Lisa’s Looking Forward To #46 – January 28th, 2020

Once again I’ll be joining up with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  Five books to share this week.

From my ARC list for January 21st, 2020:

Saw this one on Netgalley, and it just kind of sounded good!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

TWO YOUNG HACKERS WITH THE BRAINS TO SAVE THE WORLD. OR AT LEAST CHANGE IT. WHAT CAN GO WRONG?

Pandora Lynch lives in Alaska with her single dad, an online therapist for Silicon Valley’s brightest and cagiest Homeschooled by computer and a self-taught hacker, Pandora is about to enter high school to learn how to be normal. That’s the plan at least.

NorCal runaway, George Jedson, is a hacker too – one who leaves the systems he attacks working better than before. After being scooped up by a social media giant, will George go legit – or pull off the biggest hack ever? Not even his therapist knows for sure, but maybe the headshrinker’s daughter. . .

After meeting in cyberspace, the two young hackers combine their passions to conceive a brainchild named BUZZ. Can this baby AI learn to behave, or will it be like its parents and think outside the box?

With a hilarious and deeply empathetic narrative voice, this elegiac and unapologetically irreverent novel is both humorous and tragic without ever taking itself too seriously.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

Found this one on Edelweiss and thought it sounded good. Plus, love that cover!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Kira Fujikawa has always been a girl on the fringe. Bullied by her peers and ignored by her parents, the only place Kira’s ever felt at home is at her grandfather’s Shinto shrine, where she trains to be a priestess.

But Kira’s life is shattered on the night her family’s shrine is attacked by a vicious band of yokai demons. With the help of Shiro—the shrine’s gorgeous half-fox, half-boy kitsune—Kira discovers that her shrine harbors an ancient artifact of great power . . . one the yokai and their demon lord, Shuten-doji, will use to bring down an everlasting darkness upon the world. 

Unable to face the Shuten-doji and his minions on her own, Kira enlists the aid of seven ruthless shinigami—or death gods—to help stop the brutal destruction of humankind. But some of the death gods aren’t everything they initially seemed, nor as loyal to Kira’s cause as they first appeared.

With war drawing nearer by the day, Kira realizes that if this unlikely band of heroes is going to survive, they’re going to have to learn to work together, confront their demons, and rise as one to face an army of unimaginable evil.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

So, I love this author, even if I still haven’t read the last book in her last series, The Silver Series. I have an ARC, and plan to read this after I finish my current read, and hope to post a review this weekend!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A Castle in the Clouds follows a girl as she navigates secrets, romance, and danger in an aging grand hotel.

Way up in the Swiss mountains, there’s an old grand hotel steeped in tradition and faded splendor. Once a year, when the famous New Year’s Eve Ball takes place and guests from all over the world arrive, excitement returns to the vast hallways.

Sophie, who works at the hotel as an intern, is busy making sure that everything goes according to plan. But unexpected problems keep arising, and some of the guests are not who they pretend to be. Very soon, Sophie finds herself right in the middle of a perilous adventure–and at risk of losing not only her job, but also her heart.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

You probably know by now how much I love these tellings of historical figures. And I do love the Dracula myths like this!

A historical YA horror novel based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula 

In 16th century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Báthory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the Countess begins to groom Anna as her friend and confidante. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess takes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancé, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her, too.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

I always enjoy contemporary books like this.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V.

At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new worlds…and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real-world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line…

And she isn’t going down without a fight.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

Final Thoughts:

Once again a good bunch of books coming out during the first month of 2020. 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.