Lisa’s Looking Forward To #101 – March 23rd and 30th, 2021

Posted March 17, 2021 by Lisa Mandina in LLFT / 17 Comments

Lisa’s Looking Forward To #101 – March 23rd and 30th, 2021

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’m actually going to do kind of a double post this week, featuring books being published both of the last two weeks of March, because next week I’m featuring just one book with an author interview for my Wednesday post. Once again I’ll be joining up with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings. Thanks to doing two week’s worth of books, but then the last two weeks are usually a little down compared to other months, this should be about the same as a first of the month post.

March 23rd releases:

This is an author I’ve wanted to read for awhile and it does sound good! It’s got historical as well as cultural aspects that really intrigue me.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells a painful, poignant story of love in a time of hunger inspired by her own family’s struggles during a dark period in Cuba’s history.

The people of Cuba are living in el periodo especial en tiempos de paz—the special period in times of peace. That’s what the government insists that this era must be called, but the reality behind these words is starvation.

Liana is struggling to find enough to eat. Yet hunger has also made her brave: she finds the courage to skip a summer of so-called volunteer farm labor, even though she risks government retribution. Nearby, a quiet, handsome boy named Amado also refuses to comply, so he wanders alone, trying to discover rare sources of food.

A chance encounter with an enigmatic dog brings Liana and Amado together. United in hope and hunger, they soon discover that their feelings for each other run deep. Love can feed their souls and hearts—but is it enough to withstand el periodo especial?

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

This one sounds like a really good suspenseful story. And I like the cover too.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

When a high school basketball star goes missing, a town’s secrets are exposed in this edge-of-your seat, addictive read.

At 8:53 pm, thousands of people watched as Jake Foster secured the state title for his basketball team with his signature fadeaway. But by the next morning, he’s disappeared without a trace. Nobody has any idea where he is: not his best friend who knows him better than anyone else, not his ex-girlfriend who may still have feelings for him, not even his little brother who never expected Jake to abandon him. Rumors abound regarding Jake’s whereabouts. Was he abducted? Did he run away to try to take his game to the next level? Or is it something else, something darker–something they should have seen coming?

Told from the points of view of those closest to Jake, this gripping, suspenseful novel reminds us that the people we think we know best are sometimes hiding the most painful secrets.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

This one I’ll actually be reading and posting a review for on the 22nd, the day before it is published. And I do love the colors on this cover as well! It makes me want to make a cake and then lick the beaters.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Home economics is supposed to be an easy A for Ellie Agresti, but, much like an imperfect souffle, her plans collapse epically when she’s dumped by her boyfriend, Hunter. Now Ellie has to mend her broken heart while watching Hunter fawn all over his new girlfriend, Brynn, in class. To make matters worse, Ellie is partnered with four of the biggest misfit guys in school: Jeremy, the loudmouth with temper issues; Isaiah, the solemn, silent horse racing obsessive; Andrew, who can’t take rejection; and Luke, the giant, tattooed stunt biker.

Over the course of a semester, Ellie works to overcome her feelings for Hunter, as well as deeper insecurities that have plagued her since middle school. As the weeks go by, she’s surprised to find friendships in unexpected places… and sparks flying with the last guy she’d expect.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Sounds like a good suspenseful story, and it says it is based on something true? That makes me eager to go do some googling.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A spine-tingling YA thriller, based on a still-unfolding true story 
 
Instagram-famous triplets Cecily, Amber, and Rudy—the children of home renovation superstars—are ready for a perfect summer. They’ve just moved into the site of their parents’ latest renovation project when they begin to receive chilling messages from someone called The Follower. It soon becomes clear that this anonymous threat is more than a simple Internet troll, and he can’t wait to shatter the Cole family’s perfect veneer and take back what’s his. The Follower examines the implications of what it is to be watched in the era of social media fame—as well as the lies we tell and the lengths we’ll go to uphold a perfect image, when our lives depend on it.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

March 30th releases:

So I’ve wanted to read The Picture of Dorian Gray ever since I learned what it was really about, and the comparison to this makes me intrigued to read this one. Plus, another cover I like!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

An electric romance set against a rebel art scene sparks lethal danger for two girls in this expertly plotted YA thriller. For fans of E. Lockhart, Lauren Oliver and Kara Thomas.

The summer is winding down in San Diego. Veronica is bored, caustically charismatic, and uninspired in her photography. Nico is insatiable, subversive, and obsessed with chaotic performance art. They’re artists first, best friends second. But that was before Mick. Delicate, lonely, magnetic Mick: the perfect subject, and Veronica’s dream girl. The days are long and hot―full of adventure―and soon they are falling in love. Falling so hard, they never imagine what comes next. One fire. Two murders. Three drowning bodies. One suspect . . . one stalker. This is a summer they won’t survive.

Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, this sexy psychological thriller explores the intersections of love, art, danger, and power.

“Wild and satisfying.” —Kirkus Starred Review

⋆ An O Magazine 42 LGBTQ Books That Will Change the Literary Landscape This Spring Selection
⋆ A Cosmo Best YA Books of 2021
⋆ A PopSugar Best March 2021 YA Book Selection 

Christy Ottaviano Books

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Sounds like a good sci-fi story. And I do like to support the Wattpad books!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

As the site of a former military base, there have always been rumors that East Township High School was the site of experiments with space and time. For years, students have whispered in the hallways of a doorway created within the school, one that can access multiple timelines and realities, a place known as the Down World.

As the new kid in school and still reeling from the unexplained death of her brother Robbie, Marina O’Connell is only interested in one thing: leaving the past behind. But a chance encounter with handsome Brady Picelli changes everything. He will lead Marina to a startling discovery. The Down World is real and the past, present, and future are falling out of balance.

Brady is determined to help Marina discover what really happened to her brother. However, what is taken from one world, must be repaid by another. And Marina is about to discover that even a realm of infinite possibilities has rules that must be obeyed.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I love the tarot card looking cover on this one! Sounds like a kind of original and fun story as well.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Maeve’s strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card—and then disappears. 

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn’t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.

Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily’s gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Another cover that I love. And this makes a comparison to The Rosie Project, a book I’ve wanted to read but still haven’t had the chance.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

In this heartwarming and whip-smart YA spin on The Rosie Project, a teen girl is determined to prove that love, like all things, should be scientifically quantified…right?

Iris Oxtabee has managed to navigate the tricky world of unspoken social interactions by reading everything from neuroscience journals to Wikipedia articles. Science has helped her fit the puzzle pieces into an understandable whole, and she’s sure there’s nothing it can’t explain. Love, for example, is just chemistry.

Her best friend Seth, however, believes love is one of life’s beautiful and chaotic mysteries, without need for explanation. Iris isn’t one to back down from a challenge; she’s determined to prove love is really nothing more than hormones and external stimuli. After all, science has allowed humanity to understand more complex mysteries than that, and Iris excels at science.

The perfect way to test her theory? Get the popular and newly-single Theo Grant, who doesn’t even know Iris exists, to ask her to prom. With prom just two weeks away, Iris doesn’t have any time to waste, so she turns her keen empirical talents and laser-focus attention to testing her theory.

But will proving herself correct cause her friendship with Seth—and the tantalizing possibility for something more—to become the failed experiment?

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

So technically I’ve only read part of the Unearthly series by this author and I need to read on, but I still think this one sounds good! And I think the colors on the cover are pretty too.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Ada’s life is a mess. She just caught her boyfriend cheating on her after a humiliating attempt at losing her virginity, and she’s had it up to here with her gorgeous older sister’s unsolicited advice.

But things really hit the fan during a family vacation in Hawaii, where Ada discovers her own mother is having an affair. Apparently, everyone is falling into bed with people they shouldn’t. Everyone except Ada. But when Ada decides she’s going to stop trying and start doing—sex, that is—her best laid plan overlooks an inconvenient truth:

Feelings, romantic or not, always get in the way.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I’ve been seeing so many good reviews of this and I love the historical fiction aspect of this story.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

The critically acclaimed and Whiting Award–winning author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman returns with an unforgettable story about the meaning of freedom.

Coming of age as a free-born Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson was all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, had a vision for their future together: Libertie would go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her mother, who can pass, Libertie has skin that is too dark.

When a young man from Haiti proposes to Libertie and promises she will be his equal on the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is still subordinate to him and all men. As she tries to parse what freedom actually means for a Black woman, Libertie struggles with where she might find it—for herself and for generations to come.

Inspired by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the United States and rich with historical detail, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s new novel resonates in our times and is perfect for readers of Brit Bennett, Min Jin Lee, and Yaa Gyasi.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I will be reading this one and reviewing it on the day it comes out, March 30th. Love this series by K. Bromberg, who is one of my favorite authors.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

New York Times bestselling author, K. Bromberg, brings you a romance about love, forgiveness, and living every day to the fullest.

I know finding and signing a military vet to the agency is a long shot–but it’ll be good press just letting him try out. That’s what I tell my family, rather than admit I can’t get the letter he wrote us five years ago out of my head. 

But what I tell the bartender in his hometown is a lie. I know veterans protect each other. So I pretend to be a graduate student. 

Sparks. Flame. Fire. I accidentally got in too deep.

I didn’t expect to develop feelings for Gunner Camden.

And there’s no way I can admit to my lies now, not without destroying what we share. So I’ll keep faking it.

***

There are two versions of me: before, and after deployment.

Back then I was a screwup kid. I’d lie, cheat, and steal my way out of everything. My only love was baseball.

After I started fighting, I found out there had been another path for me. One that involved my dream. But by then I had seen too much. 

The old me was dead, so I put my dreams to rest, too.

Then Chase Kinkade walks into my bar and reminds me that life is meant to live. No regrets.

Fresh. Happy. Hopeful. I can start to see a new dream, with her.

But sometimes things are too good to be true… and dishonesty is the one thing I can’t forgive.

Are you ready to fall for the Kincade sisters and then men who love them in K. Bromberg’s sexy, contemporary, sports romance series? These books can all be read as standalones, but you’ll enjoy reading them as a series!

Hard to Handle (Hunter & Dekker’s story – hockey romance)
Hard to Hold (Rush & Lennox’s story – soccer romance)
Hard to Score (Drew & Brexton’s story – football romance)
Hard to Lose (Gunner & Chase’s story – baseball romance)
Hard to Love (Finn & Stevie’s story)

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Final Thoughts:

Eleven for the next two weeks.

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 as well as the giveaway I had for my 100th post of this weekly meme HERE. Both giveaways are open till the end of this month!

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17 responses to “Lisa’s Looking Forward To #101 – March 23rd and 30th, 2021

  1. I haven’t heard of many of these. So many to check out! Libertie is one I have heard of though and I really want to read that one as well. All Our Hidden Gifts and Prom Theory both look good. Thank you for sharing! I hope you have a great day, Lisa!

  2. I LOVE the cover for All Our Hidden Gifts. I’ll be curious to read some reviews for The Follower. I definitely want to read Fadeaway. I’m a bit curious about She’s Too Pretty to Burn as well – I love Dorian Gray. There are so many books in April that I want to read too.

    -Lauren

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