New Releases

We found two books to close out April. Are they on your TBR list?

Book cover of Ambrosia Lee Drops the Mic by Patricia Park. There is a young person with light skin and straight dark hair. The person is wearing an orange long sleeve shirt and is holding up a wired microphone and has a half smile. There is a starry blue sky with some purple in the background.Ambrosia Lee Drops the Mic by Patricia Park
Crown Books for Young Readers

They say Hollywood is like high school, and has-been child actor Ambrosia Lee feels like she’s at the bottom of the social ladder. Her acting career peaked at the age of eleven— then she was unceremoniously fired from her big break due to her weight.

Now after years of rejections and backstabbing auditions, teenage Ambrosia turns to stand-up to speak her truth. It’s the perfect way to rant about everything that’s been bothering her: divorced parents dynamics, Asian stereotypes, and Hollywood drama. It also doesn’t hurt that a cute boy is helping her learn the ropes of a comedy routine.

It’s all laughs…but comedy clubs can be just as toxic as the Hollywood complex she always mocks.

Can Ambrosia be her true self both on and off the mic?

Book cover of Sweet Clarity by Rhiannon Richardson. The setting is a lake with two hills overlapping in the background. It is evening with some stars and a crescent moon with a sweet orange and purple sunset. The lake has a dock with two people sitting on it. One person is slightly smaller with dark skin and short cropped dark hair. The other person has lighter skin and light brown shoulder length hair and has one foot hanging down into the water. The two people are facing each other and may be holding hands between them. They seem to be about to kiss. Sweet Clarity by Rhiannon Richardson
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Clarity Jones has her first kiss with Hannah Fitzpatrick while away at Christian summer camp. Though it wasn’t like her to be so impulsive, realizing she’s gay slid a missing piece of her identity into place and was the most freeing experience of her life. However, Clarity’s self-discovery turns to disaster when she and Hannah are found together—and she gets a glimpse of how the truth can turn her life upside down.

Now that she’s home, Clarity vows to do whatever it takes to keep her secret from her Baptist parents and not lose any more friends. Only this goal becomes increasingly complicated as Clarity must choose between who she been pretending to be and who she really is.