Lisa’s Looking Forward To #79 – September 22nd, 2020

Posted September 16, 2020 by Lisa Mandina in LLFT / 12 Comments

Once again I’ll be joining up with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  As usual, mid-month weeks have a few less than the first few weeks, so let’s check out what there is.

From my ARC list for September 22nd, 2020:

It sounds like a really fun story, and I think it is one my students will enjoy.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

There hasn’t been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history. But that’s not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or why her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn’t about being perfect; it’s about sharing who you are with the world—and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands. So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.

Witty and heartfelt with characters that leap off the page, Miss Meteor is acclaimed authors Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s first book together.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I have the first book in this series, but I really need to get to reading it! They sound so good and I hear such good things!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Hair, makeup, clothing, decor… everything in Bethany Castle’s world is organized, planned, and styled to perfection. Which is why the homes she designs for her family’s real estate business are the most coveted in town. The only thing not perfect? Her track record with men. She’s on a dating hiatus and after helping her friends achieve their dreams, Bethany finally has time to focus on her own: flip a house, from framework to furnishings, all by herself. Except her older brother runs the company and refuses to take her seriously.

When a television producer gets wind of the Castle sibling rivalry, they’re invited on Flip Off, a competition to see who can do the best renovation. Bethany wants bragging rights, but she needs a crew and the only member of her brother’s construction team willing to jump ship is Wes Daniels, the new guy in town. His Texas drawl and handsome face got under Bethany’s skin on day one, but the last thing she needs is some cocky young cowboy in her way.

As the race to renovate heats up, Wes and Bethany are forced into close quarters, trading barbs and biting banter as they remodel the ugliest house on the block. It’s a labor of love, hate, and everything in between, and soon sparks are flying. But Bethany’s perfectly structured life is one kiss away from going up in smoke and she knows falling for a guy like Wes would be a flipping disaster.

In Tessa Bailey’s latest rom-com, two enemies team up to flip a house… and the sparks between them might burn the place down or ignite a passion that neither can ignore!

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I am a school librarian at a magnet type of school. Students have to pass a test to get in, and then we have a big population of art students, both fine arts and performing arts. So this book also sounds perfect for them!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Laugh-out-loud funny and instantly recognisable – not since The Inbetweeners has a coming of age story been so irreverent and relatable.

Fifteen-year-old Sam isn’t special. He’s not a famous vlogger, he’s never gone viral, and he doesn’t want to be the Next Big Thing. What he likes most is chatting to his friends and having a bit of a kick about.

None of which was a problem until Dad got rich and Mum made the whole family move to London. Now Sam is being made to go to the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, where every student is too busy planning Hollywood domination or starting alt-metal psychedelica crossover bands or making clothes out of bathmats to give someone as normal as him the time of day. Can Sam navigate his way through the weirdness and find a way to be himself?

A brilliant modern satire about fitting in, falling out and staying true to your own averageness.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Yet another book perfect for my students, and a great author as well! I even just read a review this past weekend that makes me even more interested in this one!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Justin A. Reynolds, author of Opposite of Always, delivers another smart, funny, and powerful stand-alone YA contemporary novel, with a speculative twist in which Jamal’s best friend is brought back to life after a freak accident . . . but they only have a short time together before he will die again.

Jamal’s best friend, Q, doesn’t know he’s about to die . . . again.

He also doesn’t know that Jamal tried to save his life, rescuing him from drowning only to watch Q die later in the hospital. Even more complicated, Jamal and Q haven’t been best friends in two years—not since Jamal’s parents died in a car accident, leaving him and his sister to carry on without them. Grief swallowed Jamal whole, and he blamed Q for causing the accident.

But what if Jamal could have a second chance? An impossible chance that would grant him the opportunity to say goodbye to his best friend? A new health-care technology allows Q to be reanimated—brought back to life like the old Q again. But there’s a catch: Q will only reanimate for a short time before he dies . . . forever.

Jamal is determined to make things right with Q, but grief is hard to shake. And he can’t tell Q why he’s suddenly trying to be friends with him again. Because Q has no idea that he died, and Q’s mom is not about to let anyone ruin the miracle by telling him. How can Jamal fix his friendship with Q if he can’t tell him the truth? 

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Garth Nix is an author I’ve never read, although I know he is very popular. This book, well just the title itself grabbed me! And the cover is great! The synopsis makes me think I want to read it too!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A girl’s quest to find her father leads her to an extended family of magical fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of England when it intrudes on the modern world. From the bestselling master of teen fantasy, Garth Nix.

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn’t get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.

Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.

Susan’s search for her father begins with her mother’s possibly misremembered or misspelt surnames, a reading room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.

Merlin has a quest of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find this quest strangely overlaps with Susan’s. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

So I love the title, thinking of Barney from the tv show How I Met Your Mother. And the book sounds like a fun one!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

As a certified stand-up bro, Nick Maguire knows that some things in life are sacred: Do not skip ab workouts. Never back down from spicy foods. And always accept the outcome of Rock, Paper, Scissors. For these are the revered doctrines of The Bro Code, rules of conduct that have been passed down through the ages from bro to bro.

Heading into his senior year, Cassidy High’s star soccer player has his priorities straight and intends to spend his time playing sports, hanging out, and living by the code. But when his best bro Carter’s sister Eliza returns from studying overseas, the awkward, academic girl Nick remembers is different.

Carter might be Nick’s bro, but Eliza becomes his whole world—and he has to make a choice between them. Is being with the girl of your dreams worth breaking the most important rule: never date your best friend’s sister? Somehow, Nick never expected that following The Bro Code may have even bigger consequences than breaking it.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

So I finally got around to reading Well Met by this author back in April, and I loved it! It totally made me excited to go to our local Renaissance Festival this year, and then, well, you know, COVID messed all that up. So now I can’t wait to read this book and get back to the world of yesteryear.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Another laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.

Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it’s been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she’ll even find The One.

When Stacey imagined “The One,” it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she’s not sure what to make of it.

Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey’s shock, it isn’t Dex—she’s been falling in love with a man she barely knows.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

So, not only is this one I’ll be getting for my students, it also sounds like it could have some lessons I need to learn in my own life. About getting out there and trying out things that I’m nervous about, even saying yes to dates just to give it a go.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Refreshingly authentic and bold… Don’t miss this smashing #ownvoices novel from Francina Simone! Filled with heart, humor and a heroine to root for, Smash It! is a perfect read for fans of Julie Murphy, Ibi Zoboi and Ashley Poston.

Olivia “Liv” James is done with letting her insecurities get the best of her. So she does what any self-respecting hot mess of a girl who wants to SMASH junior year does…

After Liv shows up to a Halloween party in khaki shorts–why, God, why?–she decides to set aside her wack AF ways. She makes a list–a F*ck-It list.

1. Be bold–do the thing that scares me.

2. Learn to take a compliment.

3. Stand out instead of back.

She kicks it off by trying out for the school musical, saying yes to a date and making new friends. Life is great when you stop punking yourself! However, with change comes a lot of missteps, and being bold means following her heart. So what happens when Liv’s heart is interested in three different guys–and two of them are her best friends? What is she supposed to do when she gets dumped by a guy she’s not even dating? How does one Smash It! after the humiliation of being friend-zoned?

In Liv’s own words, “F*ck it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

A lot, apparently.

#SMASHIT 

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Final Thoughts:

So I ended up with 8 to share this week, one more than last week. Are any of these on your TBR, or have you already read them? If so, which do you recommend? Leave me a link to your post in your comment and I’ll be sure to return the visit!

Also, while you’re here, make sure to go enter my monthly giveaway HERE.

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12 responses to “Lisa’s Looking Forward To #79 – September 22nd, 2020

  1. I read four of these and none below four stars for me. Early Departures was the highest rated. I love Reynolds’ books. They are always so emotionally satisfying for me. Hope they are all winners for you.

  2. So many of these sound so good! I am really looking forward to Well Played also. I loved Well Met. The Lefthanded Booksellers of London is another one that is on my radar. I hope you love all of these if you read them! Have a great week.

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