Goodreads TBR Shakedown, Part 4/?
Oh hey, I made it just about six months from the last one before posting again, good for me. We begin now with books added in April 2022, and are at #165 on the list (but don't worry! despite reading a few off the list, we'll still have more than enough for another post after this one).
1. Crash Course - Alyssa Wilde
Shooooot, I already can't remember what set me off last year that I immediately needed a good student/teacher romance, so much so that I impulse-bought an ebook of this one* since, self-published and all, it seemed the most YA-like in terms of being not explicit, while still firmly in Romance territory. (*which I then ripped apart in search of the best bits, per usual. Search functions r 2 dangerous 4 me. But I want to read it properly someday!)
...actually, wait, was that when I found my copy of Hit? I think that might have been when I bought Hit, allowing me to revisit how much I like it and how much I wished it was more like...well, the exact summary of this book I subsequently stumbled over. Anyway, yeah, saving it for when that feeling returns.
2. Wish Me Home - Kay Bratt
So annoyed my library doesn't have this, because it looks like the most SOLID women's fiction + a dog.
3. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
I don't have any interest in this author...except for this book, which is being carried partly by everyone else's hype and the beautifully-written quotes I've seen, and partly by my own probably-foolish certainty that it's gonna be just as moving as my beloved film The Age of Adaline. But it is very long so I need to set aside time for it when I don't have a massive immediate-TBR on deck.
4. How To Buy A Love of Reading - Tanya Egan Gibson
I saw this on r/whatsthatbook and honestly, between the reviews and average rating, I fear it may not be worth the time invested. But it's just -- such an interesting and unusual premise (rich & privileged MC has never read a book she liked; parents commission a novelist to move in and write one so perfectly tailored to her interests that she'll be unable to dislike it). I'm CURIOUS.
5. Whenever I'm With You - Lydia Sharp
Sometimes I just stumble across a YA novel I think I would really enjoy, but neither of my local libraries have it. This vaguely reminds me of a detail in The Lovely and the Lost, but the line "A missing boy. A road trip into the Alaskan wilderness. A week that will change everything..." just has me HOOKED. These two idiot teens are going into the woods to try and track his missing brother before a blizzard hits? An Alaskan blizzard?? Sounds like survival is coming into play and I'm here for it very much.
6. To Touch the Deer - Gus Cazzola
Remember earlier versions of the list where I mention that 70s teens running off to the wilderness to live off the land was becoming a niche interest of mine? Well, this is 1981, but close enough. Can't get this through OpenLibrary or Interlibrary Loan and it's not cheap to buy, which is extra-frustrating because it's so short! (130 pgs) But I am stubborn, so it stays. Believe I saw it in a book about teen books.
7. Annabelle - Ruby Jean Jensen
"pretty dollies can have very ugly tempers..." I'm sorry, 80s mass market PB featuring abandoned stone mansion + a dollhouse + creepy dolls about to haunt the little girl who finds them?? YEAH! Unfortunately, same access problems as the above (the ebook is cheap but it's too long to read on a screen).
8. This Much Country - Kristin Knight Pace
Recommended by a friend, here for when I'm more of a mood for a sled-dog-racing memoir (Blair Braverman's trashy ass burned me out when I tried to read her memoir, so I'm still in recovery).
9. The Explorer - Katherine Rundell
The stuff of juvenile literature dreams. Plane crash in the jungle, alone for days until "Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city"??
[edit: read between the time I drafted & the time I posted. I'm not renumbering the whole list]
10. In The Shadow of Lakecrest - Elizabeth Blackwell
I've mentioned this on TTT posts before, so suffice to say: seems like a variation on Rebecca in the 1920s and I am here for it.
11. Submerged - Elizabeth Goddard
I read Tailspin as a consolation prize because this one wasn't available, and it gave me what I needed, but I figured I might as well remember this other one from the series for the next time I need a quick cookie-cutter "man and woman start off at odds but end up in love while dodging constant attacks on their lives from bad guys" scenario.
12. The Truth About Us - Janet Gurtler
While trying to find Danny and Lexi (Blood & Treasure) in a YA novel, I ran into a summary that sounds very Ryan-and-Marissa-like instead (The O.C.). Which is good to have in one's back pocket.
13. Black Hills - Nora Roberts
Another attempt to find Danny & Lexi (with bonus wildlife!). I actually started this one, and feel like it's a decent potential 4 stars, but it was so long I just couldn't finish it. I'll go back to it someday, and then I'll finally have read one of her books.
14. The Beautiful Lost - Luanne Rice
YA road trip romance! Maybe this one will not be full of crime? Found on r/whatsthatbook so I must have liked something about the description enough to save it. Also I'm casting it with Melissa & Blake's characters in acutely-terrible film Billy Boy (where their characters were really the only redeemable aspect). (and not even his entire character. just the scenes where he was with her tbh)
15. The Perfect Winter Plan - Vanni Shaw
Have to buy it to read it, but this looks like a very cozy feel-good winter romance.
16. The Arctic Curry Club - Dani Redd
I checked this out last January, failed to get to it before more exciting books found me, and look at that, it's almost January again. It's rather a long book but I think it will be a very cozy winter read, with a bit more substance to it than purebred romance. One of these years anyway.
17. Dancing on Broken Glass - Ka Hancock
Dunno where I'm going to find this one either, but top review says "I finished this novel with tears streaming down my face along with a box of Kleenex by my side. This has got to be the saddest, most emotional book that I have EVER read!" It's really hard to find good books about married couples where the conflict isn't adultery-related or otherwise about pending divorce, so this one stays tucked in my back pocket for when I'm craving exactly that. Specifically an emotionally devastating one.
18. Cleaning Up - Leanne Lieberman
I am always a sucker for "teen helps her mom with housecleaning job at her classmates' houses and Finds Secrets." Plus I know they will lead to cleaning motivation for a me! Would have read it ages ago if local libraries had it.
19. Taking Flight - Siera Maley
This is a very "maybe" book, only on here because it shares a cover image w/ Bright Side and that image lures me into the setting enough to look past the less appealing f/f angle. But even w/ that, the setting looks to be a very solid one, along w/ a plot like "When she puts too many toes out of line and a judge deems her father unfit to be her guardian, she’s shipped across the country to the rural mountains of northern Georgia, where a personal friend of the judge lives with his wife and two kids on a farm." That's the contemp YA I'm here for!
20. Heartbreak for Two - C.W. Farnsworth
Oh I'm like 98% sure I intended to cast this as Darren Criss/Lea Michele. When am I not looking for a book about two non-country* singers I can cast them in. I'll brave self-publishing to get it! (*why are all the romances about musicians always country, except on the rare occasion when it's equally undesirable rock music) But self-pubbed means I have to buy to read and it's pricey.
21. The Echo of Old Books - Barbara Davis
Beatiful cover + antiquarian bookstore + bookish mystery, sold. (I was honestly gobsmacked to see it pop up in the Goodreads Choice Awards months later; I've never heard of the author or seen BookTube mention it even once; had no idea this had any kind of hype)
22. Tree of Treasures: A Life in Ornaments - Bonnie Mackay
I have been kicking myself for a year that I was like "oh no $3.21 is simply Too Much money for a book I don't need, look at me being Good and Discriminating in my purchases!" and welp, guess who is still dying to read this semi gift-y book but can't get it through any means besides buying it online (for more than that).
23. The Christmas Dress - Courtney Cole
well I WOULD be reading it this Christmas season if I had realized before last week that neither of my libraries have a physical copy. Libby has an audiobook, but I should have put myself on that by September if I wanted it to come in for the season.
24. Flirting with Danger - Suzanne Enoch
Trying to find Danny & Lexi in a book, round 47 (this time because the female lead is a high-end art thief). It looks mass market as heck, but I need to find a way to get my hands on it to judge for myself (also mass market is never a deterrent when I'm determined enough!). If I like it...there's a whole series. If it's too explicit (which it may be, in a cheesy way) I can either skip pages or bail forever.
25. Being Henry David - Cal Armistead
Teens running away to the wilderness! But 21st century this time.
26. Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs - David Cruise
Stumbled over this on OpenLibrary and I'm mostly here for the excerpt where she meets Marguerite Henry (doing research for the book that is the reason I know Annie's name), but if I reread Mustang: Spirit of the West, I imagine I'll be more interested in the woman's life as a whole.
27. Lucy Checks In - Dee Ernst
On the one hand, I can't picture anyone but Lorelai Gilmore in the title role, and I would really rather cast someone more interesting. But when I find her, this looks like fantastic women's lit, featuring a 50-year-old MC! A fairly rare age choice so maybe I should save it...but also hotel management fiction is my passion (no seriously I love it).
28. Bad Call - Stephen Wallenfels
29. High Tide - Anna Mackenzie
Both of these were found trying to find a different book that sounded awesome on r/whatsthatbook (which turned out to be When I Am Through With You), but they both ended up sounding better than that one. First one involves teens camping in the mountains, possibly getting trapped in by snow, and meanwhile one of them DIES! Second one looks more middle grade, but it's a school camping trip including a teacher -- MC might have a crush on him, to boot -- and also getting trapped. Presumably without anyone dying. Not actually sure which one I'm more excited about! Both would have to come through ILL though.
30. Lovestruck in London - Rachel Schurig
Listen, sometimes we find ourselves briefly but madly in love with Tom Hiddleston out of the blue and immediately run straight into the welcoming arms of self-published romance when they promise us a matching fantasy, especially if they're made extremely appealing by the love interest being a Thomas H. and the price being zero dollars for an ebook. (I read bits of it. I'll read more someday. it's very Simply Sufficient in terms of writing quality but that's all we need)
31. Raptor Red - Robert T. Bakker
Recommended by someone on TTT, this is way outside my usual genre but also I think a wildlife story about a dinosaur could be fun??
32. The Brothers Hawthorne - Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I'm terrified of burning out on this series...but also what if I literally never do and just had seven 5-star books in a row, Harry Potter style. Wouldn't that be epic.
33. The Gallery - Laura Max Fitzgerald
I keep forgetting about this one -- keep scrolling right past it, despite its BEAUTIFUL cover and the fact that my local library has it. But it sounds so good!!
"It’s 1929, and twelve-year-old Martha has no choice but to work as a maid in the New York City mansion of the wealthy Sewell family. But, despite the Gatsby-like parties and trimmings of success, she suspects something might be deeply wrong in the household-specifically with Rose Sewell, the formerly vivacious lady of the house who now refuses to leave her room."
[edit: I read this one before the end of 2023 too!]
34. Scrapbook of an Unfound Songstress - Vicky Nolan
Brief and self-pubbed, I don't expect this to be incredible, but I'm definitely intrigued by this unusual and unusually authentic look at how harsh the world of pop music can be to teens, even ones too young to enter into legal contracts without parental oversight.
35. Kisses on a Paper Airplane - Sarah VanceTompkins
Closer to short story than novella at around 100 pages, but a promisingly sweet one. Like the YA version of just the airplane scene in This Bird Has Flown, but dual POV and if the love interest were the famous singer.
36. Hazel Fine Sings Along - Katie Wicks
The Wattpad origins have me like "eek" but IDK, I think a romance set in the equivalent of American Idol sounds awesome? I always did think that show would be a great setting, glad I am not the only one. (also, ignoring a billion actual Idol contests, WHAT IF Darren Criss/Lea Michele shaped. WHAT IF)
37. Hope in Every Raindrop - Wesley Banks
My dog-book-reading, age-of-my-dad friend on Goodreads put this one in front of my eyes, and oh man, romance? Plus dogs? But not in the usual meet-cute way? I am INTRIGUED. (also apparently this is technically book 2 in a series of standalones, so secretly it's 2 book recs i none)
38. Better Than the Movies - Lynn Painter
Everyone is swearing up and down that this YA romance is soooo good and amazing and I just don't see how because it looks 3-star basic, but I finally added it to the official TBR because I decided the description of the male love interest might vaguely match up with a teenage Loki, the only scenario in which I can tolerate enemies-to-lovers.
39. Beginner's Guide to Living - Lia Hills
Another attempt to find Teenage Loki, as I set my guidelines to "teen boy dealing with his mother's sudden death" like The Dark World. 80% sure it will be a strikeout but wanted to try.
40. This Is How It Happened - Paula Stokes
Standard good solid-looking YA that my libraries don't have, including such fun ingredients as YouTuber drama, trial by social media fire for an accidental(?) death, and screen detox by "spending the summer volunteering in beautiful Zion National Park."
41. Castles in the Air: The Restoration Adventures of Two Young Optimists and a Crumbling Old Mansion - Judy Corbett
Give me this 2005 memoir of a young couple restoring a "great stone [16th century] mansion/castle in the craggy wilds of north Wales" IMMEDIATELY thank u.
42. Postcards From Summer - Cynthia Platt
I got 10% in on the 20-hour audiobook, NEEDED a physical copy so bad I ended up paying above my usual threshold to get one in my hands, and...never picked it up again. I still want to! It's still one of the most beautiful books I own and I think it's a solid 4-star, it's just also so massive that I want to really curl up with and dig into it.
43. Memories of the Old Plantation - Lara Locoul Gore
Spotted at an estate sale, didn't buy it, but I was intrigued by glimpses of stories as I paged through it and would still one day like to read this interesting history described as "In 1936, Laura Locoul Gore compiled an account of nearly 100 years of life on a Louisiana sugar plantation named after her. Her manuscript, only recently [circa 2000] discovered in St. Louis, Missouri, details the daily life and major events of the inhabitants, both free and enslaved, of the plantation that she and her female fore bearers ran.
44. Three Rivers - Sarah Stusek
Like everyone else, I only heard about this because of the author controversy, and I care zero percent about that because my sole takeaway was reading the summary and going "omg I want to read that immediately." I still really want to read it, so thank god it still got published, but it's expensive as hell even for an ebook (the real bad behavior in this situation imo), and there's no way my library's buying it. Not even as an ebook. And so we wait.
45. Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House - Janet Hill
I'm sooo intrigued by illustrated YA novels. I've peeked at this one on Libby but I really want a physical copy to fully appreciate it. But my libraries didn't buy a physical copy.
46. The Lost Manuscript - Mollie Rushmeyer
Loved her first book -- which my library bought -- and really wanna read her second! Which my library...oh never mind, it took them a bit but they have it now! Huzzah!!
47. This Doesn't Mean Anything - Sarah Whalen
This is probably longer than it needs to be, and I suspect not well edited given that it's self-pubbed and reviewers are complaining, but at the same time this YA/adult crossover set in college kind of sounds like this is written to my exact relationship timeline and romance standards? So. Maybe if/when it's cheaper.
48. After the Sirens - Sharon Farrell
A friend recommended this; I'm intrigued by a YA novel that promises to be about training as an EMT.
49. The Mason House - T. Marie Bertineau
This is a definite "maybe," but it sounds like both the setting and the family history could be interesting: After her father's untimely death, Theresa faced a rocky and unstable childhood. But there was one place she felt safe: her grandmother's house in Mason, a depressed former copper mining town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Gram's passing leaves Theresa once again at the mercy of the lasting, sometimes destructive grief of her Ojibwe mother and white stepfather. As the family travels back and forth across the country in search of a better life, one thing becomes clear: if they want to find peace, they will need to return to their roots.
50. Welcome to the Dark House - Laurie Faria Stolz
Another r/whatsthatbook hit that sounded fun; you know how I love my YA horror. Plus there's a sequel.
^ and that all gets me up to end of June 2023. Stay tuned for round 5, coming up sometime next year.
EDIT: To keep current w/ the Wordpress mirror post, I'm going to add these last two since the WP one went up later so I had time to update it from this version.
51. Summer Rental - Rektok Ross
Two out of the three new YA horror novels that caught my eye this summer were available at my library, but alas, this one was not. But seriously, “MEAN GIRLS meets SCREAM in this heart-pounding psychological thriller about a group of friends stranded on an island with a serial killer on the loose”? Yes plz.
52. Wildfire - Carrie Mac
I really disliked 10 Things I Can See From Here and had made a soft decision never to read her again, but I am fully willing to override that for the promise of two friends-on-the-verge-of-more going on a backpacking trap, getting lost, and then trying to escape a deadly wildfire. Like the April Henry novel, but longer and deeper and presumably better. ALAS! Not at my libraries…but on the bright side I just realized it’s from 2020, not 2023, and thus old enough to I.L.L. request.
1. Crash Course - Alyssa Wilde
Shooooot, I already can't remember what set me off last year that I immediately needed a good student/teacher romance, so much so that I impulse-bought an ebook of this one* since, self-published and all, it seemed the most YA-like in terms of being not explicit, while still firmly in Romance territory. (*which I then ripped apart in search of the best bits, per usual. Search functions r 2 dangerous 4 me. But I want to read it properly someday!)
...actually, wait, was that when I found my copy of Hit? I think that might have been when I bought Hit, allowing me to revisit how much I like it and how much I wished it was more like...well, the exact summary of this book I subsequently stumbled over. Anyway, yeah, saving it for when that feeling returns.
2. Wish Me Home - Kay Bratt
So annoyed my library doesn't have this, because it looks like the most SOLID women's fiction + a dog.
3. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
I don't have any interest in this author...except for this book, which is being carried partly by everyone else's hype and the beautifully-written quotes I've seen, and partly by my own probably-foolish certainty that it's gonna be just as moving as my beloved film The Age of Adaline. But it is very long so I need to set aside time for it when I don't have a massive immediate-TBR on deck.
4. How To Buy A Love of Reading - Tanya Egan Gibson
I saw this on r/whatsthatbook and honestly, between the reviews and average rating, I fear it may not be worth the time invested. But it's just -- such an interesting and unusual premise (rich & privileged MC has never read a book she liked; parents commission a novelist to move in and write one so perfectly tailored to her interests that she'll be unable to dislike it). I'm CURIOUS.
5. Whenever I'm With You - Lydia Sharp
Sometimes I just stumble across a YA novel I think I would really enjoy, but neither of my local libraries have it. This vaguely reminds me of a detail in The Lovely and the Lost, but the line "A missing boy. A road trip into the Alaskan wilderness. A week that will change everything..." just has me HOOKED. These two idiot teens are going into the woods to try and track his missing brother before a blizzard hits? An Alaskan blizzard?? Sounds like survival is coming into play and I'm here for it very much.
6. To Touch the Deer - Gus Cazzola
Remember earlier versions of the list where I mention that 70s teens running off to the wilderness to live off the land was becoming a niche interest of mine? Well, this is 1981, but close enough. Can't get this through OpenLibrary or Interlibrary Loan and it's not cheap to buy, which is extra-frustrating because it's so short! (130 pgs) But I am stubborn, so it stays. Believe I saw it in a book about teen books.
7. Annabelle - Ruby Jean Jensen
"pretty dollies can have very ugly tempers..." I'm sorry, 80s mass market PB featuring abandoned stone mansion + a dollhouse + creepy dolls about to haunt the little girl who finds them?? YEAH! Unfortunately, same access problems as the above (the ebook is cheap but it's too long to read on a screen).
8. This Much Country - Kristin Knight Pace
Recommended by a friend, here for when I'm more of a mood for a sled-dog-racing memoir (Blair Braverman's trashy ass burned me out when I tried to read her memoir, so I'm still in recovery).
9. The Explorer - Katherine Rundell
The stuff of juvenile literature dreams. Plane crash in the jungle, alone for days until "Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city"??
[edit: read between the time I drafted & the time I posted. I'm not renumbering the whole list]
10. In The Shadow of Lakecrest - Elizabeth Blackwell
I've mentioned this on TTT posts before, so suffice to say: seems like a variation on Rebecca in the 1920s and I am here for it.
11. Submerged - Elizabeth Goddard
I read Tailspin as a consolation prize because this one wasn't available, and it gave me what I needed, but I figured I might as well remember this other one from the series for the next time I need a quick cookie-cutter "man and woman start off at odds but end up in love while dodging constant attacks on their lives from bad guys" scenario.
12. The Truth About Us - Janet Gurtler
While trying to find Danny and Lexi (Blood & Treasure) in a YA novel, I ran into a summary that sounds very Ryan-and-Marissa-like instead (The O.C.). Which is good to have in one's back pocket.
13. Black Hills - Nora Roberts
Another attempt to find Danny & Lexi (with bonus wildlife!). I actually started this one, and feel like it's a decent potential 4 stars, but it was so long I just couldn't finish it. I'll go back to it someday, and then I'll finally have read one of her books.
14. The Beautiful Lost - Luanne Rice
YA road trip romance! Maybe this one will not be full of crime? Found on r/whatsthatbook so I must have liked something about the description enough to save it. Also I'm casting it with Melissa & Blake's characters in acutely-terrible film Billy Boy (where their characters were really the only redeemable aspect). (and not even his entire character. just the scenes where he was with her tbh)
15. The Perfect Winter Plan - Vanni Shaw
Have to buy it to read it, but this looks like a very cozy feel-good winter romance.
16. The Arctic Curry Club - Dani Redd
I checked this out last January, failed to get to it before more exciting books found me, and look at that, it's almost January again. It's rather a long book but I think it will be a very cozy winter read, with a bit more substance to it than purebred romance. One of these years anyway.
17. Dancing on Broken Glass - Ka Hancock
Dunno where I'm going to find this one either, but top review says "I finished this novel with tears streaming down my face along with a box of Kleenex by my side. This has got to be the saddest, most emotional book that I have EVER read!" It's really hard to find good books about married couples where the conflict isn't adultery-related or otherwise about pending divorce, so this one stays tucked in my back pocket for when I'm craving exactly that. Specifically an emotionally devastating one.
18. Cleaning Up - Leanne Lieberman
I am always a sucker for "teen helps her mom with housecleaning job at her classmates' houses and Finds Secrets." Plus I know they will lead to cleaning motivation for a me! Would have read it ages ago if local libraries had it.
19. Taking Flight - Siera Maley
This is a very "maybe" book, only on here because it shares a cover image w/ Bright Side and that image lures me into the setting enough to look past the less appealing f/f angle. But even w/ that, the setting looks to be a very solid one, along w/ a plot like "When she puts too many toes out of line and a judge deems her father unfit to be her guardian, she’s shipped across the country to the rural mountains of northern Georgia, where a personal friend of the judge lives with his wife and two kids on a farm." That's the contemp YA I'm here for!
20. Heartbreak for Two - C.W. Farnsworth
Oh I'm like 98% sure I intended to cast this as Darren Criss/Lea Michele. When am I not looking for a book about two non-country* singers I can cast them in. I'll brave self-publishing to get it! (*why are all the romances about musicians always country, except on the rare occasion when it's equally undesirable rock music) But self-pubbed means I have to buy to read and it's pricey.
21. The Echo of Old Books - Barbara Davis
Beatiful cover + antiquarian bookstore + bookish mystery, sold. (I was honestly gobsmacked to see it pop up in the Goodreads Choice Awards months later; I've never heard of the author or seen BookTube mention it even once; had no idea this had any kind of hype)
22. Tree of Treasures: A Life in Ornaments - Bonnie Mackay
I have been kicking myself for a year that I was like "oh no $3.21 is simply Too Much money for a book I don't need, look at me being Good and Discriminating in my purchases!" and welp, guess who is still dying to read this semi gift-y book but can't get it through any means besides buying it online (for more than that).
23. The Christmas Dress - Courtney Cole
well I WOULD be reading it this Christmas season if I had realized before last week that neither of my libraries have a physical copy. Libby has an audiobook, but I should have put myself on that by September if I wanted it to come in for the season.
24. Flirting with Danger - Suzanne Enoch
Trying to find Danny & Lexi in a book, round 47 (this time because the female lead is a high-end art thief). It looks mass market as heck, but I need to find a way to get my hands on it to judge for myself (also mass market is never a deterrent when I'm determined enough!). If I like it...there's a whole series. If it's too explicit (which it may be, in a cheesy way) I can either skip pages or bail forever.
25. Being Henry David - Cal Armistead
Teens running away to the wilderness! But 21st century this time.
26. Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs - David Cruise
Stumbled over this on OpenLibrary and I'm mostly here for the excerpt where she meets Marguerite Henry (doing research for the book that is the reason I know Annie's name), but if I reread Mustang: Spirit of the West, I imagine I'll be more interested in the woman's life as a whole.
27. Lucy Checks In - Dee Ernst
On the one hand, I can't picture anyone but Lorelai Gilmore in the title role, and I would really rather cast someone more interesting. But when I find her, this looks like fantastic women's lit, featuring a 50-year-old MC! A fairly rare age choice so maybe I should save it...but also hotel management fiction is my passion (no seriously I love it).
28. Bad Call - Stephen Wallenfels
29. High Tide - Anna Mackenzie
Both of these were found trying to find a different book that sounded awesome on r/whatsthatbook (which turned out to be When I Am Through With You), but they both ended up sounding better than that one. First one involves teens camping in the mountains, possibly getting trapped in by snow, and meanwhile one of them DIES! Second one looks more middle grade, but it's a school camping trip including a teacher -- MC might have a crush on him, to boot -- and also getting trapped. Presumably without anyone dying. Not actually sure which one I'm more excited about! Both would have to come through ILL though.
30. Lovestruck in London - Rachel Schurig
Listen, sometimes we find ourselves briefly but madly in love with Tom Hiddleston out of the blue and immediately run straight into the welcoming arms of self-published romance when they promise us a matching fantasy, especially if they're made extremely appealing by the love interest being a Thomas H. and the price being zero dollars for an ebook. (I read bits of it. I'll read more someday. it's very Simply Sufficient in terms of writing quality but that's all we need)
31. Raptor Red - Robert T. Bakker
Recommended by someone on TTT, this is way outside my usual genre but also I think a wildlife story about a dinosaur could be fun??
32. The Brothers Hawthorne - Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I'm terrified of burning out on this series...but also what if I literally never do and just had seven 5-star books in a row, Harry Potter style. Wouldn't that be epic.
33. The Gallery - Laura Max Fitzgerald
I keep forgetting about this one -- keep scrolling right past it, despite its BEAUTIFUL cover and the fact that my local library has it. But it sounds so good!!
"It’s 1929, and twelve-year-old Martha has no choice but to work as a maid in the New York City mansion of the wealthy Sewell family. But, despite the Gatsby-like parties and trimmings of success, she suspects something might be deeply wrong in the household-specifically with Rose Sewell, the formerly vivacious lady of the house who now refuses to leave her room."
[edit: I read this one before the end of 2023 too!]
34. Scrapbook of an Unfound Songstress - Vicky Nolan
Brief and self-pubbed, I don't expect this to be incredible, but I'm definitely intrigued by this unusual and unusually authentic look at how harsh the world of pop music can be to teens, even ones too young to enter into legal contracts without parental oversight.
35. Kisses on a Paper Airplane - Sarah VanceTompkins
Closer to short story than novella at around 100 pages, but a promisingly sweet one. Like the YA version of just the airplane scene in This Bird Has Flown, but dual POV and if the love interest were the famous singer.
36. Hazel Fine Sings Along - Katie Wicks
The Wattpad origins have me like "eek" but IDK, I think a romance set in the equivalent of American Idol sounds awesome? I always did think that show would be a great setting, glad I am not the only one. (also, ignoring a billion actual Idol contests, WHAT IF Darren Criss/Lea Michele shaped. WHAT IF)
37. Hope in Every Raindrop - Wesley Banks
My dog-book-reading, age-of-my-dad friend on Goodreads put this one in front of my eyes, and oh man, romance? Plus dogs? But not in the usual meet-cute way? I am INTRIGUED. (also apparently this is technically book 2 in a series of standalones, so secretly it's 2 book recs i none)
38. Better Than the Movies - Lynn Painter
Everyone is swearing up and down that this YA romance is soooo good and amazing and I just don't see how because it looks 3-star basic, but I finally added it to the official TBR because I decided the description of the male love interest might vaguely match up with a teenage Loki, the only scenario in which I can tolerate enemies-to-lovers.
39. Beginner's Guide to Living - Lia Hills
Another attempt to find Teenage Loki, as I set my guidelines to "teen boy dealing with his mother's sudden death" like The Dark World. 80% sure it will be a strikeout but wanted to try.
40. This Is How It Happened - Paula Stokes
Standard good solid-looking YA that my libraries don't have, including such fun ingredients as YouTuber drama, trial by social media fire for an accidental(?) death, and screen detox by "spending the summer volunteering in beautiful Zion National Park."
41. Castles in the Air: The Restoration Adventures of Two Young Optimists and a Crumbling Old Mansion - Judy Corbett
Give me this 2005 memoir of a young couple restoring a "great stone [16th century] mansion/castle in the craggy wilds of north Wales" IMMEDIATELY thank u.
42. Postcards From Summer - Cynthia Platt
I got 10% in on the 20-hour audiobook, NEEDED a physical copy so bad I ended up paying above my usual threshold to get one in my hands, and...never picked it up again. I still want to! It's still one of the most beautiful books I own and I think it's a solid 4-star, it's just also so massive that I want to really curl up with and dig into it.
43. Memories of the Old Plantation - Lara Locoul Gore
Spotted at an estate sale, didn't buy it, but I was intrigued by glimpses of stories as I paged through it and would still one day like to read this interesting history described as "In 1936, Laura Locoul Gore compiled an account of nearly 100 years of life on a Louisiana sugar plantation named after her. Her manuscript, only recently [circa 2000] discovered in St. Louis, Missouri, details the daily life and major events of the inhabitants, both free and enslaved, of the plantation that she and her female fore bearers ran.
44. Three Rivers - Sarah Stusek
Like everyone else, I only heard about this because of the author controversy, and I care zero percent about that because my sole takeaway was reading the summary and going "omg I want to read that immediately." I still really want to read it, so thank god it still got published, but it's expensive as hell even for an ebook (the real bad behavior in this situation imo), and there's no way my library's buying it. Not even as an ebook. And so we wait.
45. Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House - Janet Hill
I'm sooo intrigued by illustrated YA novels. I've peeked at this one on Libby but I really want a physical copy to fully appreciate it. But my libraries didn't buy a physical copy.
46. The Lost Manuscript - Mollie Rushmeyer
Loved her first book -- which my library bought -- and really wanna read her second! Which my library...oh never mind, it took them a bit but they have it now! Huzzah!!
47. This Doesn't Mean Anything - Sarah Whalen
This is probably longer than it needs to be, and I suspect not well edited given that it's self-pubbed and reviewers are complaining, but at the same time this YA/adult crossover set in college kind of sounds like this is written to my exact relationship timeline and romance standards? So. Maybe if/when it's cheaper.
48. After the Sirens - Sharon Farrell
A friend recommended this; I'm intrigued by a YA novel that promises to be about training as an EMT.
49. The Mason House - T. Marie Bertineau
This is a definite "maybe," but it sounds like both the setting and the family history could be interesting: After her father's untimely death, Theresa faced a rocky and unstable childhood. But there was one place she felt safe: her grandmother's house in Mason, a depressed former copper mining town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Gram's passing leaves Theresa once again at the mercy of the lasting, sometimes destructive grief of her Ojibwe mother and white stepfather. As the family travels back and forth across the country in search of a better life, one thing becomes clear: if they want to find peace, they will need to return to their roots.
50. Welcome to the Dark House - Laurie Faria Stolz
Another r/whatsthatbook hit that sounded fun; you know how I love my YA horror. Plus there's a sequel.
^ and that all gets me up to end of June 2023. Stay tuned for round 5, coming up sometime next year.
EDIT: To keep current w/ the Wordpress mirror post, I'm going to add these last two since the WP one went up later so I had time to update it from this version.
51. Summer Rental - Rektok Ross
Two out of the three new YA horror novels that caught my eye this summer were available at my library, but alas, this one was not. But seriously, “MEAN GIRLS meets SCREAM in this heart-pounding psychological thriller about a group of friends stranded on an island with a serial killer on the loose”? Yes plz.
52. Wildfire - Carrie Mac
I really disliked 10 Things I Can See From Here and had made a soft decision never to read her again, but I am fully willing to override that for the promise of two friends-on-the-verge-of-more going on a backpacking trap, getting lost, and then trying to escape a deadly wildfire. Like the April Henry novel, but longer and deeper and presumably better. ALAS! Not at my libraries…but on the bright side I just realized it’s from 2020, not 2023, and thus old enough to I.L.L. request.