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

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These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
Published by Ballantine Books on July 8, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction
Goodreads

New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean’s first foray into contemporary fiction, with a sharp, sexy novel about a wealthy New England family's long-overdue reckoning with hidden desires, destructive secrets…and one week that threatens to tear them apart

Alice isn't like the other Storm siblings. While the rest stayed to battle for their parents' approval, attention, and untold billions, she left, building her own life beyond the family’s name and influence. Nothing could induce her to come back, except the shocking death of her larger-than-life father. Now back on the family’s private island off the Rhode Island coast, she plans to keep her head down, pay the last of her respects, and leave the minute the funeral is over.

Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his widow and their grown children a final challenge--an inheritance game designed to humiliate, devastate, and unravel the Storm family in ways both petty and life-altering. The rules of the game are clear: stay on the island for one week, complete the tasks, receive the inheritance.

One week on Storm Island is an impossible task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting dysfunctional chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s incessant mansplaining. Her sister-in-law’s unapologetic greed. Her younger sister’s obsession with "vibes". Her mother’s penchant for stirring up competition between her children. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s enigmatic, unfairly good-looking, second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape the week unscathed.

A story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel is at once deliciously clever and surprisingly tender, exploring past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.

I have seen many raves for MacLean's historical romance books, but that is a genre I rarely read. People are still raving about her books, but now the raves include this book which is a contemporary. The positive buzz for These Summer Storms made me take a look, and I think this would be a great fit for me. A family drama set in New England, the synopsis drips of delicious drama, and I am here for it. 

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The Summer of Perfect Mistakes by Cynthia St. Aubin
Published by Afterglow Books by Harlequin on June 25, 2024
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads

An achingly authentic, emotional summer romance about learning to color outside the lines.

You can’t have the breakthrough without the breakdown…

No one in Spring Valley recognizes Lark Woodley anymore. They only remember who she used to be. Homecoming queen. Valedictorian. And one half of Spring Valley High’s golden couple. But Lark knows that her once-perfect life wasn’t really perfect. Hell, it wasn’t even her. And in one evening, she lost it…and that perfect girl is gone forever.

Now Lark’s trying to put the fragile pieces back together, with no idea of where to start. She’s only a faint sketch of the person she was, with blurry, tentative lines—and under the constant scrutiny of her overbearing parents. The only bright spot in her life is a community art class taught by Nick Hoffman, the esoteric and unreasonably hot guy from high school. And he’s not interested in a “perfect” Lark at all…

Suddenly Lark’s world is taking shape and the colors are growing more vibrant, from afternoon margaritas with Southern-fried divorcées to late-night apple pie with chocolate ice cream and an increasingly spicy situationship with Nick.

But what she’s found comes with a “best before summer’s end” expiration date. And Lark doesn’t know if she can ever truly let go of aiming for perfect…

This was one of my CWW picks last year. I was drawn to this as a story of someone making a comeback and rebuilding their life. I picked up a copy of the book last year but we all know that's the kiss of death for a book on my TBR. The book actually fit a prompt for one of my reading challenges, so I am finally reading it. Hopefully, it lives up to my expectations. 

What are you waiting on?
Let us know in the comments!