2021 Anticipated Reads

Okay y’all, strap in because I have over 100 books on my list and I’m shit at making choices so I’m just including them all. I’ve organized them by release date, and within that, by genre (if applicable). I’ve included links to the top of particular months, so that things are easily skippable if you’re not interested, and I tried to include just a sentence or two about why I’m excited for them, and then linked to the full summaries. You can also see the full list, plus any I add later on, in this spreadsheet. (A big caveat that all of the release dates were correct at the original time of writing this, but as happened throughout much of 2020, it’s possible they will change. I’ll update the spreadsheet when I know of those.)

And away. We. Go.

January  |  February  |  March  |  April  |  May  |  June  |  July  |  August  |  September

I’m going to start with a few that don’t have release dates yet, beyond 2021. The first is an anthology, edited by Dahlia Adler. Last year, or maybe 2018, she did a collection of Edgar Allen Poe retellings, and this one is Shakespeare. It’s called That Way Madness Lies: 15 of Shakespeare’s Most Notable Works Reimagined. 

And the first of two classics retellings on this list, A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by CB Lee, a YA reimagining featuring two intrepid girls hunting for a treasure on the deadly high seas.

January

January 5

I was lucky enough to receive an e-arc of One of the Good Ones by sister author duo Maika and Maritza Moulite. Their debut—Dear Haiti, Love Alaine—came out in 2019 and while I haven’t read it, I’ve heard good things. This is a YA contemporary that’s pitched as The Hate U Give meets Get Out. Teen activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed after attending a social justice rally, and when her sisters Happi and Genny set out to find answers, they encounter more than they ever could have bargained for.

And another YA contemporary is When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris. Jay Murphy’s sister Nic has gone missing and the police aren’t looking for her, so he takes matters into his own hands.

One of my top anticipated for the year is Persephone Station by Stina Leicht. It’s a queer space opera for fans of the Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop about Rosie, who owns a bar that caters to space criminals and mercenaries.

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour is for fans of Sorry to Bother You and Wolf of Wall Street and is a satirical debut novel about a young man who is given a shot at stardom as the only Black salesman at a cult-like startup where nothing is as it seems.

City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda is a middle grade from the partially Disney-funded Rick Riordan Presents imprint. I’m on a mission to read all of these because I love Rick Riordan, I love how he’s using his clout to publish stories from non-western mythologies, and this one is based on ancient Mesopotamian so I’m into it.

And last for this week, Lore by Alexandra Bracken. The cover is what initially caught my attention—that’s a theme you’ll notice a lot today—but I do love anything mythologically based (see above). This is about the Agon, a time when nine Greek gods are forced to walk the Earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines to seize their power, and of Lore Perseous, of the aforementioned ancient bloodlines who gets dragged back into the hunt she left behind after her family’s slaughter.

January 12

The sixth book in the Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire, Across the Green Grass Fields, will be out. These are a series of novellas about a found family of misfits who left our realm through doors and then got kicked back out of those new worlds and now must cope with the loss. Word is the new one’s a standalone for the horse girls, and I’m so stoked for it.

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink is a YA historical fiction about 17-year-old Isaiah and 16-year-old Angel, who never really paid much attention to each other until they both get jobs with the mobile library. But everything changes when a white mob destroys their city during the Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa in 1921. This one’s going to be hard to read, but I’m looking forward to getting into the story.

Then we’ve got The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner. Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt—again. Delly fast-talks her way into a job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins. I mean, what’s not to like?

For readers of Elizabeth Acevedo and Nikki Grimes comes a novel in verse from Mahogany L. Browne, Chlorine Sky, about a young girl coming of age, about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend. I love a good novel in verse, and there aren’t enough stories about friend breakups.

And a YA romance sold as To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets Save the Date. In The Meet-Cute Project by Rhiannon Richardson, Mia’s friends love romcoms, but she hates them. However, she’s willing to do anything—including indulge her friends in a project to contrive a “meet-cute”— to find a date for her bridezilla sister’s wedding in this sweet, hijinks-filled teen romcom. Did the word “romcom” in there several times explain why I’m excited about this one?

January 19

Here’s the first nonfiction for the year: The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura. It’s a new biography of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the US to earn her MD in 1849, and her sister Emily Blackwell, and their struggles to have their visionary work recognized in their time. Honestly, right up my alley – women and history.

Rise of the Red Hand by Olivia Chadha looks at a portrayal of the future of climate change in South Asia. A streetrat turned revolutionary, Ashiva, and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician, Riz-Ali, try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia. It sounds terrifying, but also really interesting, which is the center of a Venn diagram that appeals to me.

The first in a middle grade trilogy, pitched as Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black (need I say more?), Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston is about Amari, who finds a ticking briefcase in her missing brother’s closet, containing an invitation for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. She’s certain the mysterious organization holds the key to finding her brother, so she competes for a spot.

By Malinda Lo, author of the Cinderella retelling Ash, is Last Night at the Telegraph Club. This queer historical fiction is set in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1950s, when Lily and Kathleen meet under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club, and risk freedom, family, and life to pursue their blooming love. I haven’t read Ash, though I think I have an e-version if on one of my devices, but I’ve heard good things about Lo’s writing, and I’m loving queer stories right now. (That will also emerge as a theme on this list…)

January 26

Patience & Esther: An Edwardian Romance is a graphic novel form S.W. Searle, a queer period romance about a parlor maid and a lady’s maid who fall in love. I’ve been really enjoying graphic novels, and I think this is going to be adorable.

Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy have written a fun, humorous guide to creating a podcast called Everyone Has a Podcast (Except You): A How-to Guide from the First Family of Podcasting. Though I’ve toyed with it before, I’m not on the verge of starting a podcast, I just want to support all their endeavors and I think it’ll be funny.

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe isn’t even out yet, and it’s already been confirmed for a film version starring Millie Bobby Brown. It’s about, Nora, the daughter of a con artist who is taken hostage in a bank heist—unfortunately, in the company of her ex-boyfriend, who walked in on her with her new girlfriend, who he didn’t know about. And presumably neither of them know about her complicated past. Things are going to get awkward. I love criminal women, I love messy situations, I’m hoping this is going to be great.

The first of two new books from Rachel Lynn Solomon—who is a Seattle-based author!—coming out next year that I’m really looking forward to: The Ex Talk. Shay, a producer at a Seattle radio show, clashes with the new host, Dominic. When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay recommends a show for exes to give relationship advice, and things get all tangled up when her boss says she and Dominic would be the perfect co-hosts because they already hate each other. The deception leads to real feelings. I love it.

February

February 2

Well, we made it through January, but there are NINE books coming out on February 2 on my list, so hold onto your butts.

Another nonfiction about women and history, this one about the women who helped build the roads, coincidentally titled Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad by Chris Enss. I’m not 100% it’s going to come together the way I’d hope, but I’m looking forward to finding it. It’s about all of the women who worked on the railroad, not physically helping to build it but helping make it happen.

This one feels like it was written specifically for me? Not that I’m so unique, there are lots of other people who have the same intersection of interests. It’s called Much Ado About You by Samantha Young. Thirty-three-year-old Evangeline’s life in Chicago is missing something, and when she’s passed over fora  promotion at work, she plans a holiday to a quaint English town that includes a temporary job at Much Ado About Books. Once there, she meets Roane Robson, a sexy farmer. I will be just shy of 33, I love books, I love quaint English towns, and I love sexy farmers. Sign me up.

I’ve been seeing more books categorized as historical fantasy, and A History of What Comes Next from Sylvain Neuvel is one of them. Set in the 1940s, it’s a satirical look at first contact with alien life. Also, it’s from Tor and I trust 99% of what they’re putting out there in the world.

Love Is a Revolution by Renee Watson is a new YA love story about “not only a romantic relationship but how a girl finds herself and falls in love with who she really is.” That’s cheesy as heck, and I eat that shit up. Plus, the cover is beautiful, and there’s plus-size rep. Nala falls instantly in love with Tye at an open mic night, and she tells a little lie when she finds out he’s an activist…and then she tells a few more little lies…As she tries to keep up with her lies, and falls deeper in love, she finds out about the ways that love is hard, and how self-love is revolutionary.

Do you want to read a YA time travel novel? How about one where a boy gets a liver transplant and then can suddenly travel through time? Yeah, that one got me too. This is Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson. It’s unexpected when Andre wakes up in 1969, and even more unexpected when he meets Michael, and starts to have feelings for him. Then he wakes back up in modern-day Boston again, and meets the brother of his donor, who has to explain the time travel—and also is maybe another potential love interest? Again, I love mess.

Here’s another historical fantasy, said to be American Royals meets Winner’s Circle: Muse by Brittany Cavallaro. The year is 1893 and war is brewing in the First American Kingdom. Claire Emerson’s father is an inventor, and she’s seen as a muse. Her friend wants her to help the resistance who are fighting for a woman leader, but then she gets kidnapped by Governor Remy Duchamp who also believes that her touch can bestow powers upon him.

For fans of The Wilder Girls, What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo is a dark and thrilling novel about a girl who returns home to her wild family after years of estrangement and has to try to fit in. It’s a debut gothic fantasy, and I’ve been very into gothic novels lately.

I’m not usually much for thrillers, but it really depends on the story. This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey is a YA thriller—Black Mirror meets My So Called Life—Jess is trying to get through her junior year of high school, but her hometown of Swickley gets weirder by the day. Half the population has been struck by a weird flu, and then one day, a sleek black device, with an apple logo on it, falls out of her best friend’s backpack. The only problem is, it’s 1998, and the first iPhone won’t exist for another nine years. I’m hooked, man.

And last but not least for this release date is Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado. This is a YA contemporary about, you guessed it, Charlie Vega. She’s a lot of things: smart, funny, artistic, fat. Her mom has a problem with that last one, so there’s some potential fat shaming, which I don’t love. But I’m hoping that Charlie gets to a better relationship with her mom, and really the book is more about the boy who asks her out—until she finds out that Brian asked out her slim, popular, athletic best friend first.

February 9

Then we’ve got an historical romance, A Lady’s Formula for Love by Elizabeth Everett. Set in Victorian England, Lady Violet starts a clandestine society for female scientists, falls for her bodyguard, and then has her life and work threatened. I’m a sucker for historical romance, though I’m having a hard time with them recently because I don’t like possessive male leads, but I’m hoping this one will be better for me.

This is one of the many books on this list that was supposed to come out in 2020, but it got pushed. But just look at this cover. A debut immersive fantasy by Namina Forna, The Gilded Ones is apparently for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther. (I mean, I think that’s accurate based on the book description, but I also wonder how much those are the comps because they’re also Black…Anyway…) On the day of sixteen-year-old Deka’s blood ceremony, her blood runs gold, and she has to decide if she wants to stay in her village and suffer a fate worse than death or leave and join an army of girls with gifts. Yes, please.

And another nonfiction, The Dating Divide: Race and Desire in the Era of Online Romance by Celeste Vaughan Curington, Jennifer Hickes Lundquist, and Ken-Hou Lin. It’s the first comprehensive look at “digital-sexual racism,” and although I’m not an online dater—no shade—I think this is going to be fascinating and also help recognize this new form of bias.

February 16

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Sarah Gailey’s work, I have Magic for Liars and Upright Women Wanted on my shelf/digital shelf waiting to be read, and I’m ready to add a third. Plus, this one sounds amazing. The Echo Wife is also a thriller, about a woman whose clone lives with her and her husband—and is having an affair with the husband. When he ends up dead…well, I guess we’ll find out.

A new collection edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, #SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of State Violence and Public Silence is being published by Haymarket. It creates a powerful narrative of Black feminist practice and reckoning, including Black women in police violence and gender violence discourses. I’ve been really trying to invest in working on my intersectional social justice frameworks, and who better to hear more about it from than the person who coined the term?

Okay, I still need to read the middle book of this trilogy, but I read Witchmark earlier this year, and while I think there were definitely some places that could grow in Polk’s writing, I also had a really good time with it and I’d like to continue in the series. So I’m excited for the culmination of the series in Soulstar by C.L. Polk. I can’t talk too much about it, since it’s the final in the Kingston Cycle, but it’s an historical fantasy series set in a world reminiscent of Edwardian England.

February 23

I’m so excited for It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake by Claire Christian, and even more excited that I’ve got a physical arc to dive into soon, so I’ll be able to report back. It’s got bisexual rep, it’s got “women in her 30s who doesn’t have her life together” rep, so you know, perfect for me. a fresh, feel-good tale about starting over as a thirtysomething woman who’s been living life for everyone else. A story of self-discovery for the ages, Noni’s journey serves as a sparkling reminder that life is what we make of it–so why not enjoy it?

Another one from Tor is Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden, sold as a “lyrical space opera that reimagines The Little Mermaid.” And I’m sold. Literally do not need any other information.

The comp for The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith is “Inglourious Basterds meets Stranger Things.” How would those two things ever meet, you may ask yourself? Well, same. Five teen’s lives intersect as they look to make their mark in this dark and thrilling tale of power and revenge set during World War II.

A debut from Morgan Rogers, Honey Girl is about Grace, who goes on a girls trip to Vegas to celebrate earning her PhD, and oops, accidentally drunkenly marries a woman whose name she doesn’t know. Jasmine Guillory said it’s an emotional, heartfelt, charming debut, so I’m there.

A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth is a thrilling YA urban fantasy. “The Cruel Prince meets City of Bones” doesn’t really do anything for me, personally, BUT the synopsis does. It’s about four queer teens who each hold a key to the truth behind a series of murders by a serial killer in a magical version of Toronto. There’s more to it than that, but…

To round out the month, a couple of nonfiction selections. Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Female Persuasion by Tori Telfer is another about women and history, rounding up history’s notorious but often forgotten female con artists and their scams. Sounds inspirational. We love to see it.

And then a book about a topic that is getting a lot of attention these days: prison and police abolition. We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transformative Justice is by Mariame Kaba, who is one of the leaders in the field. I first became aware of her when she was on an episode of the “Call Your Girlfriend” podcast talking about abolition, and it was a revelation for me, so I’m looking forward to having a foundational text from her that I can highlight and annotate, etc.

March

March 2

We made it to March! We’re basically a third of the way through at this point, since most of the pub dates for the last quarter of 2021 are not confirmed yet.

I was perfectly okay with the way the first in this series ended, but I also loved the writing and the political intrigue, so I’m looking forward to seeing what this second installment brings. It’s A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, the sequel to A Memory Called Empire. I read the first one for Hugo voting, and it was one of my favourites. I can’t say too much about it because of the first one, but it’s a space opera with a huge amount of worldbuilding, questions about what selfhood means, and political machinations galore.

Another nonfiction about abolition, this one put together by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners, and Beth Richie. It’s called Abolition. Feminism. Now. and amplifies the analysis and theories of community organizing along with necessary historical genealogies, key internationalist learnings, and everyday practices. I really admire Angela Y. Davis, and I’ve already expressed my interest in abolition.

Like so many other books, this one was meant to come out in summer 2020 and was pushed back. I’ve had it pre-ordered since then, and am just anxiously awaiting it. It’s a queer YA romcom about two girls who start out as rivals and end up falling for each other called I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre. Emma and Sophia are both competing for a coveted first-prize trip to a film festival in LA, and then shenanigans ensue. Romantic shenanigans. I’m in.

I think I’ve thus far only read the first in this series, or maybe up to the second, but I love Deanna Raybourn and I really enjoyed the first in the series—among other reasons, the male lead is covered in tattoos, if I remember correctly, which I love in modern-day and love even more in historical mystery/romance—and this feels like a good opportunity to get caught up. It’s An Unexpected Peril, the sixth book in the Veronica Speedwell series, a historical series about Veronica who is a woman detective in the late 1800s. This one involves a mysterious murder, a princess who has disappeared, and Veronica taking the princess’s place when it’s realized that she has a noted resemblance to the princess. Yes please.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine dreams of a fresh start at college because she’s never fit in in her hometown or on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. But family tragedy strikes, and she stays to take care of her mother. She starts to fall for a boy on her brother’s hockey team, and then there’s the FBI and a lethal new drug and going undercover. As I said before, thrillers are not usually my jam, but Firekeeper’s Daughter from debut author Angeline Boulley is very intriguing to me, and I’m looking forward to reading more Indigenous authors in 2021.

What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster seems like it’s going to be really interesting and play with some forms, since it’s being described as “an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years.” But it starts out in North Carolina, with outrage over integration, and a young Black man and a young half-Latina woman who star in a play together.

Once Upon a Quinceanera by Monica Gomez-Hira is said to be perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Jane the Virgin. It’s a romcom about Carmen who performs as a party princess during a hot summer in Miami, with late-night dancing, broken hearts, second chances, and telenovela twists. I’m into it.

And I saved the one I’m most excited about for last on this Tuesday: The Conductors by Nicole Glover. It’s another historical fantasy, about Hetty Rhodes, “a magic user and former conductor on the Underground Railroad who now solves crimes in post-Civil War Philadelphia.” Say no more. And look at that cover. Gorge.

March 9

Okay, I’m so so excited about this one. It’s comped as Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but it also reminds me a bit of Sex Education with maybe a dash of The Half of It. It’s called Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales, and it’s about Darcy Phillips, a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates, and then is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex-back.

I don’t know a lot about this one, and I’ll admit it’s not really my wheelhouse. I’m sure a lot of it is going to go right over my head. But I still want to read it! I follow the author on Twitter, and it just sounds fascinating. It’s called The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. It’s about physics but it’s also about her experiences as one of fewer than 100 Black American women to earn a PhD in physics.

The third and final book in the Brown girl’s romance series from Talia Hibbert is coming out, this one called Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I liked the first one well, I liked the second one better, and I’m so stoked to read this one about youngest sister Eve Brown falling for an uptight B&B owner. I’m all about the sunshine x grumpy trope in romance recently.

I think this is another I discovered via Twitter, and another nonfiction. Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman looks at eleven female monsters from Greek mythology, providing a feminist cultural analysis of the impact on society of seeing women portrayed in this way.

“An empowering and emotional debut,” Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore is about genderqueer teen Carey Parker who is bolstered by a budding romance to audition for the role of Elpheba in their school’s production of Wicked. The audition sets off a chain reaction from Carey’s tormenter and the school administration, prompting Carey and their friends to defend their rights—and they refuse to be silenced. Queer story, with some musical theater thrown into the mix? It’s for me.

March 16

A romcom with a fake fiance plotline? Especially when the male lead is the childhood crush of the female lead? I’m a sucker for that, so I’ve got The Dating Plan from Sara Desai on my list.

March 23

Another nonfiction about women and history, When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is about four trailblazing women in the early days of television who changed the course of the field.

Whip It meets We Are Okay. And it’s from the author of a book I really enjoyed a year or so ago, Kings, Queens, and In Betweens, Tanya Boteju. Bruised is a vibrant coming-of-age story, about a teen girl navigates first love, identity, and grief when she immerses herself in the colorful, brutal, beautiful world of roller derby.

I haven’t read their debut yet, but there’s been a lot of buzz for Cemetery Boys, and Aiden Thomas has a new book coming out called Lost in the Never Woods. It’s a Peter Pan retelling, and I will read literally every one of those.

March 30

I love Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing, and this has been on my to-read list since it was announced, what, a year ago? It’s called A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance. There’s not really more information out than the title, honestly, but knowing Abdurraqib’s style and the subject matter, I’m hooked.

Anything that talks about the underlying issues in universities is going to be something i want to read, so I’ve got In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities by Davarian L. Baldwin on my list. He looks at specific examples that show the increasingly parasitic relationship between higher education and our ciites.

And another that I’ve been anxiously awaiting, and was drawn in by the cover is Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge. It’s an historical fiction inspired by the first Black female doctors in the US, about a Black woman called Libertie living in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn (and subsequently Haiti) who works to parse what freedom means for Black women.

April

April 6

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price is pitched as a retelling, but those who don’t appreciate deviations probably won’t like it. I’m not expecting this to be anything like Pride and Prejudice, but I AM expecting to enjoy a fun historical mystery with characters who feel moderately familiar. Seventeen-year-old aspiring lawyer Lizzie Bennet tries to solve a shocking murder, with no help from heir to a prestigious firm, Fitzwilliam Darcy.

The first book in this series (To Have and To Hoax) came out this year, and I haven’t read it yet, but the covers are so stinking cute. I know there’s some debate about the cartoon covers for romances—I, personally, LOVE them. It is To Love and To Loathe by Martha Waters. It’s an historical romance about Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham, and it seems to be something of a “grudging respect but bickering but also flirtation” to love. Plus, lots of hijinks.

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman is pitched as Westworld meets Warcross, and I don’t really need to know any more than that. (Even though I haven’t actually seen Westworld, I know the general idea.) It’s a sci-fi about a teen girl navigating an afterlife in which she must defeat an AI entity intent on destroying humanity.

April 9

This is a strange pub date, because it’s not a traditional Tuesday, but i assume that’s because it’s coming from a university press. It’s called I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land by Alaina E. Roberts. It looks at the idea of “40 acres and a mule,” the concept of Black freedom, and the native land that was stolen to fulfill that promise.

April 13

A YA debut about a trans boy finding his voice, Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve tells the story of Dean Foster, who knows he’s trans but who everyone in his life thinks he’s a lesbian, including his girlfriend and his theatre director who casts him as a “nontraditional” Romeo. Playing Romeo every day helps him realize more about himself, and I’m just a sucker for stories that cross queerness with a theatre storyline.

There are so many great nonfiction books about women and history next year, and here’s another: Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s “Girl Stunt Reporters” by Kim Todd. It’s a vivid social history that brings to light the “girl stunt reporters” of the Gilded Age who went undercover to expose corruption and abuse in America.

April 20

I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about this being released at this point after Anthony Bourdain’s death, but World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever is being released this day. I’m curious enough to want to find out more when it’s out.

I don’t know a lot about the plot of Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart, but this cover. It’s a Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut about two enemy witches who must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a common enemy, and has the twisted cat-and-mouse of Killing Eve. We love to see it.

In Deeper Waters by FT Lukens is a queer pirate story. End of.

And She Drives Me Crazy is a queer YA romcom where high school nemeses fall in love. Again, enemies to lovers is not usually my thing, but I think it absolutely makes sense for high school settings, and I’m excited about this one.

May

May 4

I’ve been obsessed with Rivers Solomon’s work since I read their debut An Unkindness of Ghosts a couple of years ago, so I was excited to learn they had another full-length novel coming out next year. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really look much into it, but it’s called Sorrowland and I will be reading it.

I’m always looking for more retellings like Madeline Miller’s work, and Ariadne by Jennifer Saint is being sold as the same, about Ariadne and the Minotaur. I’m ready.

A YA romantic debut that features fake dating, Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan is about a reserved Bangladeshi teenager fake dates her school’s bad boy, but the countdown is when her parents return from four weeks away. They have to figure out what’s between them before then. Aaaah, the tension.

Oh look, another book about meet cutes! Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee is about a transgender teen boy who collects stories of trans happily ever afters for his popular blog—except they’re all fake stories, and he’s being threatened with that secret being exposed. Then Drew agrees to fake date him to help save the Diary.

I found out about this book via Twitter, when Joan He shared a story about how her publishers were refusing to pay her for her previous book, and she was calling them out publicly. So I want to support her other work, and happily the book is interesting to me. The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a sci-fi fantasy with mind-blowing twists, and just look at this cover.

May 11

Another one I don’t know a lot about, but I read a novella from Zen Cho this year, and it was stunning, so I’m in for Black Water Sister. It’s a Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy about a reluctant medium who gets pulled into some trouble.

I didn’t realize when I read the second book in this novella fantasy series that it WAS a series, but the third installment is coming out in 2021, and it is A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. I read The Haunting of Tram Car 015 for Hugo voting, and I obviously wouldn’t have started there if I’d noticed. So now I have to go back and read the first, but I feel like Djèlí Clark is a rising star in the SFF world, and I need to read all of his work. His inventiveness is stunning.

I’m more familiar with Dahlia Adler’s editing work (she edited a collection on the list here) but Cool for the Summer is a queer YA about Lara, who’s finally got the guy, but can’t stop thinking about the girl she spent her summer with. Drama!

One of the books in 2020 that I was not expecting to become one of my favourites was Beach House by Emily Henry. But I loved it, and she’s got a new book coming out, People We Meet on Vacation. It’s a friends to lovers story, with a little bit of added conflict because they’re estranged, and that’s my absolute favourite.

Son of the Storm by Suyi Davis Okungbowa is a debut epic fantasy, the first in a trilogy, and is a “sweeping tale of violent conquest and forbidden magic set in a world inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.” I’ve been really seeking out non-Western inspired fantasies recently, and I love epic fantasies.

May 18

Jeremy Harkiss, a trans boy, challenges the boy he dumped last summer for the title of Homecoming King in May the Best Man Win by ZR Ellor, a contemporary YA debut. And the cover is THE cutest.

Daryl Gregory’s The Album of Dr. Moreau combines the science fiction premise of the famous novel by H. G. Wells with the panache of a classic murder mystery and the spectacle of a beloved boy band.

And another YA contemporary with a STUNNING cover is Off the Record by Camryn Garrett. I follow her on Twitter, and read her debut last year, Full Disclosure, about a teenager living with HIV. It’s pitched as Almost Famous meets #MeToo, about a teenage reporter who uncovers the scandal of the decade.

May 25

From the woman who coined the term “misogynoir,” Moya Bailey has written Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance, exploring how Black women have used social media to confront misogynoir.

I JUST finished reading Written in the Stars, a queer P&P retelling set in Seattle by Alexandria Bellefleur, and it was super cute, so I’m excited for the second in the series, Hang the Moon. It’s about the brother of the Darcy character in the first book, falling in love with his sister’s lifelong best friend.

When Hani comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only ever dated guys. (Ugh.) She blurts out that she IS dating a girl, Ishu…only she’s not, and fake dating shenanigans ensue. I’m absolutely stoked about Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar.

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean is pitched as Princess Diaries meets Crazy Rich Asians, when Izumi, an ordinary Japanese-American girl, finds out that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan. You had me at “Princess Diaries.”

June

June 1

And another big release day with NINE books out. Best friends Trixie and Lux are just planning for an ordinary weekend getaway. But a single night of violence derails their trip, and they go from high schoolers to wanted fugitive. They start to realize that maybe they can only rely on each other. It’s a queer YA reimagining of Thelma & Louise, with the aesthetic of Riverdale. It’s Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin.

Just in time for the expiration of the copyright on Gatsby, we get a queer Asian retelling from Nghi Vo, The Chosen and the Beautiful. It’s a reinvention of the classic as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess. I’ve heard good things about Vo’s novellas, which I still haven’t read, but I’m all in for this one.

I read Kristen Arnett’s debut novel with my book club last year, and her next book, With Teeth, will be out this day. It’s a surprising and moving story of two mothers, one difficult son, and the limitations of marriage, parenthood, and love. Mostly Dead Things was so delightfully weird, I’m hoping this one will be full of more poignant observations.

The Darkness Outside Us is a scifi space story about two sworn enemies, Ambrose and Kodiak, one of whom wakes up on a rescue ship with no memory of launch and the other a handsome, brooding shipmate who has barricaded himself away. I wonder what will happen in these close quarters… 

Then we’ve got a YA contemporary, Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park. Sunny Song has a list for making her summer great. Not on the list? Accidentally filming a PG-13 cooking video that goes viral, and gets her sent to a digital detox farm for the summer, where she meets a cute farm boy.

A novel from the Song Below Water world, A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow is about Naema, the girl who is cast as having exposed Tavia’s secret siren powers. I became obsessed with Bethany C. Morrow’s work after I read her novella Mem, I think from a library “new releases” rack. I loved it the most, and now I’ll read literally anything she writes. I enjoyed the first in the series last year, so I’m looking forward to this one.

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon is a debut about a trans witch who must save a kingdom by facing his traumatic past and the royal fiance he left behind. I’m into it.

And the second book from local Rachel Lynn Solomon this year is We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This. It’s a YA romcom about Quinn and Tarek, whose parents have been in business together for years when Quinn confesses her crush on him, and then he leaves to college with no response. They’re back working together for the summer. Oops, awkward. The wedding harpist (Quinn) disillusioned with love and a hopeless romantic cater-waiter flirt and fight their way through a summer of weddings.

Gossip Girl meets Get Out. Need I say more? Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide is a YA contemporary thriller by a debut author about two students, Devon and Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

And the one I’ve been the most eagerly awaiting is One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. I love love LOVED Red, White & Royal Blue, and this is Casey’s sophomore novel, a queer Kate & Leopold about two girls who meet on the subway…except one of them seems to be stuck in time. Pump it into my veins.

June 15

We’re getting to the point where there aren’t Bookshop links for some of these, so I’ll link to Goodreads, although that’s not my favourite. One of the romances that I’ve been hearing the MOST about this year but haven’t had a chance to pick up yet is Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. By the time the sequel comes out, I’m sure I’ll have read it, so I’m stoked to read the sequel, Slow Burn. There is literally no information out about it yet, at least not on Goodreads or on Bookshop, but I’ve heard such good things about the first.

June 22

I have The Wicker King by K. Ancrum sitting on my physical TBR shelf, and I follow her on Twitter, but she has a Peter Pan contemporary retelling coming out, and I’m absolute trash for those. It’s called Darling. Look at that cover.

This one is a kind of anthology with a central theme, which is that all of the stories take place during a city-wide blackout in New York, coincidentally titled Blackout. It has stories from Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon, and Ashley Woodfolk. Yes.

June 29

We’ve got a nonfiction book called Thanks for Waiting: The Joy (and Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer by Doree Shafrir. Here’s the elevator pitch: “An honest, witty, and insightful memoir about what happens when your coming-of-age comes later than expected.” Sounds relatable…

For fans of Pacific Rim, but make it queer? You’ve got my attention. It’s Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta, about two girls on opposite side of a war who find they’re working for a common purpose. It’s said to be a high-octane debut, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t need to hear anything more than “Pacific Rim.”

July

We’re in the home stretch here. This one doesn’t have a confirmed date beyond July 2021, so I’m just keeping it general here. It’s Shattered Midnight by Dhonielle Clayton, which is the second in a series of Disney retellings (from Disney!). This one is Cinderella, obvs. I love Dhonielle Clayton, and I love fairy tale retellings, much to my own chagrin. So I’m into this.

July 6

You Should See Me in a Crown was such a delightful read this year, and Leah Johnson’s next book Rise to the Sun is out this day. Three days, two girls, one life-changing musical festival. I don’t need any more.

I didn’t LOVE Cinderella Is Dead from Kalynn Bayron, but I did think the writing was solid and the idea was good, so I’m looking forward to reading more from her, in hopes that the execution has gotten a bit better. This one is called This Poison Heart, and is a contemporary YA fantasy about a girl with a unique and deadly power. But look at that coverrrrr.

July 13

Another nonfiction from Haymarket, The Border Crossed Us: The Case for Opening the US-Mexico Border by Justin Akers-Chacon. It’s just a wee book at 150 pages, but I’m looking forward to reading what he has to say.

And another entry from the McElroys, the fourth book in the graphic novelization of their D & D podcast with their dad, The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom. It was one of my favourite arcs on the podcast, and Carey Pietsch’s artwork is always absolutely stunning.

August 24

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis is a story “full of Black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.”

September 7

And last but certainly not least, one of an installment of contemporary YA authors retelling classics, this one from my fave Bethany C. Morrow called So Many Beginnings, a retelling of Little Women. It’s about four young Black sisters coming of age during the American Civil War.

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Whew!!! We made it. Which of these are you most excited about? Any that aren’t on my list that I should put on my radar?

 

Author’s Note: An earlier version of this post included the book Lycanthropy and Other Illnesses. After some information came to my attention about this book, I have removed it from my list and no longer have an interest in reading it. (Big thanks to Jess Owens video for this information.)