Top Ten Tuesday: 10 books on my spring TBR (#booklove)

It's 10:58 p.m. and will officially be Wednesday in 62 minutes, but I've been wanting to do this week's TTT post because there are SO MANY books I'm looking forward to being released this spring! So. I'm going to share the releases I'm most anticipating (even though I may have already read some of these as ARCs. Hehe.)

YOUNG ADULT FICTION:

This Is Where the World Ends

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Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship—as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt.

Using a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators, Amy Zhang reveals the circumstances surrounding Janie’s disappearance in a second novel.


The Great American Whatever

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From the award-winning author of Better Nate Than Ever comes a laugh-out-loud sad YA debut that’s a wry and winning testament to the power of old movies and new memories—one unscripted moment at a time.

Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before—before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa…and before Annabeth was killed in a car accident.

Enter Geoff, Quinn’s best friend who insists it’s time that Quinn came out—at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy—a hot one—and falls hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that might actually have a happily-ever-after ending—if, that is, he can finally step back into the starring role of his own life story.


The Apple Tart of Hope

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Fourteen-year-old Oscar Dunleavy is missing, presumed dead. His bike was found at sea, out past the end of the pier, and everyone in town seems to have accepted this as a teenage tragedy. But Oscar's best friend Meg knows he isn't dead. Oscar is an optimistic and kind boy who bakes the world's best apple tarts; he would never kill himself, and Meg is going to prove it.

Through interwoven narratives, the reader learns what really happened to Oscar. His sweet life had turned sour after Meg's family moved away. Though Meg didn't know it, Oscar had a manipulative bully plaguing him with toxic humiliation. Meg must confront the painful truth of Oscar's past six months—and the possibility that he might really be gone. Surrounded by grief and confusion, she starts to put the pieces back together. With a poignant ending and memorable characters, this story of love and friendship reminds us to keep hope in our hearts.


Boys Of Summer

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Welcome to Winlock Harbor…

Best friends since they were kids, Grayson, Mike, and Ian were hoping for another epic summer on “The Locks”, filled with clam bakes, bonfires, and late-night swims in the ocean.

But that was before Ian’s dad never returned home from his last deployment. Before Mike had to take on more responsibility in order to help provide for his family. Before Grayson’s accident left him with an injured throwing arm and an uncertain future.

It’s clear this summer on the island is shaping up to be very different from those Grayson, Mike, and Ian have come to rely on. And when the sacred code of dating a friend’s sister or ex is broken, it will push their friendship to the absolute limit, testing their loyalties in a way that could either break them—or save them.


This Is the Story of You

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On Haven, a six-mile long, half-mile-wide stretch of barrier island, Mira Banul and her Year-Rounder friends have proudly risen to every challenge. But then a superstorm defies all predictions and devastates the island, upending all logic and stranding Mira's mother and brother on the mainland. Nothing will ever be the same. A stranger appears in the wreck of Mira's home. A friend obsessed with vanishing disappears. As the mysteries deepen, Mira must find the strength to carry on—to somehow hold her memories in place while learning to trust a radically reinvented future. Gripping and poetic, This Is the Story of You is about the beauty of nature and the power of family, about finding hope in the wake of tragedy and recovery in the face of overwhelming loss.


Shuffle, Repeat

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When Harry Met Sally for YA romance readers. This opposites-attract love story is perfect for fans of Huntley Fitzpatrick, Stephanie Perkins, and Jenny Han.

June wants high school to end and real life to begin. Oliver is soaking up senior year’s glory days. They could have coasted through high school, knowing about—but not really knowing—each other.

Except that their moms have arranged for Oliver to drive June to school. Every. Single. Day.

Suddenly these two opposites are fighting about music, life . . . pretty much everything. But love is unpredictable. When promises—and hearts—get broken, Oliver and June must figure out what really matters. And then fight for it.

Anything You Want

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Expect a bundle of joy—er, trouble—in this hilarious, heartwarming story from the award-winning author of Stupid Fast Geoff Herbach

Taco's mom always said, "Today is the best day of your life, and tomorrow will be even better." That was hard to believe the day she died of cancer and when Taco's dad had to move up north for work, but he sure did believe it when Maggie Corrigan agreed to go with him to junior prom. Taco loves Maggie- even more than the tacos that earned him his nickname. And she loves him right back.

Except all that love? It gets Maggie pregnant. Everyone else may be freaking out, but Taco can't wait to have a real family again. He just has to figure out what it means to be a dad and how to pass calculus. And then there's getting Maggie's parents to like him. Because it would be so much easier for them to be together if he didn't have to climb the side of the Corrigans' house to see her...

WOMEN'S FICTION:

The Assistants

A wry and astute debut about a young Manhattanite whose embezzlement scam turns her into an unlikely advocate for the leagues of overeducated and underpaid assistants across the city.

Tina Fontana is the hapless but brazen thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the all-powerful and commanding CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss—but after six years of making his reservations for restaurants she’d never get into on her own and pouring his drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, she’s bored, broke, and just a bit over it all.

When a technical error with Robert’s travel-and-expenses report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her student loan debt with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she struggles with the decision: She’s always played by the rules. But it’s such a relatively small amount of money for the Titan Corporation—and for her it would be a life-changer . . .

The Assistants speaks directly to a new generation of women who feel stuck and unable to get ahead playing by the rules. It will appeal to all of those who have ever asked themselves, “How is it that after all these years, we are still assistants?”


The Nest

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs joint trust fund, “The Nest” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.

Melody, a wife and mother in an upscale suburb, has an unwieldy mortgage and looming college tuition for her twin teenage daughters. Jack, an antiques dealer, has secretly borrowed against the beach cottage he shares with his husband, Walker, to keep his store open. And Bea, a once-promising short-story writer, just can’t seem to finish her overdue novel. Can Leo rescue his siblings and, by extension, the people they love? Or will everyone need to reimagine the future they’ve envisioned? Brought together as never before, Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths, and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives.

This is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.


Will You Won't You Want Me?

Marjorie Plum never meant to peak in high school. She was Queen Bee. Now, 10 years later, she's lost her sparkle. At her bleakest moment, she’s surprised by renewed interest from a questionable childhood crush, and the bickering with her cranky boss—at a potentially game-changing new job—grows increasingly like flirtatious banter. Suddenly, she’s faced with a choice between the life she always dreamed of and one she never thought to imagine. With the help of a precocious 11-year-old tutee, who unknowingly becomes the Ghost of Marjorie Past, and a musician roommate, who looks like a pixie and talks like the Dalai Lama, Marjorie struggles with the ultimate question: Who does she want to be? Nora Zelevansky’s Will You Won’t You Want Me? is a funny, often surprising, novel about growing up when you are already supposed to be grown.

Let's Ask Lovemuffin {1}





Hi ho! The other day I just happened to be laying next to Lovemuffin as I was trying to narrow down my next read. Because it was a late Friday afternoon and neither of us were currently doing anything (busy lives, us two), I asked,

"Hey! You want to decide what I read next?"

Shockingly, he said, "Okay!"

This turned into an elaborate discussion about how we were going to play this new, just made-up game, and it was finally determined that I was going to read him the titles, and he was supposed to pick the book.

But then he said I should let him pick the book based on the titles, THEN read the blurbs, and see if he changed his mind.

And I was like, "You are brilliant!"

So that's what we did. And he did, in fact, change his mind after hearing the blurbs!

I'll share what he ended up picking in a second, but first, some background:

Lovemuffin hates to read.

He is also a SLOW reader.

He hates to read.

Reading is no fun ever.

Did I mention he hates to read???

To me, this is what made it so much fun... getting the perspective from someone totally not into reading at all (and therefore, someone also quite unaware of what is currently popular, what's been negatively talked about on social media, et cetera).

Quick summary:

1) I read four titles.

2) He chose a book for me to read based on the title.

3) I then read the blurbs to all four books.

4) He changed his mind, and chose a totally different book.

So. Are you curious which book he chose based on the title?

Here were the four options. Keep in mind that I didn't let him see any covers; this was solely based on hearing about them. But, for the purposes of this post, I do have to show the covers, because, hello.




After reading only the titles, Lovemuffin chose...






 THE LIE TREE.






THEN I read the blurbs (in this very order, actually):


Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves. 

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.


Publish date: January 16, 2016 | Add to Goodreads




Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl--Isabel, the one the seƱoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s Caribbean island garden. Some say she can grant wishes; some say her touch can kill.

Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives on the mainland most of the year but spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico. He’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, and he wants to believe in Isabel and her magic. When letters from Isabel begin mysteriously appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers--and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But time is running out for the girl filled with poison, and the more entangled Lucas becomes with Isabel, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life.

Publish date: April 12, 2016  |  Add to Goodreads




With her mother facing prison time for a violent political protest, seventeen-year-old Liberty Briscoe has no choice but to leave her Washington, DC, apartment and take a bus to Ebbottsville, Kentucky, to live with her granny. There she can finish high school and put some distance between herself and her mother-- her 'former' mother, as she calls her. But Ebbottsville isn't the same as Liberty remembers, and it's not just because the top of Tanner's Peak has been blown away to mine for coal. Half the county is out of work, an awful lot of people in town seem to be sick, and the tap water is bright orange--the same water that officials claim is safe to drink. When Granny's lingering cold turns out to be something much worse, Liberty is convinced the mine is to blame, and starts an investigation that quickly plunges her into a world of secrets, lies, threats, and danger. Liberty isn't deterred by any of it, but as all her searches turn into dead ends, she comes to a difficult decision: turn to violence like her former mother or give up her quest for good. 

Publish date: April 1st, 2016 | Add to Goodreads



*The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric novel by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night.
Faith's father has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, and as she is searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. The tree only grows healthy and bears fruit if you whisper a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, will deliver a hidden truth to the person who consumes it. The bigger the lie, the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered. 
The girl realizes that she is good at lying and that the tree might hold the key to her father's murder, so she begins to spread untruths far and wide across her small island community. But as her tales spiral out of control, she discovers that where lies seduce, truths shatter . . .
Publish date: April 19th, 2016 | Add to Goodreads



Here's what he chose after HEARING the blurbs:







Tah-dah! **

Are you surprised? I was! I never would have thought he'd pick this one! (Oh, and he thought the cover didn't do it justice!***)

So... how about you? What title would you have chosen? How 'bout after hearing the blurb?



*Come to find out, I accidentally read the WRONG blurb version of THE LIE TREE to Lovemuffin! Whoops. It was published abroad last year, and is going to be released in April here in the US. The blurbs are so different that I think he still may have chosen THE LIE TREE if he had heard the right one! *hangs head* (If you'd like to read the actual US one, go here. I'd love to hear which blurb you prefer!)

**I'm totally making this a feature now! Hee!

***Spider warning: the spider on the cover of AFaSP might look cute, but the black and white version on the inside was NOT OKAY

Bookish Things I'd Give a Kidney For (#bloggerextravaganza)

And... here I am... two days late and a kidney short (hehe) because I totally missed post one for the


(For more info, go HERE.) BUT... at least I'm here, right? Right. And since yesterday was World Kidney Day, Rachel had the smart idea for one of today's post options to be Bookish Things I'd Give a Kidney For. I mean, yes, it's technically post #2, but I'm here, and I'm doing it, so here we go.

And oh, man. There are SO MANY bookish THINGS I would love. Would I really give a kidney for them? Prob not. But since this is the kind of post you get to share all the things you're drooling over, I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity, and share mine. YA READY? (Might want to go hide your wallet from yourself first, though. Don't say I didn't warn you!)

1) FROSTBEARD CANDLES


I have been admiring these darlings for months. I don't even know what else to say other than they're adorable and I love them (this one especially) and would never ever burn it in a million years but make sure EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO WALKED IN MY DOOR came over it and appreciated it just because.


2) A THROW BLANKET BY EVIE ON SOCIETY6



I have no idea how to flip that, so you get to see it the way it is. I'm especially in love with this one and the other black blanket with gold lettering. I also recently ordered the largest sized one for my mother in-law (not a bookish one) and the big one IS SO BIG. 

So, so gorgeous. I would never, ever let anyone else touch it... it would be mine and I'd use it all of the time. :D





Some of you have seen my recent desperate tweets about trading my copy and not realizing you can't buy this anywhere anymore. *sobs* Dumb me. I would give so much for it. I'm one of those people who will get two copies of a book I love so that I can push one on people and keep the other for my collection. This was from my collection (see photo below), which I thought I could just up and reorder come a birthday or something. NOPE. Dumb, dumb Jessica. *sobs more*

Back when I still had the entire collection :( 

Speaking of Melina Marchetta, I loved LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI, and found out that it was made into a movie in AUSTRALIA!!!! But is not available here. :( :( :( So my #4 (somewhat) bookish thing I'd give a kidney for is:





DVD blurb: Josie Alibrandi has a lot to deal with right now. She's 17, got the dreaded H.S.C. in front of her and the boy of her dreams seems completely out of reach. Then there's that other problem. She's a wog. Sure it's where Josie comes from but it's not where she feels she belongs. In fact, Josie doesn't know where she belongs. With her Nonna in one ear talking about the old country and the stuck-up girls at her school telling her she's an outsider, it's no wonder. This year, however, everything is going to change. Josie will let loose, face her fears, uncover secrets - even discover the true identity of her father. From the bestselling novel by Melina Marchetta, comes the surprise hit of the year starring Greta Scacchi (Emma), Anthony La Paglia (The Client), Pia Miranda (TV's Neighbours) and Kick Gurry (The Thin Red Line), Looking for Alibrandi.


5) Any of these pencils from ICEY DESIGNS (though the two below are my favorite)

Bronte
Shakespeare

 I would never use them, but they'd be beautiful. And that's what matters, you know?



6) The UNWIND movie already


Last we heard was back in October, from the Shusterman himself. Production was slated for April of this year, but I haven't really heard much in recent months. 

I have been looking forward to this movie for over five years. (As in, I've been wanting to see it on the big screen since I read it over five years ago. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL.) 

Oh, and speaking of movies... and back to Melina Marchetta again... what's up with the Jellicoe Road movie? (I have a serious book-to-movie thing going here!)


7) A shirt with a quote from one of my books on it


I don't have an actual shirt like that, obviously, so I made this lame version. But one day... one day I'd love that to be something you could find like, anywhere.

8) An entire bookcase WALL

Found this design HERE

No words necessary, really. Just want one of these at some point in my life. :)


9) An unlimited bank account JUST FOR BOOKS



10) A cute Kindle cover (like this one)



11) THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER (like... now)

The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn, #2)
GOODREADS


And... of course...

Last, but certainly not least...

12) A way to meet/hang out with my favorite characters WHENEVER I WANT (you think a kidney'll make that possible???)



Waiting on Wednesday {121}: LUCKY STRIKES



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Lucky Strikes.

Lucky Strikes


Lucky Strikes

by Louis Bayard


Publication date: July 5, 2016

From Goodreads:

With her mama recently dead and her scoundrel pa sight unseen since birth, fourteen-year-old Amelia is suddenly in charge of her younger brother and sister--and of the family gas station. Harley Blevins, local king and emperor of Standard Oil, is in hot pursuit to clinch his fuel monopoly. To keep him at bay and to stay out of the state orphanage, Melia must come up with a father--and fast. And so when a hobo rolls out of a passing car into their drive, Melia grabs opportunity by its beard. Can she hold off the hounds till she turns sixteen?

Waiting on Wednesday {120}: EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Exit, Pursued by a Bear.

Exit, Pursued by a Bear


Exit, Pursued by a Bear

by E.K. Johnston


Publication date: March 15, 2016

From Goodreads:

Veronica Mars meets William Shakespeare in E.K. Johnston’s latest brave and unforgettable heroine.

Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn’t mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don’t cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team’s summer training camp is Hermione’s last and marks the beginning of the end of…she’s not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black.

In every class, there’s a star cheerleader and pariah pregnant girl. They’re never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she’s always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The assault wasn’t the beginning of Hermione Winter’s story and she’s not going to let it be the end. She won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale.

Catching up on all the things

And... I'm back! I kind of disappeared for a couple of months for lame reasons I'm not going to get into, and then just kind of never blogged again. (I convinced myself it was a hiatus, so I wouldn't feel guilty about it, and then I started liking the hiatus, and... now it's the end of February!) But I'm here now (I actually found about four drafts ready to go for January that I'd forgotten to publish, too... OOPS) and catching up on stuff. Hence, my first post back being

the amazeballs Christmas gift from my The Broke and the Bookish SECRET SANTA! 

Even though over 2 months have passed, my gift was so sweet, unique, and personal, I had to share it.  Some of you might remember the teaser I posted on my Instagram a while back with my daughter wearing something random across her face. Well that was part of it. But first, the box and all of my goodies (she made the ribbons herself!!!):



After opening... in way better lighting:



Eeee! Now, I was fangirling about everything (including her sweet homemade card), and then I got to the cute little box that had this in it:



 and I was stumped. Um, what? Nose Cozy? Challenge accepted?

I went back to the breakdown I'd sent Jaime (or whoever was doing the #TBTBSecretSanta match-ups) and read what I'd sent as ideas for my secret santa, and then it made sense:



NOSE COZIES! I could hardly believe it. My girls were standing there watching me open everything, and after I re-read my old email and explained the cozy, we were all blown away by her ingenuity! It's so cute, and not only that, it WORKS! Here's the pic of my middle daughter modeling it for me:



Don't ya love it? :)

So there ya go. My first post back, and now I'm caught up (sort of) through the end of the year. (Since this Christmas post has been posted on a leap day, I figure I'm now all sort of evened out. :D)

Waiting on Wednesday {119}: Perfekt Control



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Perfekt Order.




Perfekt Order (Aere Saga #2)

by ST Bende


Publication date: February 9, 2016

From Goodreads:

Brynn Aksel is a valkyrie—a battle goddess tasked with protecting both the God of War and the future of Asgard. She fends off giants and dark elves with an iron fist, a glossy smile, and no less than perfekt control. She’s focused one-hundred-percent on rising through the valkyrie ranks, and not at all on her lifelong crush on Henrik Andersson—the one guy in all the realms who could be her undoing.

Henrik serves as War’s other bodyguard, and he’s too focused on protecting their shared charge to realize that Brynn’s a girl. When an unprecedented surge of darkness abducts the Goddess of Love, Brynn’s already-steely focus is singularly directed on her new assignment—accompany Henrik to recover the realms’ source of light before the cosmos descends into chaos.

While battling demons, dragons, and the not-quite-dead, it becomes clear that immortality does not equal invincibility. And when Hel herself puts a hit on Brynn, the valkyrie has to decide if staying in control is worth losing everything . . . or if it’s time to rule the realms.