Books and Sensibility

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18 Books We Can’t Wait To Read in 2018

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January 2018

 



The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

A Women’s fiction/romance debut about  high powered young professionals who turn a  forced proximity/fake girlfriend situation into love.

Everless by Sara Holland

In this debut YA fantasy, time is a currency.

February 2018

A Princess In Theory By Alyssa Cole

A prince goes undercover to find his betrothed.

 

 

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston 

This is being described as a space opera Anastasia and I am here for it. Also at 480 pages I have a feeling this is going to be epic.






March 2018
No Earls Allowed by Shana Galen 

This historical romance series has special ops regency soldiers pitted against smart plucky women who they might just need saving from


Nothing But Sky by Amy Trueblood   

Set post- WWI, a former wing walker sets her eyes on joining an aviation expo.

 

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu 

This is a thing written by Marie Lu. Shut up and take my money.


Emergency Contact by Mary M.K. Choi

Debut YA novel from  essayist, podcaster and Vice correspondent  Mary M.K. Choi follows the romance between first year college students.

April 2018


Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Civil War and Zombies are two particular subcultures I’m not into but I’m

curious how the two blend together.

 

 

The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding

Described by Julie Murphy as the “queer, fat girl rom-com of her dreams” this book follows what happens when a high school graduate lands a fashion internship at a local boutique.


Now A Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy

A teenage girl travels to the set of the movie production for her Grandmother’s popular book series.



Sam & Ilsa’s Last Hurrah by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

A new book from this dynamic duo ? Give.It.To.Me. This book follows a set of twins throwing one last high school party before graduation.



May 2018

The Lies They Tell by Gillian French 

French is masterful at creating settings and she is taking us back to another small new england town to pull back what lies beneath.

Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

This book is about a girl saving a local ice cream shop  and on Bustle it was said to have a fun feminist twist so… intrigued.

 

I Flipping Love You by Helena Hunting

This is an enemies to lovers, house-flipping romance. The official blurb for this book has all of the house renovation puns. 



June 2018

 

Mariam Sharma Hits the Road by Sheba Karim 

Three Muslim college students take an antic filled road trip to New Orleans. 

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean (Bareknuckle Bastard #1)

In this historical romance The bastard son of a duke and a spinster team up to exact revenge.

It Takes Two by Jenny Holiday

This romance takes place during a joint bachelor and bachelorette party in Vegas, baby !

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Honorable Mention

 


Harlequin Dare 

Not so much a book, but this is a new steamy contemporary series from Harlequin that appears to be a smexier,  modern  and glitzy update to the Blaze category.




 

 

 

 

 

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Release Date: 05/30/17 | Contemporary | 385 pages | Buy Now !

At school, Eliza Mirk is the weird girl with no friends who never talks. At home she’s the black sheep among her athletic-obsessed family. She doesn’t think anyone can truly understand her until she meets the new boy in school, Wallace Warland. They bond over their love of Monstrous Sea, a popular fantasy webcomic. He’s the first person who gets what it means to have internet friends and be apart of an active online fandom–Wallace and his friends are BNF fan creators in the Monstrous Sea fan community. But what Wallace doesn’t know is that she’s not just any fan, she’s LadyConstellation–the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea.

This book absolutely captivated me, I devoured the whole thing in in one day and I haven’t done that in years. Zappia (who I believe used to be a book blogger) has this amazing handle on the importance of online friendship, what it means to negotiate your online self with your IRL self, the inner workings of rabid online fandoms while also incorporating important themes about mental illness and self care for creative people.

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AudioFile Magazine’s 2017 Best Fiction Audiobooks

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If you are looking for the best and most dynamic voices in audiobooks look no further than AudioFile Magazine’s 2017 Best Fiction list ! AudioFile Magazine is the place to go for audiobook reviews, behind the scenes videos and narrator interviews. To see all of AudioFile’s 2017 picks check out the AudioFile E-zine !

http://digital.audiofilemagazine.com/t/9418-audiofile-best-audiobooks


ANNE BOLEYN: A KING’S OBSESSION by Alison Weir, read by Rosalyn Landor


BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman, read by Marin Ireland

THE ESSEX SERPENT by Sarah Perry, read by Juanita McMahon

FIVE-CARAT SOUL by James McBride, read by Arthur Morey, Nile Bullock,
Prentice Onayemi, Dominic Hoffman

FOREST DARKby Nicole Krauss, read by Gabra Zackman

THE GOLDEN HOUSE by Salman Rushdie, read by Vikas Adam

ISADORA by Amelia Gray, read by Jen Tullock


LINCOLN IN THE BARDOby George Saunders, read by Nick Offerman, David
Sedaris, George Saunders, and a Full Cast

MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan, read by Norbert Leo Butz, Heather
Lind, Vincent Piazza

THE REASON YOU’RE ALIVE by Matthew Quick, read by R.C. Bray


REFUGE by Dina Nayeri, read by Mozhan Marno, Youssif Kamal

THE RULES OF MAGIC by Alice Hoffman, read by Marin Ireland

SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward, read by Kelvin Harrison Jr.,
Rutina Wesley, Chris Chalk

TRAJECTORY by Richard Russo, read by Amanda Carlin, Arthur Morey, Fred
Sanders, Mark Bramhall


WHITE TEARS by Hari Kunzru, read by Lincoln Hoppe, Danny Campbell,
Dominic Hoffman

AudioFile Magazine’s 2017 Best of Young Adult Audiobooks

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Hear this ! Kat and I are so excited to be partnering with AudioFile Magazine to reveal their 2017 Best of Young Adult audiobooks. This is an amazing list featuring contemporary,  science fiction, poetry and even some Books and Sensibility favorites ! These are the audiobooks you’ll want to carry over into 2018.

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Audiobook Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Release Date: 09/20/16 | Fantasy| 9 hours 52 minutes

I’m slowly learning fantasy just  may not be my genre, I read a couple a year and have always been lukewarm on most of them but this book came through on my holds the same week the sequel hit the bestseller’s list so I decided to check it out.

Now, I do remember this book being talked about during BEA 2016 and Three Dark Crowns is pretty much What You See Is What You Get; Three sisters; Mirabella, Arsinoe and Katharine must kill their sisters in order to take the crown and become Queen of their island nation.

What I wasn’t expecting is just how much of a prequel this book is to that major plot point. For most of the book we follow the sisters, who were separated and raised on separate parts of the island territories, as they prepare for Belltane– the official event that means they can start trying to kill each other. I liked getting backstories on all of the sisters but it was just a lot. We have to learn the customs, magical abilities, culture and a host of side characters for three different areas. It felt like reading three books at once.

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They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Release Date: 09/05/17 | Contemporary-ish ? | 8 hours 29 minutes

They Both Die At The End is the Final Destination meets The Sun is Also A Star you didn’t know you needed.

It’s a little after midnight in New York City when 17-year-old foster kid Rufus Emeterio and 18-year-old Mateo Torrez get the phone alert from Death Cast, a mysterious service that somehow knows that within 24 hours you will meet an untimely death. When they both find themselves unable to be with their loved ones on their End Days they connect on the The Last Friend app. With less than 24 hours left to live these two unlikely strangers are going to have to try the best last day and they’re doing it together.

I’m a little conflicted over this book. Silvera is an great storyteller; his characters are interesting and he creates this great alternate universe that is only a few ticks off from our own world but you never feel confused or like you are getting an info dump. He just eases you into his imagination perfectly. But there were times when the story felt slow and stagnant and the over earnestness levels were at an all time high. Like at one point these New Yorkers bury a dead bird on the street and later they sing American Pie at karaoke, which if you aren’t familiar is a song with the chorus “Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die.”

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