One of our reading goals is working on our Netgalley feedback ratio. Eventually we want to get it to 80%. And to help motivate us we decided to do this new post every week. We pick three of our eARCs and based on the first line, paragraph, or page we decide which one we’ll read next. Let’s take a look at today’s picks for this week’s Netgalley Next!

Signal to Noise – Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A literary fantasy about love, music and sorcery, set against the background of Mexico City.

Mexico City, 1988: Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said “I love you” with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, has two equally unhip friends — Sebastian and Daniela — and a whole lot of vinyl records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future looks brighter for the trio. With help from this newfound magic, the three friends will piece together their broken families, change their status as non-entities, and maybe even find love…

Mexico City, 2009: Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father’s funeral. It’s hard enough to cope with her family, but then she runs into Sebastian, and it revives memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? What precipitated the bitter falling out with her father? And, is there any magic left?

“Meche folded the magazine and finally decided to look out the window. The Federal District lay below, a great beast with no beginning and no end, towers and buildings dotting the valley.”

I just finished Mexican Gothic before setting up this post, so I’m really curious about this author’s other books. Mexican Gothic was a lot darker than I was expecting, but Signal to Noise sounds creepy, but maybe less dark? Signal to Noise seems like a magical book perfect for this time of year.

Built to Last – Erin Hahn

Shelby Springfield has spent the last ten years trying to overcome her past, sanding it away like she does the rough spots on the vintage furniture finds she makes over. But as a former child star, it’s hard to forget a mediocre pop career, a meltdown widely documented by the paparazzi, and a huge public break with her former co-star Lyle Jessup. It’s also hard to forget her other co-star and childhood sweetheart, Cameron Riggs — the one who got away.

Anytime Shelby has called, Cameron has come running… And then he runs right off again to chase stories around the world by making documentaries, too scared to admit what he really wants. But when Lyle stirs the pot, getting the two back in the spotlight with a home renovation show, Cameron can’t help but come on board.

There’s something in it for everyone — almost. Cameron wants to come home and set down some roots. Shelby wants to prove to the world she’s not the messy party girl anymore. And Lyle wants to twist the screws on his two childhood friends who had more chemistry than he could dream of with anyone. Sparks and sawdust fly as Shelby and Cameron film the pilot for “Homemade” and battle Lyle’s shenanigans at every turn.

Erin Hahn’s sparkling rom com debut, Built to Last, is a second chance romance sure to have readers falling in love fast.

Two childhood sweethearts find a second chance at love in this adult romance debut from a critically acclaimed young adult author.

“I’ve never loved flying. It’s not only the lurching-in-a-claustrophobic-metal-tube-thousands-of-feet-above-the-earth part that bothers me, though that’s not… great. I genuinely prefer watching the landscape zip past on land. I was meant for high-speed trains. Or low-speed trains. Any train, honestly. In fact, I’d take a wagon train rattling along the Oregon Trail, ditching dressers and flatware across the grassy miles, over flying.”

I’ve heard great things about Erin Hahn’s YA books, so I was excited to see she was giving adult romance a try. I love that the main character is a former child star and she feels the same way I do about flying, haha. I love second chance romances, so no wonder I have it on Netgalley.

Belladonna – Adalyn Grace

New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace brings to life a highly romantic, Gothic-infused world of wealth, desire, and betrayal.

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.

However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful—and more irresistible—than she ever dared imagine.

“It began with the cry of a baby. Swaddled in a crimson gown bold as blood, Signa Farrow was the most striking two-month-old at the party, and her mother intended to prove it.”

Belladonna is a book I’ve heard so many amazing things about lately and it sounds so good. The main character has an alliance with Death? That could make it a good read for this time of year. I love the cover!

 

If you were me, what book would you read first? I always have such a hard time deciding, because they all seem to be books I’d love. I have to say after just finishing Mexican Gothic I am really curious about more books by this author, so I have to choose Signal to Noise.