My Summer TBR

My summer TBR (to be read) is filled with a mix of newer releases and some older titles I'm ashamed to have not picked up yet--here's hoping I can rectify this in the coming months!

Aristotle and Dante dive into the waters of the world

Sáenz, Benjamin Alire, author.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Saenz Benjamin

High school seniors Aristotle and Dante find ways to spend time together despite being at different schools, having to keep their love secret, and nightly news of gay men dying from AIDS.

user image

I was anticipating this book before it even had an official title. Here's hoping this year is my time to finally dive into this book.
- Bailey

People we meet on vacation

Henry, Emily, author.

FICTION Henry Emily

"When Poppy met Alex, there was no spark, no chemistry, and no reason to think they'd ever talk again. Alex is quiet, studious, and destined for a future in academia. Poppy is a wild child who only came to U of Chicago to escape small-town life. But after sharing a ride home for the summer, the two form a surprising friendship. After all, who better to confide in than someone you could never, ever date? Over the years, Alex and Poppy's lives take them in different directions, but every summer the two find their way back to each other for a magical week long vacation. Until one trip goes awry, and in the fallout, they lose touch. Now, two years later, Poppy's in a rut. Her dream job, her relationships, her life - none of it is making her happy. In fact, the last time she remembers feeling truly happy was on that final, ill-fated Summer Trip. The answer to all her problems is obvious: She needs one last vacation to win back her best friend. As a hilariously disastrous week unfolds and tensions rise, Poppy and Alex are forced to confront what drove them apart - and decide what they're willing to risk for the chance to be together."--

The adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi : a novel

Chakraborty, S. A., author.

SCIENCE FICTION Chakraborty, Shannon

"The first book of "a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman's determined quest to seize a final chance at glory--and write her own legend ... Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, she's survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she's tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she's offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade's kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family's future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God's will. Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there's more to this job, and the girl's disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there's always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power ... and the price might be your very soul"--

user image

This recent release sounds right up my alley for a fun summer adventure!
- Bailey

Fifteen hundred miles from the sun : a novel

Villa, Jonny Garza, author.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Villa Jonny

Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life. Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown--literally--out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his real self. Then Mat, a cute, empathetic Twitter crush from Los Angeles, slides into Jules's DMs. Jules can tell him anything. Mat makes the world seem conquerable. But when Jules's fears about coming out come true, the person he needs most is fifteen hundred miles away. Jules has to face them alone. Jules accidentally propelled himself into the life he's always dreamed of. And now that he's in control of it, what he does next is up to him."--Amazon.

She who became the sun

Parker-Chan, Shelley, author.

FICTION Parker-Chan, Shelley

"Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything "I refuse to be nothing..." In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness... In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness"--

user image

I'm so excited to dive into this fantasy and be ready for the sequel that releases in August!
- Bailey

The feeling of falling in love

Deaver, Mason, author.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Deaver Mason

"Just days before spring break, Neil Kearney is set to fly across the country with his childhood friend (and current friend with benefits) Josh to attend his brother's wedding. Then Josh tells Neil that he's in love with him. With Josh still attending the wedding, Neil needs to find a new date to bring along. Almost against his will, he drafts his horrible roommate, Wyatt. At first, Wyatt (correctly) thinks Neil is acting like a jerk. but when they get to Los Angeles, Wyatt sees a little more of where it's coming from. Slowly, Neil and Wyatt begin to understand each other . . . and maybe, just maybe, fall in love for the first time"--Adapted from publisher description.

Circe : a novel

Miller, Madeline, author.

FICTION Miller Madeline

Follows Circe, the banished witch daughter of Helios, as she hones her powers and interacts with famous mythological beings before a conflict with one of the most vengeful Olympians forces her to choose between the worlds of the gods and mortals.

user image

I loved The Song of Achilles last summer; I'm keen to read her other novel this season!
- Bailey

Sharks in the time of saviors

Washburn, Kawai Strong, 1980- author.

FICTION Washburn Kawai

In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends. Nainoa's family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods-a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family's legacy. When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawai'i-with tragic consequences-they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.

Gone girl : a novel

Flynn, Gillian, 1971- author.

FICTION Flynn, Gillian

"On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they really know the one they love"--

user image

I'm ashamed to admit I am one of the last people on earth that hasn't read this book yet! I've managed to avoid any spoilers about this book and I'm excited to dive head-first into this thriller.
- Bailey