Top 5 Tuesday || Anticipated Reads for April-June

Meaghan
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We’re back in the T5T game with this quarter’s most anticipated reads!

After I completely failed Meeghan’s scavenger hunt in this last quarter, then fell off the T5T wagon entirely, it’s time to get back in the saddle. And what’s easier than talking about my most anticipated reads for April through June? I think she set this topic to be nice, and honestly? I’m more than happy with that!

Besides, if you’re here, you’re a bookworm like me. You probably love talking about your TBR that you may or may not actually get to too, don’t you? Don’t try to hide it. I see you. I know you.

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What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat

Meaghan
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What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat

Goodreads || The StoryGraph || Bookshop || Ann’s Twitter

Wren owes everything she has to her home, Hollow’s End, a centuries-old, picture perfect American town. Tourists travel miles to marvel at its miracle crops, including the shimmering, iridescent wheat of Wren’s family farm. Until five months ago.

That’s when the quicksilver mercury blight first surfaced, poisoning the farms of Hollow’s End one by one. It began by consuming the crops–thick, silver sludge bleeding from the earth. Next were the animals. Infected livestock and wild creatures alike staggered off into the woods by day—only to return at night, their eyes, fogged white, leering from the trees.

Then, the blight came for the neighbors.

Wren is among the last locals standing. And the blight has finally come for her, too. Now, the only one she can turn to is the last person she wants to call: her ex, Derek. They haven’t spoken in months, but Wren and Derek still have one thing in common—Hollow’s End means everything to them. Only there’s much they don’t know about their hometown and its renowned miracle crops. And they’re about to discover that miracles aren’t free.

Their ancestors have an awful lot to pay for, and Wren and Derek are the only ones left to settle old debts.

DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

5 STARS

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One For All by Lillie Lainoff

Meaghan
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One For All by Lillie Lainoff

Goodreads || The StoryGraph || Bookshop || Lillie’s Twitter

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a swordfight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels for the first time like she has a purpose, like she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her first target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming, and breathlessly attractive—and he might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to lean on her friends, listen to her own body, and decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted. And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?

DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 STARS

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A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson

Meaghan
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A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson

Goodreads || The StoryGraph || Bookshop || Jessica’s Twitter

Myra Whitlock has a gift. One many would kill for.

She’s an artist whose portraits alter people’s real-life bodies, a talent she must hide from those who would kidnap, blackmail, and worse in order to control it. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone.

But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor’s dead son. Desperate, Myra ventures to his legendary stone mansion.

Once she arrives, however, it becomes clear the boy’s death was no accident. Someone dangerous lurks within these glittering halls. Someone harboring a disturbing obsession with portrait magic.

Myra cannot do the painting until she knows what really happened, so she turns to the governor’s older son, a captivating redheaded poet. Together, they delve into the family’s most shadowed affairs, racing to uncover the truth before the secret Myra spent her life concealing makes her the killer’s next victim.

DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

EXPECTED MARCH 29TH, 2022

4.5 STARS

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This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg

Meaghan
This Golden State Review Banner with 3.5 Star Rating

This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg

Goodreads || The StoryGraph || Bookshop || Marit’s Twitter

The Winslow family lives by five principles:

1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.

Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.

When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Just as she starts to settle into her new life and even begins opening up to a boy in her math class, the forgotten test results bring her crashing back to reality.

Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous—and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?

DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 STARS

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Pub Day Prophecies || March 2022

Meaghan
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Turns out crystal ball repair is a fiddly sort of business.

It’s been months since the last Pub Day Prophecies as a result. Can’t tell the future without the proper equipment, after all! But this month, things are different. Turns out, listing every March 2022 release would probably break the ball all over again, so we’re going to do something different.

Welcome to the March 2022 Pub Day Prophecies, where it’s been narrowed down to my personal anticipated releases of the month! (Full disclosure: there’s still a lot of them!)

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Tower Talks || Röki

Meaghan
Tower Talks banner depicting a yellow tower with a blue door and red pennant on top

While there’s still some snow on the ground, let me introduce you to a game that suits the weather.

As the last of the winter blues start to roll away, it’s a perfect time to introduce Röki! A beautiful point and click adventure with roots in Scandinavian folklore, it boasts all kinds of features that make it well worth every playthrough. ❄️

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Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe

Meaghan
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Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe

Goodreads || The StoryGraph || Bookshop || Samantha’s Twitter

Forbidden magic, a family secret, and a night to reveal it all…

The only life Mae has ever known is on the island, living on the charity of the wealthy Prosper family who control the magic on the island and the spirits who inhabit it. Mae longs for magic of her own and to have a place among the Prosper family, where her best friend, Coco, will see her as an equal, and her crush, Miles, will finally see her. Now that she’s eighteen, Mae knows her time with the Prospers may soon come to an end.

But tonight is First Night, when the Prospers and their high-society friends return to the island to celebrate the night Lord Prosper first harnessed the island’s magic and started producing aether – a magical fuel source that has revolutionized the world. With everyone returning to the island, Mae finally has the chance to go after what she’s always wanted.

When the spirits start inexplicably dying, Mae starts to realize that things aren’t what they seem. And Ivo, the reclusive, mysterious heir to the Prosper magic, may hold all the answers – including a secret about Mae’s past that she doesn’t remember. As Mae and her friends begin to unravel the mysteries of the island, and the Prospers’ magic, Mae starts to question the truth of what her world was built on.

DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 STARS

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