Can't Wait Wednesday!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I am combining CWW with Books From the Backlog hosted by Carole at Carole's Random Life in Books. This will allow me to feature some newly "rediscovered" books, which I plan on reading, alongside a new release.

This week I can't wait for:

The Valley and the Flood
Rebecca Mahoney
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Fabulist Fiction
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Goodreads

Rose Colter is almost home, but she can't go back there yet. When her car breaks down in the Nevada desert, the silence of the night is broken by a radio broadcast of a voicemail message from her best friend, Gaby. A message Rose has listened to countless times over the past year. The last one Gaby left before she died.

So Rose follows the lights from the closest radio tower to Lotus Valley, a small town where prophets are a dime a dozen, secrets lurk in every shadow, and the diner pie is legendary. And according to Cassie Cyrene, the town's third most accurate prophet, they've been waiting for her. Because Rose's arrival is part of a looming prophecy, one that says a flood will destroy Lotus Valley in just three days' time.

Rose believes if the prophecy comes true then it will confirm her worst fear--the PTSD she was diagnosed with after Gaby's death has changed her in ways she can't face. So with help from new friends, Rose sets out to stop the flood, but her connection to it, and to this strange little town, runs deeper than she could've imagined.

Debut author Rebecca Mahoney delivers an immersive and captivating novel about magical places, found family, the power of grief and memory, and the journey toward reconciling who you think you've become with the person you've been all along.

Why I want to read this book

Obviously, the first thing that attracted me to this book was the theme of grief and loss. You all know how much I relish those books, but I am also really curious about the magical elements intertwined in this story. Though, I have yet to meet her, I want to see Rose find some answers and some peace.  

One Night
Deanna Cabinian
Series: Thompson Lake, #1
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Timpi Publishing
Release Date: September 5, 2016
Goodreads

Thompson may be only seventeen but he knows he's just checked into Heartbreak Hotel for good, now that his girlfriend, Caroline, has put an end to their burning love. Since then he's been sleepwalking through his summer job at Super Kmart while desperately dreaming of ways to win her back. He even drops by the Tiki House on Elvis Presley Night hoping that she, a diehard fan of the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," will be there as well. That's when he meets Johnny Lee Young--real estate agent by day, Hawaii's Favorite Elvis Impersonator by night--and the lovesick teen's world suddenly takes a wild and unexpected turn.

As luck would have it, Johnny needs a temporary assistant to help with equipment and social media and Thompson eagerly accepts the offer, hoping it will distract him from his painful and lingering romantic issues. But like Thompson, Johnny is nursing a secret heartbreak and pining for his own lost love. So the new roadie starts making plans--with a little help from his friends Ronnie and Greta--to accompany the counterfeit King on an odyssey of a lifetime that will take them far from their island paradise home in search of true love.

Why I want to read this book

The author had reached out to me several years ago to read this book. I was interested at the time, but over extended. Therefore, I turned her down. I kept the book on my Amazon wishlist, because it really does sound like a book I would adore, and it had come highly recommended by a blogger I used to follow (who has since disappeared). We had very similar tastes, and I trust her judgement. I am glad I finally bought the book, and look forward meeting these young men as they nurse their broken hearts. Oh! And, Elvis. I have thing for Elvis. 

What are you waiting on?
Any backlog books you want to read soon? 
Let us know in the comments!