It's no secret that I have a ton (literally 1000+) of unread books sitting on my bookshelves. (We're not even going to talk about the line-up on my Kindle.) The first question on everyone's lips when they enter my home is, "Have you read all these?" Sadly, that answer is a big, ole NO. In spite of my already impossible TBR "pile," my head still gets turned by the shiny and new. What's that about? Evidence: this list is Part Two of the one I started last week for this week's topic—Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2024. What can I say? When it comes to books, I'm hopeless! You can check out Part One here. Part Two has less variety, focusing mostly on contemporary mysteries/thrillers.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. On the Surface by Rachel McGuire (available July 9)—Sawyer and Dani are a couple who cruise all over the world in their sailboat, documenting their adventures on their popular YouTube channel. They're having a great time living it up in the Bahamas when Dani goes missing. As the search for her is launched, dark secrets start to come to light about Sawyer. He's not as perfect as he seems; is he a murderer too?

2. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (available July 9)—I still haven't managed to read anything by Quinn. Maybe I'll start with this one. It's about a group of women who live together in an all-female boarding house in 1950s Washington, D.C. They're drawn together by a mysterious widow who has just moved in. As they bond, they find friendship, healing, and...secrets. When a violent act tears the house apart, they will have to decide which housemates can be trusted and which can't.

3. Peking Duck and Cover by Vivien Chien (available July 23)—In this tenth installment of the Noodle Shop cozy mystery series, the shop owners in Asia Village are throwing a blowout party to celebrate Chinese New Year. The party, designed to bring in business as well as positivity and prosperity, is marred when a lion dancer is found dead. Lana Lee is, once again, looking for a killer.

4. The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (available October 10)—The plot summary for Hawkins' newest is kind of skimpy, but it revolves around a remote Scottish island that is only occasionally accessible to the mainland, a reclusive artist, and the murder of her notoriously unfaithful husband. 

5. Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger (available October 29)—This novel features three generations of women in one family. Their different lives and ambitions cause heartache, tension, and conflict between them. When the youngest realizes how little she really knows about the women who came before her, she goes on an eye-opening quest to uncover the secrets they've kept over the decades.

6. The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene (available November 5)—Twenty-four years ago, female students started going missing from a North Carolina University, including a struggling freshman. Jessica was never found. Almost three decades later, Jessica's sister is hunting for answers when bodies start turning up in a local lake. Will Jessica's fate finally be known? Who is responsible for the bodies in the lake?

7. In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price (available November 12)—I'm always up for a new historical mystery series and this one sounds fun. In this opener, the irrepressible Lizzie Bennett has become London's first female solicitor. With the help of the enigmatic Fitzwilliam Darcy, she investigates all manner of crimes. Hired to look into a mysterious warehouse fire, Lizzie soon finds herself trying to solve a murder when the prime suspect in the arson is killed. 

8. If You Can Hear This by Faith Gardner (available November 19)—This YA mystery/thriller seems to be getting mixed reviews, but it sounds intriguing to me. It's about a group of misfit high schoolers who come together to solve the mystery of their beloved teacher, Mrs. Moses. 

9. Trouble Island by Sharon Short (available December 3)—Trouble Island is a remote piece of land in the middle of Lake Erie, halfway between America and Canada. Its placement makes it a convenient rallying point for gangsters. In fact, it's inhabited only by two women: Rosita, a gangster's wife, and her maid, Aurelia, who is actually a gangster's wife who is in hiding after committing a murder five years ago. When Rosita is murdered shortly after the arrival of her husband and a group of his confederates on Trouble Island, Rosita finds herself hopelessly trapped in very dangerous company. An oncoming storm makes the possibility of escape impossible. What is she going to do? 

10. Pretty Dead Things by Lilian West (available December 10)—In this dual-timeline mystery, a bride-to-be is exploring her new town when she comes across an alluring estate sale. She buys a jar of pretty baubles, at the bottom of which she discovers two rings. As she tries to find the owners, she unwittingly stumbles upon an old mystery involving a missing woman and dark town secrets.

There you are, ten more up-and-coming titles I'm excited to read. Which are your most anticipated reads releasing in the second half of the year? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Today's TTT prompt is: Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR List. Seasonal TBR lists are my favorite. I always get excited when I spy these prompts coming up! It's fun for me to not just plan out what I want to read in the upcoming season but also to see what everyone else has in their queues. Since I just posted about the books I'm planning to read for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge, though, I feel like I've already covered this topic. Luckily, I've got more than enough titles to fit next week's prompt—Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024—so I'm going to skip ahead a bit and make this Part One of Two for that topic. Confused yet? Ha ha.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

2. When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward (available July 19)—It's 1917 and the world is engulfed in war. Wanting to do her part, Nora Crowell of Halifax, Nova Scotia, enlists in the Canadian Army Nursing Corp. Newly widowed, Charlotte Campbell is living with her soldier husband's dismissive relatives, finding joy and solace only in her baby daughter. As the war rages on, the two women's lives collide in a surprising way, bringing both heartache and hope to both.

3. Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran (available July 30)—With World War II still very much fresh on everyone's minds, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to help produce a musical based on the life of Maria von Trapp, an Austrian nun who becomes a governess and then the wife of her wealthy employer. When Austria is overtaken by Nazis, the von Trapp family risked their lives to flee the country. The story has dramatic potential, even if Rogers and Hammerstein will have to romanticize Maria's tale a bit. When the real Maria reads the script, she's furious. Determined to set the record straight, she tells her true story to Hammerstein's secretary since the man Himself is not available. 

4. Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman (available July 30)—Agnes Corey, a junior editor at an indie publishing company, gets the enviable assignment to transcribe the sequel to a blockbuster novel that was published thirty years ago. After that phenom, the author was blinded and scarred in a mysterious fire, then became a recluse, hiding away in her estate, which was once a psychiatric hospital. The more time Agnes spends there with the enigmatic author, the more intrigued she becomes with the story she's transcribing, which seems to be more than just fiction... 

5. My Salty Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows (available August 20)—I adore the Jane/Mary books with their playful alternate history/fantasy plots, upbeat narration, and colorful characters. They're never dull! The newest installment combines The Little Mermaid fairy tale with the life of real-life lady pirate Mary Read. Our Mary is a mermaid who's rescued by the crew of a pirate ship captained by Blackbeard himself. When he dies, she sees her opportunity to became the Pirate Queen. Anyone who tries to stand in her way or tell her a girl can't be a pirate can just walk the plank already. Nothing and no one will stop Mary from getting what she wants.

6. Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (available September 10)—On an ordinary day aboard an ordinary plane flight, a group of passengers is given an extraordinary gift—they learn how and when they are going to die. Although it seems like a silly party trick, people soon begin perishing exactly as "The Death Lady" said they would. How will this knowledge change how the remaining passengers live their lives? What will they do with this illuminating information?  What would you do knowing the same?

7. A Split Second by Janae Marks (available October 1)—In this middle-grade mystery, Elise goes to sleep on her birthday and, somehow, wakes up six months later. Although no one else seems to notice anything is awry, everything has changed. Her friends aren't talking to her, she's somehow been signed up for photography club, and her former BFF is acting all chummy again. Elise has no idea what is going on. How can she fix things for her future self? Can she ever go back to the way things were?

Marks is also a contributor to a middle-grade short story anthology called Black Girl Power which comes out on November 12. I'm in for that one as well, especially since I'm the adoptive mother of a mixed-race daughter who very much embraces her Black girl power! 

8. The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin (available October 8)—It's 1940 and two puzzle-loving siblings are hard at work trying to solve the mysteries surrounding them. While Jakob Novis joins other codebreakers at Bletchley Park who are trying to crack the Nazis' Enigma cipher, his younger sister, Lizzie, is determines to figure out the truth behind their mother's disappearance. The more the siblings study both, the more they begin to think the two might be linked somehow. With time running out, they need to solve both puzzles, and fast.

9. Misery Hates Company by Elizabeth Hobbs (available November 5)—Marigold Manners is a strong, independent woman, even if she no longer has a penny to her name. With her parents dead and her academic ambitions dashed, she has little choice but to answer a summons from a mysterious relative. Arriving at a crumbling pile full of reclusive relations, she determines to modernize their lives. Marigold's efforts end in murder, mayhem, and a police investigation with her at its center. It's up to the accused to find out what really happened before she winds up behind bars.

10. Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis (available November 12)—I thoroughly enjoyed Thieves' Gambit, the first book in Lewis' new series about a teen from Barbados who comes from a notorious family of thieves. Although she would like to get out of the game and attend college like a normal person, Ross finds herself embroiled in the biggest gamble of her life. With her family's future hanging in the balance, she must rely on the one person she knows she can't trust to help her save them—no matter the cost.

There you go, ten upcoming releases I can't wait to read. Which new titles are you eagerly anticipating? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy Tuesday, everyone. How's your summer shaping up so far? Not surprisingly, given that I live in the Phoenix area, mine is scorching hot! The high today was 111. Ugh. I've mostly spent the day inside with the air conditioner on high. Our backyard swimming pool has become a very popular place for family, neighbors, and friends. I'll definitely be taking a dip before the day's over. I hope you are staying cool while enjoying your summer activities. 

This week's TTT prompt is a popular, bi-annual one that I always skip: Top Ten Bookish Wishes. Basically, you're supposed to post a list of books on your Amazon wishlist and then, as people hop around to different blogs, they can grant your bookish wishes by purchasing them for you.  I already own more books than I can read in two lifetimes and, even if I didn't, I can't imagine asking my readers/blog friends to buy me books, so...time to go rogue. My creative juices aren't flowing very well today (dried up by the heat, no doubt), but I have some evergreen topics that I pull out for weeks like this. In anticipation of Cybils judging to come (fingers crossed that I get to be a middle grade fiction judge again) and the need to fulfill certain prompts for reading challenges, these are the ten books I have on hold at the library right now. Except for #1 and #11, I'm planning to pick them up this afternoon.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager (available June 18, 2024)—I'm #31 on the waitlist for Sager's newest, so hopefully, it won't be too long before I have it in my hot little hands. 

The story concerns a man named Ethan Marsh who reluctantly returns to his quaint hometown to find the truth about the long-ago disappearance of his best friend. The boy vanished while he and Ethan were sleeping in a tent pitched in one of their backyards and has never been found. What happened to Billy? What sinister secrets lie beneath their idyllic neighborhood's pristine lawns and gentle facade?

2. Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell—When Halle and her mother both contract tuberculosis in 1935, they are sent to a remote hospital in upstate New York to be quarantined with others like them. Although she is cut off from the rest of the world, Halle is surprised to find friendship, healing, and strength in her isolated existence. When her mother takes a turn for the worse, however, the young TB patient worries if either one of them have a future at all, let alone one outside the walls of the hospital. 

3. Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris—In Jim Crow Mississippi, three men are savagely murdered after trying to help Black people register to vote. In the wake of the incident, a young Black woman is attacked. She fights back, killing the man who tried to hurt her. Knowing there's no way she'll be dealt a fair hand in Mississippi, she flees to Georgia to hide. Back in their hometown, the woman's older sister is also in dire straits. She takes to the road as well. As both sisters struggle to find safety, a man is secretly tracking them. What will happen when he catches up?

4. Deep Water by Jamie Sumer—This middle-grade verse novel centers on a young girl who is grieving the recent death of her mother. In an attempt to soothe her troubled soul, she decides to enter a 12-mile swimming race in Lake Tahoe. If she comes in first, she'll be the youngest person ever to win the competition. When she starts to struggle in the water, she'll have to call on every ounce of strength and fortitude she has in order to finish the race, let alone win it. 

5. Billie Starr's Book of Sorries by Deborah E. Kennedy—One of my IRL friends recommended this novel to me. It's about a single mother whose poor decision making has led to a chaotic life for her and her daughter. Now facing foreclosure on her house, the woman accepts a lucrative proposal. It doesn't take long for things to go awry. As she deals with her newest sticky situation, she finally begins to realize how life could be, if only she would learn to trust herself and take firm control of her own trajectory.

6. Trouble at the Tangerine by Gillian McDunn—Simon is tired of constantly being on the move. Unlike his adventure-seeking family, he wants to put down roots in a forever home. When a troubling theft occurs in his new apartment building, Simon worries the incident will be enough to get his family moving again. Determined to solve the mystery and keep his family in their new home, he sets out to do some sleuthing. Whodunit? 

7. With Prejudice by Robin Peguero—I need to read a legal thriller for a reading challenge and this one sounds intriguing. Twelve jurors from varying walks of life come together to decide the fate of Gabriel Soto, a young man accused of killing kind, free-spirited Melina Mora. The evidence is complicated, the jurors are flummoxed, and everyone has their own agenda. What will these everyday people decide as they face one of the most important decisions of their lives?

8. The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly—With the Y2K crisis causing widespread panic, 12-year-old Michael Rosario is obsessing over two things: stockpiling supplies and wooing his crush, Gibby. When awkward Michael meets cool, confident Ridge—the first-ever time traveler—he gets a glimpse of what his future could look like. Ridge has a book that explains how to make it happen and Michael has to get it. No matter the consequences. How far will he go to get what he wants?

9. I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter—Everyone seems to be obsessed with true crime these days. I value my sleep and my sanity, so I tend to avoid the genre altogether. I am, however, fascinated with the implications of DNA testing for genealogical purposes and beyond, so I'm all in for this book. Fingers crossed it isn't too disturbing!

10. The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry by Anna Rose Johnson—The titular heroine of this middle-grade historical novel is a French-Ojibwe girl who has just been orphaned by her sailor father's death at sea. With no one to care for her, she becomes the foster child of a mysterious Anishinaabe family of lighthouse keepers who care for a lighthouse in the middle of Lake Michigan. Although Lucy struggles with grief and fitting in, she's excited that she now lives very near the shipwreck (and treasure!) her dad spent his life looking for. If she can find what he always dreamed of unearthing, it will be sort of like having him back. When Lucy's future at the lighthouse becomes endangered, she grows even more determined to find the sunken treasure.

11. Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth—This thriller has been getting all kinds of buzz and it fits one of my reading challenge prompts for a book with "darling" in the title. Win-win. It's about three women who grew up together in a foster home with Miss Fairchild at the helm. Although it looked idyllic from the outside, their foster mother had strict rules and an unpredictable, no-nonsense approach to parenting. The trio escaped as soon as they could and have never looked back. When a dead body is found under the home where the girls lived, they reluctantly return to their hometown. Are they witnesses or suspects? I'm #11 on the waitlist for this one, so we'll see how long it takes to get it.

There you go, eleven books I have on hold at the library right now. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Are you a library user? What are the last books you put on hold? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

In Dust by Dusti Bowling, the main character and her friends have this conversation about a video one of them watched:

There's not much to say about this passage. It just made me chuckle!

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Although Avalyn has severe asthma, the exuberant 12-year-old doesn't let it get in her way. Moving to an Arizona mountain town with clear, dry air has helped immensely. She suffers, but not nearly as much as she once did. She focuses, instead, on hanging out with her band of misfit friends, reading her beloved X-men comics, and ignoring the bullies at school as best she can. When a new boy moves to town, she senses he might be a perfect fit for her friend group of nerdy outcasts. The problem is that Adam constantly rebuffs her attempts. He insists on being a loner—a secretive, moody, intriguing loner. Avalyn longs to crack his shell. Underneath the tough exterior, she sees glimpses of a cool kid who wants to belong as much as she does.

Avalyn's never told anyone, but she's got a superpower of her own. She's always been able to sense people's emotions and Adam's are...intense. Whenever he gets angry or upset, his feelings stir up whirling dust storms, the kind that fill her lungs with grit, making it difficult for her to catch a breath. What is the cause of Adam's distress? Why is he so withdrawn? The more Avalyn learns about Adam, the more concerned she grows. What is he hiding and how can she help her new potential friend if she can't even breathe around him?

Beauty Reborn by Elizabeth Lowham sticks fairly close to the Disney version of the fairy tale, which makes it a tad basic. Still, it's a well-written retelling with more depth than you might think. (Content warning: there is some sexual assault, but it is handled thoughtfully, showing both devastation and hope, and never getting graphic.) On the bright side is the Beast's magical library, where he and Beauty spend many days in peaceful companionship. She's as big of a book nerd as Disney's Belle, so that's fun.

In June, I will be concentrating on completing books off of my lists for the 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge and the summer reading challenge hosted by The Lit Homebody. I only have a few bookish books on my anticipated reading lists and I'm pretty sure I've mentioned them all on here already, so I'm just going to post the covers this time around. We'll see if I actually get to any of them in June.

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan

Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed

I've been hearing good things from other book bloggers about the Wartime Book Club books by Lesley EamesLesley Eames. It's described as a heartwarming series about women coming together during World War II. I'm hoping to start the series sometime this summer.