Today I’m doing the Would You Rather book tag, thank you to Laura @ The Book Corps for the tag!
The Rules:
Answer the questions given to you by your nominator.
Make up your own questions and tag others.
Sounds easy, right? Well, let’s see…
Laura’s questions
Would your rather only read physical books for the rest of your life or only audiobooks?
Definitely, 100% multiplied by like one million I would rather read physical books. I am so bad at paying attention to audiobooks. I recently tried again to listen to one, and I just can’t do it? My mind just wanders so much and suddenly it’s three chapters later and I have no idea what’s going on. So yes, definitely physical books for me!
Would you rather know all the spoilers before you start a book or never read the last chapter?
SPOILERS PLEASE! I am much worse at doing this with TV shows, but I’ll often google to find out what’s going to happen, particularly for shows that are stressing me out because once I know what’s going to happen I can feel less anxious about it. I don’t do this as much with books, but I would definitely much rather just know all the spoilers than never read the last chapter.
Would you rather be stuck on a very long train/plane ride with a book you hate or no book at all?
As someone who is from the UK and lives in Australia, I have been subjected to many horrifically long plane journeys and I need all the distraction I can get from how uncomfortable plane seats are so yes please, I’ll take a book I hate, how could I get through a 24 hour plane trip without a book?!
Would you rather read a book with a really bad ending or a book where your favourite character is killed off?
Oooh I am such trash for Tragedy so I think I’d take my favourite character being killed off…. I feel so mean. But a bad ending, for me, can often ruin the whole reading experience because the feeling you have at the ending is often the overriding emotion I remember when looking back to review a book and so I feel more negatively about books with bad endings than books with bad begininngs. And since I love tragedy so much, I would probably give the book extra points for killing off my favourite character because of how emotional it then made me.
Would you rather love a book everyone hates or hate a book everyone loves?
Love a book everyone hates! I feel like most of us probably already have a book like this, because everyone has different tastes! And so I’m completely okay with loving a hated book (unless it’s something offensive, in which case throw that book in the bin). I also feel very weird about hating books everyone else loves because I want people to like me and they will not like me if I hate on their favourites.
Would you rather read books by your favourite author but they’re all really bad, or read books by an author you hate but they’re all really good?
Read books by my favourite author but they’re all really bad! Most of the authors I would say I hate, I hate because they are awful, horrible racist/homophobic/transphobic people and therefore I do not care how great their book is, I do not want to read it.
Would you rather only ever read contemporary books for the rest of your life or fantasy?
I bet folks are on the edge of their seat for this one, what answer am I possibly going to pick?! Obviously I adore fantasy and I would read fantasy forever and ever and ever. There are so many different worlds to explore!
Would you rather own a signed edition or a first edition?
Signed edition! I have so few signed books because I live in Australia and we rarely get the authors I read over here, so the few books I have that are signed are really special to me.
Would you rather never be able to borrow a book from the library again or never reread your favourite book?
Oh god I think this might be the most difficult question yet… I think I’d rather never borrowing a book from the library again. Which is such an awful decision to make, but I don’t think I could go the rest of my life never reading my favourite book (The Fever King for anyone interested!)
Would you rather spend the day in your favourite fictional world but never meet your favourite character, or spend the day as the villain and try to attack/kill that favourite character?
VILLAIN OMG YES I AM THE VILLAIN. Villains are the most interesting part of a book to me, and much more importantly, also get by far the coolest outfits to wear therefore I would like to be one please. And maybe then when I try attack the favourite character we fall hopelessly in love and then I’m locked in a villain, enemies to lovers romance which is pretty much like the best trope ever!
My questions
Would you rather live with magic in a fantasy world or with very cool technology in a sci-fi world?
Would you rather only be able to read young adult books or adult books for the rest of your life?
Would you rather meet the villain of your favourite book or the protagonist of your favourite book?
And a follow up to that, Would you rather BE the villain in your favourite book or be the protagonist in your favourite book?
Would you rather always being able to guess the twist, or never being able to guess the twist?
Would you rather only read books set in the past or only read books set in the future?
Would you rather only read only during the day, or only after dark?
Would you rather be able to reread all your current favourite books but never again find a new favourite, or never read any of your current favourites again, but you’re able to find new favourite books?
Would you rather only read paperbacks or only read hardbacks?
Would you rather see your favourite book adapted into film or TV (and because rules are made to be broken I’m adding a third option) OR a stage musical adaptation?
This was both so fun and so difficult to write because today I’m talking all about my most anticipated books still to come in 2020. And I have so many. Initially I was going to keep to just 10 books as I did in my favourite books of the year so far list, but I just couldn’t do it. And you’ll see why when I tell you about these books because they all sound equally awesome!
I’m going to be looking at my 15 most anticipated books releasing in the second half of 2020, so July – December. To help me out with narrowing it down, I decided to not include any books which I have received an ARC for since technically I’m no longer anticipating them. This really helped me narrow the list down, but I do want to shout out the books that would’ve made this list had I not got an ARC:
As you can see, that is quite a few books and thus if I had included them in my list below, I would have failed even more badly to narrow this down. So without further ado, here are my 15 most anticipated books releasing in the rest of 2020!
This is a horror novel everyone has been screaming about how scary it is and thus I am so incredibly excited to read this even if it terrifies me. The Year of the Witching is a feminist horror fantasy novel about a woman living in a Handmaid’s Tale esque, cult-like society and what happens when she discovers her mother consorted with witches.
I’ve only read Emezi’s young adult novel, Pet, so far, but I loved it so much and I’m hoping to get to their adult novel Freshwater very soon as well. Their third book, The Death of Vivek Oji, promises to be every bit as lyrical and powerful as Pet. It follows the life of Vivek Oji and their relationships with friends and family before their death.
It’s so close!!!!! 40 days if we’re being exact but who’s counting… Darius the Great Deserves Better is the sequel to one of my favourite books, Darius the Great is Not Okay. Darius is back in the US, now has a boyfriend and an internship at his favourite teashop, but something still seems to be missing.
Another of the few literary fiction novels that made it onto this list, Transcendent Kingdom follows a Ghanian family in Alabama, specifically Gifty, a young neuroscience student who is researching addiction and depression as she attempts to find answers for her brother’s overdose and suicidal mother. But as she explores the hard sciences, Gifty also reaches back to her childhood faith for answers.
Not only does this have one of my favourite covers on this list, it also has one of the most exciting pitches! Crosshairs is set in a near future dystopian world where anyone “other” is rounded up into camps. So a group of queer allies, lead by a queer Black performer, team up against the regime.
Any contemporary that makes it onto this list is surely going to be incredible, because it takes a lot for this fantasy lover to be this excited over contemporary books. Who I Was With Her follows closeted bi girl, Corinne, after her girlfriend dies and she has to learn to deal with her grief without anyone knowing, except the one person she really shouldn’t be leaning on for support: her dead girlfriend’s ex.
Having just read Ninth House, I am here for more secret societies at university, and in Legendborn this is combined with a society descended from King Arthur! But also it’s like super super queer too. Legendborn follows Bree as she attends a residential camp for bright high school students at the local university. But on her first night on campus, she witnesses a demon attack and ends up embrolied with a secret society who claim to be descendants of King Arthur working to prevent a magical war.
The Secret History but make it queer?! I haven’t even read The Secret History and I know this is the vibe I need in my life. These Violent Delights follow Paul and Julian who meet at university in the 70s and whose obsession with each other leads to a shocking act of violence.
Bisexual vampires is all I need to say for this one, right? Set in a Prague where monsters exist, this book follows a vampire hunter and his relationship with a widowed noblewoman (and secret vampire).
If you read my post all about my favourite reads of 2020 so far, you would have seen the first of this series there, The Library of the Unwritten which has to be one of the most fun fantasies I’ve ever read. The Archive of the Forgotten continues the story of Claire, Brevity and Hero as books begin to leak a strange ink that could alter the afterlife forever.
Chaos lesbian alert! Beyond the Ruby Veil is a dark YA fantasy about Emanuela, a girl who accidentally kills the only person who can create water in her town and now has to find a way to make water herself before the entire town dies of thirst.
This is the adult debut from the author who wrote The Miseducation of Cameron Post, which I admit I haven’t actually read, but Plain Bad Heroines just sounds so amazing this book made it onto my most anticipated list! This is described as a horror comedy set at a girls boarding school in New England which closed after a series of terrible murders. But now the doors are reopening as a Hollywood cast prepares to create a film about what happened. But soon it isn’t clear where Hollywood ends and the curse of the boarding schools begins…Insert ominous drum roll.
Moving into literary fiction realms again, The Thirty Names of Night follows three generations of Syrian Americans and a mysterious bird that ties them all together. This is ownvoices trans and Syrian-American rep, and explores the history of queer and trans communities in the Syrian community and promises to be an entrancing read.
If you haven’t seen Chloe Gong’s hilarious videos marketing this book, first of all where have you been?! And second of all, go check out her Twitter because she is hilarious. These Violent Delights is a Romeo & Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, yes we’re really getting a book that sounds THAT AWESOME in 2020.
The finale to R.F Kuang’s Poppy War series is almost here and it promises to be as destroying as the first two in this series! I’m not going to say too much about this one to avoid any spoilers for those still reading The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, but suffice to say, I am ecstatically excited to find out what happens to Rin, Nezha and Kitay.
And that’s my 15 most anticipated releases for the rest of 2020! What’s your most anticipated release still to come? Let me know in the comments below.
We’re halfway through the year, I’m 55 books down and I thought I’d have a closer look at my favourite books of the year so far. As usual, I struggled immensely to actually narrow down this list to just 10 books. I feel like I have so many others I loved just as much as the ones on this list. Alas. I stuck to my 10 book limit for pretty much the first time ever so clearly my decision making is improving in 2020. Although to make life easier for myself, I decided to not feature any of the three incredible sequels I read this year (so apologies to The Kingdom of Copper, The Dragon Republic and Jade War, you were all fucking amazing but this saves me three spots on this list!)
So without further ado, in no particular order, here’s my top 10 favourite books of 2020 so far! To no one’s shock, it is a sea of fantasy…
If you read my mid year freakout book tag post, it’ll be no surprise to see this book here as I said this book, along with Felix Ever After, are my favourite books of the year. Mexican Gothic just absolutely blew me away. I went in having just read one of Moreno-Garcia’s other novels (Untamed Shore) which I wasn’t the biggest fan of so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. And then I just about died at how creepy and suspenseful this book is. This gothic horror is just so fucked up and I love everything about it. Set high in the mountains of Mexico at a musty manor called High Place, Noemí has come to figure out why her cousin, Catalina, thinks her husband is trying to kill her. Noemí is an absolutely wonderful character, I fell in love with her confident and sassy voice from the very first page and was drawn into this tense and horrifying world at High Place that I couldn’t stop thinking about for weeks! You can read my full review here.
The one and only contemporary in a sea of fantasy, sci fi and horror, Felix Ever After must surely be something special to have made it here. Felix Ever After follows Felix, a queer Black trans demiboy as he decides to catfish his bully to get revenge. What really makes Felix Ever After special is the deep and meaningful exploration of gender that Felix goes through. I didn’t realise going in that there would be such a focus on questioning your identity and exploring the fluidity of gender, and this part of the story was just so incredibly powerful and validating. It’s a dark story at times, with Felix bullied using his deadname and old photos of him before he transitioned, but I loved that Felix Ever After confronted the transphobia and other hate not just from outsiders but also from those within the queer community. This book was just so so special and validating and I hope it reaches everyone who needs this book. You can read my full review here.
I want to sing and dance my praises for The Unspoken Name forever. I wanted to reread this book from the second I finished the last page. This book is such an expansive and impressive world full of necromancy, powerful gods, wizards, portal magic, flying ships, lesbian orcs, it has so much to take in and yet Larkwood was able to combine so many different elements into one incredible fantasy book. The Unspoken Name follows Csorwe, an orc priestess, as she’s due to be sacrificed to her god. But instead of dying for her god, Csorwe runs away with a wizard who trains her to be his sword. She is sent out to find an artifact for the wizard that claims to hold incredible magical knowledge and is drawn into a mammoth adventure to hunt down this artifact. This book has such an imaginative and immersive world but the characters were what really shone. This book is definitely a more slowburn, character driven fantasy but I think that’s why I loved it so much. You can read my full review here.
The Library of the Unwritten is probably the fantasy that stands out the most among this list, and that’s because it has a completely different vibe and attitude to every other book on this list: this book is just pure fun. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book as I hadn’t heard too many people talking about it, but I expected something similar to the dark, gritty, heavy on the social commentary SFF seen on the rest of this list. But this book was so so different to that. Instead, this was filled with so much fun and humour and joy, so much sass and snark. It resulted in one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of my life because I was just so in love and so happy reading this book. It follows Claire, the librarian in Hell’s Library, a library where all unwritten manuscripts are housed. But when a character escapes from a book, Claire has to track them down and ends up in the middle of a war between heaven and hell. It’s the book about a pansexual librarian, angels and demons that you’ve always dreamed of! You can read my full review here.
The Starless Sea was everything I dreamed of and more, and of Morgenstern’s two books, this one is my favourite. It is a love letter to books and stories and reading with the most beautiful, flowing, poetic prose. It follows Zachary who reads a book and is surprised to see it’s about him. But pages have been ripped out so he doesn’t know how his story ends so he begins a quest to track down the origins of this book and ends up walking through a door to a magical library. This book was just so special, I was utterly entranced as I read it. It is so full of love for mythology and fantasy and storytelling, and that moment when you start to realise how the paths of all the different characters connect together is just one of the most satisfying moments possible. You can read my full review here.
This book is my most recent read and it is spectacular! It doesn’t release until August 4 so I beg you all to go pre-order this one because it is breathtaking. The Space Between Worlds is a science fiction novel set in a world where the multiverse exists and can be travelled to. But there’s a catch: you can only travel to another universe if the parallel you is dead. That makes Cara very important, because of the 372 universes that can be reached, the other Cara is only left alive on 8 of them. Cara’s job is to travel to the other multiverses to get information on their world. But when one of the other Cara’s is killed in mysterious circumstances, she is drawn into a dangerous secret that could endanger the whole multiverse. The worldbuilding in The Space Between Worlds is exceptional – Johnson manages to subtly challenge and confront issues from climate change to gun violence in the way she builds this world. But what I found most powerful was the stark depiction of trauma that Cara has gone through and the way she learns across the book how to use her history and her pain to change the world. I’ll have a full review for this one coming on the day it releases so check back for my full thoughts in August!
It took me so long to decide which Klune book to feature on this post, The Extraordinaries or The House in the Cerulean Sea. But in the end, I chose this one, because I had the most fun reading this, I laughed so much (and then I sobbed so much, because duh, it’s a Klune book). The Extraordinaries follows Nick, an ordinary teen with ADHD who is obsessed with the real life superheros (Extraordinaries) PyroStorm and Shadow Star. After an accidental run in with Shadow Star, Nick decides he’s going to do whatever it takes to become extraordinary himself. I really don’t know how Klune does it, everything he writes has me in absolute stitches of laughter and then I’m just sobbing. This book is so full of joy and heart and is all about learning to see yourself as extraordinary even if you aren’t a superhero. I’ll have a full review coming next week when this book releases!
Historical fiction sapphics are just killing it right now, and this is my favourite one I’ve read so far this year. The Mercies is inspired by the real life Vardø storm in the 1600s, a storm which wiped out all the men in a small fishing village in Norway. With the men dead, the women of the town are left to fend for themselves, growing independent and fighting for power amongst themselves, until a new commissioner is appointed to bring the town back in line, a witchhunter from Scotland. This commissioner is a terrifying figure and one who will manipulate these women against each other to tear the town apart. This book had such a gothic feel to it, which I absolutely loved. The setting is so haunting and icy and is the perfect mirror to these women turning on each other and destroying their friends. Alongside this witch hunt, we see a beautiful friendship and romance blossom between Maren, a villager, and Ursa, the new commissioner’s wife. Their relationship was so soft and so delicate and touching, and created such a warmth in this dark novel. You can read my full review here.
All hail the Bitch Queen. This book has the accolade of being my first read of 2020 and it’s still sitting strong as one of my favourite books of the year! This epic fantasy is an absolute whirlwind of action and a dark and ruthless show of politics, following Talyien, the Bitch Queen, as she chases her long lost husband across the sea to bring him back to the country to prevent war. Talyien is one of the most fantastic characters in fantasy, so complex and morally grey, but so bloody stubborn and strong, she is somehow able to keep fighting despite everything that happens to her (which is a lot). It blows my mind that more people aren’t talking about this book, it somehow has under 1000 ratings on Goodreads so what are you all doing, please go out and read this brilliant fantasy! Sadly, I don’t have a full review for this one as I read whilst I was still on holiday and resting but just know that it’s brilliant and has one of the best female characters in fantasy.
I am unsurprised to see a N.K Jemisin book on this list because she’s one of my favourite authors and as soon as I knew she had a new book coming, I knew I would love it. The City We Became is this incredibly imaginative and creative novel where cities have souls. Six individuals in New York wake up one day with the soul of their boroughs inside them. They must find each other and fight against an evil from another world that threatens to destroy the entire city. The City We Became revolves around New York, and as someone who is not American and has only ever spent 5 days in New York, I was completely enthralled by this city Jemisin writes about. But Jemisin also manages to parallel this inventive world with social commentary on our current environment, and showcases the insidious way racism can destroy the world. This book is just phenomenal! You can read my full review here.
And that’s my favourite 10 reads of 2020 so far! Are any of these books favourites of you as well? What are your favourite books of 2020?
In these dark times, I’ve found myself strongly desiring books that are happy, comforting, encouraging or funny. I’m usually a person who adores the books that stab you in the heart, and don’t usually read many happy, calming stories. But I wanted to chat about the few that I have loved: if I, lover and enthusiast of books that will break you, fall in love with a happy book, the book must be pretty damn great!
The Afterward takes the heroic knight quest and twists it on its head. Instead of telling the story of the quest, it takes place after the quest is over. The main focus of the story is what happens to the knights after they’ve completed the quest? It is a slice of life, female centric, character drivem, f/f fantasy. When I read it, I felt so calm when compared to my usual fantasy reads filled with urgency, panic and tension.
I Hope You Get This Message combines the mystery and magic of science fiction with the heavy character driven narratives of contemporary YA. It follows three teens trying to keep their families together, at the end of the world. It is a beautiful, touching and hopeful look at how humanity copes at the end of the world.
One of my more recent reads, Upright Women Wanted was the biggest bundle of fun! Novella length, this was marketed as ‘queer librarian spies on horseback’ and it certainly delivers that! Set in a Western style world, this novella follows Esther as she tries to escape her village by hiding in the back of a librarian’s wagon. What follows is the queerest adventure across the US as Esther discovers what the librarians really do. I really hope we’ll get more books in this world because I loved it and the characters so, so much!
I feel like I’ve spoken a lot about this book recently, and that’s because I’m pretty sure it will contend for one of my favourite books of the year. It is just THE BEST fun! It is a complete breath of fresh air in fantasy. It is the sassiest, snarkiest book with some of my absolute favourite characters. The Library of the Unwritten is all about Hell’s library, where all the unwritten manuscripts are kept. When a character escapes from the book to go meet their writer, Claire, Head Librarian, must hunt the character down and restore them to their manuscript. Of course, nothing goes right, and suddenly Claire finds herself in the midst of a war between heaven and hell. I also want to shout this book out as having the first on page pansexual rep I’ve ever read in fantasy, and so I love it even more.
The Infinite Noise is another slice of life fantasy that blew me away. I came into the book completely new, having never heard of the podcast before. The Infinite Noise expands on characters from the podcast The Bright Sessions, a podcast about people with superpowers going to therapy. It is another character driven story, one about Caleb struggling to control his powers, and Adam, a schoolmate who seems to be able to calm Caleb down when he is struggling for control. Whilst it does have a strong depression plotline, this book is on my comfort read lists because I found it really hopeful and beautiful in the depiction, and I can’t wait to read more books in this world.
I’m sure a lot of people will have already heard of this one, it’s definitely one of the sci-fi books I see most recommended. But that’s because it is incredible! Goodbye heavy technical science ficiton, hello fun, character driven narratives that just so happen to be set in space! This is an absolutely joyous story about the rag-tag crew of the ship Wayfarer as they make their way into a warzone to create a ‘tunnel’ that will allow ships to easily fly there. The characters in this book are just phenomenal, I adored every single one. It is one of the sci-fi books that got me reading in the genre, and I can’t wait to read more like this.
And here’s the other book that got me reading in the genre! Do You Dream of Terra-Two? follows six young adults as they prepare to journey to Terra-Two, a potentially habitable planet. Set on an Earth where the Space Race continued and thrived after 1969, we follow the teens at their academy, where they have trained for this journey most of their lives, to their lives onboard the ship that will take them to Terra-Two. Each of the characters are brilliantly detailed and so realistic, and I loved reading every POV. In multiple POV books, I do often find there are some I just don’t care for and want to skip through, but in this book, I loved all of them! It’s one of my favourite sci-fi’s of all time and I can’t wait to read what Temi Oh writes next.
Witchmark by C.L Polk
I first read this book in the middle of a very stressful week, and it pretty much kept me together. I was completely blown away by the world and characters. I came away and the only word I could think to describe it is completely magical. It felt like magic. There is such a great mystery element, a wonderful romance, and I smiled the whole way through! The world is perfectly reminiscent of Edwardian England, with a twist: magic!
The Exact Opposite of Okay holds position as ‘funniest book I’ve ever read’. Laura Steven is just so fucking hilarious I am in AWE. This book is relevant and so, so current, as main character Izzy fights back when pictures of her having sex with a politician’s son are released. It is both utterly hilarious and a feminist masterpiece.
This was such a fun and wonderful romance! I love love loved it. This is the queer cheerleader romance we have been looking for! Following straight-A cheerleader Sana and wannabe director Rachel, as they have to make a film together. There’s just one problem: Rachel hates Sana because years ago, Sana asked Rachel out and Rachel thought she was making fun of her. I really enjoyed this one, particularly because there was lots of focus on things outside of the romance. Every character had their own stories and own lives and we spent as much time chasing their dreams as we did on the fun romance. Looooooove.
Full Disclosure is another really funny and engaging YA, featuring sass, snark and absolutely full of queerness! The book follows Simone, an HIV positive teen as she starts at a new school and falls in love with Miles. Simone is just one of the best characters in YA: she is so fierce, snarky, confident and vulnerable, she gets shit wrong… But most of all, she sounds like she was written by an actual teen (which she was) and I think that really shines through throughout the book. There is also the most HILARIOUS sex shop scene ever and I will forever love Garrett for writing that.
A new favourite of mine, Only Mostly Devastated published very recently and I so hope this book gets the success it deserves. This is a reimagining of Grease, and imagine pretty much all your favourite 90s/early 00’s romcoms, but super super queer, and you will get this book! Ollie, the main character, feels so familiar: he is an anxious, snarky, sarcastic kid who loves red skittles (IT’S LITERALLY ME?!) and I love him.
This is one of my favourite YA contemporaries, it’s one of the first I read in the genre and so shall always be the level to which I hold all others! Love From A to Z is just one of the greatest love stories ever, following Adam and Zayneb from when they first meet on a plane, carrying the same ‘Marvels and Oddities’ journal, to when they fall in love. Zayneb is another of my favourite characters in YA. She is such a passionate, driven person, fighting to right the wrongs of the world. This book was such a fulfiling and calming read, it was so full of love and hope and strength, and I really urge everyone to read this if you get the chance!
I couldn’t write a list of comfort books without featuring Red, White & Royal Blue. I’m sure there isn’t much I could say about this that you don’t already know. The love story of Alex, bi icon and son of the President of the US, and Prince Henry. I’m SO CLOSE to picking this up and rereading despite the pile of other books I really need to read instead. But this is just the most joyful, most fun, most queer, love story and I adore it.
Another hilarious f/f romance on this list (clearly I have a specific comfort book type). Amelia Westlake is set at a posh, Australian school, and follows Harriet, school prodigy, and Will, school bad girl, as they work together to highlight all the school’s problems. This book is so Australian, I couldn’t stop laughing. The humour is so dry and hilarious, Will and Harriet are so much fun and I really can’t wait to read more from Erin Gough.
On my TBR
I also wanted to shout out some of the books on my TBR which, from what I can see, look to be future comfort reads. I really can’t wait to start all of these and be comforted and calmed in these scary times.
That’s it for my list of comfort reads. I really need to add some more – the large majority of my books are definitely not ‘comfort’, as much as I do adore them! What are your favourite comfort books?
Today I’m here with (what I think) is an incredibly fun post! Fadwa from Word Wonders, on her Youtube channel, has created one of the BEST MOST FUN BOOK TAGS evvvvaaah!
I’m a pretty new Halsey fan. But I have fallen in love. I can’t stop listening to her music on repeat. Every time I listen, I notice another lyric that just makes my heart and head hurt and cry and so emotional.
So when I saw Fadwa’s recent book tag creation on YouTube, I couldn’t wait to take part! Thank you Fadwa for creating this awesome book tag! You can watch Fadwa’s original video here.
1. ASHLEY: a book with great character development.
This is a book I read very recently, in Feb, and I was incredibly impressed with Martine’s epic worldbuilding and character building. The book does take a while to get into the swing of things, but that’s because so much effort and time is put into setting up this world and most importantly, to setting up the main character, Mahit. Much of the book takes place in her head, where she has the memories of her predecssor embedded in her brain and who appears as an additional ‘voice’ of sorts, helping her. This means a lot of time needs to be spent on Mahit and analysing her character and who she is with this other person inside her. It’s a very complex novel, but is absolutely spectacular if you can make it through the slow and complicated beginning.
2. CLEMENTINE: a book with mental illness representation.
Emma Newman is one of the best authors I know at writing mental health. Her Planetfall series (4 novels) each deals with mental health in different ways. My favourite is probably Before Mars. Containing elements of psychological thriller as well as science fiction, it is a excellent genre-blending book that deals with the trauma of postpartum depression.
As a horror newbie last year, this ended up being one of my favourite books of the year! With only two characters and one setting, the way this book creates fear and tension in such a small space is remarkable. Caver, continue will haunt me forever – in fact I got such a fright the other night when I spotted my gardening glove in the exact position as the glove on this cover, creeping along my window ledge.
4. YOU SHOULD BE SAD: a book with a morally gray character.
Probably no shocks here – Rin seems to be many people’s favourite morally grey character! She is such a spectacular character. We see her grow from young orphan to trained soldier to….well I won’t give away any spoilers in case you haven’t read this yet! But suffice to say, shit goes down and it’s all because of Rin. Morally gray doesn’t even cover it.
5. FOREVER (IS A LONG TIME): a book with an immortal character or one that chases after immortality.
In The Library of the Unwritten pretty much everyone is immortal! Because they’re all well, dead. But they now have their immortal afterlives to live, as demons and librarians and angels. Immortality is here, but it is definitely not the focus of this book. This is a fun and snarky light-hearted fantasy that I adore. And it has on page pansexual rep!
6. I HATE EVERYBODY: a boon with a grumpy character who’s soft inside.
Another very recent read of mine, I adored this f/f love story. And I definitely think Rachel, fierce and angry budding director fits the ‘grumpy but soft’ vibe. She is so angry at the world and angry at Sana for what she thought was a prank 4 years ago. But inside she is such a softie!!!
I must say, usually I am really strict about not staying up and reading all night no matter how much I might want to – a lifetime of insomnia means I go to bed early or else I get nowhere enough sleep. But, one of the only exceptions I can think of in recent years was Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. This was my first adult horror and holy shit it is incredible! I cannot express how much I loved it. The tension is so out of this world I had to stay up and read because there was no way I was going to be getting any sleep after reading it anyway!
8. WITHOUT ME: a book with a toxic and/or abusive relationship (no matter its nature).
Of course I had to mention these two somewhere on this list. And this prompt is pretty much made for them. My favourite reads of 2019, this dulougy is a remarkable and impactful story of trauma and survival, one that shows the multitudes of ways that abuse and victims can act and appear. I adore these books SO MUCH.
9. FINALLY/BEAUTIFUL STRANGER: a book with the second chance trope.
I haven’t actually finished this one yet, but it was one of the only books I could think of with this trope! I loved the first book in this series, Wolfsong. In Ravensong, TJ Klune focuses on the (destroyed) relationship between Mark and Gordo. Years ago, Mark broke Gordo’s heart. And now, when the pack has returned to Green Creek, fought the evil in the first book, Gordo and Mark are drawn to each other again. I know this book will be amazing when I actually get around to recharging my Kindle so I can continue reading it.
My faaaaavourite revenge story is here! Missing, Presumed Dead is not just a revenge story. It’s a ghost revenge story. Lexi knows when people will die – all she needs to do to see their death is touch. When Lexi sees Jane’s death and does nothing to stop it, Jane comes back as a ghost and forces Lexi to hunt down her murderer and enact revenge. As well as an epic revenge murder mystery, this book also has excellent mental health rep and an f/f human-ghost enemies to lovers relationship. Yes that does sound awesome.
One of the most heartbreaking books I read last year was Like a Love Story. Set during the 1980s AIDS crisis, this book crosses the generational gap, focusing on the lives of three teens who are mentored by Stephen, an uncle of one of the teens, who is living with AIDS.
12. STILL LEARNING: a book about a celebrity, either real or fictional.
Okay so I don’t really read many books with celebrities. I’ve tried a few and never really liked them. So instead, I thought I’d feature two ‘kind of about a celebrity’ in the hopes this completes the prompt to make one actual celebrity.
In Red, White and Royal Blue we have Prince Henry – who I’m counting as half a celebrity, as these days, royals really are seen as celebrities in the media.
In The Exact Opposite of Okay we have Izzy, who is unwillingly thrust into the spotlight when her nudes are leaked. Again, she kind of becomes a celebrity when photos are leaked of her having sex with a politician’s son.
These two half-celebrities = one full book about a celebrity.
Much like the previous prompt, I really don’t read many biographies or memoirs. I’ve never really got into them. But this is one releasing in 2020 which has me quite excited. Set in a Paris gallery after the end of WW2, this book documents, in an autobiographical style, the lives of the women who contributed to modernism.
Well that was so much fun! Thank you again Fadwa for creating this book tag. Tagging any other Halsey fans out there who read this post – I’d love to see your choices.
Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.
Hi everyone,
This week I’m coming to you from:
The middle of a work conference…
Which I was forced to go to during the middle of manuscript deadline hell….
And where there is a strict “no exceptions” to the evening social rule…
So if we want to get any of our work done (because of course the deadline doesn’t change even if you pull us out of the office for a week!!), we have to stay up until the early hours to do so….
So life is great right now. So great.
Okay rant over. Let’s get onto to celebrating why I rate books 5 stars! You know, I’ve never actually considered what makes me rate 5 stars in huge detail, outside of thinking about the one specific book I’m reviewing. I’m not even sure if there are recurring elements – I think to rate 5 stars, pretty much every part of the book needs to be incredible right? So I decided to go through all my 5 star reads of 2019, and go down a very statistical direction to identify the common themes and elements between those books. This is what I got.
It’s gay
Yup. No surprises here. If a book has LGBTQIA+ characters, I am on the squee express and will love that book. For some stats, 71% of my 2019 five star reads were queer! And that makes me so happy. I love reading books about people like me, so it is no surprise that most of my 5 star reads are loudly, proudly queer. Bring on the 2020 gays.
My 5 star examples:
A morally grey protagonist/villain
Give me our morally grey protagonists and villains. I love characters that do bad things for good reasons. I love when authors play with the idea of good and evil, when I don’t know who I’m supposed to be supporting, when there’s no clear idea of who is good and who is evil. God I love it so much. Give me morally grey every day.
My 5 star examples:
Excellent mental health rep
Much like queer books, seeing characters cope with mental health, in both real life-settings or fantasy worlds, just makes my heart hurt because I’m seeing people like me. It can be hopeful, which for obvious reasons, is fantastic to read as way of finding hope myself. But even if it is hopeless, it makes you feel seen and understood as a reader, and for a second, you can feel less alone because there’s someone out there who feels like you do.
My 5 star examples:
Nails the ending
So many of my 4 star books last year were fantastic….until the ending. Nailing the ending is such a difficult part of writing, and it has such an impact on my ultimate enjoyment of the book. I want an ending that is as brutually emotional as every page before it has been. I want knowledge and understanding of what’s happened. I don’t need all the ends tied up, but I want to feel something on the last pages. You can shock me, hurt me, thrill me. But the ending should make me feel something.
My 5 star examples:
Breaks my heart
So almost 50% of my 5 star reads of 2019 broke my heart. I don’t necessarily mean they made me cry – I’m a difficult reader to make actually cry, though I do tear up a lot. I like books that make me have a visceral emotional reaction, and let’s be honest, that kind of reaction usually comes when a book is stabbing you in the heart and ripping you open. I want to feel my chest physically hurt because I can’t believe what’s happening on the page. I need to be so emotionally invested in the characters, that what happens to them hurts me as much as possible. That’s definitely worth 5 stars.
My 5 star examples:
So to conclude, basically I want a queer, depressed, murder muffin to make me cry. Which does actually sum up several of the books I’m very excited for this year, so I clearly definitely have a 5 Star Type.
Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.
Hi everyone,
It’s the first Top 5 Tuesday of 2020! You may notice I’ve had a little bit of a blog lift. That is thanks to Vinny over at Artsy Draft! Last year, I was THE LUCKIEST PERSON EVER and actually won a blog redesign! Vinny has spent the last little while redesigning my entire blog and drawing the most amazing illos to use and I am so incredibely grateful and amazed by their work! I’m still in the process of updating all my backposts, but it’s getting there!
So I was tempted to put a very similar list for this week’s topic as one in December (the ‘2019 books I never got to’ because I SWEAR I will get to them in 2020). But I also have several others on my shelf that I really need to get to, so let’s just add to that pile….
I picked this one up after seeing Shealea at Shut Up Shealea write the most amazing review I think I’ve ever read for it! It sounds honestly mind-blowingly good. I know I will definitely get it to it in 2020 – I’m participating in #FFFeb, a sapphic readathon in February! One of the challenges is a book with a bisexual character, which this does! So I plan on getting to this one very shortly…
I (rather embarassingly) only got around to reading The Night Circus late last year. But I adored it! It was absolutely perfect. So of course I immediately got my hands on a copy over her second novel, The Starless Sea, which I can’t wait to read in 2020!
So this adds to the awfully long list of sequels I really need to read…. Alongside The Dragon Republic, The Kingdom of Copper and Jade War (which I’m currently reading!), I really need to read the sequel to Sabaa Tahir’s incredible fantasy An Ember in the Ashes. It was one of my favourite fantasy books I read last year. I don’t know why I struggle so much with sequels!
I actually almost go a chance to read The Bone Witch last year! I ordered it from my library, but then didn’t quite get time to read it before I left on holiday, so had to return it. Perhaps a second attempt this year will be luckier!
Okay so I know I said I wasn’t going to put any books from my Book I Didn’t Get to in 2019 list….But this one I swore I was going to read ALL YEAR and didn’t. So once again I am vowing to read Priory in 2020. I’m actually considering it for my next read – I’m trying to get all my massive fantasy tomes read before any 2020 preorders come in….I guess we’ll see if I’m sucessful in the next few weeks!
That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Tuesday! I can’t wait to read everyone’s lists. My key reading goal for this year is very much ‘please Rachel for the love of God read all your sequels.’ I feel like it should be achievable?! But I failed last year so, do I really know anything?
In 2019, I was introduced to the world of contemporary novels! Previously, I was very much a heavy speculative fiction reader, but found myself a little exhausted reading all of fantasy last year. So I picked up my first contemporary and fell in love with the genre! They are so easy to read and always feel like a breathe of fresh air compared to SFF. Here’s a list of 31 of my most anticipated contemporary novels publishing in 2020!
Quick summary: Crazy Rich Asians crossed with La La Land?!
Release date: January 7
Goodreadsblurb: For fans of Crazy Rich Asians or Jane Austen Comedy of Manners, with a hint of La La Land
When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.
Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.
Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
Goodreads blurb: Two best friends grow up—and grow apart—in this innovative contemporary YA novel
Told in dual timelines—half of the chapters moving forward in time and half moving backward—We Used to Be Friends explores the most traumatic breakup of all: that of childhood besties. At the start of their senior year in high school, James (a girl with a boy’s name) and Kat are inseparable, but by graduation, they’re no longer friends. James prepares to head off to college as she reflects on the dissolution of her friendship with Kat while, in alternating chapters, Kat thinks about being newly in love with her first girlfriend and having a future that feels wide open. Over the course of senior year, Kat wants nothing more than James to continue to be her steady rock, as James worries that everything she believes about love and her future is a lie when her high-school sweetheart parents announce they’re getting a divorce. Funny, honest, and full of heart, We Used to Be Friends tells of the pains of growing up and growing apart.
Quick summary: Rival fast food workers who hate each other in real life fall in love in anonymous chat room
Release date: January 21
Goodreads blurb: A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.
All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.
As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
Quick summary: Confronting toxic masculinity and what it means to be a ‘real man’
Release date: January 21
Goodreadsblurb: In his first contemporary teen novel, critically acclaimed author and two-time Edgar Award finalist Lamar Giles spotlights the consequences of societal pressure, confronts toxic masculinity, and explores the complexity of what it means to be a “real man.”
Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge.
His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in. He can put in the good word. In exchange, Del just has to get answers to the Pledgers’ questions…about sex ed.
With other boys circling Kiera like sharks, Del needs to make his move fast. But as he plots and plans, he neglects to ask the most important question: What does Kiera want? He can’t think about that too much, though, because once he gets the girl, it’ll all sort itself out. Right?
Quick summary: Online trolling breaks into real life; gaming gaming gaming I cannot wait!!
Release date: January 28
Goodreads blurb: Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.
Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V.
At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new worlds…and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real-world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line…
Quick summary: Kids of NASA employees falling in love
Release date: February 4
Goodreads blurb: As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.
Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another “Astrokid,” and finds himself falling head over heels—fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.
Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.
Quick summary: Macbeth retelling, revenge fantasy of girl destroying her rapists!
Release date: February 4
Goodreadsblurb: Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Elle’s sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Elle as their next target.
They picked the wrong girl.
Sworn to vengeance, Elle transfers to St. Andrew’s. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She’ll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school’s hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.
Foul is Fair is a bloody, thrilling revenge fantasy for the girls who have had enough. Golden boys beware: something wicked this way comes.
Quick summary: Gymnastics, romance with coach’s son, teammate rivalries
Release date: February 18
Goodreads blurb: Audrey Lee is going to the Olympics.
A year ago, she could barely do a push up as she recovered from a spine surgery, one that could have paralyzed her. And now? She’s made the United States’ gymnastics team with her best friend, Emma, just like they both dreamed about since they were kids. She’s on top of the world.
The pressure for perfection is higher than ever when horrifying news rips the team apart. Audrey is desperate to advocate for her teammate who has been hurt by the one person they trusted most–but not all the gymnasts are as supportive.
With the team on the verge of collapse, the one bright spot in training is Leo, her new coach’s ridiculously cute son. And while Audrey probably (okay, definitely) shouldn’t date him until after the games, would it really be the end of the world?
Balancing the tenuous relationship between her teammates with unparalleled expectations, Audrey doesn’t need any more distractions. No matter what it takes, she’s not going to let anyone bring them down. But with painful revelations, incredible odds, and the very real possibility of falling at every turn, will Audrey’s determination be enough?
Quick summary: Modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in a boarding schools yes please1
Release date: February 18
Goodreadsblurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.
Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
Quick summary: Every romance movie of your teen years in perfect book form: Grease meets Clueless meets 10 Things I Hate About You. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this, and it is INCREDIBLE!
Genres: Contemporary, romance, young adult
Release date: March 3
Goodreads blurb:Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless, inspired by Grease.
When Ollie meets his dream guy, Will, over summer break, he thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After. But once summer’s ended, Will stops texting him back, and Ollie finds himself one prince short of a fairytale ending. To complicate the fairytale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country—Will’s school—where Ollie finds that the sweet, affectionate and comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted—and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship. But as Will starts ‘coincidentally’ popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.
Goodreads blurb:Every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way.
Meet Anna K. At seventeen, she is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and Newfoundland dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna’s brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather an sexting scandal; Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven’s best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie.
As her friends struggle with the pitfalls of ordinary teenage life, Anna always seems to be able to sail gracefully above it all. That is…until the night she meets Alexia “Count” Vronsky at Grand Central. A notorious playboy who has bounced around boarding schools and who lives for his own pleasure, Alexia is everything Anna is not. But he has never been in love until he meets Anna, and maybe she hasn’t, either. As Alexia and Anna are pulled irresistibly together, she has to decide how much of her life she is willing to let go for the chance to be with him. And when a shocking revelation threatens to shatter their relationship, she is forced to question if she has ever known herself at all.
Dazzlingly opulent and emotionally riveting, Anna K.: A Love Story is a brilliant reimagining of Leo Tolstoy’s timeless love story, Anna Karenina―but above all, it is a novel about the dizzying, glorious, heart-stopping experience of first love and first heartbreak.
Quick summary: Magical realism, crows invading a town, with sisterhood bonds and impact of domestic violence
Release date: March 3
Goodreadsblurb: Perfect for fans of Laura Ruby, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Mindy McGinnis, Kyrie McCauley’s stunning YA debut is a powerful story about the haunting specter of domestic violence and the rebellious forces of sisterhood and first love.
Tens of thousands of crows invading Auburn, Pennsylvania, is a problem for everyone in town except seventeen-year-old Leighton Barnes. For Leighton, it’s no stranger than her house, which inexplicably repairs itself every time her father loses his temper and breaks things.
Leighton doesn’t have time for the crows–it’s her senior year, and acceptance to her dream college is finally within reach. But grabbing that lifeline means abandoning her sisters, a choice she’s not ready to face.
With her father’s rage worsening and the town in chaos over the crows, Leighton allows herself a chance at happiness with Liam, her charming classmate, even though falling in love feels like a revolutionary act.
Balancing school, dating, and survival under the shadow of sixty thousand feathered wings starts to feel almost comfortable, but Leighton knows that this fragile equilibrium can only last so long before it shatters.
Quick summary: Mental health and suicide, trying to find out why a family member took their own life
Release date: March 5
Goodreads blurb: An emotionally rich and current story of suicide, mental health, bullying, grief and growing up around social media.
When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart. Al was special. Al was talented. Al was full of passion and light…so why did he do it? Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan begins to retrace his footsteps. And along the way, he meets Megan. Al’s former classmate, who burns with the same fire and hope, who is determined to keep Al’s memory alive. But when Nathan learns the horrifying truth behind his brother’s suicide, one question remains – how do you survive, when you’re growing up in the age of social media?
Quick summary: After Starfish I will read anything by Akemi, including this amazing circus runaway story
Release date: March 10
Goodreadsblurb: Harley Milano has dreamed of being a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember. With parents who run a famous circus in Las Vegas, she spends almost every night in the big top watching their lead aerialist perform, wishing with all her soul that she could be up there herself one day.
After a huge fight with her parents, who continue to insist she go to school instead, Harley leaves home, betrays her family and joins the rival traveling circus Maison du Mystère. There, she is thrust into a world that is both brutal and beautiful, where she learns the value of hard work, passion and collaboration. But at the same time, Harley must come to terms with the truth of her family and her past—and reckon with the sacrifices she made and the people she hurt in order to follow her dreams.
Quick summary: Complicated process of discovering your sexuality after hooking up with friend
Release date: March 31
Goodreads blurb: Nandan’s got a plan to make his junior year perfect. He’s going to make sure all the parties are chill, he’s going to smooth things over with his ex, and he’s going to help his friend Dave get into the popular crowd—whether Dave wants to or not. The high school social scene might be complicated, but Nandan is sure he’s cracked the code.
Then, one night after a party, Dave and Nandan hook up, which was not part of the plan—especially because Nandan has never been into guys. Still, Dave’s cool, and Nandan’s willing to give it a shot, even if that means everyone starts to see him differently.
But while Dave takes to their new relationship with ease, Nandan’s completely out of his depth. And the more his anxiety grows about what his sexuality means for himself, his friends, and his social life, the more he wonders whether he can just take it all back. But is breaking up with the only person who’s ever really gotten him worth feeling “normal” again?
From Rahul Kanakia comes a raw and deeply felt story about rejecting labels, seeking connection, and finding yourself.
Quick summary: Part contemporary, part historical, elements of mystery, I would read anything by Samira after the absolute incredibleness of Internment
Release date: April 7
Goodreadsblurb: Told in alternating narratives that bridge centuries, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed traces the lives of two young women fighting to write their own stories and escape the pressure of familial burdens and cultural expectations in worlds too long defined by men.
It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet—American, French, Indian, Muslim—is at a crossroads. This holiday with her professor parents should be a dream trip for the budding art historian. But her maybe-ex-boyfriend is probably ghosting her, she might have just blown her chance at getting into her dream college, and now all she really wants is to be back home in Chicago figuring out her messy life instead of brooding in the City of Light.
Two hundred years before Khayyam’s summer of discontent, Leila is struggling to survive and keep her true love hidden from the Pasha who has “gifted” her with favored status in his harem. In the present day—and with the company of a descendant of Alexandre Dumas—Khayyam begins to connect allusions to an enigmatic 19th-century Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Lord Byron.
Echoing across centuries, Leila and Khayyam’s lives intertwine, and as one woman’s long-forgotten life is uncovered, another’s is transformed.
Quick summary: Aftermath of a tsunami, two sisters trying to recover from the loss of their parents.
Release date: April 7
Goodreadsblurb: One wave: that’s all it takes for the rest of Mae and Hannah Winters’ lives to change.
When a tsunami strikes the island where their parents are vacationing, it soon becomes clear that their mom and dad are never coming home. Forced to move to Boston from sunny California for the rest of their senior year, each girl struggles with secrets their parents’ death has brought to light, and with their uncertainty about the future. Instead of bringing them closer, it feels like the wave has torn the sisters apart.
Hannah is a secret poet who wants to be seen, but only knows how to hide. The pain pills she stole from her dead father hurl her onto the shores of an addiction she can’t shake and a dealer who turns her heart upside down. When it’s clear Hannah’s drowning, Mae, a budding astronaut suddenly launched into an existential crisis—and unexpected love—must choose between herself and the only family she has left.
Little Universes is a book about the powerful bond between sisters, the kinds of love that never die, and the journey we all must make through the baffling cruelty and unexpected beauty of human life in an incomprehensible universe.
Quick summary: A love triangle with only two people – and their online personna; and a cupcake book blog!
Release date: April 7
Goodreadsblurb: Can a love triangle have only two people in it? Online, it can…but in the real world, it’s more complicated. In this debut novel that’s perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Morgan Matson, Marisa Kanter hilariously and poignantly explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.
Is it still a love triangle if there are only two people in it?
There are a million things that Halle Levitt likes about her online best friend, Nash.
He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…
Except who she really is.
Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.
That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.
Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.
If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels.
Quick summary: Thriller contemporary about a girl taking down a clique of mean girls – this sounds so much like Mean Girls the film and I am so here for it
Release date: April 28
Goodreadsblurb: Pretty Little Liars meets Burn for Burn in this thrilling debut from Wattpad star Ann Valett.
Chloe Whittaker is out for revenge. Last year her best friend Monica’s life was unceremoniously ruined by the most popular students at their high school, so this year Chloe plans to take each and every one of them down. She traded her jeans and T-shirts for the latest designer clothes, deleted everything on social media that would tie her to Monica (and blow her cover), and carefully devised a way to befriend the members of the popular clique. Now all that’s left to do is uncover their deepest, darkest secrets and reveal them to the world.
Chloe has the perfect plan…that is, until she begins to fall for one of the people she’s determined to destroy.
Quick summary: ACE PROTAGONIST, coming of age, journey to self-acceptance
Genres: Contemporary, young adult
Release date: April 30
Goodreads blurb: The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman – one of the most authentic and talked-about voices in contemporary YA.
Georgia feels loveless – in the romantic sense, anyway. She’s eighteen, never been in a relationship, or even had a crush on a single person in her whole life. She thinks she’s an anomaly, people call her weird, and she feels a little broken. But she still adores romance – weddings, fan fiction, and happily ever afters. She knows she’ll find her person one day … right?
After a disastrous summer, Georgia is now at university, hundreds of miles from home. She is more determined than ever to find love – and her annoying roommate, Rooney, is a bit of a love expert, so perhaps she can help.
But maybe Georgia just doesn’t feel that way about guys. Or girls. Or anyone at all. Maybe that’s okay. Maybe she can find happiness without falling in love. And maybe Rooney is a little more loveless than she first appears.
LOVELESS is a journey of identity, self-acceptance, and finding out how many different types of love there really are. And that no one is really loveless after all.
Quick summary: Mediaeval themed restaurant who only get boys dress up knights so let’s fight the fucking patriarchy yaaaaaassss
Release date: May 5
Goodreads blurb: Moxie meets A Knight’s Tale as Kit Sweetly slays sexism, bad bosses, and bad luck to become a knight at a medieval-themed restaurant.
Working as a wench―i.e. waitress―at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood, so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.
Company policy allows only guys to be knights. So when Kit takes her brother’s place and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But the Girl Knight won’t go down without a fight. As other wenches join her quest, a protest forms. In a joust before Castle executives, they’ll prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval―if they don’t get fired first.
Quick summary: Verse novel from contemporary queen Elizabeth Acevdeo
Release date: May 14
Goodreadsblurb: Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…
In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.
Separated by distance – and Papi’s secrets – the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
Papi’s death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now, Camino and Yahaira are both left to grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now take to keep their dreams alive.
In a dual narrative novel in verse that brims with both grief and love, award-winning and bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives
Quick summary: Romance between Hollywood showrunner and her assistant when media declare them a couple
Genres: Contemporary, romance, adult
Release date: May 26
Goodreads blurb: A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance.
Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn’t come at a worse time—threatening Emma’s promotion and Jo’s new movie.
As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a “source” is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is “no comment”.
With the launch of Jo’s film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all…but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames?
Quick summary: Enemies-to-lovers f/f romcom in the fanfic community
Genres: Contemporary, romance
Release date: May 26
Goodreads blurb: For fans of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and Fangirl, I Kissed Alice is a romantic comedy about enemies, lovers, and everything in between.
Rhodes and Iliana couldn’t be more different, but that’s not why they hate each other.
Hyper-gifted artist Rhodes has always excelled at Alabama’s Conservatory of the Arts despite a secret bout of creator’s block, while transfer student Iliana tries to outshine everyone with her intense, competitive work ethic. Since only one of them can get the coveted Capstone scholarship, the competition between them is fierce.
They both escape the pressure on a fanfic site where they are unknowingly collaborating on a graphic novel. And despite being worst enemies in real life, their anonymous online identities I-Kissed-Alice and Curious-in-Cheshire are starting to like each other…a lot. When the truth comes out, will they destroy each other’s future?
Quick summary: Queer girl falls in love with the competition for prom queen
Genres: Contemporary, romance, young adult
Release date: June 2
Goodreads blurb: Becky Albertalli meets Jenny Han in a smart, hilarious, black girl magic, own voices rom-com by a staggeringly talented new writer.
Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay — Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down . . . until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.
The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?
Quick summary: Feminist novel set within mock trial teams, with a side of knitting
Genres: Contemporary, young adult
Release date: June 2
Goodreads blurb: A story of mock trial, feminism, and the inherent power found in a pair of knitting needles.
Raina Petree is crushing her senior year, until her boyfriend dumps her, the drama club (basically) dumps her, the college of her dreams slips away, and her arch-nemesis triumphs.
Things aren’t much better for Millie Goodwin. Her father treats her like a servant, and the all-boy Mock Trial team votes her out, even after she spent the last three years helping to build its success.
But then, an advice columnist unexpectedly helps Raina find new purpose in a pair of knitting needles and a politically active local yarn store. This leads to an unlikely meeting in the girls’ bathroom, where Raina inspires Millie to start a rival team. The two join together and recruit four other angry girls to not only take on Mock Trial, but to smash the patriarchy in the process.
Quick summary: Binding agreement to have a romance only for a summer….what could possibly go wrong?!
Genres: Contemporary, romance
Release date: June 9
Goodreads blurb: Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out.
But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.
Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real.
Quick summary:What a stunning cover!!! Competition to be the next K-Pop star!
Release date: June 16
Goodreadsblurb: The world of K-Pop has never met a star like this. Debut author Lyla Lee delivers a deliciously fun, thoughtful rom-com celebrating confidence and body positivity—perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Julie Murphy.
Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her.
She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else.
When Skye nails her audition, she’s immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn’t count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho.
But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition—without losing herself.
Quick summary: Kinda makes me think of a YA Red, White & Royal Blue? Sons of two presedential candidates falling in love.
Genres: Contemporary, romance
Release date: July 21
Goodreads blurb: David Linker at HarperCollins has bought We Are the Ants author Shaun David Hutchinson‘s The State of Us, the story of Dean and Dre—the 16-year-old sons of the Republican and Democratic candidates for President of the United States—who fall in love on the sidelines of their parents’ presidential campaigns. The book is planned for summer 2020; Katie Shea Boutillier at Donald Maass Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Quick summary: Contemporary thriller about unwanted attention – and what a killer cover!
Release date: September 1
Goodreadsblurb: A teen girl’s summer with her mother turns sinister in this gripping thriller about the insidious dangers of unwanted attention, from Printz Honor medal–winning and National Book Award finalist author Deb Caletti—perfect for fans of Courtney Summers’s Sadie.
Sydney Reilly has a bad feeling about going home to San Francisco before she even gets on the plane. How could she not? Her mother is Lila Shore—the Lila Shore—a film star who prizes her beauty and male attention above all else…certainly above her daughter.
But Sydney’s worries multiply when she discovers that Lila is involved with the dangerous Jake, an art dealer with shady connections. Jake loves all beautiful objects, and Syndey can feel his eyes on her whenever he’s around. And he’s not the only one. Sydney is starting to attract attention—good and bad—wherever she goes: from sweet, handsome Nicco Ricci, from the unsettling construction worker next door, and even from Lila. Behaviors that once seemed like misunderstandings begin to feel like threats as the summer grows longer and hotter.
It’s unnerving, how beauty is complicated, and objects have histories, and you can be looked at without ever being seen. But real danger, crimes of passion, the kind of stuff where someone gets killed—it only mostly happens in the movies, Sydney is sure. Until the night something life-changing happens on the stairs that lead to the beach. A thrilling night that goes suddenly very wrong. When loyalties are called into question. And when Sydney learns a terrible truth: beautiful objects can break.
Quick summary: Creating a women’s pleasure focused and fighting a porn empire this sounds incredible
Release date: September 15
Goodreadsblurb: Rosie Danan’s THE ROOMMATE (previously Never Have I Ever), in which an awkward socialite gets more than she bargained for in her new roommate and the sparks that fly between them, risking their hearts and the wrath of a porn empire after they launch a website focused on women’s pleasure.
I am so impressed with all of these covers! Bookshelves everywhere are going to look stunning! Are there any contemporaries you’re looling forward to that I haven’t mentioned? I would love to know!
I am finally beginning to get back to normal after my trip so it’s time to start writing some blog posts! I desperately need a distraction from the dread that fills me when I think about going back to work on Monday.
Today I’m going to chat about my 2020 reading, blogging and writing goals! 2020 will be my first full year as a blogger, as I only started in May last year, and I’m so excited to continue my blog, expand into bookstagram and actually (I really really mean it this time) finish writing my book… To help with all this, I’m putting down my explicit goals for the year to help keep me in line!
Blogging goals
Bookstagram
I have officially started a Bookstagram! I won’t lie, I feel like such a beginner at Bookstagram. I’m still trying to figure out what themes are and how to use hashtags best. But I would absolutely love a follow, you can find me on there at anxiousnachos. I promise I’ll improve!
Reviewing
I want to review at least 60% of the books I read – and ALL of the 2020 releases I read. My 2020 TBR looks amazing, there is so much diversity this year and I really want to celebrate these authors!
Bullet journal
Okay so last year I bought a bullet journal and did practically nothing with it except organise new books publishing that I wanted to keep track of. This year I want to really get more into using my bullet journal more to assist with both my blog/reading and day to day life. I really don’t know where to start though. If you have any tips or tricks, I’d love to hear them!
Reading goals
My targets
In 2019, I managed to read 109 books, which I think might be my most ever. So, this year I’m aiming for 100 to continue to challenge myself and read as many books as possible. I’m going to be using Kal’s (Reader Voracious) wonderful spreadsheet to keep track of all my reads.
Year of the Asian Reading Challenge (YARC 2020)
Another super exciting goal for the year is participating in the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge! This readathon is a year-long readathon hosted by Lily (Sprinkles of Dreams), CW (The Quiet Pond), Shealea (Shut Up Shealea) and Vicky (Vicky Who Reads)! You can follow them here:
The goal of this readathon is to read as many books by Asian authors as possible. Each month, the hosts will give some reading prompts for a more challenging readathon, or you can just try and read whatever you want! I’m aiming for at least 30 which would give me the Malayan Tapir award! Though the Asian Elephant badge is so adorable I really want to try for that one… If you’d like to join, check out the readathon Twitter page (@YearOfTheAsian) to get all the details! Or, you can check out any of the blogs above to see all the sign up info (e.g. Sprinkles of Dreams sign up post).
January TBR
For my January TBR, I want to get all the books I really wanted to read in December, actually read. Most of these are large fantasy tomes, several are sequels and I really need to finish them before the third books come out this year! Ideally, I’ll then have all of them out of the way by the time my January pre-orders finally make it to Australia. I also visited the library on the very first day they re-opened to collect some reservations so I have 5 library books I want to read! It will be a pretty difficult task I think, purely because of how large and heavy some of these books are but fingers crossed!
Last year, I tried to write a book. But mental health kicked my butt, my lack of outlining made life very hard and therefore I didn’t get hugely far. But this year, I am feeling reinvigorated. At the recommendation of Gabhi, I’ve got a copy of Save the Cat to help me outline, and hopefully this will make writing a lot easier. My main writing goals of the year are therefore:
To finish my angry bi pirate WIP (adult fantasy)
To start research for a queer sciencey vampire book (adult sci-fi)
To start research for my queer historical Scottish romance (adult historical – though this may end up a little fantasy as well)
To join a writing group! This will actually help me meet THREE of my New Year Resolutions: to be more social, to tackle my social anxiety, to write a book.
That’s it for my 2020 goals! Last year really sucked. But I’m hoping 2020 can be a little better for me, and I will actually make some headway towards my author dreams!
What are your goals for 2020? Let me know in the comments!
Continuing the let’s all add to our TBRs series, it’s time to get spacey. Science fiction is a genre I traditionally haven’t read much in. However, I read some absolutely epic SF books in 2019 and I hope to continue that next year! Here are some of the techy reads coming your way…
Quick summary: Thriller at an archaeological dig in a sandstorm
Release date: January 7
Goodreads blurb: The oasis saved them. But who will save them from the oasis?
Alif had exciting summer plans: working on her father’s archaeological dig site in the desert with four close friends . . . and a very cute research assistant. Then the sandstorm hit.
With their camp wiped away, Alif and the others find themselves lost on the sands, seemingly doomed . . . until they find the oasis. It has everything they need: food, water, shade—and mysterious ruins that hide a deadly secret. As reality begins to shift around them, they question what’s real and what’s a mirage.
The answers turn Alif and her friends against one another, and they begin to wonder if they’ve truly been saved. And while it was easy to walk into the oasis, it may be impossible to leave . . .
Katya de Becerra’s new supernatural thriller hides a mystery in plain sight, and will keep you guessing right up to its terrifying conclusion.
Quick summary: Dreams can become reality, what happens when you’re left behind?
Genres: Science fiction, adult
Release date: January 21
Goodreads blurb: A blend of searing social commentary and speculative fiction, Chana Porter’s fresh, pointed debut is perfect for fans of Jeff VanderMeer and Carmen Maria Machado.
Trina Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible.
Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated.
Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.
Goodreads blurb: Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, only has one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin?
But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one that got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now, he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg Season, she finds herself falling for her first love in a game of love, lies, and past regrets.
Quick summary: God I love virus novels. Here for this trope.
Release date: February 4
Goodreads blurb: What I know: a student in my school will one day wipe out two-thirds of the population with a virus.
What I don’t know: who it is.
In a race against the clock, I not only have to figure out their identity, but I’ll have to outwit a voice from the future telling me to kill them. Because I’m starting to realize no one is telling the truth. But how can I play chess with someone who already knows the outcome of my every move? Someone so filled with malice she’s lost all hope in humanity? Well, I’ll just have to find a way―because now she’s drawn a target on the only boy I’ve ever loved…
Quick summary: Alien born in a lab, with feelings and forbidden creativity
Release date: February 25
Goodreads blurb: Don’t miss this spectacular debut novel… Can a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves forbidden pop music work together to save humanity? This road trip is truly out of this world! A beautiful and thrilling read for fans of Marie Lu and Veronica Roth.
Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.
Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.
Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.
Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.
Goodreads blurb: Business is booming for Prudence Wu.
A black-market-media smuggler and scholarship student at the prestigious New Columbia Preparatory Academy, Pru is lucky to live in the Barricade Coalition where she is free to study, read, watch, and listen to whatever she wants. But between essays and exams, she chooses to spend her breaks sweet-talking border patrol with her best friend, Anabel, in order to sell banned media to the less fortunate citizens of the United Continental Confederacy, Inc.
When a drop-off goes awry, Pru narrowly escapes UCC enforcers to find that her rescuer is, of all things, a sentient cybernetic dragon. On the one hand, Pru is lucky not to be in prison, or worse. On the other, the dragon seems to have imprinted on her permanently, which means she has no choice but to be its pilot.
Drawn into a revolution she has no real interest in leading, Pru, Anabel, and friends Alex and Cat become key players in a brewing conflict with the UCC as the corporate government develops advanced weaponry more terrifying and grotesque than Pru could have ever imagined.
Goodreads blurb: When an elderly customer at a big box furniture store slips through a portal to another dimension, it’s up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company’s bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but our two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago.
Can friendship blossom from the ashes of a relationship? In infinite dimensions, all things are possible.
Quick summary: Military competition to see who’s the best at boarding ships and other space military things
Genres: Military science fiction
Release date: March 3
Goodreads blurb: The book centers on the rivalry between military branches, which plays out through the Boarding Games—a competition pitting service members against each other to see just who is best in events like tactical problem is solving, piloting, fencing and martial arts, and, of course, boarding actions. And while other military science fiction features the exploration and defense of far-flung reaches of space, the Neo-G protects the area closer to home—a force we could very well see in our own lifetime. Made up of a band of retired veterans and raw recruits with sub-par equipment and the scorn of the military establishment, the NEO-G are the ultimate underdogs.
The first book in the NEO-G series comes out in hardcover in Spring 2020 from Harper Voyager, starting with A Pale Light in the Black. There are currently two books planned in the series, with the option to continue.
Quick summary: Pilot falls for heir to galactic Empire and most choose rebellion or the empire
Release date: April 7
Goodreads blurb: A young pilot risks everything to save his best friend–the man he trusts most and might even love–only to learn that he’s secretly the heir to a brutal galactic empire.
Ettian Nassun’s life was shattered when the merciless Umber Empire invaded. He’s spent seven years putting himself back together under its rule, joining an Umber military academy and becoming the best pilot in his class. Even better, he’s met Gal Veres–his exasperating and infuriatingly enticing roommate who’s made the Academy feel like a new home.
But when dozens of classmates spring an assassination plot on Gal, a devastating secret comes to light: Gal is the heir to the Umber Empire. Ettian barely manages to save his best friend and flee the compromised Academy unscathed, rattled both that Gal stands to inherit the empire that broke him and that there are still people willing to fight back against Umber rule. As they piece together a way to deliver Gal safely to his throne, Ettian finds himself torn in half by an impossible choice. Does he save the man who’s won his heart and trust that Gal’s goodness could transform the empire? Or does he throw his lot in with the brewing rebellion and fight to take back what’s rightfully theirs?
Quick summary: Shit this sounds good, like a cross between Becky Chambers and Emma Newman: space thriller when trying to find livable new planet
Release date: April 30
Goodreads blurb: Ravaged by environmental disaster, greed and oppression, our planet is in crisis. The future of humanity hangs in the balance – and one woman can tip it over.
Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth, Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation.
It’s humanity’s last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie’s surrogate daughter and the ship’s botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this – to step out of Valerie’s shadow and really make a difference.
But when things start going wrong on the ship, Naomi starts to suspect that someone on board is concealing a terrible secret – and realises time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared . . .
This is Station Eleven meets The Martian – a bold and thought-provoking new high-concept thriller.
Goodreads blurb: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games.
Quick summary: Genetically engineered humans to cure diseases
Release date: June 16
Goodreads blurb: Sixteen-year-old Nate is a GEM—Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue created by the scientists of Gathos City as a cure for the elite from the fatal lung rot ravaging the population. As a child, he was smuggled out of the laboratory where he was held captive and into the Withers—a quarantined, lawless region. Nate manages to survive by using his engineering skills to become a Tinker, fixing broken tech in exchange for food or a safe place to sleep. When he meets Reed, a kind and fiercely protective boy that makes his heart race, and his misfit gang of scavengers, Nate finds the family he’s always longed for—even if he can’t risk telling them what he is.
But Gathos created a genetic failsafe in their GEMs—a flaw that causes their health to rapidly deteriorate as they age unless they are regularly dosed with medication controlled by Gathos City. As Nate’s health declines, his hard-won freedom is put in jeopardy. Violence erupts across the Withers, his illegal supply of medicine is cut off, and a vicious attack on Reed threatens to expose his secret. With time running out, Nate is left with only two options: work for a shadowy terrorist organization that has the means to keep him alive, or stay — and die — with the boy he loves.
Quick summary: I adore technology seen as gods years in the future trope
Release date: June 30
Goodreads blurb: Andra wakes up from a cryogenic sleep 1,000 years later than she was supposed to, forcing her to team up with an exiled prince to navigate an unfamiliar planet in this smart, thrilling sci-fi adventure, perfect for fans of Renegades and Aurora Rising.
When Andra wakes up, she’s drowning.
Not only that, but she’s in a hot, dirty cave, it’s the year 3102, and everyone keeps calling her Goddess. When Andra went into a cryonic sleep for a trip across the galaxy, she expected to wake up in a hundred years, not a thousand. Worst of all, the rest of the colonists–including her family and friends–are dead. They died centuries ago, and for some reason, their descendants think Andra’s a deity. She knows she’s nothing special, but she’ll play along if it means she can figure out why she was left in stasis and how to get back to Earth.
Zhade, the exiled bastard prince of Eerensed, has other plans. Four years ago, the sleeping Goddess’s glass coffin disappeared from the palace, and Zhade devoted himself to finding it. Now he’s hoping the Goddess will be the key to taking his rightful place on the throne–if he can get her to play her part, that is. Because if his people realize she doesn’t actually have the power to save their dying planet, they’ll kill her.
With a vicious monarch on the throne and a city tearing apart at the seams, Zhade and Andra might never be able to unlock the mystery of her fate, let alone find a way to unseat the king, especially since Zhade hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with Andra. And a thousand years from home, is there any way of knowing that Earth is better than the planet she’s woken to?
Goodreads blurb: Seventeen-year-old Clara is ready to fight back. Fight back against her abusive father, fight back against the only life she’s ever known, and most of all, fight back against scrabs, the earth-dwelling monsters that are currently ravaging the world. So when an opportunity arises for Clara to join an international monster-fighting squad, she jumps at the chance.
When Clara starts training with her teammates, however, she realizes what fighting monsters really means: sore muscles, exhaustion, and worst of all, death. Scrabs are unpredictable, violent, and terrifying. But as Clara gains confidence in her battle skills, she starts to realize scrabs might not be the biggest evil. The true monsters are the ones you least expect.
Quick summary: Lara Croft meets Star Wars, there needs no further summary
Release date: September 29
Goodreads blurb: Lara Croft meets Star Wars in this young adult space opera, in which a wisecracking intergalactic adventurer becomes the odds-on favorite to win a deadly, cross-galaxy contest to become the quadrant’s next emperor; too bad she has no intention of winning.
Quick summary: Queer space opera previously published on AO3
Release date: I hope Winter
Goodreads blurb: Winter’s Orbit is a queer, romantic space opera. In an unforgiving empire, a scandal-prone prince and a dutiful scholar, who are forced into a political marriage, try to prevent an interplanetary war. It’s about empire and notoriety and the media, but also about being locked in your own head. It starts with a diplomat who’s determined to endure his own private hell if that’s what duty requires of him, and it’s about what happens when the wall around him starts to crumble.
(Previously published online as Course of Honour)
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It was only when I made this list that I realised pretty much all the SF I am looking forward to is released in February, with a few books in other months, and that cannot possibly be right?!
So, please let me know the science fiction you are looking forward to reading next year! I need more sci-fi on my TBR! (Preferably not Feb, but I’ll take any recs…)
Anxious Nachos 