Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
Every so often a story comes across my desk so to speak which has such a captivating premise which IMMEDIATELY encourages me to read it. This was the kind of reaction I had with Looking for Lucie – as soon as I read about the heart of the story – where we are centred on Lucie who’s choosing to answer the question her family isn’t willing to give her themselves: sorting out her heritage and her cultural identity by tracing her parentage via DNA testing. I am sure this will appeal to a lot of readers who might be uncertain about their own cultural heritage or if their biological data isn’t known as it is with Lucie.
I felt this would strike a chord with children whose parents might have sought non-traditional routes of parenting – such as through donor sperm or egg programs especially if they were choosing to go the route of IVF. Sometimes in those instances not a lot is known about the person who donated nor any other specific data about their person or their heritage. Usually, information is limited in scope and might only refer to medical data, if anything at all. I also felt this story might be a good fit for children who are adopted and might not be raised to know their birth family until they are much older as some adoptive families do not readily share information as their growing up. I am of the mindset children of all ages deserve to know their cultural and religious heritage – especially if they are adopted. Those connections need to be maintained and recognised as each person has the right to know their own identity and where they came from – even if they are living in a different home and with a different family.
For those reasons and due how the story was presented through the synopsis – I felt an immediate desire to read this lovely novel. Perhaps you’ll find a reason it appeals to you as well. For now, let’s take a small glimpse into how the story is set-up in the beginning and why I am wicked happy I discovered this novel the year I re-generated #MyYASummer! As part of that was to seek out new voices in YA and to find new stories I might not have found previously. This definitely was the highlight for me to find as Summer drew to a close this year.
Looking for Lucie
Subtitle: What do you do when your entire existence is a question with no answer? You do a DNA test.
by Amanda Addison
Source: Publisher via The Write Reads
Looking for Lucie is a contemporary YA novel that explores identity, self-discovery, and newfound friendship as an 18-year-old girl sets out to uncover her ethnic heritage and family history.
"Where are you really from?"
It's a question every brown girl in a white-washed town is familiar with, and one that Lucie has never been able to answer. All she knows is that her mother is white, she's never met her father, and she looks nothing like the rest of her family. She can't even talk about it because everyone says it shouldn't matter!
Well, it matters to Lucie and-with her new friend Nav, who knows exactly who he is-she's determined to find some answers.
What do you do when your entire existence is a question with no answer?
You do a DNA test.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1911107682
Published by Neem Tree Publishing
on 1st October, 2024
Format: epub | PDF editon
Published by: Neem Tree Press | Follow via Insta (@neemtreepress)
an imprint of Unbound Publishing
Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #ContemporaryYA, #YALit, #YoungAdult,
as well as #TheWriteReads & #LookingForLucie
I originally thought I might have been receiving a print copy of this to review for the blog tour – however, as I fell ill over the weekend which included a severe migraine (oy!) – I honestly was beside myself to sort out blog tour dates and commitments. However, I also knew I had a few tours which were coming up this week – lo and behold, this was the tour I had misplaced and forgotten about as I thought it was a bit later in October! Laughs. I quickly grabbed the materials I needed for this post and started to seek out the book itself – as I knew it hadn’t arrived by Post. I was thinking perhaps I was passed over to receive it this time round which is okay – as I know we all receive some of the books for some of the tours and for others we don’t. I was fine with that – except to say, there was something about this particular novel. I dearly wanted to just start reading it – Lucie just had me at ‘Hallo’ I suppose you could say, and I wanted to know her story.
Usually there is a chapter sampler available online but for some reason my computer wasn’t loading it properly and then, I remembered whilst we host for The Write Reads they usually send out complimentary ebook copies ahead of print copies and/or in lieu of print. I normally don’t accept those because as a migraineur I can only read books in print or listen to them in audiobook. Due to the kind of migraines, I have and their frequency in my life – ebooks were never something I could embrace. Except to say, I can read small extracts or samplers of chapters ahead of getting a paperback or audiobook.
I am so thankful this was available to tour participants because it gave me a bit of insight into Lucie and why this was such an important part of her journey. She simply wanted to better understand herself and be in a position to embrace her cultural heritage which differed from that of her parents. She not only felt she looked different than everyone else, but she felt different too – because whenever people would ask her about herself, she fumbled to understand how best to answer those questions. Part of me was concerned about why her mother didn’t fill in the void of unknowns in her life – even if she didn’t have all the answers herself – why not broach the topic and see if you can track down any information you could for your daughter? I knew there was more to the story but as this is told through the perspective of Lucie, I had a feeling the revelations might come through the door she opens with the DNA test itself.
She’s also mad for art but uncertain if she’s good enough to study it – she has a lot of the same pressures most teens have on themselves when they are about to see if they’re able to get into college or University – being this is set in England, the A-levels are also a top concern. I felt we are on the brink of Lucie’s life taking on new directions and new avenues of discovery, too. Not limited to her heritage and the familial legacy therein but also who she wants to develop into as a person and as an artist. I read enough to know I have to continue to take this journey with her – to peer into her thoughts and get rooted into her life as she braces herself for the hidden truths only she can uncover and find. I also liked the fact Addison wrote this about another character, too, Nav and how he is the opposite of Lucie as his love in life is Science. There is no better combination than an Artist and a Scientist especially if the artist first felt they were intrigued by Science until they realised Art is what spoke to their heart the most. I know I’ll appreciate following in their footsteps and seeing where Looking for Lucie will take me as a reader.
This blog tour is courtesy of:
Be sure to follow all the lovely tags socially (ie. #bookstagram, BlueSky, etc) to seek out more exciting content on this blog tour celebrating the book + the author!!
{SOURCES: A complimentary ebook copy of the novel was available to participants on the @thewritereads blog tour; of which I read a sampler amount of content and shared my enthused reaction of for the blog tour. Book cover for “Looking for Lucie”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Amanda Addison, the tour banner and book tour banner were all provided by The Write Reads and are used with permission. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Spotlight banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2024.
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