The year has barely started, and I already can feel my wallet crying as I look
at all the incredible books releasing this year. I read across most genres
(fantasy, contemporary, horror, etc.), and it seems like this year will be
stellar for all of them.
I’m always on the fence about preordering and buying on or near release day. I
know preorders can be wonderful for the author and for sales numbers, but I also
love walking in to an independent bookstore and finding the new releases fresh
on the shelf. After looking at the second part of my most anticipated reads of
the year, I may find myself trying out a new-to-me compromise where I preorder
from the bookstore to make sure I get them the day of release, but also pick
them up at the store, so I get the satisfaction of another visit. Regardless,
this is one incredible year for new books!
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the
wild and remote areas, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinn still perform
their magic. For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor,
orphaned, or female.
Amani Al’Hiza is all three. She’s a gifted
gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the
back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.
Then she
meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the
perfect escape route. But though she’s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk,
she never imagined she’d gallop away on mythical horse—or that it would take a
foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she
knew.
REBEL OF THE SANDS reveals what happens when a dream deferred
explodes—in the fires of rebellion, of romantic passion, and the all-consuming
inferno of a girl finally, at long last, embracing her power.
At once honest and touching, Claire Needell's debut novel is a moving look at
date rape and its aftermath, at the love and conflicts among sisters and
friends, and how these relationships can hold us together—and tear us
apart.
The gap between the Russell sisters—Jan, Erika, and Melanie—widens
as each day passes. Then, at a party full of blurred lines and blurred memories,
everything changes. Starting that night, where there should be words, there is
only angry, scared silence.
And in the aftermath, Jan, Erika, and Melanie
will have to work hard to reconnect and help one another heal.
The Word
for Yes will inspire necessary conversation about a topical and important issue
facing our society. The book includes a thoughtful author's note that provides
resources for readers.
For fans of The Maze Runner and The Fifth Wave, this debut YA novel from Hugo
Award winner Will McIntosh pits four underprivileged teens against an evil
billionaire in the race of a lifetime.
Sully is a sphere dealer at a
flea market. It doesn’t pay much—Alex Holliday’s stores have muscled out most of
the independent sellers—but it helps him and his mom make the rent. No one knows
where the brilliant-colored spheres came from. One day they were just there,
hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a
little better: an inch taller, skilled at math, better-looking. The rarer the
sphere, the greater the improvement—and the more expensive the
sphere.
When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding
spheres, the two start searching together. One day they find a Gold—a color no
one has ever seen. And when Alex Holliday learns what they have, he will go to
any lengths, will use all of his wealth and power, to take it from them. There’s
no question the Gold is priceless, but what does it actually do? None of them is
aware of it yet, but the fate of the world rests on this little golden orb.
Because all the world fights over the spheres, but no one knows where they come
from, what their powers are, or why they’re here.
Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to
her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a
virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward fumbling first times over with,
and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first
time-the kind Mercedes never had herself.
Keeping what goes on in her
bedroom a secret has been easy - so far. Her mother isn't home nearly enough to
know about Mercedes' extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best
friend, Angela, won't even say the word "sex" until she gets married. But
Mercedes doesn't bank on Angela's boyfriend finding out about her services and
wanting a turn - or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she
can do in bed.
When Mercedes' perfect system falls apart, she has to find
a way to salvage her own reputation -and figure out where her heart really
belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's
Firsts is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.
As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by
limits: by her duties as a member of the royal family, by a forced betrothal to
the son of a nobleman, and by the edge of the only world she's ever known—a
small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by
humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what's left of mankind, the wick
and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix,
whose magic keeps them aloft.
When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom
and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on
the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named
Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks
and other terrifying creatures. But the more time she spends on earth, the more
dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more
resolute she is to start burning for herself.
What books are on your list to buy?
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