WoW: An Expanse of Blue by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams

This bookish meme tells the blogosphere what we’re waiting patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for! It’s hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine!

Fans of The Poet X will fall for this powerful, romantic debut novel-in-verse about a Native Hawaiian girl’s fight to find belonging in a fracturing family, sharing a message of love with resounding emotional truth.

Aouli Elizabeth Smith is adrift: unheard at home and an unbeliever at church, fighting her sister and losing her best friend. Overflowing with feeling, she pours her secrets and herself into her song journal when the world threatens to sweep her away. The one place she feels tied down to earth is at her Aunty Ehu’s house. Those joyous Saturdays with her extended Native Hawaiian community living in Western Washington are precious to her. Under the maple trees, the fragments of her life fit together, if only for an afternoon.

Then, an unspeakable truth about her father shatters this one perfect corner of her life.

As Aouli’s world constricts around what others wish she could be, language fails her. But when a new boy, Nalu, turns up with eyes that seem to pierce right into her soul, maybe it’s love that can give her the words to set herself free.

Published by: Heartdrum
Expected Publication: May 19, 2026

Why I’m Waiting: Y’all know I’m usually not a novel in verse girlie, but when I saw “about a Native Hawaiian girl’s fight to find belonging in a fracturing family, sharing a message of love with resounding emotional truth.” And that was all it took to add it to my TBR. Y’all know I love learning more about people and different cultures. This sounds like its going to be amazing and I really want to read this immediately. I already told my coworkers I want to use this for work and everything. This is going to be EPIC! (And let’s keep it a buck…. This cover EATS)

What about you? Will you read this? What do you think of the cover? Let me know in the comments!