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 How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland. The expected publication date is August 10, 2021.
Goodreads Synopsis:
The Hating Game meets I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter in this irresistible romance starring a Mexican American teen who discovers love and profound truths about the universe when she spends her summer on a road trip across the country.
When her twin sister reaches social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepts her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the “merch girl” on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible.
Most notable is her bunkmate and new nemesis, Santiago Phillips, who is grumpy, combative, and also the hottest guy Moon has ever seen.
Moon is certain she hates Santiago and that he hates her back. But as chance and destiny (and maybe, probably, close proximity) bring the two of them in each other’s perpetual paths, Moon starts to wonder if that’s really true. She even starts to question her destiny as the unnoticed, unloved wallflower she always thought she was.
Could this summer change Moon’s life as she knows it?
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 Book Titles That Are Questions. Here’s my list:
1. Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book? by Ally Carter
2. Isn’t It Bromantic? by Lyssa Kay Adams
3. What’s Up Maloo? by Genevieve Gadbout
4. Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews
5. What’s Not to Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
6. Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
7. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
8. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
9. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
10. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie
(All book covers from Goodreads)
What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?
Title: Up All Night: 13 between Sunset and Sunrise Author: Laura Silverman (editor) Genre: Young Adult, Short Stories Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: July 13, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
When everyone else goes to bed, the ones who stay up feel like they’re the only people in the world. As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a hush falls over the hum of daily life. Anything is possible.
It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love—for finding yourself.
Stay up all night with these thirteen short stories from bestselling and award-winning YA authors like Karen McManus, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nina LaCour, and Brandy Colbert, as they take readers deep into these rarely seen, magical hours.
Full contributor list: Brandy Colbert, Kathleen Glasgow, Maurene Goo, Tiffany D. Jackson, Amanda Joy, Nina LaCour, Karen M. McManus, Anna Meriano, Marieke Nijkamp, Laura Silverman, Kayla Whaley, Julian Winters, Francesca Zappia.
Review:
Up All Night is a collection of young adult short stories set from sunset to sunrise. The teens in these stories have a variety of experiences, including late night parties, prom night, and ghost hunting. The stories were a bunch of different genres, including romance, thriller, and horror.
All of these stories had diverse representation. Many of the main characters were people of colour. There were many stories about queer and non-binary characters. There was also a story with a main character in a wheelchair, so there was a perspective of a character with a disability.
A couple of my favourite ones were Never Have I Ever by Karen M. McManus and Shark Bait by Tiffany D Jackson. In Never Have I Ever, a group of kids play the drinking game and end up snooping at a haunted house in the neighbourhood. They discover something life changing in the house. In Shark Bait, a couple spend the night together on a beach in Martha’s Vineyard. They have to come to figure out what their futures will be after the summer ends. Both of these stories had shocking endings that gave me chills!
Up All Night is a great collection of short stories for young adult readers!
Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
A Universe of Wishes by Dhonielle Clayton (editor)
Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker
Have you read Up All Night? What did you think of it?
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 Up All Night: 13 Stories between Sunset and Sunrise by Laura Silverman (editor).
What I’m currently reading:
I’m currently reading The Right Side of Reckless by Whitney D. Grandison.
What I’m reading next:
Next I will be reading Vengeful by V.E. Schwab.
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 Up All Night: 13 Stories between Sunset and Sunrise edited by Laura Silverman.
Goodreads Synopsis:
When everyone else goes to bed, the ones who stay up feel like they’re the only people in the world. As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a hush falls over the hum of daily life. Anything is possible.
It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love—for finding yourself.
Stay up all night with these thirteen short stories from bestselling and award-winning YA authors like Karen McManus, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nina LaCour, and Brandy Colbert, as they take readers deep into these rarely seen, magical hours.
Full contributor list: Brandy Colbert, Kathleen Glasgow, Maurene Goo, Tiffany D. Jackson, Amanda Joy, Nina LaCour, Karen M. McManus, Anna Meriano, Marieke Nijkamp, Laura Silverman, Kayla Whaley, Julian Winters, Francesca Zappia.
Title: The Last Fallen Star (Gifted Clans #1) Author: Graci Kim Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: May 4, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Graci Kim’s thrilling debut about an adopted Korean-American girl who discovers her heritage and her magic on a perilous journey to save her witch clan family.
Riley Oh can’t wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches their family has belonged to for generations. Her sister, Hattie, will earn her Gi bracelet and finally be able to cast spells without adult supervision. Although Riley is desperate to follow in her sister’s footsteps when she herself turns thirteen, she’s a saram–a person without magic. Riley was adopted, and despite having memorized every healing spell she’s ever heard, she often feels like the odd one out in her family and the gifted community.
Then Hattie gets an idea: what if the two of them could cast a spell that would allow Riley to share Hattie’s magic? Their sleuthing reveals a promising incantation in the family’s old spell book, and the sisters decide to perform it at Hattie’s initiation ceremony. If it works, no one will ever treat Riley as an outsider again. It’s a perfect plan!
Until it isn’t. When the sisters attempt to violate the laws of the Godrealm, Hattie’s life ends up hanging in the balance, and to save her Riley has to fulfill an impossible task: find the last fallen star. But what even is the star, and how can she find it?
As Riley embarks on her search, she finds herself meeting fantastic creatures and collaborating with her worst enemies. And when she uncovers secrets that challenge everything she has been taught to believe, Riley must decide what it means to be a witch, what it means to be family, and what it really means to belong.
Review:
Thirteen-year-old Riley Oh was adopted into a Korean witch family. She’s excited for her sister, Hattie, to be initiated and earn her powers, but Riley wants to somehow get her own powers. Hattie and her find a spell to connect them and share Hattie’s powers with Riley. They have to perform the spell in front of everyone in their community, but they’re stopped at the last minute. There’s a secret from Riley’s past, which could kill the girls if they perform that spell. Riley still wants to get her powers so that she no longer feels like an outsider in the family. She gets a quest from a goddess, who wants her to find the last fallen star. If she can find the star, she will get her powers, but the task seems impossible. Riley must complete the task before she loses everything she loves.
This story had a twist on the “chosen one” narrative. Rather than Riley being the chosen one to save the world, she was the only one in her family who didn’t have powers. Riley became the chosen one when she had to complete the quest. The quest had larger implications in their witch community, so she did end up being the one who had to save them all.
Korean culture was an important part of the witch community in this book. Their portal was inside an H-Mart store. Riley encountered creatures from Korean folklore. Though Riley was adopted, her biological parents were also Korean so she looked like her family. I loved the way Korean culture was so integral to this story.
The Last Fallen Star was a fun story! I can’t wait to read the next one in the series.
Thank you Rick Riordan Presents for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Have you read The Last Fallen Star? What did you think of it?
Title: Dial A for Aunties Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto Genre: Romance, Contemporary Publisher: Berkley Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 27, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
A hilariously quirky novel that is equal parts murder mystery, rom-com, and a celebration of mothers and daughters as well as a deep dive into Chinese-Indonesian culture, by debut author Jesse Q. Sutanto.
1 (accidental) murder 2 thousand wedding guests 3 (maybe) cursed generations 4 meddling Asian aunties to the rescue!
When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is accidentally shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working, at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for their family wedding business—“Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream cake flowers.
But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?
Review:
When Meddelin Chan accidentally kills her blind date, her mom calls her aunties to help them get rid of the body. Meddy’s family are wedding vendors, so they have to figure out what to do with the body while they’re at a billionaire’s wedding the next day. The cooler where they store the body is accidentally sent to the wedding, so they have to keep the body hidden while they’re at the fancy resort. To make things more complicated, Meddy’s former college boyfriend who never met her family is also at the wedding. Meddy and her family need to somehow get through this wedding while hiding the dead body and avoiding murder charges.
This story was hilarious from the beginning to the end. Meddy had three aunts and her mom. I loved how the aunts were specific characters and weren’t referred to by their names. Instead, Meddy called them Big Aunt, Second Aunt, and Fourth Aunt. They were each so distinct that I never got them mixed up. There were a lot of things lost in translation, since the aunts were not as fluent in English as Meddy. This made for some hilarious misunderstandings, especially in terms of the common meaning of certain emojis.
Even though this story was about an accidental murder, it actually had a light tone. Things kept going so spectacularly wrong that I couldn’t help but laugh. There are so many things that can go wrong with a wedding, but adding in a secret dead body makes even more possible problems. The scenes were so cinematic that I can imagine this story being turned into a movie. I hope it will be on the big screen one day!
Dial A for Aunties is a hilarious romcom!
Thank you Berkley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
Have you read Dial A for Aunties? What did you think of it?
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