Intrigued? Well we are delighted to be revealing the cover for Sharpen Your Knives by Lauren Ho! Releasing on March 9th 2027, read on to discover the cover, synopsis, and excerpt below!

Robert West has had five wives, but they’ve never all been in a room together—until now. Summoned to the aging movie star’s house in the Highlands, they expect a weekend of grandstanding and perhaps some clue about who will inherit his vast fortune one day. They don’t expect Robert to announce that he’s dying, and penning a memoir that will dish the dirt on each of his notorious marriages.

The wives each seize on his offer to preview their chapter of the story. But after they’ve read the ruthless exposé, one of them decides not to stand for it—and soon Robert has a knife in his back.

It might not be the most tearful murder scene, but now the police will get involved and decades of scandals and secrets could become very public knowledge, and no one wants that. So, along with Robert’s devoted ghostwriter, the suspects strike a bargain to solve the case themselves. . .

EXCERPT

An introduction to all five of Robert West’s Wives and Children in chronological order/eras, in Robert West’s words and as transcribed by Rosie Bailey-Cheng

Eveline–1978-1995—What Goes Around… Comes Around

The first wife that almost made me swear off marriages—almost. We got married in our twenties and stayed married for eighteen years—seventeen years and eight months too long. If it weren’t for Phillip—my first child—coming along we might have separated earlier, but children have the power to hold together marriages that otherwise have all the structural integrity of wet kitchen paper. 

Jackie Owens—1996-2000—Toxic

In hindsight, maybe picking my second wife from the Playboy Mansion was not the wisest strategy for someone seeking stability and low drama on his second go. But no one could have resisted Jackie in her heyday—I loved her, I’ll admit. We were like the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor of our generation. Eventually, however, one does tire of the drama she stirs up wherever she goes. And she is so clingy—ankle-monitor level clingy.

Charlotte—2001-2016—Renaissance

My best, most stable marriage, arguably the only one that could be described without the intervention of a licensed therapist, even if we did meet under questionable circumstances.

Still, what a life we built together, and what a daughter—Chloe—she gifted me with. Charlotte stood by me through the roughest period of my life after the cancer diagnosis. My greatest regret in life is not, in turn, being the best support system for her after her horrible accident, even if we were already done with each other by then—romantically, at least.

Chloe has paid the price for many of our mistakes. I can only hope that one day she’ll understand what every divorce lawyer (especially mine) already knows: love is the easy part.

Inez—2016 (annulled after three months)—Hollaback Girl

A spectacular lapse of judgement. I should never have married Inez, no matter how much it made sense at that point of time (it was a decision we took at two in the morning for a number of reasons, including warding off Jackie!). Maybe I did it because I was afraid I’d lose her too, after Charlotte’s near brush with death.  It was flawed logic, of course. We had the perfect working relationship, and it should have stayed that way.

Suzette—2018—ongoing—So Much For My Happy Ending

The woman who finally taught me the difference between true love and expensive delusion. When we first got together I thought I’d finally found my true match, but now I’m here to tell you the truth: she’s as hollow as the remakes she directs. Suzette is the living embodiment of fool’s gold—beautiful, expensive and ultimately worthless.

Act I—Come, All Ye who are Vengeful

1.   Rosalind “Rosie” Bailey-Cheng

It is a dark and stormy night, the lights are flickering, and Rosie Bailey-Cheng is stumbling around an unlit hallway of West Manor and seriously contemplating murder.

“Rosie, oh Rosie, where are you? Over,” Robert West, her employer, occasional tormentor and Hollywood legend, demands over the walkie-talkie.

Rosie sighs, pushes the talk button, and responds. “I’m coming up, Robert. Over.” She squints in the dim corridor, trying to orient herself while balancing a priceless tray of pu er tea. The twelve-bedroom manor is humongous, and even after twenty-days since her arrival, she occasionally gets lost in its warren of corridors. This time, she took a wrong turn because she wanted to avoid walking past the naked bronze sculpture of Robert in the reception hallway. Trust Robert to not request for a modesty fig leaf.

“Good,” Robert says, his voice rich and theatrical, like he’s broadcasting, fully-clothed, from the Royal Albert Hall. “Because you know what the Chinese say about tea—”

“No, I don’t,” Rosie mutters under her breath, even though the walkie-talkie isn’t live, “but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“—it’s only good for you when it’s hot. In fact, during the Qing Dynasty—”

Robert launches into an unsolicited treatise about imperial tea etiquette and digestive qi with impeccable enunciation as Rosie finally locates the right hallway and clatters upstairs as mutinously as she dared considering the vintage Meissen porcelain set she’s using costs more than her month’s salary as Robert’s ghostwriter—a fact she uncovered due to the high-pitched noise Suzette, Robert’s current wife, emitted when the latter saw Rosie plunk it in the dishwasher yesterday. She’d snatched it up and glared at Rosie. “Mais non! You never wash a Meissen in the bloody dishwasher, you plebe,” she’d said. OK, fine, she didn’t say you plebe——but she certainly implied it from the curl of her upper lip. The way she’d cradled the teacup you’d think Rosie had put a freshly minted kitten into the dishwasher to drown. It was the first time Rosie had seen Suzette care about anything other than herself, so naturally she Googled that bloody tea set and quickly came to the conclusion that yes, Suzette had been right.

Sighing, Rosie steels herself when she reaches the study and raps the door in quick succession; Robert is particular about the number of raps (three) and the quality of it (he doesn’t like a weak rap).

Robert is particular about many things, come to think of it. She lists them out in her head: no fragrances (unless it’s Robert’s signature room fragrance as concocted by Robert’s personal friend and master perfumer, Douglas Little, of the This Smells Like My Vagina fame—the name of Robert’s fragrance is unprintable); no music in the common area (“aural clutter”), strictly no stepping on the 4^th and 17^th riser on the stairs (“too squeaky”) before 7am and past 9pm (“Just skip those, Rosie,” Inez, Robert’s ex-wife-turned-PA had intoned dryly, knowing full well the staircase was far too steep to do that safely), no mentions of his former business partner Saul Kaplan, the entertainment mogul rumoured to have slept with one of his wives once or twice, and most importantly, no mobile phones in the house—Inez exempted, of course—because the government and tech companies could “listen in on your business”; and Robert, bless him, had a lot of business. Especially the kind that occurred between the sheets. As such, Rosie has to turn in her phone during the week when she’s working in Casa West, only getting it back on her day off, Sunday—a fair demand, given Robert’s status and the nature of the project she’d been hired to work on, which is a once-in-a lifetime memoir for the elusive Robert Quincy West.

Still, Rosie’s twenty-eight, and she’s never known life without a smartphone. So it’s understandable that she’s experiencing some withdrawal symptoms and is a little snippy by Friday. The toughest part is missing her online community—her found family of cold case obsessives and paranormal seekers. Her handful of contacts in Florida? Not so much.

On her first Sunday off since she got here twenty-five days ago, her phone was unceremoniously returned to her by the stern-faced Inez once she was out of the house and her small handbag was thoroughly searched in case she’d tried to smuggle out copies of her work—as though Rosie would be so stupid as to risk violating the scary NDA Robert’s lawyer, Harold Frampton had made her sign on her first day of employment. Rosie had immediately tried to go online, but she was only able to get network somewhere around the last third of her drive down from what she calls ‘Glencoe Mountain’ but which is actually Meall a’ Bhùiridh. She then spent the rest of the day catching up with the missed episodes of her favourite investigative true crime podcast, Cold Casing with Moira Cuthbert, while eating all the deep-fried food stuff she could find in the local pub, since Robert—or maybe it was Suzette—had banned seed oils and deep frying in the West household. Bliss.

Today’s Thursday—three more days till seed oils and refined carbs. Just a little longer, Rosie, she promises herself.

She fidgets in the dim hallway as she waits for Robert’s permission to enter. The upper-floor of the manor is lit only with retro candle-style wall fixtures from its last refurbishment in the 1930s, casting long shadows that Rosie’s overactive imagination quickly populates with whispering ghosts. Finally—“Enter,” Robert rasps. Rosie gratefully pushes the heavy oak door open with her elbow.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal: Sharpen Your Knives by Lauren Ho appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

PLUS you can read an excerpt at the end of the interview!

You have an impressive resume as a former legal counsel and philanthropy advisor How did you find the time to write? Have you always had a passion for creative writing?

I’ve always loved daydreaming and coming up with stories, and have been “competitively” short-story writing since I was a kid. Even when I grew up and got a job, I always made time for this passion of mine—if you love doing something, you’ll find a way to indulge.

It sounds as though your previous work in humanitarian diplomacy and conflict settings has been a sobering experience. What role has fiction played – both as a writer and reader – in helping you to find your way back to hope and love?

Fiction has always been how I process the world. Humanitarian work, especially in conflict settings, exposes you to fragility, power, and suffering in very stark ways, and that can be sobering. Fiction gives me a space to sit with those realities without the constraints of policy language. It allows me to explore the emotional truths beneath the geopolitical ones, which in itself is a kind of catharsis.

I believe fiction is inherently political in the sense that it decides whose interior lives matter. As a reader and writer from a minority background, I return to it because it restores dimensionality—where love, humour and contradiction can exist alongside injustice.

In featuring a frontline medical worker, I drew from anecdotes shared by family members and friends working in the US healthcare system, including one working in a Baltimore trauma hospital—the relentless emotional demands, the micro and macro aggressions, the mental, physical and emotional toll of constant crisis. Writing Dana was a way of exploring how someone carries that weight and still remains open to intimacy in their private lives. For me, fiction is an act of dehumanization—a way back to hope and love without denying reality.

In TWO LIVES WITH YOU, you expertly explore what happens after the happily-ever-after in the context of an ordinary millennial couple and capture the raw, unvarnished reality when the afterglow fades and the drudgery, the doubts, and the distance start to seep in, especially when life gets rough. What do you hope readers will take away from Dana and Nigel’s story?

In TWO LIVES, I wanted to explore the quiet, everyday struggles of contemporary (millennial) couples who’ve grown up ingesting a rose-tinted, IG-friendly ideal of romantic love—to showcase the unglamorous moments that don’t make it into fairy tales and social media posts. It was important to me to show that relationships don’t unravel only because of dramatic betrayals, but often through exhaustion, miscommunication, and life’s ordinary pressures. I hope readers see that going through difficult seasons doesn’t mean a relationship has failed. Sometimes it’s precisely in surviving those rough patches together that couples find a deeper, more resilient kind of love.

Dana is an overworked ER nurse who has never had the time to process the trauma she experienced during Covid. Tell us more about her and why you chose this career for her.

Dana was inspired by family members and friends working on the frontlines of the U.S. medical system, and former colleagues working to provide care in conflict settings. I’ve seen how burnout accumulates quietly—how trauma isn’t always processed in the moment, but carried home in small, invisible ways. I chose trauma medicine because it’s high-intensity, relentless, and emotionally demanding. I have deep sympathy for people who work in those environments and then try to show up fully in their personal lives. Dana embodies that tension between professional resilience and private vulnerability.

Her husband, Nigel, has been laid off from his job as a creative and is finding his way as a stay-at-home father. Tell us more about his situation and why he and Dana are butting heads.

Even as “woke” millennials, many of us grew up in societies or traditional households that quietly reinforced the idea that men must “bring home the bacon.” Being a product of such a background, Nigel may see himself as progressive, but those expectations still shape him. When he loses his job and can no longer provide financially, it shakes his sense of identity—especially because he’s always tied his self-worth to traditional markers of success. Those insecurities can unsettle even the most self-aware person. I wanted to heighten that tension by making Dana equally accomplished in a high-pressure career, so their conflict becomes not just about money, but about pride, purpose, and shifting roles.

What was it like to step out of your comfort zone to write a novel with an element of magical realism?

I’ve never seen myself as a novelist confined to one genre. To me, a story is a story—it just demands the form/genre it needs. I’ve written a murder mystery before and have a horror project in progress. Magical realism felt less like a departure and more like another tool to explore emotional truth in a slightly heightened way.

What were some things that surprised you while writing this book in terms of new plot twists or how the story developed while writing?

How hopeful it turned out to be. I’ve read this book countless times through revisions, and I still find myself emotional in the final act—in a cathartic way. The hope feels earned rather than sentimental.

Why is representation of AAPI stories so important to you, and how does your Malaysian heritage inform your work as an author?

It’s deeply important. I’ve lived much of my life abroad, including over a decade in Europe, and I grew up reading (English) books centered on people who looked nothing like me. Now my daughter reads children’s books with protagonists who share her cultural background, and I’m incredibly grateful for that shift. Writing contemporary novels set in Singapore and Malaysia, centering Asian voices, is both a responsibility and a point of pride for me.

How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

The title speaks to the idea that within one relationship, we can live multiple emotional lives. There’s the life we imagine, the life we actually live, and the life we build together after change, especially trauma. TWO LIVES WITH YOU reflects that duality: the version of love before hardship and struggle, and the version after, reshaped but still chosen.

What is the main message you hope readers will gain from this novel?

That while our circumstances may differ, our vulnerabilities are often the same. If we read widely and across cultures, we begin to see how much we share—in the way we love, fear, and in what we long for. Our common humanity binds us more than we realize.

Outside of writing, what do you enjoy doing with your free time? Do you have a secret talent readers would be surprised by?

I’m not sure you could call this a talent—I am a below-average singer with above-average confidence in a karaoke room. The same could be said for my enthusiasm for stand-up comedy.

Synopsis

Prologue
Our House

Dana Smiley didn’t believe in signs, and she certainly didn’t believe in fate. She believed in cold hard facts, and the cold hard facts were telling her that the house she and her husband were in was haunted.

Consider the listing: two-story colonial, four bedrooms, granite countertops, hardwood floors, big yard, good school district—all this, under market price?

There was no other explanation: It was a murder house.

“It’s not a murder house,” Nigel whispered as they climbed the stairs a few paces behind the smiling forty-something bottle-blond real estate agent in heels. Everyone was sweating—they were in the middle of a heat wave—but Nigel glistened. “Trust me, I checked. I also ducked out to speak to the neighbors while you guys were in the walk-in closet, and they were so friendly.”

“Everyone’s friendly to you,” Dana said, somewhat accusatorily.

He gave her a crooked, boyish grin. “That’s because I like people.”

She scoffed, wiping her sweating brow with a hand. “I like people too. May I remind you that I’m a nurse?”

“How could I forget my luck in marrying a medical professional?”

Nigel said, grabbing her sticky hand and giving it a lingering kiss. The real estate agent—Jessica—who’d stopped to allow them to catch up, cooed at the sight, and even Dana’s stone heart fluttered.

“How long have you lovebirds been together?” Jessica asked.

Dana and Nigel exchanged glances before chorusing, a tad guiltily, “Ten months.”

The “ah” that the agent responded with, coupled with the darting glance at Dana’s belly, told them everything. Ah, it’s that kind of relationship.

Only Dana knew it wasn’t. Sure, she got pregnant barely two months into dating the man she’d met in her ER, and now she was carrying his unbelievably big-boned progeny, but this was the real deal, and no, it had nothing to do with his accent or his crooked smile or his soulful brown eyes, those superficial nice-to-haves that reel you in at the beginning, and everything to do with the need-to-haves that keep you with someone: how he could lift her with his words after a long day at work, how he listened with his heart and mind, and how he was so, so blisteringly smart. He never failed to be kind to those who sometimes didn’t deserve it, people Dana would have told off (Dana dearly liked the act of telling people off when they were wrong). And he was patient, let’s not forget that—she’d been wading through pregnancy brain fog recently, and her temper was shorter than usual. She felt like Muncher in Ghostbusters, gassy and snarly and full of rolls. Yet he endured, yes dear-ing his way through the occasional tantrum, even when she didn’t deserve his patience or kindness (case in point: last weekend, when the pregnancy cravings hit and she sent him out for pickles and then forgot she had requested pickles and got upset because he brought home pickles and not the salted caramel ice cream she remembered requesting).

Dana shot Nigel a covert look of fondness. He was almost too good to be true.

The bowling ball inside her kicked her bladder, and she winced, brought back to earth. People like Dana weren’t built to daydream. That’s why it surprised her that she and Nigel—a dreamer of the first degree, someone whose career as an adman was entirely about inspiring others with words and images—seemed to be working out. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. When would he realize she was hopelessly dull?

“Are you OK? Do you want to sit down?” Nigel asked, catching her reaction to the bladder kick. Dana waved him away with a wan smile— he’d been hovering with a capital H for the last few months, a mixture of golden retriever–level exuberance and concern, which normally she found very attractive, but now she mostly wanted to be left alone to wilt in some fridge.

“I’m good,” she said. She glanced around the bright-pink kitchen, the one major flaw of the place. She directed her question to the real estate agent. “So tell me, what’s the catch?”

There it was, Dana in essence: the problem spotter. If Nigel was sunshine and positivity, Dana was pragmatic fatalism. That’s why they worked so well together.

Nigel turned and gave her a wink and a thumbs-up behind the agent’s back.

“There, um . . . there isn’t one,” Jessica said, the smallest twitch of one eyelid giving away her discomfort at Dana’s dead-eyed stare.

“The house has just been renovated with full Italian granite and hardwood floors. The walls are spotless, like no one’s been living in it,” Dana said, pacing around the kitchen, her No-Nonsense Nurse voice on. She stopped and pivoted slowly toward Jessica. “Someone died in it?”

Jessica’s smile grew fixed. “No. The owners renovated three years ago but then moved away soon after, when their daughter, who’s living in Indiana, got pregnant. And now they figured they should make the move permanent. That’s all.”

“But no one died in here?” Dana repeated, wanting to hear the actual words. You always had to hear the words; her lawyer friend—fine, somebody she saw on Law and Order—had taught her that.

“No,” Jessica said. She added, somewhat apologetically, “I mean, as far as I know.”

Dana and the agent eyed each other like gunslingers in a Western. Finally Dana’s demeanor relaxed and she nodded. “OK.”

“Dana, just forget the price and its possibly messed-up history for a second and tell me: Do you like this place?” Nigel asked.

“I do, it’s . . . it’s just . . . I don’t know,” Dana murmured. Her lips wobbled and her eyes prickled with tears—she wasn’t one to wear her emotions on her sleeve, but the hormones had destroyed her defenses and her poker face, honed through eight years of nursing. She felt all of them, every day: terror, overwhelming joy, anticipation, anxiety, anguish, and excitement, just to name a few. “The house is great, Nigel. I just—it’s all moving so fast.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

“I’ll give you both some space and wait on the patio,” Jessica said.

Nigel walked up to Dana and hugged her close. She sagged against him, feeling the tension ebb from her with every breath. “Don’t second-guess yourself, Dana. You like the place. I see you casing it like you’re already interior designing the space and planning trips to Pottery Barn and IKEA.”

“I am,” Dana admitted. “But even at this price, it’s at the high end of our budget. The very tippy top.”

“You let me worry about that,” Nigel said. He’d just gotten a job at a boutique ad agency in Baltimore—a step down from his career trajectory in New York, but an internal transfer had never been an option since his agency didn’t have offices outside of LA and New York. He pulled away and paced the kitchen. “Let’s run through the positives: It’s move-in ready, meaning we don’t have to spend a dime on unnecessary renovations; the community is diverse; the backyard is big enough for the four kids we’ll have—if you’re on board—and it’s in the neighborhood of a great public school. Your dad’s literally two miles away in the care facility and we can visit him every weekend. It’s perfect.”

She hated when he made sense. Especially in that warm, grinning, forever-boyish way that made her believe life could be one long adventure if you just leaned into it hard enough. She walked back into his arms again. “I don’t know if I’m up for visiting him every weekend,” she mumbled into his chest. “It breaks my heart seeing him like that, no matter what’s happened between us.” Her father, her sole living parent, had advanced Alzheimer’s—more often than not, he did not recognize her.

“The option’s there,” he said quietly. “That’s all.”

Sensible, reasonable, but imaginative. Add all those qualities to the secret sauce that made Nigel . . . Nigel. That made Dana sure this wasn’t just that kind of marriage—even if she was pregnant—because he was unlike anyone she’d ever been with, in that she couldn’t envisage a world, her life, without him.

“Well,” she said, brushing imaginary lint off her belly, “if the baby likes it, I guess we’re good.”

Nigel regarded her with those eyes. “And does the baby approve?”

The bowling ball stayed still—typical. Dana met his questioning gaze with a kiss. “She says she’s happy if I’m happy, and I am, so . . .” She exhaled shakily. “Yup, lucky house number twenty-three! I guess we’re getting a mortgage!”

“Great,” Nigel said, eyes shining (possibly with relief). He waved Jessica back in and told her the good news.

She clapped her hands together. “That’s wonderful news! Shall we go back to the car and sign the paperwork?”

As they walked down the flagstone path, Nigel waved at their soon-to-be neighbor from across the street, a white-haired woman with electric-blue eyeglasses and a toy poodle that might’ve just been stuffed, and Dana tucked her hand into the crook of Nigel’s arm.

“We’re definitely doing this, huh.” Dana tried to sound matter-of-fact when her heart was racing with anticipation and anxiety—her two most familiar states of mind these days. “Homeowners—and parents. All at once!” Maybe it was more anxiety than anticipation she was feeling.

No matter how far she’d come from her beginnings, Dana always felt like she was only a couple of steps ahead of disaster. She couldn’t explain why she was wired like this—maybe the financial stressors of her childhood and her parents’ constant bickering had something to do with it—but the fear was always there, lurking in the back of her mind. An imagined sword of Damocles hanging over her at all times.

When she first got together with Nigel, she kept telling herself, It’s a fluke, it’s a dream, he’ll leave me when he’s done having his fun. But then she got pregnant and Nigel kept staying, kept choosing her. She’d never had anything like that.

What’s the catch?

She shook her head. I really got to stop doing that.

He paused on the path, probably picking up on something she hadn’t meant to show. He turned to face her and put his hands on her arms, squeezed them, and told her, “I know this is moving really fast for you and you’re worried. I get it. It’s all new to me, and I’m scared too, Dana. This is a lot for anyone to take in all at once. But it’ll be all right, you’ll see. We’ll be all right.”

“How do you know?” Nobody knew. Anyone who claimed otherwise was setting themselves up for failure.

He patted his chest. “Because it’s normal to be afraid of changes, but my heart and my head are aligned on this, so I know this will pass.” He nodded in the direction of the house with its gently sloping front lawn. “In fact, I’m already imagining us eating toast in that sunroom while the baby throws mashed avocado at the cat we don’t own yet.”

“I’m a dog person,” she said, eyebrow raised.

Nigel smacked his forehead. “Oh, crap, how did we miss this discussion? That’s my deal-breaker.”

They laughed. “The backsplash is pink; so are the tiles in the guest bathroom,” she said, half laughing, half crying.

“So we’ll renovate. It’s just tiles, Dana.”

They reached the agent’s car—a spotless white Range Rover with enough bottled water to hydrate a football team—and slid into the back seat while Jessica cranked up the air-conditioning for Dana and pulled out the contracts.

Nigel didn’t even read any of it. He initialed and signed away his freedom without a second thought, using his usual messy, sprawling script; meanwhile, Dana’s handwriting was neat and almost apologetic, taking only just enough space as to be legible. And yes, she read the contract. Every last word. In their relationship, she was the one who dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s—which was a good thing, because Nigel was very much a big-picture guy.

“Congratulations.” Jessica beamed, handing them their copies when they were done. “You’re homeowners! Well, pending a few more niggling steps, of course. But you did it! Whoop whoop!”

Dana felt her last meal—or maybe it was the baby—somersault in her belly. “Oh my God.”

Nigel chuckled and laced his fingers through hers. “Breathe, Dana.The most difficult part is over: We’ve got each other. Things can only get better for us.”

“Famous last words,” Dana said as his lips met hers. But then the baby kicked, as if in agreement or in blessing, and for once Dana Smiley, chronic overthinker that she was, let herself be swept away by the moment. She could do this, she decided. This man was the beginning of a brand-new life, one they got to build together. She should be so lucky.

The post Q&A: Lauren Ho, Author of ‘Two Lives With You’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

From magic, fairytales, romance, and thrillers, to monsters, rebels, pirates, and friends, there’s certainly something for everyone to look forward to amongst the young adult books releasing between January and June 2024! From new releases from the likes of Emma Lord, Brigid Kemmerer, Kacen Callender, Morgan Matson, Tomi Adeyemi, Kalynn Bayron, Rachel Lynn Solomon, and many more, to those making their dazzling debut, you will be spoilt for choice!

Read on to discover some wonderful new reads within this list and be sure to check out our other 2024 round-ups too, including our Most Anticipated and our Swoonworthy Romance lists!

JANUARY 2024 BOOK RELEASES

Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A trans boy searches for a future―and a romance―in which he can live and love openly as himself in this heartrending young-adult reimagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, part of the Remixed Classics series.

The Getaway List by Emma Lord

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Inescapably romantic and brimming with New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord’s signature cheer, The Getaway List is an uplifting and romantic read that will settle into your heart and never leave.

If I Promise You Wings by A.K. Small

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Hold Still meets You’ve Reached Sam in this lyrical novel about one young woman’s journey through the Paris fashion scene as she chases promises, overcomes grief, and falls in love.

Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In this YA standalone perfect for fans of Tobly McSmith and Meredith Russo, the first out trans girl at an all-girls school must choose between keeping her head down or blazing a trail.

That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From a gripping new voice comes a YA thriller with amnesia, stalking, abduction and twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat, perfect for fans of Natalie D. Richards and Vincent Ralph.​

A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Circe goes YA in this unapologetically feminist retelling of the Medusa myth steeped in Indian mythology, a YA epic fantasy addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.

The Atlas of Us by Kristin Dwyer

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Following her critically-acclaimed debut novel, Some Mistakes Were Made, Kristin Dwyer is back with The Atlas of Us, a novel about deep grief, found family, and a raw love story that will have readers crying and laughing in equal measure.

Shut Up, This Is Serious by Carolina Ixta

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Erika L. Sánchez.

Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment by Arushi Avachat

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Save the Date meets Never Have I Ever in this sparkling debut rom-com about a high school senior whose life suddenly gets a Bollywood spin when her sister gets engaged.

Somewhere in the Deep by Tanvi Berwah

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From the author of Monsters Born and Made comes an action-packed South Asian inspired fantasy that will have your heart racing at every turn. 

Out of Our League: 16 Stories of Girls in Sports

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A compelling YA anthology from editors Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iacopelli about the trials and triumphs of girls in sports with stories from Carrie S. Allen, Sara Farizan, Juliana Goodman, Maggie Hall, Leah Henderson, Sarah Henning, Naomi Kanakia, Miranda Kenneally, Yamile Saied Méndez, Cam Montgomery, Marieke Nijkamp, Amparo Ortiz, Aminah Mae Safi, and Kayla Whaley.

Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In the thrilling conclusion to the Defy the Night series, New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer crafts heartrending twists and devastating turns that will keep readers breathless to the very end.

FEBRUARY 2024 BOOK RELEASES

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Infinity Alchemist is a spellbinding fantasy novel about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power.

My Big, Fat Desi Wedding

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
These genre-bending stories focus on the magic (and tension) of the biggest family gathering. Both award-winning and debut authors share stories of broken hearts, rekindled flames, unlikely romances, and one particular auntie who loves to meddle with stories from Prerna Pickett, Syed Masood, Tashie Bhuiyan, Aamna Qureshi, Payal Doshi, Sarah Mughal, Noreen Mughees, and Anahita Karthi.

This Day Changes Everything by Edward Underhill

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Dash & Lily meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in Edward Underhill’s new whirlwind rom-com about two queer teens who spend one life-changing day together in New York City.

Daughter of the Bone Forest by Jasmine Skye

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Two girls reluctantly bound by fate must weather a dangerous courtship as a prophesied war grows ever closer in Jasmine Skye’s high-stakes, queernormative dark fantasy debut, Daughter of the Bone Forest.

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance and revenge, led by an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom.

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
NYT bestselling author Melissa Albert returns with THE BAD ONES, a supernatural horror novel about four mysterious disappearances in a town haunted by a sinister magical history

Kindling by Traci Chee

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare—the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers—has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final battle. For fans of the classic films Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Unforgettable, snarky, and romantic, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters.

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Enemies-to-lovers doesn’t get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli’s latest romantic fantasy

If Only I Had Told Her by Laura Nowlin

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
An intensely emotional and gripping companion novel to Laura Nowlin’s USA Today and New York Times Bestselling novel If He Had Been With Me about the love that both breaks and heals us. Perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Jenny Han.

With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
After being magically gifted with incredible luck, a boy discovers this gift just may be a curse when it comes to love, in this sweet romantic comedy by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer.

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this young adult fantasy perfect for fans of An Enchantment of Ravens and House of Salt and Sorrows.

MARCH 2024 BOOK RELEASES

The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The tantalising romance of These Violent Delights meets the mechanical wonders of Cinder in The Last Bloodcarver , the first in a two-book debut – with a riveting medical magic system and lush Vietnam-inspired fantasy world.

Bad Like Us by Gabriella Lepore

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Two friend groups collide when someone turns up dead over spring break in this heart-thumping YA thriller for fans of One of Us Is Lying and We Were Liars

The Summer She Went Missing by Chelsea Ichaso

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From the author of Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets and They’re Watching You, a compelling new thriller!

Icarus by K. Ancrum

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, this suspenseful queer YA romance from critically acclaimed author K. Ancrum reimagines the tale of Icarus as a star-crossed love story between a young art thief and the son of the man he’s been stealing from—think Portrait of a Thief for YA readers.

Promchanted by Morgan Matson

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Modern-day teens wander into Disney’s Sleeping Beauty in this enemies-to-lovers rom-com from New York Times bestselling author Morgan Matson.

One Last Breath by Ginny Myers Sain

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The New York Times bestselling author of Dark & Shallow Lies delivers another chilling supernatural thriller filled with murder, romance, and a decades long mystery that haunts a small Florida town.

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In Where Sleeping Girls Lie ― a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades ― a girl new to boarding school discovers dark secrets and coverups after her roommate disappears.

We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Filled with messy, complicated characters, We Are Mayhem is a debut YA novel about finding your strength, embracing your weird, and being who you truly are – no matter what.

Ariel Crashes A Train by Olivia A. Cole

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Exploring the harsh reality of OCD and violent intrusive thoughts in stunning, lyrical writing, this novel-in-verse conjures a haunting yet hopeful portrait of a girl on the edge. From the author of Dear Medusa, which New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed called “a fierce and brightly burning feminist roar.”

The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Julie Murphy meets Casey McQuiston in this unforgettable queer romance about a teen girl whose foray into fantasy tabletop roleplaying brings her new confidence, true friends, and a shot at real, swoon-worthy love.

The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In this gorgeous stand-alone fantasy romance perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Allison Saft, a rebellious witch undertakes a last-ditch quest to restore magic to medieval Wales—as two princes vie for her heart.

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Poisons We Drink is a potent YA debut about a world where love potions are weaponized against hate and prejudice, sisterhood is unbreakable, and self-love is life and death.

APRIL 2024 BOOK RELEASES

Something Kindred by Ciera Burch

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Magical realism meets Southern Gothic in this commanding young adult debut from Ciera Burch about true love, the meaning of home, and the choices that haunt us.

We’re Never Getting Home by Tracy Badua

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
HBO’s Insecure meets Dazed and Confused in this messy, tender YA novel about a friendship breakup, set against the backdrop of a chaotic night at a music festival, from rising talent Tracy Badua.

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray by Christine Calella

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray follows the asexual daughter of a notorious pirate queen and her anxious half-sister braving the sea and its pirates to find themselves

Fate Be Changed: A Twisted Tale by Farrah Rochon

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
What if the witch gave Merida a different spell? This New York Times best-selling series twists Disney Pixar’s Brave into a fast-paced story in which Merida is sent back in time.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series and Five Survive comes a new true-crime fueled mystery thriller about a girl determined to uncover the shocking truth about her mother’s disappearance while filming a documentary on the unsolved case.

Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Not Like Other Girls is a stunning debut that takes a hard look at how we treat young women and their trauma, through the lens of a missing girl and a girl trying to find herself again.

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A skeptic and a supernatural being make a crossroads deal to achieve their own ends only to get more than they bargained for in this lively young adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This Is Ever After.

The Misdirection of Fault Lines by Anna Gracia

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants goes to the French Open in an emotionally honest and openhearted novel for fans of Yamile Saied Méndez and Mary HK Choi.

To A Darker Shore by Leanne Schwartz

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A da Vinci-esque teen girl inventor on a Dante-esque journey through hell to save her best friend.

Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with a new duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance.

Finally Fitz by Marisa Kanter

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A bisexual teen girl tries to make her ex jealous by faking an Instagram romance that leads to surprisingly real feelings in this hijinks-filled rom-com perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and She Gets the Girl.

Song of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Judy I. Lin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison, weaves a dreamy gothic romance worthy of the heavens in Song of the Six Realms.

MAY 2024 BOOK RELEASES

The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Equal parts tender and edgy, this inventive queer romance imagines what it might feel like to come of age in the afterlife.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history.

Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut with the emotional power of Legendborn and the redefined ancestral magic of Lovecraft Country.

The Ballad of Darcy and Russell by Morgan Matson

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From New York Times bestselling author Morgan Matson comes a sweeping romantic novel about love, fate…and that one night that can change everything.

The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
What If It’s Us meets They Both Die at the End in this sequel to the beloved postapocalyptic queer YA adventure romance All That’s Left in the World by USA Today bestselling author Erik J. Brown.

The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Four teens. Three henchmen. Two thousand acres of remote forest. One very bad man. And a whole lot of new secrets to unearth. The unmissable, thrilling follow-up to THE GIRLS I’VE BEEN (soon to be a Netflix film).

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets You’ve Reached Sam in this love story in which explosive secrets threaten to tear everyone apart, including best friends (or maybe more?), Natalia and Ethan.

Bite Me, Royce Taslim by Lauren Ho

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Acclaimed author of Last Tang Standing and Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic in her YA debut: a sharp yet sweet rivals-to-romance romp through Kuala Lumpur—perfect for fans of Emiko Jean, Abigail Hing Wen, and Kat Cho.

The Lamplighter by Crystal J. Bell

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In a quaint 19th century whaling village, a young woman seeks to expose the dark truth behind the village’s eerie disappearances at the risk of the lives of everyone she loves . . . assuming anyone will listen to a female in the first place.

In the Shallows by Tanya Byrne

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From the acclaimed author of Afterlove comes a beautiful sapphic second-chance love story drenched with longing, loss and mystery.

Keepers of the Stones and Stars by Michael Barakiva

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Keepers of the Stones and Stars is a witty young adult contemporary fantasy about a group of five teens chosen by magical gems to save the world.

Have You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Fans of Courtney Summers and Tess Sharpe will devour this standalone YA thriller following a nonbinary teen investigating a series of copycat murders targeting girls in their small town—murders based on their serial killer dad’s MO.

JUNE 2024 BOOK RELEASES

Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Tomi Adeyemi’s #1 New York Times -bestselling Legacy of Orïsha series comes to an earth-shaking conclusion.

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake) comes Twelfth Knight, a YA romantic comedy and coming of age story about taking up space in the world and learning what it means to let others in.

Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual POV sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow.

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Mulan meets Iron Widow in this thrilling silkpunk fantasy about a girl who must disguise herself as a boy and enter the famed and dangerous Engineer’s Guild trials to unravel the mystery of her father’s murder.

Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Pitched as The Hating Game for teens, the story follows childhood rivals Juliette and Priya, who are forced to be summer camp cabinmates, and must decide what they want more: to kill each other, or to kiss.

Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
New York Times bestselling author and TikTok sensation Kalynn Bayron returns to fairytales with a lush, thrilling and original YA Snow White retelling that brings a new and exciting voice to this familiar tale. Perfect for fans of Cinderella Is Dead.

Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s 11 in this thrilling YA adventure about a vengeful daughter determined to pull off the perfect heist in the midst of her father’s wedding.

We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
An empowering cross-genre YA anthology that explores what it means to be a monster, exclusively highlighting trans and queer authors who offer new tales and perspectives on classic monster stories and tropes. Contributors include editor Rob Costello, Kalynn Bayron, David Bowles, Shae Carys, Rob Costello, H.E. Edgmon, Michael Thomas Ford, Val Howlett, Brittany Johnson, Naomi Kanakia, Claire Kann, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sarah Maxfield, Sam J. Miller, Alexandra Villasante, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In a society where conformity is valued above all else, a teen girl training to become an Imperial pilot is forced to return to her rebel roots to save her world in this adrenaline-fueled sci-fi adventure—perfect for fans of Iron Widow and Skyward!

There Is a Door in This Darkness by Kristin Cashore

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A magic-tinged contemporary YA about grief and hope from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the Graceling Realm novels.

The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A Darker Shade of Magic meets Six of Crows, in this alternate day New York where monsters live among humankind, from USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde.

Storm: Dawn of a Goddess by Tiffany D. Jackson

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Before she was the super hero Storm of Marvel’s X-Men, she was Ororo of Cairo—a teenaged thief on the streets of Egypt, until her growing powers catch the eye of a villain who steals people’s souls.

What YA books are you looking forward to picking up in 2024? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Here’s 72 Of The Most Anticipated YA Books Of 2024 appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Her second novel Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic is out June 21 and is available at your local indie or  here. Follow her on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter here: @HelloLaurenHo.

I love me a good, old-fashioned listicle, especially a bookish one in time for the hottest (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) quarter of the year: who has time to read chunky blocks of words when you’re zipping out to soak up the precious sun, a cold brew in one hand and aviators in another? Not you! Certainly not me either, but then again I live in the tropics, and we’re blasé about the sun. What we yearn for instead is the sweet embrace of snow, gently enveloping all the mosquitoes around us in slow, horrible, unpreventable deaths.

Anyway, where was I? Yes, for all of you anticipating summer, here’s my listicle, or an article craftily masquerading as a listicle, of all of my must-read beach reads, both current titles and backlisted ones, broken down by category with barely any plot details to help you out. So sue me, I’m a vibes girl. You’re welcome anyway.

THE LIST!

Transportive Contemporary Romance: Where We End and Begin by Jane Igharo: Lagos becomes a sizzling backdrop to a beautiful second-chance romance that also serves up a side helping of family drama.

‘Destroy me’ romance/women’s fiction: The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang: delicately wrought, beautifully fleshed out love story with a timely spotlight on burnout in the age of social media, and layered ASD rep.

Contemporary fiction featuring a woman who feels trapped by her life: Fault Lines by Emily Itami: an affair in metropolitan Tokyo unfurls to shimmering prose you can snap your fingers to. Also, Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason: Funny, poignant, layered, heartbreakingly wonderful, of a woman’s (and her family’s) experience of an unnamed mental illness.

Contemporary fiction with a polarising lead: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder. Melissa Broder’s writing, like most port-novelists, grips. Compelling, erotic and honest, it follows a young woman obsessed with her diet who becomes smitten with a froyo scooper. Bonus: Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda: a mixed-race millennial vampire dreams of eating human food—and more.

Suspenseful general adult/Women’s fiction: At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha: Shady wellness business, impressionable doctor-mom, witty dialogue, Liane-Moriarty energy and pacing.

Heart-warming Fantasy: The House On The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: I’ve never called a book ‘delightful’ until I read this.  A cozy hug of a fantasy book.

‘Hear me Roar’ Fantasy: She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan: punchy, cinematic, brilliant.

‘Destroy me’ young adult romance: You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao: Bring tissues and cancel your weekend.

Clever, compelling middle grade murder mystery from SE Asia: Queen of The Tiles by Hanna Alkaf: Hanna, who’s Malaysian like me, is the queen of fierce, character-driven writing. Twisty and fun, with great hijabi rep.

Folkloric middle grade from SE Asia: Mist Bound by Daryl Kho: Atmospheric, touching, richly illustrated and written, featuring folktales from this part of the world.

Funny, fun contemporary romance: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. Chemistry of the best kind.

General adult/women’s fiction exploring identity and culture:  Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal.

Moving Bildungsroman:  Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart: heartrending, utterly memorable from its first line.

Thriller, ish: Girl A by Abigail Dean: suspenseful and heart-breaking, it lingers.

Quiet, meditative fiction: Brood by Jackie Polzin: Wry observational humour, surprising, tender, with no fowl play (sorry! I couldn’t resist the pun!)

Sheer chaotic genre-bending fun: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto. She took all my Asian auntie nightmares, added murder, and somehow made it LOL. Sorcery.

Sheer romance: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams: Exuberant, sexy, funny, and just absolutely smashing. Also, The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren.

Pure joyful, romcom escapism: Twelve Days in May by Niamh Hargan: Witty, delicious Cannes escapism. Also, On a Night like this by Lindsey Kelk: Nobody writes romcom like Lindsey.

Meta beach reads: Beach Read by Emily Henry. All the feels, all the prose, the angst, the banter.

A modern classic to cherish and re-read: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy: prepare to have the map of your literary world re-drawn.                        

Bonus category (auto-read writers): Am I even Asian if I don’t throw this in? And it’s a two-fer!

Poetry: Anything by Li-Young Lee

Short story collections: Anything by George Saunders

And if you liked my listicle and want more beach reads, you could check out my debut romcom/contemporary adult fiction novel, Last Tang Standing, about a woman in her early thirties who navigates societal and familial pressures to get married while she attempts to make partner at her law firm, or my second romcom/women’s fiction novel, Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic, which follows a woman in her late thirties who attempts to have a family her way, platonically, and the fun and fallout of that decision.

The post The Ultimate Chaotic, Vibes-Only Beach Reads List appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense and gasp-worthy twists, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake will shock readers until the very last page.

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer expands the Cursebreaker world in an electrifying new series.

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A Mirror Mended is the next installment in USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s Fractured Fables series.

Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

She was the face that launched a thousand ships, The fierce beauty at the heart of Olympus, And she was never ours to claim. A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Helen of Troy, Achilles, and Patroclus that’s as sinful as it is sweet.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In a fantastical version of New Orleans where music is magic, a battle for the city’s soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song in this vibrant and imaginative debut. 

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tolá Okogwu
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Black Panther meets Percy Jackson in this action-packed and empowering middle-grade series about a British-Nigerian girl who learns that her Afro hair has psychokinetic powers.

The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A heart-stirring romance of star-crossed love, feuding familias, and the bonds of sisterhood by USA Today bestselling author Priscilla Oliveras.

Out of the Clear Blue Sky by Kristan Higgins
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

From New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins comes a funny and surprising new novel about losing it all—and getting back more than you ever expected.

Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In Erin Beaty’s fantasy mystery-thriller, Blood and Moonlight, an orphan with a secret, magical sight gets caught between a mysterious genius and the serial killer he’s hunting.

Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

An ambitious career woman signs up for a co-parenting website only to find a match she never expected, in this unflinchingly funny and honest novel from the author of Last Tang Standing.

What June 2022 book releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post June 2022 Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Last Tang Standing was the most candid piece of work I had ever read. The book is very very character driven and it is a very literal almost-minute-by-minute update of the protagonist’s life. Here’s the thing, when you to write a book in this style, you have to have an imagination as wide as the horizon… because how else can you plan a protagonist’s life straight down the minute, give the reader an understanding of the stage the story is set in, and take the plot forward with every diary entry? Lauren Ho must be some kind of magical being. Or at least, her brain is an absolute masterpiece, I’m sure of it.

Andrea Tang was one of the single most relatable characters I had read! The fact that she was so open and fearless about the thoughts she had in her head makes all the things she says and does so relatable and not hurtful in the least. Despite being filled with serious flaws like any other person—be it her competitive spirit that can get to a point where she may just about stop breathing before she admits that she needs help, her paranoia/fears, trust issues etc,—she doesn’t take herself too seriously and has a love for alcohol, which often turns any difficult situation into a hilarious one, without taking away the importance of the message but retaining the overall tone of the book.

Andrea is in her thirties and let’s be real, us Asians believe that by thirty, one should’ve already had their first child, be knee deep in their marriage, and pretty much be one amongst many in the social world of adulting.

The story is a million little moments that slowly starts to build into a larger complete puzzle and I have to admit, I was so surprised at the author’s ability to keep me hooked despite what had initially felt like an influx of characters. Eventually it smooths out and you start to fall into the rhythm of the relationships and the happenings of the plot. To my utter surprise, I can even go as far as to say, the author almost read my mind at certain points when I realised the reason for a certain character arc and the next sentence I read were those exact same words I had thought in my head. I think it needs to be said: Lauren Ho had the reader exactly where she wanted them.

I think in many ways, Andrea represents all of us, outside of race, ethnicity, or anything else. Just as a person, she represents all of the moments where we’re blind to the things we’re holding on to out of habit and the wonderful things that we’re letting go of, not even from fear, but out of being utterly unaware of what we want. Why? Because we never had thought to take the time away to think if the path that we are barrelling down is the one we wish to pursue or if it’s just the one that we were set on and now do not know how to stop?

There was a beautiful analogy that was given by the protagonist’s best friend that I will forever treasure. She flips the idea of ‘settling’ and it hit me like a train because she was right. Settling doesn’t just mean you’re settling for less, but it could also mean you’re settling for more than you want and that in itself brings unhappiness too, because it is again not what you want. But you talk yourself into it because in a narrow minded view, who would give up something that ‘looks so good and is so much more’?

This book is easily about choices, finding your ground with them, and recognising your own reasons for making them.

The only issue I had with the book was that the style of the writing dictates the large variety of things we learn in a single page and at times, it felt like there was an stream of information coming through too fast and that did bring about some fatigue, but that didn’t take away from the overall humour, joy, and message of the story.

Last Tang Standing is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 9th 2020!

Will you be picking up Last Tang Standing? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones’s Diary in this funny and irresistible debut novel about the pursuit of happiness, surviving one’s thirties intact, and opening oneself up to love.

At thirty-three, Andrea Tang is living the dream: she has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore’s hottest clubs and restaurants. All she has to do is make partner at her law firm and she will have achieved everything she (and her mother) has ever worked for. So what if she’s poised to be the last unmarried member of her generation of the Tang clan? She doesn’t need a man to feel fulfilled, no matter what her meddling relatives have to say about it.

But for a dutiful Chinese-Malaysian daughter, the weight of familial expectations is hard to ignore. And so are the men life keeps throwing in Andrea’s path. Men like Suresh Aditparan, her annoyingly attractive rival for partner and the last man she should be spending time with, and Eric Deng, a wealthy entrepreneur whose vision for their future is more lavish than she could have imagined. With her workplace competition growing ever more intense, her friends bringing dramas of their own to her door, and her family scrutinizing her every romantic prospect, Andrea finds herself stretched to the breaking point. And she can’t help but wonder: In the endless tug-of-war between pleasing others and pleasing herself, is there room for everyone to win?

The post Review: Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho appeared first on The Nerd Daily.