What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got this week.

For review:

Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick. 272 p. Scholastic Inc., September 27, 2016. 9780545863247.

Publisher synopsis: It's not easy being Claire. (Really.)

Claire's life is a joke . . . but she's not laughing. While her friends seem to be leaping forward, she's dancing in the same place. The mean girls at school are living up to their mean name, and there's a boy, Ryder, who's just as bad, if not worse. And at home, nobody's really listening to her -- if anything, they seem to be more in on the joke than she is.

Then into all of this (not-very-funny-to-Claire) comedy comes something intense and tragic -- while her dad is talking to her at the kitchen table, he falls over with a medical emergency. Suddenly the joke has become very serious -- and the only way Claire, her family, and her friends are going to get through it is if they can find a way to make it funny again.

I am so looking forward to cracking open a new Sonnenblick offering! My arc arrived with a sheet featuring all of Jordan's titles sporting mostly new designs AND a copy of his debut, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie. Thank you Lizette!

Purchased:

Can't Look Away by Donna Cooner. Unabridged audiobook on 1 MP3 CD. 6 hours, 52 minutes. Read by Sandy Rustin. Brilliance Audio, September, 2015. 9781501249952.

Publisher synopsis: Torrey Grey is famous. At least, on the Internet. Thousands of people watch her popular videos on fashion and beauty. But when Torrey's sister is killed in an accident—maybe because of Torrey and her videos—Torrey's perfect world implodes.

Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn't know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey's Internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems to accept Torrey for who she is? And then there's Luis, with his brooding dark eyes, whose family runs the local funeral home. Torrey finds herself drawn to Luis, and his fascinating stories about El dio de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.

As the Day of the Dead draws near, Torrey will have to really look at her own feelings about death, and life, and everything in between. Can she learn to mourn her sister out of the public eye?

If You're Reading This by Trent Reedy. unabridged audiobook on 1 MP3 CD. 9 hours, 14 minutes. Read by Ramon Ocampo. Brilliance Audio, February, 2016. 9781511361576.

Publisher synopsis: Mike was seven when his father was killed in mysterious circumstances in Afghanistan. Eight years later, the family still hasn't recovered: Mike's mom is overworked and overprotective; his younger sister Mary feels no connection to the father she barely remembers; and in his quest to be "the man of the family," Mike knows he's missing out on everyday high school life.

Then, out of the blue, Mike receives a letter from his father—the first of a series Dad wrote in Afghanistan, just in case he didn't come home, meant to share some wisdom with his son on the eve of Mike's sixteenth birthday. As the letters come in, Mike revels in spending time with his dad again, and takes his encouragement to try new things—to go out for the football team, and ask out the beautiful Isma. But who's been keeping the letters all these years? And how did Dad actually die? As the answers to these mysteries are revealed, Mike and his family find a way to heal and move forward at last.

That's what's new with me. What's new with you?