Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Ten Most Recent Additions to TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and the meme moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. This week's Top Ten Tuesday asks bloggers to list their ten most recent additions to their to be read list. The following books are in no particular order. All synopsis information was taken from Goodreads.


1. Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman
February 5th 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The delightful new romantic comedy from Elinor Lipman, in which one woman’s trash becomes another woman’s treasure, with deliriously entertaining results.

Daphne Maritch doesn't quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Winter Maritch was the teacher to whom the class of '68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one—not always charitably—and noting who overstepped boundaries of many kinds.

In a fit of decluttering (the yearbook did not, Daphne concluded, "spark joy"), she discards it when she moves to a small New York City apartment. But when it's found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook's mysteries—not to mention her own family's—take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd.

Good Riddance is a pitch-perfect, whip-smart new novel from an "enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist" (Washington Post).



2. The Assignment by Liza M. Wiemer
2020 by Delacorte Press

From Publisher's Weekly:

Senior Vice President and Publisher, Beverly Horowitz at Delacorte has acquired The Assignment, based on a true story, by Liza Wiemer. When high school seniors Cade and Logan receive a history assignment requiring them to debate the merits of Hitler's Final Solution, with one side arguing in favor of the annihilation of the Jews and the other side advocating for sterilization, ghettos, and concentration camps, they appear to be the only ones who are horrified. They want it canceled, pitting themselves against their teacher, their principal, and even the Commissioner of Education—resulting in bullying from classmates and the ire of white supremacists. Publication is slated for fall 2020; Steven Chudney at the Chudney Agency handled the deal for North American rights.



3. The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena
February 26th 2019 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Susan is the new girl—she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy—he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since.

Susan’s parents are on the verge of divorce. Malcolm’s dad is a known adulterer.

Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants—until he meets her.

Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.



4. Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love edited by Elsie Chapman
June 18th 2019 by Simon Pulse

From some of your favorite bestselling and critically acclaimed authors—including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco—comes a collection of interconnected short stories that explore the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives of thirteen teens.

A shy teenager attempts to express how she really feels through the confections she makes at her family’s pasteleria. A tourist from Montenegro desperately seeks a magic soup dumpling that could cure his fear of death. An aspiring chef realizes that butter and soul are the key ingredients to win a cooking competition that could win him the money to save his mother’s life.

Welcome to Hungry Hearts Row, where the answers to most of life’s hard questions are kneaded, rolled, baked. Where a typical greeting is, “Have you had anything to eat?” Where magic and food and love are sometimes one and the same.

Told in interconnected short stories, Hungry Hearts explores the many meanings food can take on beyond mere nourishment. It can symbolize love and despair, family and culture, belonging and home.



5. Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali
May 7th 2019 by Salaam Reads

From William C. Morris Award Finalist S.K. Ali comes an unforgettable romance that is part The Sun Is Also a Starmixed with Anna and the French Kiss , following two Muslim teens who meet during a spring break trip.

A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together.

An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.

But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry.

When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.

Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her.

Then her path crosses with Adam’s.

Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.

Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.

Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.

Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…

Marvel: Adam and Zayneb meeting.

Oddity: Adam and Zayneb meeting.



6. The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu
April 2nd 2019 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

From #1 New York Times bestseller Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu comes the first book in a new trilogy featuring the centuries-old High Warlock Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood after they survive the Mortal War.

Magnus Bane, a centuries old High Warlock, has taken possession of one of the great relics of the supernatural world, a powerful spell book of dark magic known as The Book of the White and there are many who want to claim it for themselves.

After the Mortal War where the part-human and part-angel Shadowhunters teamed with the part human-demon Downworlders to fight against the incursion of an army of demons, Magnus and his new lover, the mortal Alec Lightwood celebrate their survival and victory by escaping the supernatural battlefield of New York City by touring the world, but the world won’t leave them alone.

The first adult novel set within #1 New York Times bestselling author Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series, The Lost Book of the White, written with award-winning science fiction author Wesley Chu, is a fantasy thriller that will give new readers a great way to enter the Shadowhunters world and give the millions of readers across the globe answers they’ve been looking for in this start of The Eldest Curses trilogy.



7. Vampires Never Get Old edited by Natalie C. Parker
September 2020 by Imprint Reads

A YA fantasy anthology featuring fresh takes on old souls with vampire stories.



8. I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
May 28th 2019 by Scholastic Press

Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement.

She's obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother disapproves, and when they get into an explosive fight, Kimi's entire future seems on the verge of falling apart. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi's estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.

When she arrives in Japan, she's met with a culture both familiar and completely foreign to her. She loses herself in the city's outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival - and meets Akira, a cute aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

In I Love You So Mochi, author Sarah Kuhn has penned a delightfully sweet and irrepressibly funny novel that will make you squee at the cute, cringe at the awkward, and show that sometimes you have to lose yourself in something you love to find your Ultimate self.



9. Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
May 14th 2019 by Disney-Hyperion

For fans of GILMORE GIRLS and TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE, this effervescent love story from debut author Nina Moreno will sweep you away.

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat.
But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about.

As her college decision looms, Rosa collides-literally-with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon? 




10. We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
February 26th 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books

In this daring and romantic fantasy debut perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and Latinx authors Zoraida Córdova and Anna-Marie McLemore, society wife-in-training Dani has a great awakening after being recruited by rebel spies and falling for her biggest rival.

At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children. Both paths promise a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class.

Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her pedigree is a lie. She must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society.

And school couldn’t prepare her for the difficult choices she must make after graduation, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio.

Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or will she give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?



What books did you recently add to your TBR list?

10 comments:

  1. SO many cute-looking contemporaries! I Love You So Mochi is one I saw someone a while back, and thought it sounded cute. 'Rosa' also looks darling and makes me want to know more, and I'm also curious about 'Beauty.' Though it sounds as if it might have deeper emotional complexities. Hope you enjoy all of these, Nicole. :)

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    1. Thank you so much! I am looking forward to all of them.

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  2. I've just seen Hungry Hearts on another list and now I'm very intrigued! I hope you love these books when you get around to them. My TTT

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    1. Hungry Hearts make me hungry! I love food so this was a no brainer TBR add for me.

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  3. Nice list! Several of these are already on my TBR. I saw HUNGRY HEARTS on another list today and I am intrigued even though I don't really enjoy short stories. It just sounds really good!

    Happy TTT!

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    1. Short stories are a hit or miss with me but when I found they are about culinary experiences, I had to add Hungry Hearts to my list.

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  4. The Assignment sounds FANTASTIC!! I'm also curious about Good Riddance. That one seems like a fun read.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. Don't they sound great? I am looking forward to reading them. Thanks for the visit.

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  5. Vampires seem to be making a comeback in YA in the next year or two. There's the Jay Kristoff one, Renée Ahdeah, and Vampires Never Get Old now.

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    1. Yes, I heard the same thing about vampires making a comeback. I am so psyched about it too!

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