There are a few books coming out this month that I’ve been anxious for I don’t even know how long. I’m pretty stoked for this month’s offerings on the New Releases list. Check out what books made it onto my wish list this month.
1. This is So Not Happening by Kieran Scott.
Just when Ally and Jake think they’ve finally got it together, things fall completely apart in this drama-filled conclusion to the He’s So/She’s So trilogy.
After their long summer apart, Ally and Jake were hoping for a drama-free senior year. Instead
they are faced with a turn of events that threaten to tear them apart…for good.
It turns out that Chloe is pregnant and says that Jake is the father. Hammond is pissed at his best friend, and he cannot believe that Ally would stay with Jake. But Ally’s willingness to make it work is tested when Jake starts blowing her off to go to doctor’s appointments with Chloe, and Ally joins the school play—and meets a cute guy.
As graduation approaches, new secrets come out and Ally realizes maybe Jake isn’t the guy she thought he was. After everything they’ve been through, can Ally and Jake get out of Orchard Hill with their relationship intact?
The gossip-fueled action of She’s So Dead to Us and He’s So Not Worth It comes full circle in this can’t-miss conclusion to a popular series.
The drama in the last book had me gasping and “Oh no she didn’t”-ing all over the place and I’m anxious to see what happens next after the bombshell that Chloe dropped on Jake and Ally. Talk about, I NEED TO KNOW, I really do.
2. Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy.
From the author of Pure and The Summer of Firsts and Lasts, a friendship story with one girl, several boys, and lots of complications.
Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl’s perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys’ band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex–best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free…until it isn’t anymore.
When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl…and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he might want to be more than friends with Char…being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.
I’ve got ants in my pants for this one, I’ve been wanting it forEVER.
3. When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle.
In this intensely romantic, modern recounting of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo’s original intended—Juliet’s cousin Rosaline—tells her side of the tale.
What’s in a name, Shakespeare? I’ll tell you: Everything.
Rosaline knows that she and Rob are destined to be together. Rose has been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her—and when he finally does, it’s perfect. But then Juliet moves back to town. Juliet, who used to be Rose’s best friend. Juliet, who now inexplicably hates her. Juliet, who is gorgeous, vindictive, and a little bit crazy…and who has set her sights on Rob. He doesn’t even stand a chance.
Rose is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet. This is not how the story was supposed to go. And when rumors start swirling about Juliet’s instability, her neediness, and her threats of suicide, Rose starts to fear not only for Rob’s heart, but also for his life. Because Shakespeare may have gotten the story wrong, but we all still know how it ends….
Everyone (including me) always forgets about Rosaline from Romeo and Juliet so when I came across this book (thanks Nath, Ames and Monroe for the heads up on this) I thought it would be really interesting to read. How lucky for Rosaline that she didn’t end up with Romeo, right? =)
4. Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell.
Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.
I actually just finished this book (got it for review) and I enjoyed it so I want you lovely readers to put this on your wish lists because it was a fab read.
5. What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen.
In this suspenseful thriller, Sara and her mother are going to secretly escape her abusive father—when her mother mysteriously disappears.
Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.
With each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.
Ooh, what happened to Sara’s Mom? I so need to know this. I was sucked in by the blurb and I definitely need to read this to find out what happens.
6. The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond.
Is he or isn’t he? Brigitta’s best friend is convinced that Brigitta’s new crush, Luke, is actually egotistical teen heartthrob Trent Yves, hiding from his fans in their tiny town. But Brigitta actually likes Luke, whereas Trent is an arrogant jerk. As the two spend the summer together raising orphaned cougar cubs, Brigitta still can’t be sure of his true identity. But then again, since her grandparents’ death, her father’s sudden urge to give away all their possessions and become a shaman, and her own awkward transition from girlhood into a young woman, what can she be sure of?
I’ve been seeing some reviews going up around blogland for this one and I’m pretty interested to read it for myself.
A devastating loss leads to an unexpected road trip in this novel from the author of Moonglass, whose voice Sarah Dessen says “is fresh and wise, all at once.”
Hours after her brother’s military funeral, Honor opens the last letter Finn ever sent. In her grief, she interprets his note as a final request and spontaneously decides to go to California to fulfill it.
Honor gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen Rusty in ages, but it’s obvious he is as arrogant and stubborn as ever—not to mention drop-dead gorgeous. Despite Honor’s better judgment, the two set off together on a voyage from Texas to California. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn’s memory—but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?
I met Jess Kirby a few months ago at the Passion and Prose event in Long Beach and I thought she was lovely. I’m very anxious for this book because it feels like ages since I’ve been pining for this one. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
8. The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland.
A great summer beach read filled with sunshine, cooking, and—of course—romance!
Elizabeth Margaret—better known as Em—has always known what her life would contain: an internship at her father’s firm, a degree from Harvard, and a career as a lawyer. The only problem is, it’s not what she wants. So when she gets the opportunity to get away and spend a month with the aunt she never knew, she jumps at the chance. While there, Em learns that her family has some pretty significant secrets. And then there’s Cade, the laid-back local surfer boy who seems to be everything Em isn’t. Naturally, she can’t resist him, and as their romance blossoms, Em feels that for the first time ever, she is really living life on her own terms.
I can’t wait to read this book. It looks really good and I need to hurry up and get this read before it expires. This is on my wish list as a reminder to buy it.
9. Unbreak my Heart by Melissa C. Walker.
Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.
I’ve been sucked into these kinds of stories for a while now. I have no idea since I’m supposed to detest cheating but I can’t help myself. I want to read this one, bad.
10. Home in Time for Dinner by Kathryn Ellis.
Chris Ramsay is living a normal, quiet – if rather tightly controlled -existence in a quiet suburb in Dallas, Texas. He lives with his father, who’s the one doing the controlling. Shopping every Friday for the next week’s meals, with Chris as the cook. A home with bare walls, no family photos. Predictable routines, including Chris’s tryouts for the baseball team — which he has just flubbed and fears telling his father about.
Then, one evening, his father out for a meeting, Chris turns on the TV a short while before his favourite program and finds himself watching one of those “true story” shows his father detests for some reason.
There, suddenly, he sees a photo of a little kid on Santa’s knee, a little kid who’s missing and whose computer-aged face is an exact duplicate of Chris’s. A kid stolen from his mother 13 years ago, a kid who has disappeared from his home in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
The body of the story traces Chris’s journey home to Kingston, home to find the mother who is still alive — not dead as his father has always told him. Travelling by bus, meeting strangers, assuming a new identity to escape detection by his father, grabbing opportunities as they are available, Chris makes his way home. And when he finds himself almost there, it’s not over.
In this sparely written, page-turning chronicle of Chris’s journey, author Kathryn Ellis presents a vivid account of a boy discovering his life and creating a new one for himself.
This book sounds interesting too. How moded would Chris be if he gets all the way to Kingston, Ontario only to find out that he’s not the missing boy? Even still, I want to read this one.
So there you have it, my monthly wish list. What’s on your wish list this month?
..and that’s your scoop!
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
This sounds like a great list! We got many books in common!
I’m planning to buy Meg Cabot’s Underworld (the second book in her Abandon series), Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson, and In Honor by Jessi Kirby. All three books come out on May 8. Morgan, Jessi, and Jenny Han will be doing a book event in SF next Wednesday, and I’m planning to go. I can’t wait!
Diana
You don’t have Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson on your list?!?!? LOL.
I also have Revived by Cat Patrick and The Serpent’s Snake by Rick Riordan. I’m most probably going to get In Honor, Struck and The Summer My Life Began – I remembered that one from a previous book watch you did 😛 And I think that’s it. After that, I’m going to need a break from YA contemporary LOL.
I didn’t realize This is So Not Happening was out this month!!
Good list. 😛
@Alex: That doesn’t surprise me at all, haha. =) You have such great taste in books.
@Diana: I haven’t read that series by Meg Cabot. So you’re liking it?
@Nath: WHAT? How could I forget that book? That’s all the way up there in my list of books I MUST HAVE.
@Ames: Yeah, it comes out this month. I am so anxious to see what the heck happens with Chloe’s bomb drop at the end of the last book.
Yes, I really like Meg’s new YA series. You should check it out!
Diana