This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.
The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is Of Princes and Promises (St. Rosetta’s Academy #2) by Sandhya Menon. The expected publication date is June 8, 2021.
Goodreads Synopsis:
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the second installment in a brand-new series set an elite boarding school that’s a contemporary spin on fairy tales, this one a delightful, romantic twist on The Frog Prince.
Caterina LaValle is determined to show she’s still the queen of St. Rosetta’s Academy. Sure, her crown may be slightly askew after her ex-boyfriend, Alaric, cheated on her, but she’s a LaValle. She’ll find a way to march right back in there, her hands clutching the strings to the whole puppet show. This time, she’s going to be untouchable.
Rahul Chopra knows that moment he shared with Caterina LaValle at the winter formal meant something. Surely she feels it, too. He’s a little uncertain how someone like him (socially inept to a point way past “adorkable”) could fit into her world, but he’s loved Caterina for years. He knows they’ll find a way.
When Caterina finds out Alaric is taking a supermodel to the upcoming gala, she knows she cannot arrive without the perfect date. But the thought of taking another superficial St. R’s boy exhausts her. The solution? Sweet-but-clueless Rahul Chopra and a mysterious pot of hair gel with the power to alter the wearer into whatever his heart desires.
When Rahul tries it, he transforms instantly into RC—debonair, handsome, and charming. But transformation comes with a price: As Rahul enjoys his new social standing, the line between his two personas begins to blur. Will he give up everything, including Caterina, to remain RC? Or will this unlikely pair find their way back to each other?
Title: Lucky Girl Author: Jamie Pacton Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Publisher: Page Street Kids Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: May 11, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
A hilarious and poignant reflection on what money can and cannot fix
58,642,129. That’s how many dollars seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It’s also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize.
Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she’ll either have to forfeit the ticket, or worse . . .
Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane’s mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Then . . .
Problem #3: Jane’s best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he’s going to find the lucky winner. It’s one thing to keep her secret from the town — it’s another thing entirely to lie to her best friend. Especially when . . .
Problem #4: Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Holden, is suddenly back in her life, and he has big ideas about what he’d do with the prize money. As suspicion and jealousy turn neighbor against neighbor, and no good options for cashing the ticket come forward, Jane begins to wonder: Could this much money actually be a bad thing
Review:
Seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather buys a lottery ticket on a whim one day and ends up winning the $58 million jackpot. There are a few reason she can’t cash it. First of all, she’s underage. She could wait until she turns eighteen, but she still bought the ticket while underage so she would face a misdemeanor if she claimed it. She could let her mother cash it, but that is another problem. Her mother is a hoarder who has been filling their home with other people’s discarded mementos since Jane’s father died. If Jane’s mother cashed in the lottery ticket, Jane is afraid of what she would spend it on. Jane’s best friend Bran wants to be a journalist, so he investigates the mysterious lottery winner. At the same time, Jane’s ex-boyfriend also wants to find out who the winner is because he has big plans of what he would do with the jackpot. As time goes on, there is more excitement around who won the lottery ticket in their small town, and Jane has to decide what she’s going to do with it.
This is the third novel that I’ve read in the past month about someone winning the lottery. In two of those books, the person couldn’t cash it in because they are or would be in trouble with the law. Everyone dreams of winning the lottery, but it isn’t the dream that is seems. Jane and Bran researched past lottery winners and read about the horrible turns their lives took after winning. Many ended up dead or bankrupt. The lottery seems like it would solve all of life’s problems, but it causes a lot of new problems.
One thing I didn’t really believe was the ending of the story. I won’t give away what Jane’s ultimate decision was in terms of if she cashed in the ticket or not. She talked so much about what the future could be like if she cashed in the ticket, and I don’t think the future she had planned at the end of the story was believable. It went against what he learned throughout the story about past lottery winners. This was a YA story, so it had a positive outcome, but I don’t think it was the most realistic ending.
This is a thought-provoking read!
Thank you Page Street Kids and TBR and Beyond for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Jackpot by Nic Stone
The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton
About the author:
Jamie Pacton is a Young Adult and Middle Grade author who grew up minutes away from the National Storytelling Center in the mountains of East Tennessee. She has a BA and MA in English Literature, and currently teaches English at the college level. While pursuing her dream of being an author, she worked as a waitress, pen salesperson, lab assistant, art museum guard, bookseller, pool attendant, nanny, and lots of other weird jobs in between. Her writing has appeared in national and local magazines, and she spent many years blogging for Parents.com. Currently, Jamie lives in Wisconsin with her family and a dog named Lego. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly is her YA debut novel and her sophomore novel, Lucky Girl, is forthcoming in Spring 2021. She has also published a MG novel, Farfetched, under the pen name Finn Colazo.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Books with Nature on the Cover, so I decided to do Books With Flowers on the Cover. Here’s my list:
1. Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin
2. Felix Ever After by Karen Callender
3. Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks
4. Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
5. Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
6. Misfit in Love by S.K. Ali
7. The Sweeney Sisters by Lion Dolan
8. Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu
9. A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth
10. The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
(All book covers from Goodreads)
What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?
Title: To Love and to Loathe (The Regency Vows #1) Author: Martha Waters Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 6, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham are infamous among English high society as much for their sharp-tongued bickering as their flirtation. One evening, an argument at a ball turns into a serious wager: Jeremy will marry within the year or Diana will forfeit one hundred pounds. So shortly after, just before a fortnight-long house party at Elderwild, Jeremy’s country estate, Diana is shocked when Jeremy appears at her home with a very different kind of proposition.
After his latest mistress unfavorably criticized his skills in the bedroom, Jeremy is looking for reassurance, so he has gone to the only woman he trusts to be totally truthful. He suggests that they embark on a brief affair while at the house party—Jeremy can receive an honest critique of his bedroom skills and widowed Diana can use the gossip to signal to other gentlemen that she is interested in taking a lover.
Diana thinks taking him up on his counter-proposal can only help her win her wager. With her in the bedroom and Jeremy’s marriage-minded grandmother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Willingham, helping to find suitable matches among the eligible ladies at Elderwild, Diana is confident her victory is assured. But while they’re focused on winning wagers, they stand to lose their own hearts.
With Martha Waters’s signature “cheeky charm and wonderfully wry wit” (Booklist, starred review), To Love and to Loathe is another clever and delightful historical rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Evie Dunmore.
Review:
The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton, likes to flirt and argue with her brother’s friend Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham. One evening, they make a bet for a hundred pounds that Jeremy will marry within the year. Soon after that wager, Jeremy ends the romance with his current mistress, which leads her to spread rumors about his skills in bed. Jeremy wants an opinion on his skills, so he proposes a brief affair with Diana to get her honest critique. Diana hopes to start her own rumors with this affair, to signal that she is ready to take a lover. What Jeremy and Diana don’t expect is to fall for each other.
I’ve read a few stories with a similar plot to this one, but this type of storyline never gets old. This enemies to lovers trope is so much fun. The tension between Jeremy and Diana when they argued easily led to romantic tension between them.
This story had some different scenarios that a woman would have been in during the Regency period when finding a husband. Diana didn’t have any money so she had to find a husband when she was young. He died a couple of years later, making her a wealthy widow who didn’t need to find another husband. Her friend Violet found a husband in the previous novel To Have and to Hoax. They had some drama but they were mostly a happy couple. Another character did not want to find a husband for a secret reason, so she manipulated her public image to make her seem unappealing to potential suitors. Though these women were all in a similar position, following society’s standard of looking for a husband, they each had different motivations behind what they were doing.
This was such a great Regency romance!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!
What I just finished:
This weekend I finished To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters.
What I’m currently reading:
I’m currently reading Lucky Girl by Jamie Pacton.
What I’m reading next:
Next I will be reading How to Save a Queendom by Jessica Lawson.
What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?
The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading To Love and to Loathe (The Regency Vows #2) by Martha Waters.
Goodreads Synopsis:
The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham are infamous among English high society as much for their sharp-tongued bickering as their flirtation. One evening, an argument at a ball turns into a serious wager: Jeremy will marry within the year or Diana will forfeit one hundred pounds. So shortly after, just before a fortnight-long house party at Elderwild, Jeremy’s country estate, Diana is shocked when Jeremy appears at her home with a very different kind of proposition.
After his latest mistress unfavorably criticized his skills in the bedroom, Jeremy is looking for reassurance, so he has gone to the only woman he trusts to be totally truthful. He suggests that they embark on a brief affair while at the house party—Jeremy can receive an honest critique of his bedroom skills and widowed Diana can use the gossip to signal to other gentlemen that she is interested in taking a lover.
Diana thinks taking him up on his counter-proposal can only help her win her wager. With her in the bedroom and Jeremy’s marriage-minded grandmother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Willingham, helping to find suitable matches among the eligible ladies at Elderwild, Diana is confident her victory is assured. But while they’re focused on winning wagers, they stand to lose their own hearts.
With Martha Waters’s signature “cheeky charm and wonderfully wry wit” (Booklist, starred review), To Love and to Loathe is another clever and delightful historical rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Evie Dunmore.
Title: Trouble in the Stars Author: Sarah Prineas Genre: Middle Grade, Science Fiction Publisher: Philomel Books Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 27, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
An outer-space adventure about a troublesome little shape-shifter on the run from the law.
Trouble knows two things: they are a shapeshifter, and they are running from something–but they don’t know what. So when the government–the StarLeague–shows up, Trouble figures it’s time to flee.
Changing from blob of goo form, to adorable puppy form, to human boy form, Trouble stows away on the Hindsight, a ship crewed by the best navigators and engineers in the galaxy, led by the fearsome Captain Astra. When Trouble is discovered, the captain decides to be nice–instead of tossing them out an airlock, she’ll drop Trouble off at the next space station.
As the ship travels, Trouble uses the time to figure out how to be a good human boy, and starts to feel safe. But when a young StarLeague cadet shows up to capture Trouble, things get complicated, especially when Trouble reveals a shapeshifter form that none of them could have expected. Soon a chase across the galaxy begins. Safety, freedom, and home are at stake, and not just for Trouble.
Review:
Trouble is a shapeshifter who finds themself on a spaceship. Trouble can change shape from a blob of goo to a puppy to a human. Trouble’s gender can change between different forms. When they stow away on the Hindsight, Captain Astra decides to keep Trouble on board until they reach the next space station. However, the Hindsight is being chased by the Starleague, the law enforcers of space, who are looking for an escaped prisoner. Trouble and the rest of the crew have to run from the law, while Trouble is also looking for the home that they came from.
This story introduced some complex ideas for young readers who may not have come across them in fiction before. One main idea was gender fluidity. Trouble’s gender changes depending on the shape that they are in. As a puppy, Trouble was a girl, but as a human Trouble was a boy. There were different species of humanoids on the ship that also expressed gender in different ways. Some were gender fluid, like Trouble. Another one shared a mind between different bodies. There were also some humans who identified as their biological gender. This is a great way to introduce complex gender ideas through science fiction characters.
Another large idea that was in this story was what it means to be a person. Since Trouble was a shapeshifter who didn’t have a permanent body, others questioned whether or not they were a person. Trouble also didn’t know where they came from, so they wanted to find their origins. This idea was explored more at the end of the story so I won’t give away the ending. I think this was a great way to introduce a complex idea with a complex character.
I really enjoyed this middle grade science fiction story!
Thank you Penguin for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Target Practice by Mike Maihack
Winterling by Sarah Prineas
Have you read Trouble in the Stars? What did you think of it?
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