It’s been quite some time since I read an ARC. Well, it’s actually only been a few months but that feels like a long time to someone who used to read four or five per month. I’ve decided to step back into the world of ARCs (mostly because I received emails from publishers offering me books) and I’m excited to do so.
I have quite a few ARCs on my shelves right now, but some of them are for later in the year. I’ll leave those for now and do another ARC update post in a couple of months.
Asking for a Friend by Kara H.L. Chen
Contemporary romance is my favourite genre right now. I’m finding it really difficult to get into fantasy books and, to me, romances are much quicker to read.
This sounds super fun and I love when two people who don’t like each other, but clearly have romantic chemistry, are forced to work together.
Synopsis: Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:
1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.
2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.
When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior.
Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview.
With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.
My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows
We all know I love a retelling, so when this landed in my inbox I knew I had to check it out.
The thing I find most interesting about this book is that it has three authors. I’m curious to see how this will affect the quality/narrative, if it even will. I read the Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand many years ago and I remember enjoying it, so I hope I enjoy this too.
Synopsis: 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.
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