Lisa’s Looking Forward To #95 – February 9th, 2021

Posted February 3, 2021 by Lisa Mandina in LLFT / 28 Comments

Lisa’s Looking Forward To #95 – February 9th, 2021

Once again I’ll be joining up with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  Second week of the month is a few less than last week, but still some good ones!

This one was one of my most excited for 2021 books. I had been bugging the publisher since last fall for an ARC and I finally got one! I should be reading it as soon as I finish my current book.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifthfavorite employee. Not ideal.

If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.

But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.

Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?

When Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese-American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

This one just sounds really good, really reminiscent of where we are today in a way, and has such an awesome cover!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

When a deadly Fly Flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and light in a world gone dark. The Electric Kingdom is a sweeping exploration of love, art, storytelling, eternal life, and above all, a testament to the notion that even in an exterminated world, one person might find beauty in another. 

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Another beautiful cover. The story sounds really intense too. And even though it says it is in verse, it is partially in prose, and I often have better luck with those types of books.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

From the author of the acclaimed Blood Water Paint, a new contemporary YA novel in prose and verse about a girl struggling with guilt and a desire for revenge after her sister’s rapist escapes with no prison time.

Em Morales’s older sister was raped by another student after a frat party. A jury eventually found the rapist guilty on all counts–a remarkable verdict that Em felt more than a little responsible for, since she was her sister’s strongest advocate on social media during the trial. Her passion and outspokenness helped dissuade the DA from settling for a plea deal. Em’s family would have real justice. 

But the victory is lived. In a matter of minutes, justice vanishes as the judge turns the Morales family’s world upside down again by sentencing the rapist to no prison time. While her family is stunned, Em is literally sick with rage and guilt. To make matters worse, a news clip of her saying that the sentence “makes me want to use a fucking sword” goes viral.

From this low point, Em must find a new reason to go on and help her family heal, and she finds it in the unlikely form of the story of a 15th-century French noblewoman, Marguerite de Bressieux, who is legendary as an avenging knight for rape victims.

We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire is a searing and nuanced portrait of a young woman torn between a persistent desire for revenge and a burning need for hope.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

The title is of course what grabbed my attention, but the cover and synopsis are good too.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

After a horrifying public rejection by her crush, Ellie Nichols does what any girl would do: she flees the country. To be more precise, she joins her high school’s study abroad trip to England. While most of her classmates are there to take honors courses and pad their college applications, Ellie is on a quest to rebuild her reputation and self-confidence. And nothing is more of a confidence booster than getting a hot British boyfriend.

When Ellie meets Will, a gorgeous and charming Brit, she vows to avoid making the same mistakes as she did with the last guy she liked. Which is why she strikes up a bargain with Dev, an overachieving classmate who she’s never clicked with, but who does seem to know a lot about the things Will is interested in—if he helps her win over her crush, then she’ll help him win over his.

But even as Ellie embarks on a whirlwind romance, one that takes her on adventures to some of England’s most beautiful places, she still needs to figure out if this is actually the answer to all her problems…and whether the perfect boyfriend is actually the perfect boy for her.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

In a teensy-tiny way this one makes me think a little bit about the book I just finished reading Yesterday is History in that while this isn’t time travel, it is alternate dimensions it sounds like. I loved the Unwind series by Shusterman and the other books I’ve read by him. But I really need to catch up on his books!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

All it takes is one hit on the football field, and suddenly Ash’s life doesn’t look quite the way he remembers it.

Impossible though it seems, he’s been hit into another dimension—and keeps on bouncing through worlds that are almost-but-not-really his own.

The changes start small, but they quickly spiral out of control as Ash slides into universes where he has everything he’s ever wanted, universes where society is stuck in the past…universes where he finds himself looking at life through entirely different eyes.

And if he isn’t careful, the world he’s learning to see more clearly could blink out of existence…

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

As a former teacher, current school librarian, for some reason books about school shootings or the aftermath are ones that I seem to pick up. And this one sounds like it could be a good one.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

During a sweltering summer, Dills must come to terms with a horrific crime and the parent he loves who committed it.

Dills and his mom have returned to Hamilton, her hometown, hoping to leave the horrors of Windsor behind. But it’s impossible to escape the echoes of tragedy, and trouble always follows trouble. 

When Dills hurts a new classmate, it comes out in court that he was in the Windsor High library when the shooter came in. But he won’t talk about what he saw, what he still sees whenever he closes his eyes. He can’t. He definitely can’t tell anyone that the Windsor Shooter is his stepfather, Jesse, that Jesse can speak into his mind from hundreds of kilometres away, and that Dills still loves him even though he committed an unspeakable crime.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

This is actually a republish from 2001 I believe. But it is one that sounds good and I’d like to read it.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

In a voice that resonates with insight and humor, New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith tells the story of a teenage girl who must face down her grief and reclaim her place in the world with the help of her intertribal community. 

It’s been six months since Cassidy Rain Berghoff’s best friend, Galen, died, and up until now she has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around Aunt Georgia’s Indian Camp in their mostly white midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again, with a new job photographing the campers for her town’s newspaper.

Soon, Rain has to decide how involved she wants to become in Indian Camp. Does she want to keep a professional distance from her fellow Native teens? And, though she is still grieving, will she be able to embrace new friends and new beginnings?

In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Final Thoughts:

Only 7 this week, about half of what I shared 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! It’s open until Sunday night, so last few days to get in and enter.

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28 responses to “Lisa’s Looking Forward To #95 – February 9th, 2021

    • Lisa Mandina

      Oh no! I’m going to buy it for my school library, so maybe I can fit it in sometime! Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      As good as the book I’m reading now is, I can’t wait to finish it and start this one! Thanks for stopping by!

  1. A Pho Love Story is one I am excited about too. We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire sounds wonderful. I love novels in verse. Hot British Boyfriend sounds fun. And Nothing But Life really appeals to me too. I hope you get a chance to read all of these at some point, Lisa, and, if you do, I hope you enjoy them!

  2. This is the first week I’ve been seeing Gamechanger and I also want to read The Electric Kinddom – because my canine ADHD kicks in when I see “dog” in the synopsis. If you read it this month, you should sign up for my They Call It Puppy Love reading challenge 🙂

  3. I read Pho Love Story and Hot British Boyfriend. I do hope to read Smith’s book. It’s a reissue, so I was hoping my library had it, but they don’t

    • Lisa Mandina

      I’m staring A Pho Love Story today! Can’t wait! Yeah, I love Smith’s books, so hope to get that one soon. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I saw that the early audio versions weren’t actually narrators, so I probably won’t do that through Netgalley. I’m very particular about audiobooks. Hopefully you get a new copy another way! Thanks for stopping by!

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