We Interrupt This Broadcast
Published on March 18, 2025
By Kara V.
It was three in the morning when my mother and I woke up to watch the classic musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers airing on TV. It was and still is one of my favorite musicals. Despite its deeply weird (some may say “problematic”) storyline, I love every Pontipee brother—all seven of them, “all as tall as church steeples.” We got up with the alarm, gathered our snacks, pulled up a chair, and prepared for music magic, direct from our box TV.
However, our local network had other plans. Its plan was to show a two-hour press conference with President Ronald Reagan first. By the time the movie ended, I was almost late for school—but the movie was worth every minute of the wait.
I am not a very patient person. In fact, I am a terrible waiter. The best thing to help me with waiting is having a book on hand for every situation. I pull out my phone for Libby or hoopla, or I carry a physical copy in my bag. No line is too short that does not see me reading. It’s a fact: time moves faster when you have a good book. I have conducted multiple studies.
So, you can imagine how patiently I’m waiting for these releases in 2025: not well. I might be almost as impatient as the seven brides waiting for spring and the pass to open. Instead of breaking out into song like they do, I must break out a book to pass the time until my next book is released.
If you are an impatient waiter and you can’t sing the months away, maybe one of these read-alikes will help you!
If you are waiting for Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli (February 18), read For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga.
Ciccarelli and Varga create female characters who are on a mission to right a wrong. They will go to any means necessary to do it, including tapping into ancient witchcraft.
If you are waiting for Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (April 1), read Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score.
Jimenez and Score write fun characters who are going through stuff. These books will give you a great romance with real-life topics and fun pet friends as characters.
If you are waiting for Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April 22), read The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center.
Both of these books are about a grumpy male character and a sunshiny female character coming together to write. Henry and Center write characters that deal with difficult life experiences in real honest ways that make them relatable to the reader.
If you are waiting for Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan (May 13), read Reel by Kennedy Ryan.
Ryan writes a great book. If you are looking for strong female characters, timely topics, and a main male character who falls first, then she is for you! Typically, her books are more women’s fiction than romance, but if you want a good, healthy romance, you will not be disappointed.
If you are waiting for The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (May 20), read The Road of Bones by Demi Winters.
Both Gillig and Winters create vibrant worlds with magic systems that draw the reader in and sassy female characters you want to root for. Add some romance and you have a book you can’t put down.
Other books I’m impatiently waiting for:
