Happy Sunday! New to the Queue is a bookish feature on Kait Plus Books, inspired by Jamie’s New to the Queue and Lauren’s On My List, 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!
The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng Published on August 10, 2021 by Berkley Books
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Thriller
Pages: 352
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An edge-of-your-seat story of a failed artist who accidentally opens a door to an alternate reality where she never pursued her dreams and must uncover the forces behind the switch before time runs out.
On her twenty-ninth birthday, Chicago artist Kelly steps through a door at a gallery opening and emerges in her Michigan hometown. Suddenly her life is unrecognizable: She's got twelve years of the wrong memories in her head and she's married to Eric, a man she barely knew in high school.
Racing to get back to her old life, Kelly's search leads only to more questions. In this life, she loves Eric and wants to trust him, but everything she discovers about him--including a connection to a mysterious tech startup--tells her she shouldn't. And strange things keep happening. The tattoos she had when she was an artist briefly reappear on her skin, she remembers fights with Eric that he says never happened, and her relationships with loved ones both new and familiar seem to change without warning.
But the closer Kelly gets to putting the pieces together, the more her reality seems to shift. And if she can't figure out what happened on her birthday, the next change could cost her everything...
Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty by Lauren Weisberger Published on May 18, 2021 by Random House
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 368
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A college admissions scandal threatens to topple the lives of two sisters navigating the suburban jungle in this sharply observed novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada and When Life Gives You Lululemons.
Peyton Marcus seems to have it all: She’s the co-anchor of a hit morning news show; her husband, Isaac, runs a successful business; and her daughter, Max, is headed to Dartmouth. Peyton’s sister, Skye, is about to finally achieve her mission to open a home for academically gifted, underprivileged young girls, with a little help from Isaac’s business associates. All seems to be going according to plan—until Isaac is arrested in an Ivy League admissions sting, jeopardizing everything the sisters have worked so hard for. But that’s not the whole story. When dark secrets in their posh world—rife with social landmines, barre classes, and Botox—come to light, Peyton and Skye are forced to reckon with the dreams they’d had when they were young and start to wonder if the compromises they made to get there were worth it.
With her signature satirical style, sharp wit, and clear-eyed insights, Lauren Weisberger has written a timely, entertaining novel about what it means to have—and lose—everything. When the chips are down, can you count on your sister to stand by you?
Smoke by Darcy Woods Published on June 15, 2021 by Crown Books for Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Pages: 384
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This compelling drama reveals what lengths a straight-A student and avid rule-follower will go to in order to save her family. A look at the issue of poverty and marijuana legalization for fans of the TV show Weeds.
Sixteen year-old Honor Augustine never set out to become a felon. After all, she's the embodiment of her name as an academic all-star, avid recycler, and dedicated daughter to her PTSD-afflicted father. Coloring inside the lines is what keeps Honor's chaotic existence orderly. But for the sake of family, some lines must be crossed.
When she discovers her father's VA benefits drying up, coupled with a terrifying bank letter threatening the family's greenhouse business--Honor vows to find a solution. She just doesn't expect to find it on the dry erase board of English lit--"Nature's first green is gold."
The quote by Frost should've been as innocuous as the beige walls of the classroom. Instead, it becomes the seed of an idea. An idea that--with patience and care--could germinate into a means of survival. Maybe marijuana could be more than the medicinal plant that helps quiet her father's demons. Maybe, it could save them all. What lengths we will go to for the people we love?
I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin Published on October 12, 2021 by Wednesday Books
Genres: Contemporary, Thriller, YA
Pages: 320
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Lyrical and haunting, Hannah Capin's I Am Margaret Moore is a paranormal thriller that tests the hold of sisterhood and truth.
I am a girl. I am a monster, too.
Each summer the girls of Deck Five come back to Marshall Naval School. They sail on jewel-blue waters; they march on green drill-fields; they earn sunburns and honors. They push until they break apart and heal again, stronger.
Each summer Margaret and Rose and Flor and Nisreen come back to the place where they are girls, safe away from the world: sisters bound by something more than blood.
But this summer everything has changed. Girls are missing and a boy is dead. It’s because of Margaret Moore, the boys say. It’s because of what happened that night in the storm.
Margaret’s friends vanish one by one, swallowed up into the lies she has told about what happened between her and a boy with the world at his feet. Can she unravel the secrets of this summer and last, or will she be pulled under by the place she once called home?
The Brittanys by Brittany Ackerman Published on June 15, 2021 by Vintage
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 272
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Bursting with bittersweet nostalgia, a funny, poignant, perfectly voiced debut that brilliantly captures what it's like to be a teenage girl. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.
They're not the most popular freshmen at their Florida prep school, but at least everyone knows their name(s). The Brittanys.
Brittany Rosenberg: drives her golf cart around her subdivision to meet boys.
Brittany Gottlieb: insists you can't lose your virginity if you haven't gotten your period. (She heard it somewhere!)
Brittany Tomassi: is from New York.
Brittany Jensen: once threw her tampon into a stranger's swimming pool. A brash, bold, unapologetic tomboy. And the greatest person in the whole wide world.
At least as far as the fifth Brittany--our narrator--is concerned. Even within their friend group, she and Jensen are a duo: with their matching JanSport backpacks, Tiffany chokers, and Victoria's Secret push-up bras, they are unstoppable. And now that they're finally growing up, they're going to do everything: dye their hair, attend no-parent parties, try pot . . . maybe even lose their virginities. 2004 is totally going to be their year!
Except Jensen's interests may be diverging from her friends'. And within our narrator's own family--in the lives of her exhausted mother and beloved, genius older brother--life-changing events may be taking shape. Events that only years later, looking back, she has the perspective to see.
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon Published on June 1, 2021 by Delacorte Press
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 304
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star Nicola Yoon is back with her eagerly anticipated third novel. With all the heart and hope of her last two books, this is an utterly unique romance.
Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.
As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything--including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he's only just met.
Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it's that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
How to Mars by David Ebenbach Published on May 25, 2021 by Tachyon Publications
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 256
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What happens when your dream mission to Mars is a reality television nightmare? This debut science-fiction romp with heart follows the tradition of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, with a dash of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and a hint of The Real World.
For the six lucky scientists selected by the Destination Mars! corporation, a one-way ticket to Mars—in exchange for a lifetime of research—was an absolute no-brainer. The incredible opportunity was clearly worth even the most absurdly tedious screening process. Perhaps worth following the strange protocols in a nonsensical handbook written by an eccentric billionaire. Possibly even worth their constant surveillance, the video of which is carefully edited into a ratings-bonanza back on Earth.
But it turns out that after a while even scientists can get bored of science. Tempers begin to fray; unsanctioned affairs blossom. When perfectly good equipment begins to fail, the Marsonauts are faced with a possibility that their training just cannot explain.
Irreverent, poignant, and perfectly weird, David Ebenbach’s debut science-fiction outing, like a mission to Mars, is an incredible trip you will never forget.
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen Published on July 6, 2021 by Daw Books
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 368
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This psychological sci-fi thriller from a debut author follows one doctor who must discover the source of her crew's madness... or risk succumbing to it herself.
Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship--all specialists in their own fields--as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility.
Shortly after landing, the crew finds themselves trapped on the ship by a radiation storm, with no means of communication or escape until it passes--and that's when things begin to fall apart. Park's patients are falling prey to waking nightmares of helpless, tongueless insanity. The androids are behaving strangely. There are no windows aboard the ship. Paranoia is closing in, and soon Park is forced to confront the fact that nothing--neither her crew, nor their mission, nor the mysterious Eos itself--is as it seems.
A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions by Sheena Boekweg Published on June 1, 2021 by Feiwel & Friends
Genres: YA, Alternate History, Historical Fiction, Queer, Aspec, Romance
Pages: 352
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
Behind every powerful man is a trained woman, and behind every trained woman is the Society. It started with tea parties and matchmaking, but is now a countrywide secret. Gossips pass messages in recipes, Spinsters train to fight, and women work together to grant safety to abused women and children. The Society is more than oaths—it is sisterhood and purpose.
In 1926, seventeen-year-old Elsie is dropped off in a new city with four other teenage girls. All of them have trained together since childhood to become the Wife of a powerful man. But when they learn that their next target is earmarked to become President, their mission becomes more than just an assignment; this is a chance at the most powerful position in the Society. All they have to do is make one man fall in love with them first.
An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi Published on June 1, 2021 by HarperCollins
Genres: Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Romance, YA
Pages: 256
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It’s 2003, several months since the US officially declared war on Iraq, and the American political world has evolved. Tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever. Shadi, who wears hijab, keeps her head down.
She's too busy drowning in her own troubles to find the time to deal with bigots.
Shadi is named for joy, but she’s haunted by sorrow. Her brother is dead, her father is dying, her mother is falling apart, and her best friend has mysteriously dropped out of her life. And then, of course, there’s the small matter of her hear—
It’s broken.
Shadi tries to navigate her crumbling world by soldiering through, saying nothing. She devours her own pain, each day retreating farther and farther inside herself until finally, one day, everything changes.
She explodes.
Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth Published on May 25, 2021 by HarperTeen
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Pages: 368
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Aideen has plenty of problems she can’t fix. Her best (and only) friend is pulling away. Her mother’s drinking problem is a constant concern. She’s even running out of outlandish diseases to fake so she can skip PE.
But when Aideen stumbles on her nemesis, overachiever Meabh Kowalski, in the midst of a full-blown meltdown, she sees a problem that—unlike her own disaster of a life—seems refreshingly easy to solve. Meabh is desperate to escape her crushing pile of extracurriculars. Aideen volunteers to help. By pushing Meabh down the stairs.
Problem? Solved. Meabh’s sprained ankle is the perfect excuse to ditch her overwhelming schedule. But when another student learns about their little scheme and brings Aideen another “client” who needs her “help,” it kicks off a semester of traded favors, ill-advised hijinks, and an unexpected chance at love. Fixing other people’s problems won’t fix her own, but it might be the push she needs to start.
What books have you recently added to your tbr? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!
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