Lisa’s Looking Forward To #112 – June 22nd, 2021

Posted June 16, 2021 by Lisa Mandina in LLFT / 14 Comments

Lisa’s Looking Forward To #112 – June 22nd, 2021

Once again I’ll be joining up with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings. Okay, we seem to be back on track with these! This is technically the 4th week of the month, so there are quite a few, but there is actually a 5th week so some are spread to then and I’ll share them next week.

This one sounds cute, I mean binging 80s movies? What could be more fun! I’ve also seen a few good reviews, so hoping to read when I get a chance.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Senior year changes everything for two teens in this poignant, funny coming-of-age story that looks at what happens when the image everyone has of us no longer matches who we really are.

Senior year of high school is full of changes.

For Hayley Mills, these changes aren’t exactly welcome. All she wants is for everyone to forget about her very public breakdown and remember her as the overachiever she once was—and who she’s determined to be again. But it’s difficult to be seen as a go-getter when she’s forced into TV Production class with all the slackers like Lewis Holbrook.

For Lewis, though, this is going to be his year. After a summer spent binging 80s movies, he’s ready to upgrade from the role of self-described fat, funny sidekick to leading man of his own life—including getting the girl. The only thing standing in his way is, well, himself.

When the two are partnered up in class, neither is particularly thrilled. But then they start making mini documentaries about their classmates’ hidden talents, and suddenly Hayley is getting attention for something other than her breakdown, and Lewis isn’t just a background character anymore. It seems like they’re both finally getting what they want—except what happens when who you’ve become isn’t who you really are?

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

This one sounds like a cute summer read, and I love the honeybees part!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Perfect for fans of Jenn Bennett and Sarah Dessen, this swoon-worthy novel follows a teen girl during her California summer of beekeeping, secrets, and stolen kisses.

Josie Hazeldine has just graduated from high school, and she’s ready for a summer full of sunshine, beekeeping, and…lying to her mom.

Josie’s mom couldn’t be more proud of her daughter going to college, something she never got to do. But Josie wants to stay in her California hometown and take over the family business, Hazeldine Honey. So that college acceptance her mom is thrilled about? Yeah, Josie turned it down. But she’s going to come clean—just not yet.

The neighbor’s artsy, adorable grandson who’s in town for the summer makes Josie’s web of lies even more tangled. He’s into Josie and the feeling is very mutual, but he’s a Blumstein—the sworn enemy of the Hazeldines and their number one competition in the annual Honey Show at the end of July. As their secret fling goes on, Josie knows she’s getting in way too deep to leave him behind when summer’s over.

Can Josie keep the boy she can’t stop thinking about without the secrets she’s juggling crashing down around her?

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

I always love the idea of a retelling, and this one about Peter Pan sounds like it could be good. Plus, love that cover!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A teen girl finds herself lost on a dangerous adventure in this YA thriller by the acclaimed author of The Wicker King and The Weight of the Stars—reimagining Peter Pan for today’s world.

On Wendy Darling’s first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He’s dizzying, captivating, beautiful—so she agrees to join him for a night on the town.

Wendy thinks they’re heading to a party, but instead they’re soon running in the city’s underground. She makes friends—a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies—the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister secrets start coming to light. Can Wendy find the courage to survive this night—and make sure everyone else does, too?

Acclaimed author K. Ancrum has re-envisioned Peter Pan with a central twist that will send all your previous memories of J. M. Barrie’s classic permanently off to Neverland.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

This sounds like another good summer romance, adult this time.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Acting like she’s in love with her handsome nightmare of a co-star–in a movie directed and produced by her complicated Hollywood royalty family–is Sloane’s job. But what happens when the lines between script and reality get blurred? 

Out-of-work actress Sloane Ford is in desperate need of something to do after losing her steady TV gig. When her famous family ropes her into working as a producer on their World War II-era romance, they neglect to mention that the film will be headlined by Joseph Donovan, her least favorite former co-star of all time. The roguish actor made her life a living hell the last time they worked together, using his movie star good looks and Irish charm to cover for his erratic professional behavior. On their new film set, he promises he’s different now, but Sloane is far from convinced.

As filming gets underway, it becomes clear that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. When the lead actress is abruptly fired, Sloane agrees to step in and take over the role, and she starts to remember why she fell in love with acting in the first place. On camera, she and Joseph share an electric chemistry. Off camera, they’ve been honing their characters and, much to Sloane’s surprise, growing closer. But playing the role of a woman in love with Joseph Donovan is a dangerous business, and the more time they spend together, the less Sloane can tell what’s real between them, and what’s just for show.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

That is a really cool cover! And I think it sounds like a unique story as well. I think maybe I’ve seen one or two good reviews as well.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

“In this necessary tale grappling with some of the prickly parts of life—mental health, loss, friendshipSpears proves once again that she’s a master, not just of the teenage voice, but also of carefully crafting stories with both heart and teeth. Stories that bond themselves to readers and live with them—in them—far after the last page.” —Jason Reynolds, New York Timesbestselling author of Stamped and Long Way Down

A teen confronts his feelings about his father’s death, his new family, and the girl next door in this emotional young adult novel from critically-acclaimed author Kat Spears

Dane Riley’s grasp on reality is slipping, and he’s not sure that he cares. While his mother has moved on after his father’s death, Dane desperately misses the man who made Dane feel okay to be himself. He can’t stand his mother’s boyfriend, or the boyfriend’s son, whose favorite pastime is tormenting Dane. Then there’s the girl next door: Dane can’t quite define their relationship, and he doesn’t know if he’s got the courage to leave the friend zone.

An emotional novel about mental health, and dealing with grief and growing up, The Tragedy of Dane Riley is the story of a teenager looking to make sense of his feelings in the wake of tragedy, and finding the strength he needs to make life worth living.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

All the really great authors for this one means I can’t wait to get my hands on it either!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark.

A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks…

A first meeting. 

Long-time friends. 

Bitter exes. 

And maybe the beginning of something new.

When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.

Beloved authors—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—celebrate the beauty of six couples and the unforgettable magic that can be found on a sweltering starry night in the city.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

So I never got any of the Jane series by these authors read. But I do still want to. And this one speaks to me so much because of my recent binging of the series Reign, which was about Mary Queen of Scots. So I made sure to get this one from Netgalley and hope to read this after I finish my current read. Should be posting a review on Sunday or Monday.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?

Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.

Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But after the king meets a suspicious end, things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis are forced to navigate a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

Sound good? Add to Goodreads HERE.

Final Thoughts:

Seven this week, one less than last 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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14 responses to “Lisa’s Looking Forward To #112 – June 22nd, 2021

  1. I just finished Kind of Sort of Fine last nights. I loved it! Dane Riley was good too. Weird, but good. I liked Love Scenes as well. The family dynamic was great in that one. Hope you get to read them all!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Glad to hear all of those were good. We’ll see when I can get to them. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. So many Peter Pan re-tellings and spinoffs are popular right now! Darling sounds really good. I think I would like that one. I feel like My Contrary Mary has been out for months already (although it hasn’t)–it’s gotten so much buzz. LOL I hope all of these will be good when you read them.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, with the whole Jane series, at first I felt like that with the My Contrary Mary as well. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Just started My Contrary Mary, interesting so far. Not exactly what I expected, but good enough to keep going. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I didn’t get to read any of the Jane series, but am pretty much enjoying My Contrary Mary, probably because of binging Reign a few months ago.

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