Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Can’t Wait Wednesday: May 2021 Book Releases

 

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Can’t Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings. I’m showing off the upcoming book releases that caught my eye. I can’t wait to read these books!



 

 May 2021 Book Releases

 

 



SORROWLAND BY RIVERS SOLOMON

 

Adult Fantasy / Horror

May 4, 2021

 


Vern—seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised—flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world.

But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.

To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future—outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: This is my most-anticipated release of 2021. I can’t pass up a cult story or a character who lives in the woods. Goodreads calls this book “a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction.” Also, look at that cover. Is that a hand coming out of the ground? Yuck. I love it. I want this book right now.

 

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it on Book Depository

 

 

 

 

 

 

LUCK OF THE TITANIC BY STACEY LEE

 

Young Adult Historical Fiction

May 4, 2021

 


Southampton, 1912: Seventeen-year-old British-Chinese Valora Luck has quit her job and smuggled herself aboard the Titanic with two goals in mind: to reunite with her twin brother Jamie—her only family now that both their parents are dead—and to convince a part-owner of the Ringling Brothers Circus to take the twins on as acrobats. Quick-thinking Val talks her way into opulent first class accommodations and finds Jamie with a group of fellow Chinese laborers in third class. But in the rigidly stratified world of the luxury liner, Val's ruse can only last so long, and after two long years apart, it's unclear if Jamie even wants the life Val proposes. Then, one moonless night in the North Atlantic, the unthinkable happens—the supposedly unsinkable ship is dealt a fatal blow—and Val and her companions suddenly find themselves in a race to survive.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: This is my second-most-anticipated release of 2021. (May is an excellent month for books.) I’m excited to read this one because it’s loosely inspired by the true story of six Titanic passengers of Chinese descent. I love when authors base their fiction on real life events. It makes the fiction more real. Also, shipwrecks are endlessly fascinating to me. Probably because I can’t swim and oceans are deep. That’s a nightmare situation right there.

 

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it on Book Depository

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINDING JUNIE KIM BY ELLEN OH

 

Middlegrade Contemporary Fiction

May 4, 2021

 


Junie Kim just wants to fit in. So she keeps her head down and tries not to draw attention to herself. But when racist graffiti appears at her middle school, Junie must decide between staying silent or speaking out.

Then Junie’s history teacher assigns a project and Junie decides to interview her grandparents, learning about their unbelievable experiences as kids during the Korean War. Junie comes to admire her grandma’s fierce determination to overcome impossible odds, and her grandpa’s unwavering compassion during wartime. And as racism becomes more pervasive at school, Junie taps into the strength of her ancestors and finds the courage to do what is right.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: This book got my attention because it’s been compared to Inside Out And Back Again by Thanhha Lai, which is a beautiful novel-in-verse about Vietnamese immigrants. Inside Out is based on the author’s own life. It sounds like Finding Junie Kim will be similar. The story was inspired by the life of Ellen Oh’s mother in Korea.

 

Buy it on Amazon

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The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

 

Adult Thriller

May 11, 2021

 


Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he's teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what's left of his self-respect; he hasn't written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn't need Jake's help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker's first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker's predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: When I was getting my MFA, I wondered about this exact scenario! I never wrote anything worth stealing, so I wasn’t worried about myself, but I did wonder what would happen if a professor stole a talented student’s work. How would the student prove it? What would happen to the professor? I guess I can read this book and find out.

 

Buy it on Amazon

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THE SHAPE OF THUNDER BY JASMINE WARGA

 

Middlegrade Contemporary Fiction

May 11, 2021

 


Cora hasn’t spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year.

Despite living next door to each other, they exist in separate worlds of grief. Cora is still grappling with the death of her beloved sister in a school shooting, and Quinn is carrying the guilt of what her brother did.

On the day of Cora’s twelfth birthday, Quinn leaves a box on her doorstep with a note. She has decided that the only way to fix things is to go back in time to the moment before her brother changed all their lives forever—and stop him.

In spite of herself, Cora wants to believe. And so the two former friends begin working together to open a wormhole in the fabric of the universe.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Well, I was not expecting the wormhole! I wonder if the characters will actually be able to create it. I’m interested in this book because of the complicated relationship between the friends. It’s probably hard to maintain a friendship with someone whose brother murdered your sister. Jasmine Warga’s novels are loved by the book community and tend to get very good reviews. I’m excited to see what the hype is about.

 

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MADAM BY PHOEBE WYNNE

 

Adult Historical Fiction

May 18, 2021

 


For 150 years, high above rocky Scottish cliffs, Caldonbrae Hall has sat untouched, a beacon of excellence in an old ancestral castle. A boarding school for girls, it promises that the young women lucky enough to be admitted will emerge “resilient and ready to serve society.”

Into its illustrious midst steps Rose Christie: a 26-year-old Classics teacher, Caldonbrae’s new head of the department, and the first hire for the school in over a decade. At first, Rose is overwhelmed to be invited into this institution, whose prestige is unrivaled. But she quickly discovers that behind the school’s elitist veneer lies an impenetrable, starkly traditional culture that she struggles to reconcile with her modernist beliefs—not to mention her commitment to educating “girls for the future.”

It also doesn’t take long for Rose to suspect that there’s more to the secret circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of her predecessor—a woman whose ghost lingers everywhere—than anyone is willing to let on. In her search for this mysterious former teacher, Rose instead uncovers the darkness that beats at the heart of Caldonbrae, forcing her to confront the true extent of the school’s nefarious purpose, and her own role in perpetuating it.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: It’s being compared to The Secret History and The Stepford Wives. A mash-up of my favorite murderous stories? YES, please. I love that it’s set in a castle and that there’s a mystery surrounding a former teacher. Usually boarding school books focus on the kids. I’m ready for some teacher drama.

 

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it on Book Depository

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEWED BY JOHN GREEN

 

Young Adult Nonfiction / Essays

May 18, 2021

 


The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet—from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu—on a five-star scale.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: New John Green book! This one is nonfiction. I’ve never listened to John Green’s podcast, but I have read all his fiction, and I watch his YouTube videos when I’m bored. I think he’s smart and funny. This new book sounds pretentious, which means it’s perfect for me. And, I love rating things on a 5-star scale. That’s probably why I became a book reviewer.

 

Buy it on Amazon

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OPHIE’S GHOSTS BY JUSTINA IRELAND

 

Middlegrade Historical Fantasy

May 18, 2021

 


Ophelia Harrison and her family used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922 and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which just happened to be the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.

Now Ophie and her mother are stuck living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the old manor house where she works. Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past—and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. Ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and hungers and desires, ghosts who have wronged others and ghosts who have themselves been wronged.

And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to help—even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets than she bargained for.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: I adored the author’s zombie thriller, Dread Nation. I’m confident she can write creepy ghosts just as well as she can write creepy zombies. There’s an old manor house in Ophie’s Ghosts. I can’t pass up that setting! I love old houses, especially when they’re full of secrets.

 

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it on Book Depository

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY BY ERICA GEORGE

 

Adult Contemporary And Historical Fiction (Dual Timeline)

May 25, 2021

 


Michaela Dunn dreams of getting into an art school, but when her stepfather refuses to fund a trip there for a poetry workshop, Michaela enters a local contest searching for a poet to write the dedication plaque for a statue honoring Captain Benjamin Churchill, a whaler who died at sea over one hundred years ago. While searching for clues about this Cape Cod legend, Michaela discovers the diary of Leta Townsend from 1862 and gets a glimpse of Churchill that she didn't quite anticipate.

In 1862, Leta writes poetry under the name of Benjamin Churchill, thinking him dead after being attacked by a whale. Leta is astonished when Captain Churchill returns, completely unscathed, his death just a rumor. She quickly falls for him. But is she falling for the actual Benjamin Churchill, or the boy she constructed in her imagination?

 

Why I’m excited to read it: This novel sounds wild, like a bookish soap opera. The captain is dead! OR IS HE? She’s falling in love, BUT HE’S NOT WHO SHE THINKS! I’m ready for twists and mysteries.

 

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it on Book Depository

 

 

 

 

 

  

THE BABY IS MINE BY OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE

 

Adult Mystery / Thriller

May 27, 2021

 


When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle's house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby's cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby's cheeks. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Oyinkan Braithwaite’s novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer, made a huge splash in the book community and with award committees. Braithwaite’s work is darkly funny. This book sounds like it has a compelling mystery and unreliable characters. I’m interested.


Buy it on Book Depository

 

 

 

 

 

 



Are you excited for any May book releases?





 


7 comments:

  1. The first one has a beautiful cover! A lot of good books coming out this May!
    Lisa Loves Literature

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  2. Intrigued to hear about the John Green book. I love his fiction, but I know he has a lot of passions outside that.

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  3. I am really looking forward to a lot of these! The Plot, Luck of the Titanic, and Sorrowland are three that I've been particularly excited for. So many great books coming out!

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  4. I was surprised to see SORROWLAND on the shelf at the bookstore this weekend since I didn't think it had come out already. It does sound good. I was hoping the store would have one of Solomon's back list books, but only the latest. I love the sound of OPHIE’S GHOSTS. LUCK OF TITANIC is on my wish list. I hope you get a chance to read all of these at some point, AJ.

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  5. I will never get tired of Titanic stories, so definitely looking forward to that one!

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  6. Yes I want to read The Plot ! Sounds like a fun plot. And I hadn't heard the author of My Sister the Serial Killer has a new one coming ... thanks for telling me! yes to that one too.

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  7. I want to read The Shape of Thunder, The Plot, and Luck of the Titanic too...as well as so many other May releases.

    Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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