Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Can’t Wait Wednesday: April 2020 Book Releases



Can’t Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings. I get to spotlight a few upcoming book releases that sound interesting to me. Here’s what’s coming out in the next few weeks.

*This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.










April 2020 Book Releases






Sin Eater by Megan Campisi


Adult Historical Fiction
April 7, 2020


For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.

Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.



What interests me? This book sounds dark, weird, and perfect. It’s been described as The Handmaid’s Tale meets Alice In Wonderland. Um . . . YES! The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my current favorite books. Alice In Wonderland was one of my childhood favorites. A mash-up of them seems brilliant.














Godshot by Chelsea Bieker


Adult Literary Fiction
April 7, 2020


Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it’s an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret “assignments,” to bring the rain everybody is praying for.

Lacey has no reason to doubt the pastor. But then her life explodes in a single unimaginable act of abandonment: her mother, exiled from the community for her sins, leaves Lacey and runs off with a man she barely knows. Abandoned and distraught, Lacey May moves in with her widowed grandma, Cherry, who is more concerned with her taxidermy mice collection than her own granddaughter. As Lacey May endures the increasingly appalling acts of men who want to write all the rules, and begins to uncover the full extent of Pastor Vern’s shocking plan to bring fertility back to the land, she decides she must go on a quest to find her mother, no matter what it takes. With her only guidance coming from the romance novels she reads and the unlikely companionship of the women who knew her mother, she must find her own way through unthinkable circumstances.


What interests me? Cults. That’s all it takes to get me to read a book. Also, the grandma with the taxidermy mouse collection. That’s delightfully weird. The book has been compared to work by Flannery O’Connor and Annie Proulx. I like those authors.














Miss Austen by Gill Hornby


Adult Historical Fiction
April 7, 2020


It’s 1840, twenty-three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, and Cassandra Austen—alone and unwed—returns to the vicarage in the village of Kintbury.

There, in a dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, she discovers a treasure trove of family letters—and within them secrets that she feels certain must not be revealed.

She resolves to burn the letters, even those written by Jane herself.

But why destroy so much of her sister’s legacy?

As Cassandra casts an eye back on her youth and the life of her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together long-buried truths from both her and Jane's pasts, and knows she must make a terrible choice: let the contents of the letters color Jane’s memory forever—or protect her reputation no matter the cost.


What interests me? It’s about real people, and there are mysterious letters. I like that it focuses on Cassandra instead of on her famous sister. We have enough books about Jane Austen.














Mary Underwater by Shannon Doleski


Middlegrade Contemporary
April 7, 2020


Mary Murphy feels like she’s drowning. Her violent father is home from prison, and the social worker is suspicious of her new bruises. An aunt she’s never met keeps calling. And if she can’t get a good grade on her science project, she’ll fail her favorite class.

But Mary doesn’t want to be a victim anymore. She has a plan: build a real submarine, like the model she’s been making with Kip Dwyer, the secretly sweet class clown.

Gaining courage from her heroine, Joan of Arc, Mary vows to pilot a sub across the Chesapeake Bay, risking her life in a modern crusade to save herself.


What interests me? Submarines and Joan of Arc. That seems like an odd combination. I want to know how the author pulls it all together. The early reviews of this book have been excellent.














On The Horizon by Lois Lowry & Kenard Pak


Middlegrade Historical Novel-In-Verse
April 7, 2020


Lois Lowry looks back at history through a personal lens as she draws from her own memories as a child in Hawaii and Japan, as well as from historical research, in this work in verse for young readers.

On the Horizon tells the story of people whose lives were lost or forever altered by the twin tragedies of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. Composed of poems about individual sailors who lost their lives on the Arizona and about the citizens of Hiroshima who experienced unfathomable horror.


What interests me? Lois Lowry is one of my favorite children’s book authors. I’m always interested in her books. I’m extra interested in this one because it’s based on the author’s memories.














How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang


Adult Historical Fiction
April 7, 2020


Ba dies in the night; Ma is already gone. Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape as well as family secrets, sibling rivalry, and glimpses of a different kind of future.

Both epic and intimate, blending Chinese symbolism and re-imagined history with fiercely original language and storytelling, How Much of These Hills Is Gold is a haunting adventure story, an unforgettable sibling story, and the announcement of a stunning new voice in literature.


What interests me? It’s set during the American gold rush, which is one of my favorite time periods to learn about. It’s also an adventure story starring young characters. I always love those.
















Are you looking forward to any April book releases?








25 comments:

  1. I actually have a copy of Sin Eater that I should probably get to!

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  2. I saw that Lowry had a new book coming out, and I am impressed, because she's been in the business for quite a long time. Good for her, that she is still inspired to write.

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  3. Wow, I had no idea Lois Lowry was still writing. She was popular when I was a kid decades ago. I hope it's a good one!

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  4. Do you know all of these are new to me? I love them. Mary Underwater sounds so intense but has such a lovely cover. Enjoy!

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  5. A couple of these are new to me. They all sound so good!

    My CWW

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  6. All of these are new to me! Never even heard of the authors so I'm feeling the need to go and have a word with myself... 😂
    Hope you enjoy!

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  7. So many of these sound too good to pass up. God Shot appeals to me because of the cult angle too. Miss Austen sounds right up my alley. I love anything Austen related. I hope you get a chance to read all of these! Stay safe and well, AJ.

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  8. not really looking forward to these, but I wonder if the Sin Eater book was based on a movie of 10 years or so ago. I am looking forward to Eric Goodman's upcoming novel, "Cuppy and Stew" that is to be published this month. Two summer ago, I took a class taught by Eric at the Iowa Summer Writing Workshop and he read a few parts of the novel that was based on the bombing of United Flight #629 in 1955 (just outside of Denver). His wife's parents were killed on that flight.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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  9. I'm super intrigued by Sin Eater. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  10. Several good books on that list.

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  11. It looks like April 7th is a busy day in the publishing world. I think I have three books on my shelf publishing that day besides these. The Sin Eater looks really good.

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  12. Mary Underwater is one that's definitely been on my radar!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  13. The Sin Eater does sound very intriguing!!

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  14. Sin Eater was a super interesting story! Mary Underwater sounds really good, I haven't heard of it before. How Much of These Hills is Gold is also one I've been really wanting to check out.

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  15. Hope you get to enjoy them all soon!

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  16. I used to read Jane Austen a lot when I was young :) The historical fictional book Miss Austen sounds interesting.

    jillian @ jillian etc.

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  17. Ugh so many of these look great! Sin Eater is already on my wishlist (thanks to you for introducing it to me!) and now I want to read Godshot for sure, and How Much of These Hills is Gold. And I want to get On the Horizon to read with the kids! I thought about Mary Underwater, but I think it is just too triggering for Lena at this point, so maybe in a few years, cause it sounds great! Hope you love these!

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  18. There are so many good books on here! i love the Sin Eater one, thanks for the recommendation.

    Beena @ Beena Khan

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  19. As always, you have such a wonderful diverse selection of books. Given my own pick this week, i'm curious about Miss Austen most of all -- I feel like Cassandra might be the unsung hero of her sister's reputation

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  20. Every time I see posts like this, filled with good books, I'm aware of how little time I have to read!

    So many good books, so little time.

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  21. Oooh, Sin Eater and Miss Austen sound awesome! I love these posts because I am so terrible at tracking new releases. Even with Goodreads.

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  22. These all sounds really good. Finding myself especially drawn to Miss Austen and the Lois Lowry book, although the one about the cult sounds promising as well.

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  23. Sin Eater sounds terrific! I'm excited for the Lowry book, and the author of Mary Underwater Skyped with my class on World Read-Aloud Day! I saw some weird headline recently about How Much of These Hills "inserting" Chinese characters into westerns--uh, Chinese immigrants were a huge part of the railroad, of the gold rush, etc.

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  24. Oh, I saw Sin Eater, and it looks really great! Thanks for stopping by! Happy reading!

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