Well, April felt like it was all of 7 minutes long, but now we’re at a new month, which means new books!!
May 5
“The Betrothed (The Betrothed #1)” – Kiera Cass
HarperCollins
When King Jameson declares his love for Lady Hollis Brite, Hollis is shocked—and thrilled. After all, she’s grown up at Keresken Castle, vying for the king’s attention alongside other daughters of the nobility. Capturing his heart is a dream come true.
But Hollis soon realizes that falling in love with a king and being crowned queen may not be the happily ever after she thought it would be. And when she meets a commoner with the mysterious power to see right into her heart, she finds that the future she really wants is one that she never thought to imagine.
May 7
“Love the One You Hate” – R. S. Grey
ARC Review coming soon!
Nicholas Hunt is the man I hate.
For good reason.
His opinion of me is tainted by prejudice even before my arrival at his grandmother’s estate, and my first impression of him is just as abysmal.
His arrogance and icy demeanor make it clear that he’s the type of man who’s best handled at a distance.
Fortunately, space shouldn’t be an issue inside this Gilded Age mansion and its lush gardens. If I stick with the servants and he keeps to his sailboat and vintage Porsche, we should hardly cross paths at all. Unfortunately, at Rosethorn, I find that all roads eventually lead to Nicholas Hunt.
Sparks fly as we spar at the dinner table. Fighting words are flung in the shadows of the palatial halls.
We hang suspended in our hatred of one another, painfully oblivious to the heat and tension that build with every moment we’re left alone. We’re liable to kill one another, I think…right up until my eyes land on his lips and a new feeling grips hold of me: lust.
What’s worse?
He knows it.
They say you should keep your enemies close, but when Nicholas tightens his grip on my waist and draws me near, I’m not sure if it’s out of loathing or love.
One thing’s for sure—I intend to find out.
May 12
HMH Books for Young Readers
As a devotee of classic novels, Mary Porter-Malcolm knows all about Mistakes That Have Been Made, especially by impressionable young women. So when a girl at her new high school nearly succumbs to the wiles of a notorious cad, Mary starts compiling the Scoundrel Survival Guide, a rundown of literary types to be avoided at all costs.
Unfortunately, Mary is better at dishing out advice than taking it—and the number one bad boy on her list is terribly debonair. As her best intentions go up in flames, Mary discovers life doesn’t follow the same rules as fiction. If she wants a happy ending IRL, she’ll have to write it herself.
May 14
“That’s the Way I Loved You” – Carrie Aarons
ARC Review coming soon!
Savannah
This town ain’t big enough for the two of us.
Which is why I left.
I was determined never to return to Hale, Texas. But when my new life in the Big Apple throws me a curve ball, I have to go back to tie up loose ends. One of those being him.
Jason Whitney was my first everything. Kiss, love, epic heartbreak. He shattered my world once upon a time, and apparently, he’s not done yet.
With old demons lurking around every corner, hightailing it out of my hometown is at the top of my list. Complete my unfinished business, and I get to leave any memory of my country existence behind.
Only, with each day I spend in it, with each moment I spend with him, I’m turning back into the girl who laid in the tall grass and swam in the creek all those years ago.
And I’m not sure that who I was is ready to let me go again.
Jason
We drew a line down the middle, and neither of us has crossed it.
That is, until Savannah Reese blew back into our hometown.
The day my high school sweetheart left, she took my whole heart with her. We promised each other forever, made plans that only teenagers could believe in, and crashed and burned on the grandest of scales.
When Savannah last saw me, I was a disgraced high school athlete. All washed up, I took it out on the only person who loved me. Then her world really fell apart, and I was too selfish to care.
Now she’s back, ready to sell the only remaining thing tying us to each other. I’ve been breaking my back for the last ten years not to think about her, not to be reminded of the love we shared.
But now that she’s right here, it’s impossible to forget how we used to be. Or let go of what we still are.
May 19
“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined – every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
May 26
“Last Chance Summer” – Shannon Klare
Swoon Reads – ARC Review coming soon!
In Shannon Klare’s fun and sexy YA novel Last Chance Summer, a teen is shipped off to work as a counselor at a summer camp―only to butt heads with her co-counselor.
Alex is a sheriff’s daughter with a less than pristine reputation. When she’s caught drinking at a party by her dad’s deputy, she’s in deep trouble. With an already incriminating incident in her past, Alex’s parents ship her off to her aunt’s summer camp to work as a counselor―lest she spend her senior year at boarding school.
What’s worse than spending your summer deep in the mosquito-infested woods of Texas?
Being paired with an obnoxious co-counselor who wants nothing to do with you.
Alex is determined to make the best of her summer, even if it means putting up with Grant, who has secrets of his own that he’s determined to protect. Can Alex and Grant put their egos to the side and find the bright side of a summer that neither of them signed up for?
“As Much as I Ever Could” – Brandy Woods Snow
Filles Vertes Publishing – ARC Review coming soon!
Seventeen-year-old CJ Ainsworth doesn’t drive—not because she can’t, but because she won’t.
She’s been living with the guilt of being the sole survivor of the head-on collision that claimed her mother’s and sister’s lives. It’s the reason she refuses to get behind the wheel. It’s the reason her father has nearly abandoned her. It’s the reason she’s sent to piddle the summer away at her estranged Memaw’s house in Edisto Beach.
All CJ wants to do is isolate herself and make it to the trial at summer’s end, where she’ll testify against the stranger who couldn’t keep his car in its own lane.
She doesn’t expect to fall for a boy, especially not Jett Ramsey, a hotshot racing champion destined for greatness on the NASCAR circuit.
CJ’s resolve crumbles when she loses a bet that puts her squarely in Jett’s
driver’s seat. While he patiently reintroduces her to driving, they confide in each other, and CJ learns she’s not the only one silently suffering through a loss.
As their connection deepens, Jett’s focus on the track is called into question. CJ can’t be the cause of another car crash, but her heart is broken either way. Can CJ learn to put her heart in drive? Or will she throw it in reverse?
Which books are you most excited to read this month?
buried in a bookshelf 