For the book lover, every season is a series of monthly celebrations. Christmas doesn’t stop on December 25th and ringing in the new year isn’t just about making resolutions to improve ourselves. Any moderately book-obsessed-word-owl will tell you that the world revolves around new releases and tbr piles. We live and breathe for the novels that have captured our hearts — and whatever book might come along next to woo us. Let me just say, with the covers I’ve seen so far, they are not playing games; these new releases are gorgeous and fierce and demand to be noticed.
Today, I made a list of all the Spring and Summer 2019 releases I was dying to read. By the time I finished jotting them down, I had only three thoughts on my mind:
1. Give all these gorgeous books to me NOW.
2. Wait, is it me or is my TBR pile starting to look like that giant pillar that held the Eye of Sauron!
3. How the hell am I going to read (or afford) all these books?
The truth is, I am never going to be able to buy or read all of these books at once. If history has taught me anything, it can take about 1-3 years for me to actually get around to reading books because so many come out every year and honestly….I forget about them. They become fossils in my TBR pile, buried beneath the next precious pretty. Thankfully, I’m getting better at reading what I CANNOT live without first and working my way back, but like with anything, it’s a process of trial and error. So, for the sake of this blog post, I am only focusing on books I absolutely, positively cannot wait to get my hands on.
These are the books that make my heart race whenever see them because 1) the covers are to die for and 2) the summaries are out of this world. Literally. Without futher ado, these are the 2019 releases I am freaking out over.
Top Twelve Books I Want Right Now
“Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.” – Lena Dunham
The Wicked King by Holly Black: DON’T MIND ME AS I JUMP UP AND DOWN, squealing with absolute excitement. This morning I power-walked the 1.2 miles through Downtown, Seattle, just to get my hands on this book. I’ve been informed promised the ending will stab me in the heart. Multiple times. With a SPOON.
The Cerulean by Amy Ewing: I adore this cover the way a Gollum covets the One Ring. It’s totally MY PRECIOUS and not just because of the abso-freakin-lutely gorgeous cover. Okay, maybe the cover is a huge part of it, but the plot is icing on the cake. A girl, who feels much like an outsider among her all-female society, is chosen to sacrifice her life so that their planet’s magical tether to another planet is broken and they can relocate. Except the girl miraculously survives the sacrifice…..and she’s stuck wandering the other planet, where she learns all the nightmares of her people are true *GASP* I MEAN, WHO DOESN’T WANT TO READ THIS?!
Descendants Of The Crane by Joan He: A queen of a crumbling kingdom must seek out forbidden magic to hunt down her father’s killer. With the help of an investigator with a criminal past (who is likely a hottie, fyi), the queen is willing to give anything to find out the truth, but….WILL THE COST BE TOO HIGH?
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the premise of this story. As many of you might be aware, I’ve been HANGRY for Asian-inspired young adult novels and this year is proving promising in that department. Descendants of The Crane is a Chinese-inspired fantasy and is really, really HIGH on my I-have-to-read-this-asap list.
Plus, I’ve never read anything by Joan He. So THIS IS SUPER EXCITING.
Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye: NINJAS, people. Think knighted ninjas living in a world without violence, who infiltrate a secret army camp to make a name for themselves. Lives are forever altered. This book promises all my favorite things: a rich world, lots of magic, lots of fighting, and probably a ton of betrayal. BRING IT ON, Skye.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.” – Diane Duane
Sorcery Of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson: Magic. Monsters. Conspiracies. Libraries with dark secrets. HELLOOOO. Why wouldn’t I want to read a book like that? Especially one with a cover like this?! Though I liked Rogerson’s first novel, An Enchantment of Ravens, I am hoping a smidge that A Sorcery of Thorns is a darker, more thrilling tale that brings ALL THE FEELS.
Spin The Dawn by Elizabeth Lim: I. LIVE. FOR. THIS. COVER. Okay….I live for *many* covers, but that doesn’t negate from the fact that this cover is gorgeous and likely the main reason for me wanting to read this book. Spin The Dawn is a YA fantasy sold as “Project Runway meets Mulan” in which a girl dresses as a boy and enters a contest to become a tailor in her dying father’s stead. The catch? She’s competing with twelve other tailors….all of whom are backstabbing, nosy, liars etc. Her situation, of course, is further complicated by a FORBIDDEN ROMANCE.
The Beholder by Anna Bright: Although I’m not a fan of princess stories, The Beholder sounds compelling enough to warrant a chance. It’s essentially about the only daughter of Potomac who, after suffering a public rejection, must sail abroad to find her happily ever after, but her journey is threatened by deadly secrets and the voyager might cost her more than a happy ending. Besides the cover being AMAZING, the story gives me serious vibes of Snow White and Pocahontas retelling.
Honor Bound by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre: Okay. Truth time. I STILL have to read the first book, Honor Among Thieves, but that doesn’t mean I can’t TOTALLY FREAK OUT about how utterly stunning this cover is or how alluring the plot seems. This book definitely makes up part of the roof on my TBR pile!
“I guess there are never enough books.” – John Steinbeck
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte: Theft. Conspiracies. Unexpected romance. FOUR DEAD QUEENS at the heart of it all. This thrilling mystery YA not only has the potential to keep me on the edge of my seat, but the cover’s not so bad to look at, either. Despite my consistently verbalized dislike of books with royalty anythings in them, I WANT THIS BOOK ASAP.
Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer: A Father mysteriously disappears. A magical house in the mountains. A strange wolf. Enchantments with a short ticker. AKA lots to lose and very little time. I didn’t even know this book EXISTED in the beginning. That tends to happen when so many amazing titles are being released at once, but now….I’m not letting it out of my sight!
The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen: Corruption. Fugitive royalty. An evil Queen. Crows and coins and questionable motives. The Merciful Crow almost sounds like a genderbent Snow White with a wild streak of Bardugo-styled darkness. Although the cover isn’t my favorite, the back blurb certainly dials up the intrigue, earning this puppy a place on the list.
The Girl King by Mimi Yu: THIS. BOOK. LOOKS. FRIGGIN’. AMAZING. Just saying….I love a chick with a sword on a cover. A stolen birthright. Deadly, forbidden magic. Sisters vying to be emperor. Wolfy shapeshifters. The Girl King sounds like one DELICIOUS read! AND it’s an Asian-inspired fantasy. SCORE!
Honorable Mentions
1. The Antidote by Shelly Sacier
2. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
3. White Stage by Kara Barbieri
4. We Told Six Lies by Victoria Scott
5. You Owe Me A Murder by Eileen Cook
6. The Fever Kind by Victoria Lee
7. Dragon Pearls by Yoon Ha Lee
8. The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wee
Final thoughts
For me, 2019 is the year for fantasies with modern, urban settings or rich with complex magic and eastern Asian folklore/myths/legends. I’m starving for thrilling tales, slow burn romances, and vivid worlds. Will these releases satify those cravings? Maybe. Maybe not. But I won’t know until I get my hands on them….and believe me, I WILL GET MY GRUBBY HANDS ON THEM.
I couldn’t list all the books coming out this year, because that would be a very long list and I don’t think I could realistically purchase or read them all, but this is a good place for me to sink my teeth into and kick off the year reading more and hulu-ing less.
*waves* Hallo, Hallo Ari,
I’ve been meaning to drop by your lovely bookish blog – mostly as I have been excited for the latest blog tour via Tomorrow Comes Media as it gives me a chance to find new bloggers who love #SpecFic as much as I do myself! 🙂 I love how you’ve giving me a heap of lovelies to research within the YA Fantasy genre – I’m hoping a few of them might be avail via Scribd as I’ve been trying to shift into listening to more audiobooks vs always seeking everything in print (ie. chronic migraines).
I appreciate the follow – I’ll be following you back!!
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Of this list, Descendant of the Crane is the one I especially was keen on seeing release this year – I discovered it within days of the street team having an open call-out for tweeters/bloggers. Ever since then, I’ve happily found other enthused bookish spirits in bookish Twitter chattering about their expectations and the hope they have of what they will find for themselves. Meanwhile, the one novel I want to re-queue from my library’s ILL services is actually A Mortal Song. I first discovered this whilst attempting to participate in the first #Mythothon where we were selecting stories rooted in Mythos but re-spun through Speculative Fiction. Ever since I started my journey with #Mythothon, I’ve found I have a new found love of stories of this nature – which is why I’m keenly curious about some of the stories you’ve listed here.
Have you read any of them (ie. for publishers/authors via ARCs) or are these the #mustread choices you’re awaiting pub dates!? I was curious if you had any early thoughts?
I lean on my library a heap but with Scribd I can also listen to more stories to not just offset my migraines but it lets me explore new authors I might not have been able to get as readily through my library.
I hope you’ll be bookishly museful this year!!
Here’s to us both finding a heap of #newtomeauthors to feel give us the ultimate #bookHUG!
*waves back* Konbanwa Jorie!
I love your blog! The articles are so thoughtful! My hope is to spotlight at least 5 New Releases every month in my Book Babble section…so I’m glad you’re benefiting from it!
I’ve never heard of #Mythothon. I’ll have to check it out!!
If possible, you should definitely finish A Mortal Song. It was amazing 😀 I acquired the ARC for Descendant of the Crane through Netgalley and IT’S SO WORTH IT.
Currently, I’m reading alot of new releases for publishers. I’m reading Spin The Dawn, The Waking Forest, Echo North, and Circle of Shadows. Most of these, though, I requested after this post because I couldn’t wait. I’M SO IMPATIENT! Though it’s not on the list, I recently acquired The Dysasters by P.C Cast for a tour at the end of this month and then next month, I’m doing a tour for Wicked Saints.
Because of my interest in Eastern Asian stories (it’s part of my degree) and I’m editing a story of a similar root, I’m hoping to read ALL the Asian debuts. I may be a bit biased but I’m looking forward to those the most!
King of Scars looks interesting, but I want to read (and have been encouraged to do so) the Grishaverse stories first. Leigh Bardugo (like Laini Taylor and Sarah J Maas) can be hit or miss with me….so I want to read all her other books first so I don’t miss out on the background here.
And the Wicked King was AMAZEBALLS, but it’s a second in a series. So worth it, though, if you like faerie folk who are every bit as sinister as you can hope and more 🙂
Is there a book above you think you might want to read?
Here’s to new bookish friends, new authors, and new literary adventures.
How’s everything since we last spoke?
There is an Asian reading challenge I want to participate in – except “A Mortal Song” won’t qualify for it as their promoting Asian Lit by Asian writers; which I understand but in theory, I never know truly whose writing a story as generally speaking I read descriptions of books (esp through library catalogues) and become interested in the ‘story’ before I ever know something about the person who penned it. The same with selecting stories to review by publishers – you only get a small glimpse of the plot and the direction of the story therein – so the main challenge for me is seeking out stories which will fit within their perimeters.
Thank you for your kind remarks on behalf of my blog!
I strive to share my readerly life in a conversational way whilst at the same time, I like to dig into what I love about the stories I am reading. Sometimes I offer ‘fly in the ointment’ sections about the things which just didn’t come together for me but for the most part, the best part about being a book blogger is finding others who love this journey I’m on and are on a similar one themselves.
NetGalley is out of reach for me as I can’t read digitally outside of digital audiobooks as most of the stories I’m reading for review are in print. I know a lot of bloggers who love NetGalley but I’m not one who can participate.
The cover art for “Spin the Dawn” is awe-inspiring and magnificent! Wow. Such a lush bit of imagery catching your eye with that one — I read the premise and I think that would be one I’d enjoy myself! 🙂
“Echo North” is unlike anything I’ve heard of previously,.. makes me curious about how it is knitted together.
These were the two which stood out from your current reads,… I need to take more time to look into the rest on this list; as I’m eyeing the book I’m reading tonight. I’ll come back when I have another ‘break’ and can dig more into the plots and see which of them sways my bookish heart the most!
The last two you’ve mentioned I’ve seen a lot of bloggers discussing recently — “The Folk of the Air” series and “King of Scars” — I need to tuck into their reviews and see if those would be a good fit for me or not. Sometimes I yield on realising not all the most beloved books are ones I’d enjoy myself. Sometimes I’m on the opposite side of that popularity fence and tuck in more with Indie authors or lesser known series.
Til soon, new friend!
Everything is great! Not sure if you know this, but my blog is getting ready to rebrand and I’m working on getting everything together for that. I’ve decided that I’m going to read all the Asian books, whether by Asian authors or not. I simply love the stories and will judge them by that over race any day 🙂 Maybe I’ll just make my own challenge and go with that! Maybe I’ll call it #YOAS (Year Of Asian Stories) if that isn’t taken.
Thanks so much for checking in again 😀
Ever since I spoke to you about this topic I had a change of heart myself. What really bothered me is that when I tweeted them about A Mortal Song they ignored the tweet as I was trying to say in my own abbrev way (as its a *tweet!*) how frustrating it was that they were discrediting stories about Asian characters and backgrounds simply because the author is of a different ethnicity.
I’ve never judged anyone by their skin colour, their ethnic origin or sexuality OR [enter whichever category] — people are people, we’re all uniquely different from one another and we make-up a beautiful melting pot of humanity.
The longer I fraught with the concept vs the reality of that readathon the more I realised it’s not for me. What if I join you? We can have our own reading challenge and do #YOAS or #YearOfAsianStories — I’d *love!* to promote that!! Of the two options – #YOAS is referencing something I don’t understand *but!* no one has used #YearOfAsianStories — I also found #YOAsianStories avail.
Just a thought,..