YA Releases on My TBR [June 2018 Part 5]

We’re actually pretty close to winding down the releases for June, with only five more books to go through it seems like I’ll be posting some books from July next time around. Unless, by some miracle, the last five books all sound so amazing that they all end up on my TBR. I have to say, though, I find that unlikely.

I’ll probably regret adding The Boyfriend Bracket by Kate Evangelista to my TBR, but something about the synopsis just grabbed me. And it’s one of those premises I’m sure I’ve found a thousand and one times before–girl crushing on her older brother’s best friend–with a slight twist that’s kind of silly–he’s gone to college and she’s determined to replace him with a real boyfriend but can’t when he comes back to visit–and it’ll be ridiculous. It’ll likely be cheesy. But I’m curious enough to say, yeah, sure…I’ll read it at some point in the future. Though, I will freely admit that the whole dating eight different guys to find the perfect boyfriend is an idea that sounds like complete disaster to me. I suppose I’ll have to wait until I read the book to find out!

Your Destination is on the Left by Lauren Spieller is largely on my TBR list because I won it several months ago during a readathon, which was incredibly exciting. The fact that I haven’t gotten to it yet is more of a commentary on the number of books on my list than my level of interest in the story. This book focuses on the life of a young girl who has been a traveler all her life and is finally considering ceasing her ever moving lifestyle in order to put down roots and go to college. Of course, not everything goes to plan and she begins to wonder if a stationary life is what she truly wants or if the life she’s always known is the one that she is meant to live.

99 lies With such a thoroughly intriguing premise, 99 Lies by Rachel Vincent is a book I can’t wait to get my hands on. A group of kids who were held as hostages and acted resultingly in rather differing ways have found their way back to society but not without many scars. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Flight 29 Down, but I was rather invested in that show for a long time and while I know it’s not quite the same, the whole lost in the jungle bit does have somewhat of a similar feel to it. And besides, I’m just really curious about the alternating viewpoints and the supposed betrayal that happened as a result. I dunno about the rest of you, but I’d be pretty disappointed in myself if I’d never tried to give this enticing novel a chance.

Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton have all come together to bring us My Plain Jane, a book that clearly indicates I’m going to need to read Jane Eyre before I pick this one up. I’ll also likely have to read the first book in the series as well. I don’t know what it is about this book that really got my attention so much so that I’m suddenly considering reading a classic novel that I never once in my life had any intention of reading after learning that it never became a requirement in one of my English classes–not sure how I missed that bullet–for the very first time. And now that, in my opinion, is quite a feat. So, we’ll see how this book goes once I finally get around to it because I truly do think this one might be well worth the read.

And the final book from 2018 most recently added to my TBR is A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by various YA authors and is spearheaded by the We Need Diverse Books campaigns. This is definitely a book to have on your radar if you’ve not heard of it before because it’s one of those books that just demands to be read and deserves it more than most. And not only that, but the stories in this book are all retellings! For the first time, I’m positive that there’s no better way to say it than the way they do, but it’s “folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate” and it sounds amazing.