Precommendations: Volume 1, Issue 5

Happy May!

       Welcome back to another edition of Precommendations! I know this is a little late, (Ashton, you consider halfway through the month a little late) but since May started out on a Monday, I was a little thrown off, and I wanted to get my review for Hunted out. But fear not! Here are the books I'm precommending for May!

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Always and Forever, Lara Jean, by: Jenny Han

May 2nd
       Lara Jean is having the best senior year. And there’s still so much to look forward to: a class trip to New York City, prom with her boyfriend Peter, Beach Week after graduation, and her dad’s wedding to Ms. Rothschild. Then she’ll be off to college with Peter, at a school close enough for her to come home and bake chocolate chip cookies on the weekends.
       Life couldn’t be more perfect!
       At least, that’s what Lara Jean thinks…until she gets some unexpected news.
       Now the girl who dreads change must rethink all her plans—but when your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

       I am so excited for another Lara Jean book! They are always super cute and funny, and the fact that it comes out right before the start of summer is perfect for getting in the reading mood. I can't wait to see what happens to Lara and Peter.

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Dreamfall, by: Amy Plum

​fears. And if they can’t find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up.

May 2nd
       Cata Cordova suffers from such debilitating insomnia that she agreed to take part in an experimental new procedure. She thought things couldn’t get any worse...but she was terribly wrong.
       Soon after the experiment begins, there’s a malfunction with the lab equipment, and Cata and six other teen patients are plunged into a shared dreamworld with no memory of how they got there. Even worse, they come to the chilling realization that they are trapped in a place where their worst nightmares have come to life. Hunted by creatures from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they’d rather keep buried, Cata and the others will be forced to band together to face their biggest 

       This book sounds so interesting. I love sci-fi books that surround the idea of dreams and dream worlds. In this book, a girl and six other teens are stuck in a dream world with no memory of how they got there, and they have to band together to defeat their biggest nightmares. It reminds me a lot of The Maze Runner, and I hope it ends up exceeding my expectations.

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Windfall, by: Jennifer E. Smith

May 2nd
       ​Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes. 
       At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have 

​leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall. 
       As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined…and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.

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       Who knew there were so many books about falling coming out in May? (I crack myself up.) But, in all seriousness, this book does sound like a lot of fun, and very thoughtful. It tackles the question that everyone asks: What would you do if you won the lottery? I'm excited to see where this book takes that questions, and how the characters handle their situation.

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One of Us Is Lying, by: Karen McManus

according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
       Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

May 30th
       Pay close attention and you might solve this.
       On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
       Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
       Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
       Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
       Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
       And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.
       Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And 

       If you've been waiting for a Breakfast Club remake, only as a murder mystery, then this sounds like the book for you. This book sounds like it has some elements of Thirteen Reasons Why a little bit two, with the stereotypes involved. I am so ready to get my hands on this book. It will definitely be on my summer TBR!

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​Eliza and Her Monsters, by: Francesca Zappia 

May 30th
       In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.
       Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.
       But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her 

​relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart. 

       Anyone else ready for another nerdy romance novel, because I sure am! I feel like I've been subconsciously praying for this book since I finished Fangirl a few years ago. The book nerds want books about book nerds, and they always end up both fun and adorable. 

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       What books are you looking forward to this month? Let me know in the comments below!

The girl who should be studying for finals,
Ashton

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

— Groucho Marx