Top Ten Tuesday – 10 New-to-Me Authors I Plan to Read in 2021
/54 Comments/by Suzanne
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is actually meant to be New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2020, but I felt like looking ahead instead of behind this week so I’m sharing new-to-me authors I’m hoping to read this year. It’s part of my goal to read more of the books I own and I have books from all of these authors sitting on my shelves (or hiding on my Kindle) and I haven’t read them yet.
I’m actually excited to say that since I drafted this post, I’ve actually already read two of these authors, Alisha Rai and Camilla Bruce, both of whom I enjoyed immensely. 🙂
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10 New-to-Me Authors I Plan to Read in 2021
1. ELIZABETH ACEVEDO
2. BRIT BENNETT
3. CAMILLA BRUCE
4. S.A. CHAKRABORTY
5. ALYSSA COLE
6. JANE HARPER
7. COLLEEN HOOVER
8. TIFFANY JACKSON
9. ALISHA RAI
10. KAREN WHITE
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Have you read any of these authors?
Review: THE EX TALK by Rachel Lynn Solomon
/26 Comments/by SuzannePublished by BERKLEY on January 26, 2021
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Last year I read and fell in love with Rachel Lynn Solomon’s YA contemporary novel Today Tonight Tomorrow. I was captivated by both her characters and her storytelling and couldn’t wait to get my hands on anything and everything else she’s written. So when I heard she had a new adult contemporary novel called The Ex Talk coming out, I was quick to rush over to Netgalley and request a review copy. And I’m thrilled to report that, as soon as I started reading, I fell in love with Solomon’s writing and storytelling all over again.
As with Today Tonight Tomorrow, it’s the incredibly realistic and well drawn characters Solomon creates that really pulled me in. The Ex Talk follows Shay Goldstein, a radio producer who has been working at a public radio station in Seattle for almost ten years. Shay loves her job and can’t imagine ever doing anything else. Her job also makes her feel connected to her Dad, who passed away a while ago, as they both shared a love of public radio. Shay has also held kind of a Rockstar status at the radio station because she’s young and talented. That all changes, however, when Dominic Yun starts working at the station. Fresh out of grad school and anxious to prove himself, Dominic quickly threatens to steal the spotlight from Shay. Needless to say, Shay is not impressed (although she has to admit he’s pretty cute, even though he is absolutely infuriating).
Shay is so likeable from the opening pages that I was immediately rooting for her to put Dominic in his place. That is, until the banter and the sparks started flying! When the radio station falls on hard times and needs fresh new programming in a hurry, Shay suggests a talk show about relationships that features two exes as cohosts. The boss loves the idea and says that since there’s no time to look for actual exes, Shay and Dominic will pretend to be exes and host the show together. Can you say awkward? I’m a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story anyway so throw in some fake dating on top of it and you’ve got yourself a practically perfect romcom. As soon as Dominic and Shay started with the verbal sparring, both on and off air, I was completely hooked. And of course, as soon as we start to learn more about Dominic, I fell in love with his character too and just wanted the two of them to get together already, haha!
There’s so much more I could say, but I don’t want to spoil the evolution of their relationship. I’ll just leave it at this – I loved pretty much everything about The Ex Talk. I loved the characters, the dialogue, the focus on public radio, the actual scripts from their show, etc. The Ex Talk is one of those books that was so much fun to read I didn’t want it to end and I’m predicting now that it will make my Best of 2021 list.
About Rachel Lynn Solomon
Rachel Lynn Solomon writes, tap dances, and collects red lipstick in Seattle, Washington. She is the author of the YA novels Today Tonight Tomorrow, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone, Our Year of Maybe, and We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This (June 2021). Her debut adult romantic comedy, The Ex Talk, will be published in January 2021.
In high school, Rachel sang and played keyboard in an all-girl band, and she was once part of a group of people who broke a Guinness World Record for the most natural redheads in one place.
She has written for newspapers, produced a radio show that aired in the middle of the night, and worked for NPR. Rachel has been a Pitch Wars mentor since 2014 and currently serves on the Pitch Wars leadership committee.
These days, she writes books about ambitious, messy, sometimes unlikable girls and women who are trying their best and often falling in love along the way. She is represented by Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency.
Can’t Wait Wednesday – WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS by Rachel Lynn Solomon
/36 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS by Rachel Lynn Solomon. So far every book I’ve read by Solomon has ended up being a 4.5 to 5 star read for me, so I’m very excited to find out that, in addition to her upcoming adult contemporary romance, The Ex Talk, which I’ll be reviewing on Friday, she also has a YA contemporary coming out this summer. It sounds like the perfect summer read too.
WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Publication Date: June 1, 2021 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
From Goodreads:
A wedding harpist disillusioned with love and a hopeless romantic cater-waiter flirt and fight their way through a summer of weddings in this effervescent romantic comedy from the acclaimed author of Today Tonight Tomorrow.
Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour’s families have been in business together for years: Quinn’s parents are wedding planners, and Tarek’s own a catering company. At the end of last summer, Quinn confessed her crush on him in the form of a rambling email—and then he left for college without a response.
Quinn has been dreading seeing him again almost as much as she dreads another summer playing the harp for her parents’ weddings. When he shows up at the first wedding of the summer, looking cuter than ever after a year apart, they clash immediately. Tarek’s always loved the grand gestures in weddings—the flashier, the better—while Quinn can’t see them as anything but fake. Even as they can’t seem to have one civil conversation, Quinn’s thrown together with Tarek wedding after wedding, from performing a daring cake rescue to filling in for a missing bridesmaid and groomsman.
Quinn can’t deny her feelings for him are still there, especially after she learns the truth about his silence, opens up about her own fears, and begins learning the art of harp-making from an enigmatic teacher.
Maybe love isn’t the enemy after all—and maybe allowing herself to fall is the most honest thing Quinn’s ever done.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂