Lisa’s Looking Forward To #111 – June 15th, 2021

Posted June 9, 2021 by Lisa Mandina in LLFT / 12 Comments

Lisa’s Looking Forward To #111 - June 15th, 2021

Once again I’ll be joining up with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings. It’s actually been almost a full month since I’ve posted a full post like this. But my May got crazy. I had a special edition with an author interview. Then that weekend I got sick and wasn’t able to do much blogging the next week. Then last week I just was so crazy busy that I didn’t get a post done then either. But I’m back! This is a 3rd week of the month publishing date post, so it has fewer books than if I’d done it the first month. But still seems to be a few!

As I’ve mentioned, I love retelling or books that like older stories, and so the Agatha Christie suggestion in the blurb is part of what grabbed me. Not sure I’m a big fan of the cover though.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A hilarious Agatha Christie-inspired YA thriller-comedy about three best friends who sneak into an influencers-only festival event (gone wrong), only to discover a killer is in their midst–and they have to uncover the truth and solve the mystery before it’s too late. Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Truly Devious . 

Plum Winter has always come in second to her sister, the unbelievably cool, famous influencer Peach Winter. And when Peach is invited to an all-expenses paid trip to a luxurious art and music festival for influencers on a private island in the Caribbean, Plum decides it’s finally her time to shine. So she intercepts the invite–and asks her two best friends Antonia and Marlowe to come along to the fest with her. It’ll be a spring break they’ll never forget.

But when Plum and her friends get to the island, it’s not anything like it seemed in the invite. The island is run-down, creepy, and there doesn’t even seem to be a festival–it’s just seven other quasi-celebrities and influencers, and none of the glitz and glamor she expected. Then people start to die…

Plum and her friends soon realize that someone has lured each of them to the “festival” to kill them. Someone has a vendetta against every person on the island–and no one is supposed to leave the island alive. So, together, Plum, Antonia, and Marlowe will do whatever it takes to unravel the mystery of the killer, and fight to save themselves and as many influencers as they can, before it’s too late.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Again there is a comparison in the blurb that grabbed my attention. While I’ve only read one book by Ruta Sepetys, I really liked it. This one also has a holocaust aspect, another thing that always intrigues me. But again, not sure I like this cover.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Ruta Sepetys, this sweet, summery romance set in Nantucket follows seventeen-year-old Abby Schoenberg as she uncovers a secret about her grandmother’s life during WWII.

Seventeen-year-old Abby Schoenberg isn’t exactly looking forward to the summer before her senior year. She’s just broken up with her first boyfriend and her friends are all off in different, exciting directions for the next three months. Abby needs a plan–an adventure of her own. Enter: the letters.

They show up one rainy day along with the rest of Abby’s recently deceased grandmother’s possessions. And these aren’t any old letters; they’re love letters. Love letters from a mystery man named Edward. Love letters from a mansion on Nantucket. Abby doesn’t know much about her grandmother’s past. She knows she was born in Germany and moved to the US when she was five, fleeing the Holocaust. But the details are either hazy or nonexistent; and these letters depict a life that is a bit different than the quiet one Abby knows about.

And so, Abby heads to Nantucket for the summer to learn more about her grandmother and the secrets she kept. But when she meets Edward’s handsome grandson, who wants to stop her from investigating, things get complicated. As Abby and Noah grow closer, the mysteries in their families deepen, and they discover that they both have to accept the burdens of their pasts if they want the kinds of futures they’ve always imagined.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Of course with Bridgerton, my interest in these types of stories has been renewed. And I love that cover.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

“The kind of book for which the word “rollicking” was invented.”–New York Times Book Review

One of Bustle’s Best New Books Out June 2021
Popsugar Best Summer Read of 2021 

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She’s also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it’s a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he’s under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her–hopefully proving, once and for all, that she’s as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

A cover I love and a synopsis that sounds so good!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A lost princess. A dark puppet master. And a race against time—before all is lost.

Princess Rani longs for a chance to escape her gilded cage and prove herself. Ria is a street urchin, stealing just to keep herself alive.

When these two lives collide, everything turns on its head: because Ria and Rani, orphan and royal, are unmistakably identical.

A deal is struck to switch places—but danger lurks in both worlds, and to save their home, thief and princess must work together. Or watch it all fall into ruin.

Deadly magic, hidden temples, and dark prophecies: Sisters of the Snake is an action-packed, immersive fantasy that will thrill fans of The Crown’s Game and The Tiger at Midnight.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I should be reading this one this weekend for a review on Sunday or Monday. And I did a fun author interview special for this one last month with my last LLFT HERE.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A rich, dark urban fantasy debut following a teen witch who is given a horrifying task: sacrificing her first love to save her family’s magic. The problem is, she’s never been in love—she’ll have to find the perfect guy before she can kill him.

After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial every witch must pass in order to come into their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.

Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc—how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?

With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

The publisher sent me a copy of this a week or so ago. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll have time to fit it in to read before pub date next week. So don’t know when/if I’ll get to it. But it does sound good!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Perfect for fans of What If It’s Us and Mary H. K. Choi, this stunning coming-of-age novel from Printz Honor author Mary McCoy follows a Memphis teen whose quest to uncover the secrets of love reveals new truths about herself.

For the past two years, Lee has been laser-focused on two things: her job as a sound tech at a local coffee shop and her podcast “Artists in Love,” which she cohosts with her boyfriend Vincent.

Until he breaks up with her on the air right after graduation.

When their unexpected split, the loss of her job, and her parent’s announcement that they’re separating coincide, Lee’s plans, her art, and her life are thrown into turmoil. Searching for a new purpose, Lee recruits her old friend Max and new friend Risa to produce a podcast called “Objects of Destruction,” where they investigate whether love actually exists at all.

But the deeper they get into the love stories around them, the more Lee realizes that she’s the one who’s been holding love at arm’s length. And when she starts to fall for Risa, she finds she’ll have to be more honest with herself and the people in her life to create a new love story of her own.

Funny, romantic, and heartfelt, this is a story about secrets, lies, friendship, found family, an expired passport, a hidden VHS tape, fried pickles, the weird and wild city of Memphis, and, most of all, love. 

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I really like this one and that it is going to incorporate Covid into it. It seems really timely, and I’d like to have gotten an early copy to read. Nevertheless I’ll be looking to possibly buy it for my school library for my students.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Phoebe Benson wasn’t always germophobic.

There was a time she didn’t worry obsessively about rogue pathogens lurking on every surface, lying in wait to contaminate her.

But that was before her brother Toby’s premature birth left him with underdeveloped lungs. Before she got Covid and infected him, putting his already fragile life in danger.

To protect Toby’s health in the years that follow, Phoebe dedicates herself to pathogen avoidance, refusing to touch any potential sources of contamination—handrails, doorknobs, vending machine buttons, and even other people—leading to an unintended life of seclusion. By the time she reaches high school, her only sources of respite are pottery class and her friendship with Walter, the elderly owner of the used bookstore where she works part-time.

Now Walter’s devised a plan to help Phoebe overcome her anxiety, and she must decide whether to continue isolating herself or risk everything initiating a friendship with the charming subway busker she can’t help but want to touch.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Love the cover and it sounds like it could be a cute read.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

After she walks in on her mom doing the horizontal mambo with a man that’s decidedly not her dad, Brynn Stark swears off love. One of her friends–Val–is determined to change her mind, no matter the consequences. Prickly and cynical, Brynn tries to avoid Val’s attempts at setting her up, until Val reveals her true identity–Aphrodite, goddess of love, who promises to show Brynn why she shouldn’t lose faith.

Brynn’s job, school, and the various love connections Val tries to make keep her busy enough, but in her spare time, she struggles to navigate her own role in her parents’ divorce. 

With her other best friend recovering from a breakup of her own, and Val dead set on playing matchmaker, Brynn’s forced to rely on the fourth member of their friend group, Adam, for moral support. Adam, Val’s boyfriend.

Realizing she’s beginning to fall for Adam, Brynn throws herself full-force into dating Val’s picks, hoping one can lure her away from the bad situation she’s hurtling towards, but even when she finds one with a spark, she can’t stop thinking about Adam. Brynn’s forced to decide if she’ll choose her goddess-given fate, or risk it all for the wrong-but-right guy. 

One thing’s for sure. 

Love sucks. 

And it’s all about to blow up in their faces.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Final Thoughts:

Eight this week. Have you read any of these yet? What new books are you eagerly awaiting this week?

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

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12 responses to “Lisa’s Looking Forward To #111 – June 15th, 2021

  1. Summer of Lost Letters is one I want to read. It just screams to me. I finished Indestructible Object the other day. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was a really beautiful and bittersweet story.

    • Lisa Mandina

      I wish I had time to fit Indestructible Object in, but pretty sure I won’t. I’ve got to read about a book a day this week to get back on track! lol. Glad to hear it was good. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Good to hear! That will definitely make me more intrigued to read it myself. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. You are so bad for my wish list. LOL I actually have a few of these titles already on there–but some are new to me titles. They all sound good! I hope you enjoy them when you read them, Lisa.

    • Lisa Mandina

      I should not go look at Edelweiss like I do, but once a week I find myself scrolling through to see what is new! lol Thanks for visiting!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Finished Blood Like Magic last night, and like you, I ended up LOVING it!!! Thanks for stopping by!

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