Blog Tour: Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

Pub Date: July 5, 2016

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Genre: young adult contemporary/sci-fi/humor

Summary: Brimming with humor and one-of-a-kind characters, this end-of-the world novel will grab hold of Andrew Smith and Rainbow Rowell fans.

An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth. A big, bad one. Yuri, a physicist prodigy from Russia, has been called to NASA as they calculate a plan to avoid disaster. He knows how to stop the asteroid: his research in antimatter will probably win him a Nobel prize--if there's ever another Nobel prize awarded. But Yuri's 17, and having a hard time making older, stodgy physicists listen to him. Then he meets Dovie, who lives like a normal teenager, oblivious to the impending doom. Being with her, on the adventures she plans when he's not at NASA, Yuri catches a glimpse of what it means to save the world and save a life worth living.

Prepare to laugh, cry, cringe, and have your mind burst open with questions of the universe.

Welcome to the Learning to Swear in America tour! Today, in honor of Katie, Yuri, and Dovie, we are celebrating destroying the world stories about destroying the world. So sit back, relax, and let's blow up the planet! (Dear NSA / FBI / super top secret alphabet agencies who may be reading this: I'm just kidding about the whole blowing up the planet thing, but feel free to send the Avengers down here just in case)

Remember that time Alderaan exploded? Ah, the good old days.

Mary's Favorite Apocalyptic Stories

Okay, so first of all, Independence Day. I like my “the world is about to end” to come with an extra-large side of funny with sassy sauce to spare. ID4 has this in spades. From Will Smith welcoming an alien pilot to Earth with a knuckle sandwich to the face to the fat lady singing, Independence Day provides the laughs. Also, I like that literally everyone does something heroic. There’s a president with the most motivational speech I’ve ever heard that makes me want to kiss babies and fly a jet; a stripper with, yes, a heart of gold (fyi, she OWNS that job like nobody’s business); an alcoholic washed up crop duster who is, erm, let’s say intimately acquainted with the aliens; a cranky Jewish dad and his super-nerd son; etc. It’s an amazing ensemble cast that includes Tinkerbell (her voice, that is), Ian Malcolm, Jayne Cobb, and Eleanor Waldorf, and I am obsessed (FYI, none of those names are the actors. Look them up if you don’t know them, and then give yourself a Netflix education!). There is literally nothing to not like about ID4 except maybe its long-awaited-but-surely-disappointing sequel.

Not from ID4, but the sentiment remains.

I do like my funny stories, but I’ll forgive a lack of humor if there’s an excessive amount of fight sequences and also gratuitous Idris Elba, and Pacific Rim has those in spades. Basically, more bad aliens invade the earth so countries create ginormous machines to play rock em sock em robots with these dudes. One of the Jaegers (the human-controlled robots) literally picks up a cargo ship and uses it like a baseball bat to smack one of the monsters in the face. It’s quite glorious, if you haven’t seen it. Plus, it’s full of delicious trope-y goodness: a cranky mentor, a reluctant hero, a badass babe, adorable fighting nerds, etc. BRB, fangirling!

 Told you.

ROCKET ELBOW!!!!!1!

You're welcome. 

GET IT

It wouldn't be a true apocalypse post without mention of one of the most popular causes: zombies. I couldn't handle The Walking Dead because of reasons and stuff, but again with the humor. Shaun of the Dead is an irreverent spoof of all things zombie. I enjoyed much of Zombieland, but instead of going sincere the way that one did, Shaun of the Dead is basically non-stop ridiculousness. Simon Pegg is brilliant as the atypical action hero leader-of-the-resistance, and I love how the movie juxtaposes his perfectly mundane British existence with the end of the world.

Now auditioning for "Thriller"

Step 1: open this video in youtube & let it play while you read this.
I saw Terminator 2 when I was crazy young (not sure how my parents okayed that, but whatever), and I still adore it. Arnold plays a not-quite-cuddly-but-all-around-good-guy-robot who has come from the future to save John Conner (John Connah, if you're saying it in Ahnold's voice like I am rn) from the clutches of an evil robot from the future and thus, save the world simultaneously. T2 merges the takes-itself-a-little-too-seriously apocalyptic flick with the silly as teenage punk John attempts to teach the terminator a little bit of pop culture and humor even as he just runs around blowing shit up. FYI, you should pretend the series ends here bc things are so worse later on, but also RIP Anton Yelchin, who was WAY better as Kyle Reese in Salvation than I expected. Mad respect, man.

*cries forever*

No list about the apocalypse would be complete without mention of the greatest treasure of the 90s (behind Nickelodeon, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, etc etc): Armegeddon. 10 year old Mary had a huge crush on Ben Affleck, and 28 year old Mary still has a huge crush on 1998 Ben Affleck. Again, this movie takes itself waaaay to seriously, but at least the supporting cast kept things fun. From Owen Wilson as a drugged up cowboy to Michael Clarke Duncan as the lovable Bear in touch with his emotions, Steve Buscemi as a sexed up maniac to Peter Stormare as the cranky and bitter Russian, the movie kept some humor, which I appreciate. Plus, Bruce Willis is so stereotypical action hero dude, and I love it!

 Also, in case you didn’t know, Mr. Malfoy plays the genius in this one. 

How I feel every time I watch Armageddon

Now for the bookish portion of my list. We'll start with Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's weird, sassy, space opera mindf*ck. Illuminae starts off with the destruction of a planet, and things just go down from there for the main characters. You could argue this series isn't *quite* apocalyptic because there is still a society and other worlds, but there's some stuff that happens in Gemina and WOO BUDDY, come at me. This book will tear a hole through your mind faster than a wormhole can tear a hole through the universe so.... yeah. You have that to look forward to. Go with God, friends.

I liked Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey books, but I *love* The Blood of Eden series. Written in a time when both vampire books and dystopians had worn out their welcome, you wouldn't have thought a series like this could be successful or original, but nope. The Immortal Rules and its sequels proved that you CAN take popular and even tired elements and combine them into something fresh. The world is one I would not want to be in. It's hostile to just about everything and everyone, and your options (for humans) are to be a blood slave or die horribly. Also, three cheers for another badass warrior chick who has to save the boy sometimes, super snark (thanks, Jackal), and a beautifully if horrifically created world full of intrigue and danger.

Again with the zombies. I could have put Warm Bodies on the movie list because I like both the book and its movie. Warm Bodies is sweetly unexpected for a zombie story. The way to create an interesting zombie mc is to have one who can think and dream and change. Although the book faintly alludes to Romeo & Juliet, the book stands on its own merit with complex characters and an intriguing (if slightly squicky because zombie romance???) premise. The long-awaited sequel release next year, and I hope it addresses more of the world.

Remember that time they made a movie of my favorite book of all time? Let's pretend that did not happen. Say what you want about Stephenie Meyer, but she did so much good for YA and continues to help support female creatives. Plus, in all honesty, I love her books. The Host is a NOT YA (I get irrationally angry when I see in the teen section at bookstores or libraries) story about aliens taking over the planet. The first 100 pages are basically equal to pre-Hogwarts in Harry Potter, but the rest of the story is so full of heart and excitement and intrigue. It's part sci-fi, part romance, part survival story, and all amazing. Ian O'Shea is one of my favorite literary dudes, and both Wanda and Mel kick absolute ass as co-MCs (but in v different ways!). Sure, the love square is messy, but hey, it's fiction. It's science fiction. Messy is implied. At the end of the book, I feel satisfied by Wanda and Mel's story arc, but I would like to see more of the world, so Steph, if you're not to busy, can you please publish The Seeker and The Soul already? That'd be great.

Bonus: Video Game Round

I have a particular love for the Halo series. The original trilogy is fantastic and fun to play, and the story is engrossing. Plus, it contains so many of the elements I love about the movies and books listed above (action, adventure, humor, aliens, zombies), and honestly, sometimes it's incredibly soothing to be the one controlling the explosions. Halo: Reach is actually a prequel to the main series featuring Master Chief John-117, and it tells the story of an elite squad of super soldiers known as Noble Team (they're basically SEAL Team Six) who go on missions to protect cities, recover stolen intelligence, and generally kick alien ass and take names. It's a heartbreaking game because one by one, team members die, and the game actually ends when you, the last team member standing, die all alone surrounded by alien assholes. Then, you know, the planet is destroyed. I cry all the time when I play Reach because you don't save the world... but because of your actions in the game, you set in motion events that save the universe. A++

So here you have it: Mary's favorite apocalypse stories. In case you couldn't tell, there are a lot of similarities among all these stories. I adore stories that feature characters with heart and definitely lots of humor. Also nerds. And that is what Learning to Swear in America is. I have not yet had a chance to read it, but ohhh, I am here for this. I am really excited to meet Yuri and Dovie, and discover how their relationship works because normal girl + super-smart boy (I'm thinking a less-weird, less-preying-mantis-looking Sheldon Cooper) makes me really happy. So check out Learning to Swear in America, check out my favorites, and enter to win some cool stuff below!

Purchase Links:

   

Tour Schedule:

July 5: Gone Pecan (guest post)

July 6: Ex Libris (excerpt)

About the Author:

Katie Kennedy is a college history instructor. She used to teach in a fire station. When the alarm rang, the entire class jumped up and ran out of the room. She became an LPN in order to write more accurate medical scenes. She has been lost in Moscow, and rousted by the KGB for sitting in Red Square to eat her ice cream. She has been bitten by a fish.

Katie lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with her husband, daughter, and son, in a town with a million bats. LEARNING TO SWEAR IN AMERICA comes out July 5, 2016, from Bloomsbury.

Author Links:

   

Giveaway: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have one for the road.

Blog Tour: My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows

Rating: 4.5 stars

Pub Date: June 7, 2017

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: young adult historical romance/humor/fantasy

Status: standalone (I'm pretty sure)

Summary:

The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

Like that could go wrong.

Giveaway: Sweet by Emmy Laybourne

I've got something special for you readers today. Macmillan and Fierce Reads have generously offered me a copy of Emmy Laybourne's thriller Sweet to pass on to one lucky reader of Mary Had a Little Book Blog! Sweet has a little bit of everything: kissing, thrills & chills, murder, kissing, feels, explosions, adventure, mystery, more kissing, more murder, and some savvy social commentary. It packs quite the punch in only 300 pages! Scroll down to learn more about this creepy yet fun story that will get your summer off to a bang, and enter to win a copy!

Release Date: June 7, 2016

Publisher: Square Fish

Genre: young adult thriller plus romance

Status: standalone (plus a prequel novella)

Summary: 

 They'd kill to get thin.

The luxurious celebrity cruise launching the trendy new diet sweetener Solu should be the vacation of a lifetime. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv's invitation. She's already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host Tom Forelli-the hottest guy ever!-and she's too sick to even try the sweetener. And that's before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

Tom knows that he should be grateful for this job and the chance to shed his former-child-star image. His publicists have even set up a 'romance' with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when the hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it's Laurel that he's determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation in Sweet that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong!

Available from:

   

About the Author:

Emmy Laybourne is a novelist, public speaker, screenwriter and former character actress. She is the author of the Monument 14 trilogy and the novel Sweet. Before her life as a novelist, Emmy performed original comedy on Comedy Central, MTV and VH1; and acted in the movies Superstar, The In-Laws, and Nancy Drew, among others. Emmy lives outside New York City with her husband, two kids and a flock of 6 nifty chickens.

Author Links:

   

Giveaway:

paperback copy of Sweet by Emmy Laybourne
Open to residents of US & Canada, ages 13+

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mary's Minute: Brain Candy vs Book Crack

During the month of April, I didn't get a lot of reading done because I was so busy working on the YA festival my library hosts. After the festival, my brain felt like this

(Shout out to "This is your brain on drugs"!)

and I didn't feel like reading anything too serious. I needed brain candy, and I binge-listened the entire Beautiful series by Christina Lauren (except Beautiful Bastard because meh) and also their Wild Seasons series. We're allowed to listen to audiobooks at work, as long as we use headphones, so naturally, my phone conspired against me, and on three separate occasions started playing the audiobooks while my headphones weren't in, each time during a slightly sexy but not super racy scene. My coworkers all made fun of me, and I defended myself saying I needed some brain candy after working so hard.

My boss understood this concept, but one coworker, a tech guy who doesn't understand reading for pleasure, wouldn't let it go. "BRAIN CANDY?" he'd ask incredulously with a touch of derision. "What is BRAIN CANDY??"

This is brain candy, but not what I'm talking about.

Brain candy is a term I use to refer to books (can also be applied to other forms of entertainment ie movies, tv, music, etc) that are fun, fluffy, and feel-good. They might touch on serious issues, but are *mostly* lighter in content and easy to consume (ie you can read a whole bunch right in a row). They're delicious and slightly addictive, but if you read too many in a row, you'll be sick of them for a while.

Books that I consider brain candy are, of course, Christina Lauren, Kit Rocha's Beyond series (post-apocalyptic erotica—NOT ya at all!), Simon Pulse's romantic comedies series from the mid 00's, Kasie West, Jennifer Echols, Jennifer E. Smith, usually any book that features sports, not unrelated to the sports: any book in my Kindle that has abs on the cover, etc. There's a lot of romance in my brain candy collection, but that's not everybody's definition.

Now for brain crack. Brain crack books are the ones that are highly addictive, and honestly, not the best for you, whether they're poorly written, full of weird ideas, or you hate the author but can't give up the books (that's the addiction at work).

Often there's some amount of self-loathing that occurs when you inevitably read a crack book or binge a series. One series I consider brain crack (and I know lots of readers agree with me on this one) is The Selection series. Kiera Cass is lovely, but you can't deny those books aren't the best things around. I honestly don't care. I own every single one and have multiple copies of a couple of them. Why? Because they're fun to read, and I can't say no.

Abbi Glines's books are book crack to me. I actually hate several of them, and I think they're full of damaging concepts, cardboard cutout characters, and weak repeat plots. But again. I own most of them. I read them with as much gusto as I have when I wash my hair (wash rinse repeat those plots!), but I still read them. I own most in Kindle format, but when Abbi came to Dallas a couple years ago, yeah, I bought some of the titles in paperback because I am weak.

I'm going to touch on this one in a future Mary's Minute post, but I know some people consider Cassie Clare to be book crack. For some it may be vampire books or those free books on Amazon or whatever. We've all got those books that have their hooks in us, and we just can't give them up, no matter how much we'd like to.

I'm not trying to diss any author or book in this post. I've just had this conversation with a lot of friends. We discuss candy books and crack books, and I wondered if other readers experienced this as well. Let me know your thoughts and any picks you have for brain candy or book crack in the comments!

Blog Tour: Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: May 17, 2016

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: young adult contemporary romance, realistic fiction

Format/Source: ARC, from the author

Status: standalone

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Irish Banana Tours. 

Summary:

Maguire is bad luck.

No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the rollercoaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.

It’s safest for Maguire to hide out in her room, where she can cause less damage and avoid meeting new people who she could hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star. Jordy is confident, talented, and lucky, and he’s convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for Jordy is to stay away. But it turns out staying away is harder than she thought.

From author Paula Stokes comes a funny and poignant novel about accepting the past, embracing the future, and learning to make your own luck.

Blog Tour: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Rating: 4 stars

Pub Date: April 26, 2016

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: young adult fantasy

Format/Source: ARC, from the publisher

Status: STANDALONE (!!!)

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. The full tour schedule can be found HERE. Please go give my fellow tour hosts some love!

Summary:

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire...

But Akaran has its own secrets -- thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most. . .including herself.

A lush and vivid story that is steeped in Indian folklore and mythology. The Star-Touched Queen is a novel that no reader will soon forget.