New to the Queue! | May 30, 2021

Happy Sunday! New to the Queue is a bookish feature on Kait Plus Books where I talk about books I’ve recently added to my never ending #tbr!

It’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these posts, and I’ve recently added a LOT of books to my tbr! So now without any further ado, here are some of the books I’ve recently added to my queue!

Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston
Published on May 25, 2021 by Dutton Books for Young Readers
Genres: Fantasy, Queer, Science Fiction, YA
Pages: 256
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Set on a family-run interstellar freighter called the Harland and a mysterious remote space station, E. K. Johnston's latest is story of survival and self-determination.
Pendt Harland's family sees her as a waste of food on their long-haul space cruiser when her genes reveal an undesirable mutation. But if she plays her cards right she might have a chance to do much more than survive. During a space-station layover, Pendt escapes and forms a lucky bond with the Brannick twins, the teenage heirs of the powerful family that owns the station. Against all odds, the trio hatches a long-shot scheme to take over the station and thwart the destinies they never wished for.

When We Were Strangers by Alex Richards
Published on July 13, 2021 by Bloomsbury YA
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Pages: 304
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Seventeen-year-old Evie Parker is devastated in the wake of her father’s sudden death. But she knows something her mother doesn’t: the day of his heart attack, her dad was planning to move out. After finding his packed bags, an impulsive Evie puts everything away, desperate to spare her mom more heartache.
To make matters worse, Evie soon learns the reason her father was going to leave: he had been dating his twenty-two-year-old receptionist, Bree, who is now six months pregnant. Desperate to distract herself, Evie signs up for a summer photography class where she meets a motley crew of students, including quirky and adorable Declan. Still, Evie can’t stop thinking about her father’s mistress. Armed with a telephoto lens, she caves to her curiosity, and what starts as a little bit of spying on Bree quickly becomes full-blown stalking. And when an emergency forces Evie to help Bree, she learns there’s more to the story than she ever knew…
Alex Richards crafts an addicting and compelling new story about betrayal, complicated family secrets, and getting to the heart of what matters — ultimately asking readers how far they’d be willing to go to unravel the truth.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Published on June 1, 2021 by Feiwel & Friends
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Queer, Thriller, YA
Pages: 432
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When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.
Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.
As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
Published on September 7, 2021 by Park Row
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, New Adult, Thriller
Pages: 352
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Meet Chloe Sevre. She’s a freshman honor student, a legging-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.
Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study for psychopaths—students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.
When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths—and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath.
Never Saw Me Coming is a compulsive, voice-driven thriller by an exciting new voice in fiction, that will keep you pinned to the page and rooting for a would-be killer.

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
Published on September 7, 2021 by Inkyard Press
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Queer, YA
Pages: 480
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"The City Beautiful is the haunting, queer Jewish historical thriller of my darkest dreams." —Dahlia Adler, creator of LGBTQ Reads and editor of That Way Madness Lies
Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.   Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows. Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next. 

The Girl Least Likely by Katy Loutzenhiser
Published on June 29, 2021 by Balzer + Bray
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 352
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Gretchen has always been more of a “least likely” than a “most likely” kind of girl. So how does she somehow find herself living out every trope from her favorite rom-coms…?
The Best Friend Crush: Why is it suddenly so hard to act normal around her childhood BFF, Samuel? Must be time for a—
Makeover(!): Black leather pants and some red lipstick are apparently enough to lend Gretchen the bravado to do an impromptu set at a comedy club, and catch the eye of—
The Roguish Bad Boy: Jeremy, the alluring young comic who thinks her name is Sabrina. It might just be—
The Perfect Cover: A funny-girl alter-ego that frees Gretchen to explore who she really is—and what she really wants. But as rom-coms have taught her, leading a double life can only last so long.

For the Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten
Series: Wilderwood #1
Published on June 1, 2021 by Orbit Books
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Retellings
Pages: 448
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The first daughter is for the Throne. The second daughter is for the Wolf.
For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn't the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.
As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods.
Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again.
But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.

The author has provided a list of content warnings here.

My Ride or Die by Leslie Cohen
Published on April 20, 2021 by William Morrow Paperbacks
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult
Pages: 336
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A timely and hilarious millennial women’s fiction novel about two friends who decide to give up their search for a perfect man and devote their lives to each other—but their careful plan soon begins to unravel with unexpected consequences. 
For many women, finding the man of their dreams can be something of a nightmare. Luckily, they can often rely on their friends for the support they so desperately need. Friends for over a decade, Amanda and Sophie decide to flip the script. Why can’t they spend their lives with each other and just keep men on the side for fun, sex, and occasionally fixing things around the house?
Amanda is a lawyer who excels in her professional life but crumbles at the slightest sign of a common cold. Sophie is an aspiring artist who has lived all over the world and doesn’t crumble, period. Together since freshman year of college, they’ve been through it all. But when their romantic lives explode at the same time, they decide that enough is enough. Enough pretending that traditional relationships work for everyone. Enough fantasizing about an old-fashioned ideal. 
They enter into a mutual arrangement: They will rely on each other and give men the secondary role that they deserve. And much to their surprise, it actually works. Amanda and Sophie fix up a dilapidated brownstone and create the home they’ve always wanted. Soon, they have love and emotional support as well as a wide variety of male “crushes” on the side. But when one of their crushes becomes something more, Amanda and Sophie must reconsider the life they’ve begun to build and how far they’re willing to go to keep it.

We Are the Baby-Sitters Club: Essays and Artwork from Grown-Up Readers by Marisa Crawford, Megan Milks, Mara Wilson, Kristen Arnett, Jamie Broadnax, Siobhan Gallagher, Myriam Gurba, Yumi Sakugawa, Frankie Thomas
Published on July 6, 2021 by Chicago Review Press
Genres: Anthology, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Queer
Pages: 240
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In 1986, the first-ever meeting of the Baby-Sitters Club was called to order in a messy bedroom strewn with RingDings, scrunchies, and a landline phone. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne launched the club that birthed an entire generation of loyal readers.  
 Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club series featured a complex cast of characters and touched on an impressive range of issues that were underrepresented at the time: divorce, adoption, childhood illness, class division, and racism, to name a few.  
 In We Are the Baby-Sitters Club, writers and a few visual artists from the original BSC generation will reflect on the enduring legacy of Ann M. Martin’s beloved series, thirty-five years later—celebrating the BSC’s profound cultural influence.  
 Contributors include Paperback Crush author Gabrielle Moss, illustrator Siobhán Gallagher, and filmmaker Sue Ding, as well as New York Times bestselling author Kristen Arnett, Lambda Award–finalist Myriam Gurba, Black Girl Nerds founder Jamie Broadnax, and Paris Review contributor Frankie Thomas. 
  One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021, We Are the Baby-Sitters Club looks closely at how Ann M. Martin’s series shaped our ideas about gender politics, friendship, fashion and beyond. 

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales, Cale Dietrich
Published on December 7, 2021 by Wednesday Books
Genres: Contemporary, Queer, YA
Pages: 352
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Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet.
On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start to truly realize that they will never have the support of their management. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world seems to want to come between them?

What books have you recently added to your tbr? Let me know in the comments below and have a splendiferous week!