March 2021 TBR

So I’ve hesitated from sharing my March TBR, because I’ve been so all over the place with my reading lately that as soon as I make a list, I’ve already changed my mind! But in every month I try to at least make an intentions, or possibility, pile … so here is March:

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

Written by Dawn Walton

Published by 37 Ink

Following a fictional rock-and-roll duo from the 70’s, this novel is a must for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six, but delivers a stronger, racially charged look at the music industry. When a rival band uses a Confederate flag to promote their music, Opal’s protest costs her her career. Decades later, journalist S. Sunny Shelton sets out to chronicle the duo’s rise and fall, and their potential reunion, but when disturbing allegations come to light, she realizes there is more to Opal’s story than anyone knows.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Midnight at the Electric

Written by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Published by HarperCollins

My book pick for the booksandlala Buzzword reading challenge for March – I’m currently half way through this audiobook and I’m loving this odd little story. Told among three women and three different time eras, this is an emotional read of connecting fates and stories. Adri, Kansas in 2065 has been accepted into the Mars Mission program – a group of esteemed scientists colonizing Mars. But a few weeks before launch, she finds a journal while staying at her cousin’s farm in Kansas that changes her perspective on life. Oklahoma, 1934, Catherine is living in the fear and uncertainty of the great depression, and desperately wants to save her little sister from her debilitating illness. When a strange circus pulls into town, with a mysterious man promising mortality, Catherine drains her life savings to save her. England, 1919, Lenore is struggling to recover from the death of her brother from WWI and is dreaming of escaping to America to live with a childhood friend. But will her friend be the person she remembers and can she help her heal?

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Becoming Leidah

Written by Michelle Grierson

Published by Simon & Schuster

When I read this book was for fans of Neil Gaiman and Yangsze Choo, I knew I needed to read it. A love story, set in 19th Century Norway between a woman rescued from the sea and the fisherman who saves her and their unusual daughter – born with blue skin and webbed hands and feet. Her mother, Maeva, tries to hide the girl from the suspicious townsfolk of the Ørken, just as she conceals her own magical ancestry from her daughter. Maeva’s husband, Pieter, wants nothing more than for his new family to be accepted by all. But unlike Pieter, who is blinded by love, Maeva is aware that the villagers watching for any sign of transgression—and are eager to pounce and punish. Meanwhile, following both mother and daughter from the shadows and through time, an inquisitive shapeshifter waits for Maeva to finally reclaim who she once was.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

The Chosen and the Beautiful

Written by Nghi Vo

Published by Tordotcom

Returning to the jazz age, Nghi Vo gives us an eagerly awaited The Great Gatsby retelling, with a magical twist. Jordan baker comes from a wealthy family which allows her access to the most premier parties and clubs – however being adopted, Asian, and queer keeps her on the outskirts of society as an “oddity” and most doors remain firmly closed for her. A magical, coming of age retelling through a new, modern lens, I’m really anticipating this story! I’m so thankful to Tordotcom for sending my this early arc! 

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Black Buck

Written by Mateo Askaripour

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Another one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, which I’d planned to read in February but I put this off and read the disaster that is A Court of Silver Flames … Here’s a synopsis: This debut novel looks to be a super cheeky, smart read following a twenty-something black man, who after convincing a CEO of a NYC tech company to change his regular coffee order, is offered a job with his firm. This great, young salesman is thrust into the white dominated world of corporate America. As he climbs the ladder, he comes up with ideas to help other people of colour enter the institution.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

The Ladies of the Secret Circus

Written by Constance Sayers

Published by Redhook

Romance, history, family curses, secrets, a circus setting and Paris in the 1920s … do you really need to know more? Basically this is the perfect bowl of buzzword soup for me! Another dual timeline, this story takes us to Paris 1925 where Cecile Cabot and her family run a magical circus. She is stuck in this circus world until she meets a charismatic young painter … Virginia, 2005, Lara Barnes’ life is exactly as she hoped – until her fiancé disappears on their wedding day. Her search for answers leads her to her great grandmother’s journals and the secrets of a magical circus and a dark, multi-generational familial curse.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Good Eggs

Written by Rebecca Hardman

Published by Atria Books

This story sounds 100% perfect for me: a combination of familial drama, learning to live your best, true life, and a kleptomaniac 80-something year old woman … it has all the elements! Kevin Gogarty is having a rough patch – his wife is away on business, his teenage daughter is acting up at her boarding school, and his 83 year old grandmother has been caught shoplifting … again. Deciding to hire a home aide to help out, Sylvia seems like the saving grace he needs. Until she launches the family into its greatest crisis yet! This just sounds like a fun, hilarious, heartwarming adventure and I can’t wait to get into it this month.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Klara and the Sun

Written by Kazuo Ishiguro

Published by Knopf Publishing Group

This will definitely be on everyone’s radar this year, as I didn’t see a list that failed to mention it. This is the first piece of work from the esteemed author since winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 2017. Klara (an Artificial Friend) who, from her spot in the store, carefully watches the world and people around her while waiting and hoping to one day be chosen by a customer. I’ve seen early reviews rave about this book and its emotional force as Ishiguro explores the question/meaning behind “what is love?”

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Lore

Written by Alexandra Bracken

Published by Disney-Hyperion

I mean, it’s a mythology based story – are we even surprised it’s on my TBR list? From Goodreads: Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality. Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory. For years she’s pushed away any thought of revenge against the man–now a god–responsible for their deaths. Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods. The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore’s decision to bind her fate to Athena’s and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost–and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

The Bone Shard Daughter

Written by Andrea Stewart

Published by Orbit Books

Okay, its getting ridiculous how many months now this tags along in my TBR! The problem is that I’m just not reading at my normal pace this year and compounded to that I am signing up for a lot of arcs that take precedence … so here we are. Here’s my synopsis: An epic fantasy in an Asian-inspired setting that follows several characters: a daughter trying to reclaim her rightful place as heir, a smuggler who professes not to care but can’t seem to stop doing good things, two women in an established relationship struggling with the class differences between them, and a stranger on a remote island trying to unravel the mystery of why she’s there.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Any purchases made via retailer links provided in this article may result in this site receiving a share of that sale.