Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
*Connie’s Choice*
(YABC Site Manager)
My Salty Mary (The Lady Janies)
Author: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Expected Publication Date: August 20, 2024
Perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, New York Times bestselling authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows are back with a fantastical, piratical historical fantasy remix that marries the story of The Little Mermaid with the life and times of infamous lady pirate Mary Read.
Don’t call this mermaid “little”—call her “captain,” unless you want to walk the plank.
Mary is in love with the so-called prince of Charles Town, except he doesn’t love her back. Which is inconvenient. Since she’s a mermaid, being brokenhearted means she’ll—poof!—turn into sea-foam.
But instead, Mary finds herself pulled out of the sea and up onto a pirate ship. To survive, she joins them. But Mary isn’t willing to just sing the yo-ho-hos. She wants the pirate life, all of it, and she’s ready to make a splash . . . by becoming captain. But when Blackbeard dies suddenly, Mary has a chance to become so much more: Pirate King . . . or Queen. She won’t let anyone stop her—not Blackbeard’s cute son, not her best friend from back under the sea who’s having a bit too much fun with his new legs, and certainly not everyone who says she can’t be a pirate just because she’s a girl.
She may not be the best man for the job, but she’ll definitely prove that she’s worth her salt.
*Jan’s Choice*
(YABC Staff Reviewer)
House of Light and Ether
Author: Leia Stone
Expected Publication Date: june 4, 2024
From USA Today bestselling author Leia Stone comes the final book in the addictive Gilded City series, about a girl who must battle curses, dark powers, and her own heart. This world of dazzling fae magic and romantic pining is perfect for fans of Wednesday and Holly Black.
Everything was falling in place, and I should have been excited because it meant I was one step closer to finding the weapon that would help me defeat the Nightlings. But it also meant my death loomed over me.
Fallon Bane has never been a normal girl. From the moment she was born into the House of Ash and Shadow to being cursed to feel pain whenever she was touched to falling in love with a royal heir of the House of Light and Ether, nothing has seemed to go to plan. So when she runs away after finding out she’s starting to give in to her dark magic, she shouldn’t be surprised that it goes wrong.
But when it does, and her friends save her from her Nightling mother, she returns to the Gilded City not just cursed but also the chosen one of a prophecy―she will save the fae from the Nightling War. And she will give her life to do so.
Fallon wants to be the hero everyone believes she can be, but she wants to live even more.
*Karen’s Choice*
(YABC Staff Reviewer)
Not If You Break Up with Me First
Author: G.F. Miller
Expected Publication Date: June 4, 2024
Two friends who have unhappily found themselves accidentally dating try to drive the other one to call things off in this witty and heartfelt middle school romance.
Childhood friends Eve and Andrew are destined to be together—everyone says so, especially their friends and classmates who are all suddenly crush-obsessed. So when Eve and Andrew’s first eighth grade school dance rolls around and Eve, feeling the pressure, awkwardly asks Andrew to go with her, everyone assumes they are Officially Dating and Practically in Love. Overwhelmed, Eve and Andrew just…go with it.
And it’s weird. Neither of them wants this dating thing to mess up their friendship, and they don’t really see each other that way. But they also don’t want to be the one to call things off, the one to make things super awkward. So they both—separately—pledge to be the worst boyfriend or girlfriend ever, leaving it to the other person to break up with them. It would be genius…if the other person weren’t doing the exact same thing.
*Mark’s Choice*
(YABC Staff Reviewer)
The No-Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition
Author: Adrianna Cuevas
Publishing Date: 9/24/24
In Pura Belpré Honor–winning author Adrianna Cuevas’s new spooky middle grade novel. Frani must fight to stop the undead from rising in her father’s body-farm laboratory—that is, if she can embrace the true nature of her brain and its ADHD.
No one has ever called Frani Gonzalez squeamish. Seriously, whether it’s guts (no big deal), bugs (move aside, she’s got this), or anything else that you might find at the Central Texas Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, to her and her dad, the university’s body farm is just home.
Having bodies buried in her backyard doesn’t exactly make Frani the most popular kid in school, and the imaginary spider that lives in a web in her brain isn’t helping either. Arañita’s always to blame for the distracted thoughts weaving through Frani’s mind. But when a hand reaches out of the ground and grabs her ankle, Frani realizes that she’s got bigger problems.
Not everything is as it seems at the body farm, and now Frani must help the teenage zombie that crawled out of the dirt…before he gets too hungry. But as more and more zombies begin to appear—and they seem to get less and less friendly—can Frani embrace the true nature of her brain and count on new friendships to solve the body farm’s mystery before it’s overrun with the undead?
What book are you looking forward to in 2023?
Comment the name of the book below!
