This year, in an effort to blog more, to become more involved with the blogging community, and to keep up with the latest publications, I thought I’d create a monthly post about the ARCs I’ve received. These ARCs will be read and reviewed a month prior to the publishing date. The Advance Excitement at a Glance posts will feature one or two (or more, depending on what happens this year) books to look forward to, and it will motivate me to keep my to-read list on track.

Last month, I read Panic and Savage Girl. For April, there are four ARCs in my queue, but I will feature two in this post and leave the other two as surprises! I’m excited about all of them and can’t wait to share my reviews with you.

Mimi Malloy, At Last! by Julia MacDonnell
(Picador, April 8)

…when an MRI reveals that Mimi’s brain is filled with black spots—areas of atrophy, her doctor says—it looks like she’s destined to spend her days in “one of those storage facilities for unwanted antiques.” Mimi knows her mind is (more or less) as sharp as ever, and she won’t go down without a fight. Yet as she prepares to take her stand, she stumbles upon an old pendant of her mother’s and, slowly, her memory starts to return…

Divorced and retired Mimi learns to enjoy the quiet life, smoking an occasional cigarette and listening to jazz on the radio, but is constantly bombarded by her sisters’ nostalgia for childhood and children’s praises of assisted living. When she finds out about her medical condition, and discovers her mother’s pendant, she begins to remember bits of her repressed childhood, and finds love along the way.

At laaaaast, my loooove…I met the author back in August and absolutely gushed over the title, chapter titles, premise of the story, Mimi, everything. She was so pleased that she and her editor offered to send me an ARC of the book, and I screamed in January when I found it on my doorstep (probably disturbed the neighbors with that one…). I cannot wait to meet Mimi and experience a second “coming of age” with her!

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman
(Balzer + Bray, April 22)

Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler.
And Gretchen follows his every command.

Gretchen Müller grew up in National Socialist Party and knows nothing of the true hardships of the people Uncle Dolf so fiercely despises. But after she meets Daniel Cohen, a Jewish reporter, she is exposed to the dangers of the Nazi Party and the devastation and destruction it leaves behind.

Balzer + Bray has some amazing books, and since I’m always in the mood for some great WWII fiction I have high hopes for this book!

What books are you looking forward to in April? Got any ARCs you’d like to share excitement over?