019:

Netflix series or movie?  And it sounds pretty good!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

The Lady of the Lake finds her voice in this cinematic twist on the tale of King Arthur created by Tom Wheeler and legendary artist, producer, and director Frank Miller (300, Batman: The Dark Night Returns, Sin City).

Whosoever wields the Sword of Power shall be the one true King.

But what if the Sword has chosen a Queen?

Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave…

That is, until her entire village is slaughtered by Red Paladins, and Nimue’s fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people’s only hope. Her mission leaves little room for revenge, but the growing power within her can think of little else.

Nimue teams up with a charming mercenary named Arthur and refugee Fey Folk from across England. She wields a sword meant for the one true king, battling paladins and the armies of a corrupt king. She struggles to unite her people, avenge her family, and discover the truth about her destiny.

But perhaps the one thing that can change Destiny itself is found at the edge of a blade.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 
 

Love the cover, and it sounds cute!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Sophie wants one thing for Christmas-a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship. Cue devastation.

Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents' house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That's when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby.

When Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she's started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available.

This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever... or is it?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

I really liked Frozen, but I haven't read any of the Twisted Tale series.  But this one sounds good!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

What if Anna and Elsa never knew each other?
When a magical accident erases Anna and Elsa's memories not only of magic, but of each other the sisters are separated for protection. But when Elsa unexpectedly finds herself as a young queen mysterious magic begins to happen and questions of her past start to form. Will the sisters ever be reunited?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

Sounds like a really emotional read!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
 
Relatable, heartbreaking, and real, this is a story of resilience--the perfect novel for readers of powerful contemporary fiction like Girl in Pieces and Every Last Word.

Before, I was a million things. Now I'm only one. The Burned Girl.

Ava Lee has lost everything there is to lose: Her parents. Her best friend. Her home. Even her face. She doesn't need a mirror to know what she looks like--she can see her reflection in the eyes of everyone around her.

A year after the fire that destroyed her world, her aunt and uncle have decided she should go back to high school. Be "normal" again. Whatever that is. Ava knows better. There is no normal for someone like her. And forget making friends--no one wants to be seen with the Burned Girl, now or ever.

But when Ava meets a fellow survivor named Piper, she begins to feel like maybe she doesn't have to face the nightmare alone. Sarcastic and blunt, Piper isn't afraid to push Ava out of her comfort zone. Piper introduces Ava to Asad, a boy who loves theater just as much as she does, and slowly, Ava tries to create a life again. Yet Piper is fighting her own battle, and soon Ava must decide if she's going to fade back into her scars . . . or let the people by her side help her fly.

"A heartfelt and unflinching look at the reality of being a burn survivor and at the scars we all carry. This book is for everyone, burned or not, who has ever searched for a light in the darkness." --Stephanie Nielson, New York Times bestselling author of Heaven Is Here and a burn survivor

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

I got an ARC of this one, and am behind on reading, or else I would have probably reviewed it this past weekend.  Hope to get to it soon!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

When a determined girl is confronted with the culture of toxic masculinity, it's time to even the score.

Michigan Manning lives for hockey, and this is her year to shine. That is, until she gets some crushing news: budget cuts will keep the girls' hockey team off the ice this year.

If she wants colleges to notice her, Michigan has to find a way to play. Luckily, there's still one team left in town ...

The boys' team isn't exactly welcoming, but Michigan's prepared to prove herself. She plays some of the best hockey of her life, in fact, all while putting up with changing in the broom closet, constant trash talk and "harmless" pranks that always seem to target her.

But once hazing crosses the line into assault, Michigan must weigh the consequences of speaking up - even if it means putting her future on the line.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

Sounds really good, and it's by the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Christopher is seven years old. Christopher is the new kid in town. Christopher has an imaginary friend. The epic work of literary horror from the #1 bestselling author of THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER.

We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.

Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with Christopher at her side. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.

At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six awful days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a tree house in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.

Soon Kate and Christopher find themselves in the fight of their lives, caught in the middle of a war playing out between good and evil, with their small town as the battleground.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.  

The stories sound like they could be interesting, plus, the Divergent series was good, until the ending.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Bestselling Divergent and Carve the Mark author Veronica Roth delivers a stunning collection of novella-length stories set in the future, illustrated with startling black-and-white artwork.

No world is like the other. Within this masterful collection, each setting is more strange and wonderful than the last, brimming with new technologies and beings. And yet, for all the advances in these futuristic lands, the people still must confront deeply human problems.

In these six stories, Veronica Roth reaches into the unknown and draws forth something startlingly familiar and profoundly beautiful.

With tales of friendship and revenge, plus two new stories from the Carve the Mark universe, this collection has something for new and old fans alike. Each story begins with a hope for a better end, but always end with a better understanding of the beginning.

With beautifully intricate black-and-white interior illustrations and a uniquely designed package, this is the perfect gift for book lovers.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

Sounds very unique!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

From the author of Printz Medal winner Bone Gap comes the unforgettable story of two young women—one living, one dead—dealing with loss, desire, and the fragility of the American dream during WWII.

When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary—just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That’s why Frankie's not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket.

Now Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans—two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.

And as the embers of the Great Depression are kindled into the fires of World War II, and the shadows of injustice, poverty, and death walk the streets in broad daylight, it will be up to Frankie to find something worth holding on to in the ruins of this shattered America—every minute of every day spent wondering if the life she's able to carve out will be enough.

I will admit I do not know the answer. But I will be watching, waiting to find out.

That’s what ghosts do.

 Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.



  
Final Thoughts:
Only have one of these as an ARC to read, and a bit behind as I mentioned.  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, there are even some 2019 ARCs that can be one of your two choices. 

A to Z April - Letter D: Dystopia

 

For the letter D, I've chosen a genre (not sure if that's the correct term for that) of literature that is currently very popular, and is one that is one of my favorites.  I will share five of my favorite dystopian series today.

1.  The Giver Series by Lois Lowry

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I had read all of them, and then got an ARC of the 4th book, Son, when I went to BEA 2 years ago.  I'm sorry to say I have yet to read it though.  I saw that they are doing a movie, and I'm excited, although from the preview I saw, it doesn't match what I saw in my head when I read The Giver.  Looks like I'll be doing a re-read of that in the near future.

2.  The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins:

I first learned of this book when I read it for the state library association book award list.  I loved The Hunger Games so much that I began teaching it in a class we had every day that was for enrichment.  Now, I think because I did that, the first movie was a big disappointment to me. So much left out.  However since I hadn't read the second book, Catching Fire, more than 2 or 3 times, and it had been a while, I was able to enjoy the 2nd movie more.

3.  Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth:

This is a series that I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of the first book.  But then, I didn't get one of the 2nd book, and didn't get it until two months after it was published.  So while I got a bit behind between one and two, when number three came out, I bought it on the publishing date (which happened to be my birthday last year), and read it right away!  Also, LOVED the first movie, I think they did a really good job compared to how some movies from books have been done lately.

4.  Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie:

This is a book that I also got an ARC of the first in the series, but then had to wait till the books were published to read on.  I LOVED the first one, the 2nd one was okay, and the third was maybe a bit long for me.

5.  The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix:

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I can't remember for sure when I read this series, and yes, it is a bit younger than the others, but it is a really good series, and Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of my favorite authors.  I have the picture on the left showing all the books, and then the one on the right is one I found when searching for images to use for this post.  I like the cover of it a bit better, I think it would be more appealing to kids today, maybe make them not see it as such a young book and give it a chance.

Are you a dystopia fan?  I haven't listed here all the ones I've read, just chose the top five, and the top five that all of the books in the series are out and I have read, well except for the The Giver series I mean. 

And hey, while you're here, go enter my giveaway on the Fool for Books Giveaway Hop.

Waiting on Wednesday - Four: A Divergent Story Collection (Divergent 0.1-0.4) by Veronica Roth

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting. This week I've chosen a book, that is a collection of novellas that are either not available yet, or only available as an e-novella.  They are kind of what you'd call prequels I guess.  Prequels to a series that many of the fans were unhappy about its ending, the Divergent series.  If you haven't yet, and aren't concerned about spoilers, you can read my review of Allegiant HERE.  Here is the blurb about the collection from Goodreads:

More Four! Fans of the Divergent series by No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be thrilled this collection of short stories told from Four's perspective. Each brief story in this collection explores the world of the Divergent series through the eyes of the mysterious but charismatic Tobias Eaton, revealing previously unknown facets of his personality, backstory and relationships.

Features the following stories: The Transfer, The Initiate, The Son, The Traitor, and Free Four.

Before you leave, don't forget to stop by my Fierce Reads Giveaway, you only have one more day to enter!

Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

Like many of the reviews I've seen on Goodreads, I must say that I'm unsure exactly what to say, or how to even review this.  Also like at least one other review, I loved Divergent, Insurgent kind of was the usual middle book, not really great, but okay to get through to the next book.  And this one, good, just not how I would have liked it to have ended.  Big alert now, there is NO WAY, I can do this review without SPOILERS, so stop reading now if you don't want to know anything until you read it for yourself.  In fact, from here on out, I can't promise when a spoiler might show up, so before that, let me remind you to go enter my Fierce Reads Giveaway, and then you won't have to read any further!

SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!

So, here goes.  I really enjoyed getting out of the "Factionless" group where Four's mother was in charge.  For some reason, that was just never something I enjoyed in the 2nd book, so of course it makes sense it wouldn't be my favorite in this book.  But once they got out of their city, and headed to the place they were supposed to go, I really began to enjoy it.  But it turns out this experiment they were part of, well, the outside may not have been quite as bad off as the video they watched led them to believe.  While I enjoyed learning about this outside society.  I also feel, like I saw another review on Goodreads again, that maybe we got into one of those back story information overloads that happen sometimes in books.  While this book was basically the same number of pages as the 2nd book, I almost felt like it was shorter in a way.  I think it could totally have been longer, but, that being said, a lot happened in the book.  We had a lot of characters that we lost, or that got injured, and not always just disposable characters.  In fact, the ending of the book, was a HUGE death.  One that changes the whole world.  Someone we began with, we don't get to finish with.  But it's okay.  It was a realistic ending.  The person that saved everyone with their sacrifice, it only made sense that they did that.  But it was so sad.  When it happened, I immediately knew what all the angry reviews I'd seen but hadn't read were about.  I wasn't angry though, just really sad.  I was at a point when I had to stop to go do something else, this was about page 500, and I was glad.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get through the rest of the book.  Whether the ending worked or not, it wasn't a happy one.  I did like how the reason the whole experiments had begun was because of genetically "damaged" people and it turns out the "Divergent" people were what they had been looking for to come out of this experiment.  And it wasn't just Chicago, it was many other cities.  The first city set up didn't even start with a faction setting, and that experiment basically was a horrible failure.  I enjoyed the genetics talk that there was.  And the dystopian society, that Tris and Four and all of the people we knew not only left, but found outside their city.  I also want to comment on the dual point of view, both Tris and Four.  I enjoyed getting the story from Four's point of view.  In fact, it really kind of helped.  Because there were times that if we'd only  had Tris's point of view, you'd probably not have been able to forgive Four for not listening to what Tris thought they should do.  

Really, a good story overall.  A good ending, or realistic ending, not the kind I'd probably read again.  I know a lot of people hated the last book of the Twilight series, and said they wouldn't have ended it that way, but I always argued with them, and said it was the author's story, it ended the way she saw it.  And I actually liked that last book, and I can read it again and again.  This book, while I will argue again with people that it ended the way the author wanted it to, unfortunately it is not a feel good, read over and over story.  But I am excited to see the movies, especially Divergent, so I'll be revisiting the end again at some point, at the theater at least.

Now, if you made it all this way, and you haven't gone and entered my Fierce Reads Giveaway yet, go do it NOW!!

Waiting on Wednesday - Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  My choice this week is one that probably a lot of people will be choosing in the next few months, the third and final book of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, Allegiant.  It took me a while to get to the 2nd one, due to the fact that I was refusing to buy it since I'd received an ARC of the first one, I just didn't want to have to buy it.  But then my brother got me the special Barnes and Noble edition of Insurgent for Christmas.  And then it sat for awhile.  But my sister had read the first one and was eager to read on, so I had to read it so I could pass it on.  Plus, I got to meet the author a couple weeks ago, so wanted to read it before then in case I'd have the chance to ask her any questions.  If you haven't read the series or the synopsis of the third book yet, here it is from Goodreads.com:

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth’s #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.







Not much to go on, huh?  At least we only have to wait till October, and not just October, on my exact birthday, the 22nd!  Below is my picture with the author at the RT Convention, and this was taken at the Teen Day party, because I wasn't a fan of the one I had taken with her the night before at a different party.

Desperately Wanting Wednesday (1): Books that give me evil thoughts!

Saw this on A Soul Unsung's blog and it is so much what I've been feeling with all my jealousy about the Insurgent ARC's that I thought I'd join in this week!  This was created by Parajunkee so that we don't only have to talk about upcoming releases, but can also talk about books that we've missed, have already been released, or that you want and haven't purchased yet.  So here is my list, a few anyway.

Books that give me evil/illegal thoughts:

Well, I have to start with Insurgent.  I got an ARC of Divergent at the bookstore where I worked I think, and so I'm kind of sad I didn't get the ARC of Insurgent as well.  I really wish I could get all the ARCs in a series if I get to start the series out that way.  Especially when I really LOVED the series!  So, I am overcoming my evil thoughts or my jealousy in that a couple of the people who did get them for these really cool contests, are also doing giveaways for the ARCs.  So I'm trying that way.  :-)  In fact, to show how NOT jealous I am, here are some links to the different factions:

The Divergent Lexicon is leading Team Amity
Divergent Fans are leading Team Dauntless
The Divergent Examiner is Team Abegnation
The Story Siren is Team Candor
Bookalicious is Team Erudite

Because we're talking about books that could be older ones, I was sooooo jealous of anyone who got a Fever ARC.  Since I also got the ARC for Wither, I wanted to keep reading that series in all ARCs too.  I loved Wither, and so am again disappionted I didn't get an ARC.  However Fever wasn't AS good as Wither, it was good, and I kind of would like the matching set of ARCs. 

And another one that I got as an ARC for the first book, but not the 2nd, was Crossed.  I loved Matched.  In fact my ARC of Matched didn't even have a picture on it, so I don't even have the pretty cover of the published book.  But I still wanted a matching set.  Again, Crossed was not as good as Matched, but like Fever, it carried the story on just right.






So, there are others, but I'm going to end this post for now.  What books give you evil thoughts?