Books

Stoked for This: March 2026

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

I think I’m ready for a vacation out of the Midwest, cause I’ve got quite a few books that are set out in the west coast: California, Washington specifically have two books each! Of course I have a book (or two) set around space or dystopian futures ◡̈ Oh! I can’t forget the story about a girl falling in love with a member of the famous boyband (yes I read 1,000 o

March 3, 2026

Three women united by killer husbands join together to find the new serial killer on the loose in 1960’s California.

The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

By: Elizabeth Arnott

After her best friend goes missing after an earthquake, Celeste is the only one who thinks Nicky is alive and begins her mission to find him.

Lies We Tell About the Stars

By: Susie Nadler

As younger children, the three friends discovered a book of prophecies that seemed to be accurately predicting the future. Now, in seventh grade, the book’s final prophecy brings the three back together in unexpected ways. 

When Tomorrow Burns

By: Tae Keller

Finnegan is a rescue dog with a broken heart. Chase is an anxious cheetah cub, newly orphaned. They couldn’t be more opposite but they form an unlikely friendship.

The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan

By: Jasmine Warga

March 10, 2026

An adorable children’s book about respecting cat’s personal space.

Arthur’s Cat

By: Johan Leynaud

A coming-of-age YA featuring an Indigenous teen girl grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma while navigating school, family and young love.

Here for a Good Time

By: Kim Spencer

March 17, 2026

After a slur is shouted at a school assembly, two boys grapple with accountability and the quest to define one’s identity against toxic masculinity.

One Word, Six Letters

By: Adib Khorram

Lucy Nowhere washed up on an island as an infant. At eighteen, she planned to leave and go to university but overnight, her life changed. Her benefactor was murdered and, to her great surprise, she was named his heir. Following the murder, Lucy tries to find the murderer and find out who she is and how she ended up on the island. 

Heiress of Nowhere

By: Stacy Lee

March 24, 2026

After emigrating from Iran a year-and-a-half ago, Yasmine has had to deal with one change after another. now, her mom has sewn Yasmin a beautiful blue dress for the Persian New Year that is too tight on purpose. With the pressure to fit in closing in on all sides, Yasmin starts taking desperate measures. But if being thin is supposed to make her happier, then why does losing weight feel like losing parts of herself, too?

The Blue Dress

By: Rebecca Morrison

A coming-of-age tale inspired by Odysseus set both on Earth and in space.

Celestial Lights

By: Cecile Pin

Famine and war now rage across the land after the last honeybee died. People are no longer allowed to read or create art. Like every other girl, Jess has been taken from her home to live in a government dormitory, where they are forced to pollinate crops by hand with brushes. But, Jess knows how to read and paint. She also knows there is something horribly wrong with this system built on the hard labor of young girls, a system that forces them to marry and have children as soon as they are able. With smuggled paints and brush in hand, can Jess inspire a revolution?

The Danger of Small Things

By: Caryl Lewis

A Deaf, demiromantic teen who falls in love with the lead singer of America’s most popular boy band during a whirlwind summer tour (the fan girl in me can’t resist falling in love with the boy band member…)

Someone to Daydream About

By: Sydney Langford

Blanca of Castile is the granddaughter of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, once the wife of both the king of France and the king of England. When Queen Eleanor comes to select the girl who will marry the prince of France, all expect her to pick Blanca’s much older, and much prettier, sister. But Queen Eleanor has always loved surprises and selects Blanca. Now, to meet her destiny, Blanca, along with her best friend Suna, must set out over the mountain for France.

The Queen’s Granddaughter

By: Diane Zahler

March 31, 2026

Set in the Prohibition era Missouri Ozarks, three sisters take over their father’s moonshine business.

The Moonshine Women

By: Michelle Collins Anderson

Away / Megan E. Freeman

/ Alisha Helms / 1 Comment 
Away
By: Megan E. Freeman
Genre: Middle Grade, Novel in Verse
Number of Pages: 480
Published: February 11, 2025
Publisher: Aladdin
Dates Read: January 19, 2025 - January 20, 2025
Format: ARC / Paperback

Told in multiple POVS with a mixture of novel in verse, movie script, production diary, letters, and newspaper articles, this companion novel to Alone, Away follows a group of kids who were placed in the same evacuation camp after the imminent yet unnamed danger that forced them out of their home. When the group of kids has an aspiring filmmaker and a budding journalist, they begin to dig into the reasoning as to why their world was turned upside down.

As they begin to investigate, they start to discover there’s more of a cover-up operation going on than there is an actual immediate threat. Can the group get to the root of the conspiracy and tell the adults in a way they’ll be believed before it’s too late?

I absolutely adored Alone when I read it back in 2023, so I immediately tried to get my hands on Away as soon as I could. This novel is not a full novel in verse but jumps around between different styles depending on which character it’s focusing on at the moment – though Grandin and Ashantae’s are in verse, Teddy’s is written in movie script or production diary, and Harmony writes letters to her Aunt and essays in new reports.

I think this fast paced story would be fun for middle school readers, especially those who like to prove kids can be just as absorbent, if not more, than adults. The charge to question what is really going on begins with the kids and they’re the ones who shine the light on it in order for the adults to finally see what’s happening.

Are some of the scenarios in this unrealistic? Yes, but it didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying it as I’m sure many others will.

You don’t have to have read Alone in order to understand what is happening in this novel as it is a companion novel and not a sequel.

*Thank you Aladdin and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

My Week Late, Stoked For This: January 2025

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

I know I’m a week (and a day) late in this, and there will be loads of books already out – but that means there’s loads more books already out (Trying to be a bit more positive this year)! I tried to get this done yesterday, but stuff happened and I couldn’t get back to this.

I’m also going to try something new with my formatting of this series. Let me know what you think! Do you like the new way? Prefer the old way? Have no comments or concerns?

January 7, 2025

Amber arrives home one spring afternoon on her bike. As soon as her mother sees her, she screams. Why? Because Amber’s been dead seven years – hit by a car on the very bike she pulled up to the house in.

After Life

By: Gayle Forman

Bletchley Park. London. 1923. Dragons soar through the skies, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried, she’s going to study the dragon language and make sure her little sister doesn’t have to grow up in Third Class. But by midnight, civil war has started. Viv is recruited for a codebreaker job to save her family – but the more she learns, the harder it is for her to distinguish what what war she’s actually fighting.

A Language of Dragons

By: S.F. Williamson

A dystopian, water covered world where a family tries to save the history of humans while creating a settlement on top of New York City’s National History Museum.

All the Water in the World

By: Eiren Caffall

A sapphic YA debut novel that follows two girls has they fall in love, fighting for survival in an abandoned bookstore.

The Last Bookstore on Earth

By: Lily Braun-Arnold

January 14, 2025

Written in prose and verse, this YA novel following sixteen-year-old Carmela as she’s finally able to help in her mother’s apothecary in the Campo Marzio neighborhood of Rome. But the workroom is no simple place, for every simple ingredient, there is else even less pleasant, and Carmela begins to find out the secrets she never bargained for.

Everything Is Poison

By: Joy McCullough

What would you do if you found a magical bookstore that transports you back through time to be face-to-face with your teenage self?

The In-Between Bookstore

By: Edward Underhill

A multi-level, page turning murder novel about pyramid schemes.

Death in the Downline

By: Maria Abrams

January 21, 2025

Ex-Chicago detective Carrie Starr is now at the reservation where her father grew up: they need a new tribal marshal to help with the women who have disappeared from the rez. Now, local college student is missing and Starr begins drown in memories of her own daughter’s murder. As she works on the cases, Starr can’t shake the feeling of a fearsome spirit watching her, one of a woman with antlers of a deer.

Mask of the Deer Woman

By: Laurie L. Dove

The Deep Dark / Molly Knox Ostertag

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Deep Dark
By: Molly Knox Ostertag
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 480
Published: June 4, 2024
Publisher: Graphix
Dates Read: December 30, 2024
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Magdalena Herrera, or Mags, already feels like an adult even though she’s just shy of graduating high school: caring for her grandmother, working a part-time job, and taking care of her secret that lives in the basement, the one that drains her of energy. The secret could really hurt someone, even kill them, if it got out.

So, Mags keeps her head down, trying to get through the day. That is, until her childhood friend, Ness, comes back to town, bringing memories and her own secret. Mags won’t get reattached, she can’t, and she’s always been good at keeping her distance anyway.

But when darkness starts to close in on them both, Mags will have to bring her secret into the daylight.

The art of this graphic novel is fantastic and phenomenal. It goes from back and forth between black and white and full color, corresponding well with what’s happening in the story.  

The overall storyline is about accepting yourself, even the deepest, darkest bits, and allowing someone to love and care for you and all your secrets.

Overall, Molly Knox Ostertag blew it out of the park again with this story and anyone who loves bright, vivid illustrations mixed with black and white, and a storyline that will keep you turning pages, will fall in love with the characters and this story as well.

Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi, Volume 1 / Yuri Sonoda

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi (Volume 1)
By: Yuri Sonoda
Genre: Manga
Number of Pages: 176
Published: August 27, 2024
Publisher: Seven Seas
Dates Read: December 29, 2024
Format: Library Book / Paperback

One day, Maruru finds himself living on the streets as a stay. He encounters Hachi, a boss cat, who says he doesn’t need a spoiled house cat on his territory and chases him away. A few days later, Maruru helps Hachi out of a situation and the duo begin to tackle the struggles of Third Street together.

I can’t remember how I found this manga, possibly while looking at Cat + Gamer. But, I’m also always on the lookout for cat manga so, it could have been from a few places. Regardless – I absolutely loved this story and immediately fell in love with Maruru and Hachi. Their grump and sunshine friendship is amazing.

I appreciate how the author told the life of a street cat in the way that it is not sugar coated: their search for food, water, shelter, health, and territory is an everyday struggle.

So now, this is going to another manga series I’m going to start collecting.

I’m so far behind!!

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

I’ve got 8 book reviews to post from the end of the year and then I’ve got my January Stoked for this as well. The holidays put me back, and I was reading everything I could get my hands on to move my Read Total up to 130 (which I made).

I wanted to share my “List Nobody Asked for But Got Anyway” aka My 2024 Books Read List that I share to my Instagram and Facebook every year on New Years Eve. It’s nothing fancy, but I always have fun making it – I even found out how to do it on Canva this year, and Canva and I have beef because they don’t make scaling covers easy!

“The List Nobody Asked For But Got Anyway” aka My 2024 Books Read List

This year, I journeyed through 35,307 pages across 130 books (10 more over my goal this year!).

I read ACTUAL nonfiction books, one of which solidified my favorite aquatic animal 🐙. I fell in love with a bakery dragon, a wild robot, magical children (again), and so many cats… I also found a love for audiobooks and their allowance of escapism while doing chores and errands 🥰

My average star rating is a 4, but I had 27 five star ratings, so I decided to share those with everyone. These are all titles that, if I don’t already own them, are books I’ll be keeping my eye out for.

Thank you everyone who followed along on my journey this year on my website, where I post all my reviews. I love talking books and I’m always happy to share them.

Now let’s see how much of a dent I can make in my TBR list this coming year!!

booksread #bookreview #bookreviewer #booklover #bookreader #myyearinbooks #myyearinreview #oldandnewbooksmell #books #fortheloveofbooks

When the World Tips Over / Jandy Nelson

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
When the World Tips Over
By: Jandy Nelson
Genre: YA
Number of Pages: 528
Published: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Dial Books
Dates Read: September 16, 2024 - October 6, 2024
Format: ARC / Paperback

The Fall siblings live in Northern California wine country where years ago, their father mysteriously disappeared. Now Dizzy, twelve, bakes cakes, sees kissing, floating spirits, and wishes she was a part of a romance novel. Miles, seventeen, is a brainiac, athlete, and telepathic dog-whisperer, but he’s desperate to step out of being perfect. Wynton, nineteen, is an amazing violinist, but is set on a path of self-destruction he can’t seem to get off of. They all seem to be spiraling.

But then a rainbow-haired girl shows up. She may be an angel. Or a saint. But her showing up tips the Falls’ world over. Before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the family more broken than ever.

With a story filled with road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories (with many layers), unsent letters, and generational trauma, this young adult novel peels back the layers of a family’s complicated past and present. 

This will definitely stick with me for years to come. And, I honestly don’t know how to put into words what I thought of this, because I’m in love with the entire Fall family (okay, there are a few I don’t like…) and their many, many layers of their lives. I just tried to explain this all to my coworker and the amount of time I said, “well but you find out this…” was endless.

It absolutely gave me East of Eden by Steinbeck vibes – the length alone, but also how good and overcome evil in the end is also a running theme in this novel too. Again, this is a long read, and it’s not one you can skim over either, because you want to take your time with it and immerse yourself in with these characters and this family. As much as I love to devour book after book, this one reminded me to slow down and to enjoy it.

Overall, this book is long and is a multi-sit read, but I can guarantee you will fall in love with at least one member of the Fall family after reading this!

Stoked for This: September 2024

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

1st Tuesday of the month almost snuck up on me again! – Almost!

Luckily I had the day off on Monday for Labor Day and gathered together most of titles and dates so get this set up and ready for today.

I’ve actually already read a handful of these titles and am stoked for them finally to be available for others to now read and enjoy so I can talk to them about it. TJ Klune, a book about Anne Frank, some though subject matter Middle Grade reads. Let’s take a look at what I’m stoked for in September!!

Release Date: September 3, 2024

The Book Swap

By: Tessa Bickers

Why am I stoked for this release?

A romance based around a little free library?

Sure, why not?

But I’m mostly stoked because it’s promising to be a love letter to books and reading and those are two of my favorite things so I don’t think I could not be stoked for this!

Blue Sisters

By: Coco Mellors

Why am I stoked for this release?

Three estranged sisters return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister’s death.

This is marketed as being about “grief, identity, and the complexities of family”.

My sisters and I are relatively close – I don’t think I go a few days without talking to them either individually or in our family or sister chat. So, I’m sure I’ll do the comparison about us a lot (though there’s only three of us all together).

Also – I love family dynamics. We’re all messy, but that’s life.

The Life Impossible

By: Matt Haig

Why am I stoked for this release?

I really enjoyed The Midnight Library when that came out a few years ago, so of course I’m going to pick up to latest novel from Matt Haig.

This one is about a retired math teacher who is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend. When she goes down there, she begins to search for answers about her friend’s life.

If you read Haig’s other novel, than you know there’s gonna be more than meets the eye in the description. So, I’m stoked to find out what that is!

Tig

By: Heather Smith

Why am I stoked for this release?

I actually just read this on my Labor Day Monday (so expect the review later this week!)

This is about Tig and Peter, who are forced to move in with their Uncle Scott and his partner, Manny after living alone for months. There’s a tough transition, but also a goal of outrunning a wheel of cheese down a hill…

I may have shed a tear of two when reading this. It’ll pull on your heartstrings for sure.

Release Date: September 10, 2024

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

By: TJ Klune

Why am I stoked for this release?

First off – it’s TJ Klune and I loved anything and everything he writes. You can also bet I will talk about the newest release for the next twelve months (do you hear me still talking about In the Lives of Puppets??)

My boss is amazing and got me an ARC of this so I read it earlier, if you’d like to see my review, you can find it here ◡̈

Something in the Woods Loves You

By: Jarod K. Anderson

Why am I stoked for this release?

Maybe I’m being a little optimistic about wanting to read another nature/animal based nonfiction – but this memoir has gotten a lot of buzz around it that it’s made me curious.

I honestly probably won’t get around to it for quite a while, but it’s also supposed to talk about mental illness and depression, and not just nature and animals. Maybe this one I won’t have to read it chunks like I did with Immense World.

Whenever You’re Ready

By: Rachel Runya Katz

Why am I stoked for this release?

I’ve actually been talking this book up at work a lot because it’s a about two reconnected friends who must decide if love is the ultimate risk worth taking in this emotional sapphic romance.

I’m stoked for this because I really don’t read a lot of sapphic romances, but this one had been reviewed as being adorable and cute, so I’m ready for it.

Greta

By: J.S. Lemon

Why am I stoked for this release?

Okay so this one is Okay so this one is being said to be, “J. S. Lemon’s middle grade debut is an utterly transformative, fiercely original, and surprisingly funny story about consent, friendship, healing, and a beauty that transcends all else.”

It’s also said to be “Reminiscent of Kafka’s Metamorphosis”, which if you don’t know this about me, Kafka is one of the few old dead white guys that I actually enjoy reading, so anytime anyone compares things to him, I have to read it.

I’m sure there’s going to be some heartstrings pulled on this one though.

Release Date: September 17, 2024

When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary

By: Alice Hoffman

Why am I stoked for this release?

Since I was a kid, I was already really interested in WWII. First it was Pearl Harbor, then I was obsessed with finding out anything and everything about the Holocaust, which of course, lead me to Anne Frank.

I received an ARC of this book some time ago and you can find my review here.

It is an imagining as to what the days leading up to the Frank’s hiding could have been like for Anne, but it was done with intensive research and published in cooperation with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

How to Piss Off Men: 106 Things to Say to Shatter the Male Ego

By: Kyle Prue

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is just going to be a funny book that I will love to read after a stupid day at work.

Some days it’s just fun to upset men and their tiny egos.

Release Date: September 24, 2024

Playground

By: Richard Powers

Why am I stoked for this release?

So, I’m going to be honest and tell you I now have three book that Richard Powers has written, but have I have not read any of them yet. Would I enjoy them all? I have no doubt.

This one is supposed to have a cast of characters and about the ocean – one of the few places humans haven’t colonized.

There’s more to this, but I’m not doing a very good job at explaining it!

A Little Less Broke: How an Autism Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole

By: Marian Schembari

Why am I stoked for this release?

As an adult female who probably is most definitely on the autism spectrum, it makes me smile when I see or read about people’s experiences in getting the diagnosis later in life and the validation they then feel.

I’m just going to be happy for the author.

When the World Tips Over

By: Janey Nelson

Why am I stoked for this release?

Did I geek out just slightly when we got an ARC of this at work?

Yes.

Did my coworker make fun of me for it?

Yes.

Am I still stoked for the Fall family to experience a rainbow-haired girl who trips their world over?

Yes.

What We Sacrifice for Magic

By: Andrea Jo DeWerd

Why am I stoked for this release?

It’s a witchy coming-of-age novel about a young witch who just graduated from high school and is set to take over as the indomitable Madga from her grandmother.

But as she begins to ask why her path is so set in stone, she begins to find out family secrets as to how they keep magic in the family.

Just – give me witchy, fall vibe good books, okay?!

The Naming Song

By: Jedediah Berry

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a book about words and metaphors and how what we use to describe ourselves is what becomes of ourselves.

I feel like this may be a hit or miss for me. I love books about books, but honestly’ don’t know how I feel about books about language. I don’t know why I’m thinking of Babel and how I’m a little nervous to pick that book up or not because it’s so hit of miss with readers.

Stoked for This: August 2024

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

I’m going to be a bit honest and have been a bit discouraged in doing my Stoked for This this month. I know I’m not the most popular website, I’ve only had this for a little over 1.5 years, so I’m not expecting a lot. But even if I don’t get a lot of interactions with this, I still actually do enjoy looking over everything and seeing what’s coming out this month. Maybe one day someone will read one of these things and get excited for a release that is coming out they didn’t know about ◡̈

So, without further ado…

There’s some really awesome releases coming out this month! Including a few from author’s I’ve loved in the past, so therefore excited to get my hands on their most recent releases. Be excited – there’s also talking cats and Studio Ghibli is involved…

August 6, 2024

The Pairing

By: Casey McQuiston

Why am I stoked for this release?

Ever since Red, White & Royal Blue I’m been gathering up every Casey McQuiston novel that comes out, so obviously this is on my radar too.

A queer, “Let me show you just how over you I am by hooking up/dating these other people” trope. I don’t read a lot of cis romance (I say as I’ve actually read a few these last few months…) but queer romance I’m always down for.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins

By: P. Djèlí Clark

Why am I stoked for this release?

I can’t remember how I ended up reading The Black God’s Drum a few years ago – I believe a coworker suggested it to me. Anyway, I really enjoyed that novella and I’m constantly putting it on recommendation lists I make at work. The world building that Clark made in that novel still blows me away now.

I haven’t read his other novels yet, but they’re on my TBR list, but I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about that – just that I need to read them.

This novel, though has the word cat in the title, says it doesn’t have cats in it, but yea know I’m still going to be interested in it! It also has assassins – which the story DOES have ◡̈

It Happened to Anna

By: Tehlor Kay Mejia

Why am I stoked for this release?

Tehlor Kay Mejia wrote my favorite sapphic YA duology that I read back during Covid lockdown (We Set the Dark on Fire).

This is a middle grade ghost story about a tween girl who’s literally being haunted by loneliness and anytime she tries to make a friend, the ghost scares them away (or causes an accident that kills them).

I’m not sure how this will go since it is aimed at Middle Grade – it could be not that scary, or terrifying (remember how crazy Goosebumps was?!). But it sounds like it could be interesting, so I’m into it!

Five-Star Stranger

By: Kat Tang

Why am I stoked for this release?

Following a narrator only referred to as Stranger, you navigate around New York City under the guise of the characters he plays. But when a nosy client threatens to upend his long-term roles as father to a young girl, Stranger begins to reckon with his attachment to his pretend daughter, her mother, and his own past.

The premise of this sounds familiar, and yet, I can’t pinpoint another actual title where this happens. Honestly, probably all the fake dating fanfics I read in high school & college…

Anywho – I’m picturing a cute little girl who’s probably got this guy wrapped around her finger and that’s adorable okay?

This isn’t being marketed as a romance, so I think it may focus more on the relationship the narrator has and not love stuff.

Guess we’ll see ◡̈

August 13, 2024

The Dollmakers

By: Lynn Buchanan

Why am I stoked for this release?

I’m just going to start off with this little marketing quote, “The Dollmakers is perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli films and the works of TJ Klune and Travis Baldree…”

I would shout my love for TJ Klune and Travis Baldree from the rooftops if I could (I kind of do with the amount I shove their books into people’s hands). Also Studio Ghibli can do no wrong and the I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watch Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Totoro.

This is a stand-alone fantasy about a world centered around destructive monsters, magical dolls to fight this force, and the artisans trying to prove herself.

I’m ready for the world building in this and the story premise – I’ve been wanting a good fantasy!

Ash’s Cabin

By: Jen Wang

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is about a young boy and his dog going deep into the California wilderness to see if he could find his Grandpa Edwin’s secret cabin (if he ever built it).

I’m simply excited for this because I too would also like to disappear deep into the wilderness in search of an isolated cabin far from society.

August 20, 2024

The Volcano Daughters

By: Gina María Balibrera

Why am I stoked for this release?

This one is about two sisters raised in the shadow of El Salvador’s dictator, El Gran Pendejo (which I have no knowledge of).

That’s one of the reasons I really enjoy and advocate for historical fiction, a lot of it is based on real events and yes, I could read a history book about it, but I have a hard time with just being given facts. I’m slowly getting into more and more narrative nonfiction, but for now, let me enjoy reading historical fiction.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop

By: Mai Mochizuki

Why am I stoked for this release?

First off, there’s cat on the front of this book. It’s also translated Japanese’s literature – so I dare you to stop me from getting this.

This is a book about a cafe that is run by talking cat who will also consult their customers on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives veered off course.

My oldest cat turns 14 on the 10th this month – oh how I wish I could talk with her! I can’t wait to live vicariously through these characters.

Helga

By: Catherine Yu

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a YA retelling of Frankenstein.

Have I ever actually read Frankenstein?

No.

Am I still excited to read a YA retelling of it?

You betcha.

August 27, 2024

Buffalo Dreamer

By: Violet Duncan

Why am I stoked for this release?

Firstly, this cover is beautiful, which is what grabbed my attention when I saw it on the publisher’s preview at a virtual event.

Secondly, this story is actually about “reclaiming the past” and is based on the author’s family history. Set in Alberta, Canada, Summer has begun having vivid dreams in which she’s running away from one of the residential schools. When she learns of the unmarked children’s graves found at the school her grandfather attended as a child, folks begin speaking out about their experiences.

The way history treated Native and Indigenous Peoples is absolutely repulsive and the more I find out about how it wasn’t happy-go-lucky like I was taught in school, the more outrage I feel. So, I try to read and learn about this history from Native and Indigenous authors.

This is aimed for Middle Grade readers, so I know it probably isn’t going to have anything massively intense with it, but I still want to read this stuff, so I know when to offer it.

Stoked for This: April 2024

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

I had a bit to deal with over the weekend and Monday so the first Tuesday of the month kind of snuck up on me – ALMOST!!

I really wanted to make sure to get this posted because as a reminder, I’m judging a few awards right now (I’ve got two categories in one Award alone). Because of this, I unfortunately won’t be posting as much because I can’t post my reviews of those books. I am giving myself a 2:1 ratio though. Two award books, one book of my choosing – mostly to mix it up but to also make sure I don’t poorly score a book simply because I want to get it over with to read another one.

So, thanks to those that stick around. Especially those who stuck around and read all of that ◡̈

Without further ado, my April’s Stoked for This!! There’s quite a few that come out this first Tuesday and there’s a ton of new books by some of my favorite authors. April will be a busy month, but I’m excited!!

Release Date: April 2

The Book of Thorns

By: Hester Fox

Why am I stoked for this release?

I’ll be honest with you here to let you know I really love Hester Fox, so I’ll read everything by her. One of my favorite gothic, dark writers.

But, besides that: sisters separated at birth, bound together by a secret language of flowers!!

And it’s set in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars?! A new historical time I can check off my list.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories

By: Julia Alvarez

Why am I stoked for this release?

Oh, just another literary icon that I absolutely love.

This one is about a writer, Alma who creates a graveyard for all of her untold stories. A legit graveyard for the manuscripts and drafts of stories she never finished. Alma wants her characters to rest in peace, but they have other plans.

As a writer who hasn’t written a fictional stories in years (I know, I know – I have a Fiction Writing Degree and I sure use it huh??), I’ve got A BOX FILLED with unfinished stories – not to mention the unfinished stories on my college external hard drive.

This just gives me hope that maybe one day, I can finish their stories too ◡̈

All We Were Promised

By: Ashton Lattimore

Why am I stoked for this release?

A historical fiction set in Philadelphia, 1837 – another time in history I haven’t read much in.

A housemaid who escaped White Oaks plantation down South conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape.

I’ve watched a lot of movies about this time period, but not a lot of books. I’m hoping this one will be interesting and page turning for me.

Lightningborn (Storm Dragons Saga #1)

By: Julie Kagawa

Why am I stoked for this release?

Okay, first off – do you see this adorable dragon on the cover?? Because that’s the first thing that caught my eye. Then the fact it was by Julie Kagawa, I was asking for copy of this quickly.

You know how some girls were horse girlies? I was more of a fairies and dragons type (mostly fairies, but still loved dragons!).

Anywho, in a world where only the rich own dragons, a poor boy finds a wild dragon and becomes the focus of an evil pirate! And, by the looks of the cover, it’ll be sky pirates!!

Release Date: April 9, 2024

The Secret Language of Birds

By: Lynne Kelly

Why am I stoked for this release?

Ah, Song of Whales is a beautiful middle grade story that I love recommending for Middle Grade with a Deaf main character, so when the author’s newest book was announced, I got excited.

This is about a little girl who is obsessed with birds who finds a pair of whooping cranes nesting in the marsh of her summer camp. It’s kind of impossible because all of her resources say they haven’t nested in Texas in over 100 years. But, once wildlife officials are notified, more questions arise about the bird pairing.

Release Date: April 16, 2024

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

By: Asako Yuzuki, Polly Barton (Translator)

Why am I stoked for this release?

Okay, please just read the title of this! “Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder”! Tell me that doesn’t piqued your interest?!

No?

What about this: There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

This is inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer “The Konkatsu Killer”.

Just – I can’t explain in words my excitement for this, okay?

Release Date: April 23, 2024

Bad Habit

By: Alana S. Portero, Mara Faye Lethem (Translator)

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is about a coming-of -age novel about a trans woman growing up in Madrid in the last decades of the twentieth century.

After finally finding community and kinship in downtown Madrid after growing up in a blue collar suburb where she didn’t belong, the unnamed character finds that each step forward she must confront a violence she does not know yet how to counter.

Trans experiences are getting more and more voices nowadays and I’m all for it.

Release Date: April 30, 2024

Not Like Other Girls

By: Meredith Adamo

Why am I stoked for this release?

I don’t want to get too much into this novel, but based on the description of it, it reminds me a bit of Sadie by Courtney Summers.

But this is said to take a hard look at how we treat young women and their trauma as a teen girl tries to find her former best friend after goes missing and all the secrets that come to light.