Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week the topic is
Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021
I haven't included the blurbs for books that are not the first in the series to avoid spoilers.
26th January
The Mask Falling (The Bone Season, #4) by Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Goodreads
A Vow So Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers, #3) by Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Goodreads
2nd February
The Project by Courtney Summers
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Blurb from Goodreads:
Lo Denham is used to
being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The
Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its
extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has
won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo
knows there's more to the group than meets the eye. She's spent the
last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.
When a
man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project
killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and
reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in
the direct path of its leader, Lev Warren and as Lo delves deeper into
The Project, the lives of its members it upends everything she thought
she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to
the point she can no longer tell what's real or true. Lo never thought
she could afford to believe in Lev Warren . . . but now she doesn't know
if she can afford not to.
9th February
The Gilded Ones (Deathless, #1) by Namina Forna
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Blurb from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Deka
lives in Otera, a deeply patriarchal ancient kingdom, where a woman's
worth is tied to her purity, and she must bleed to prove it. But when
Deka bleeds gold - the colour of impurity, of a demon - she faces a
consequence worse than death. She is saved by a mysterious woman who
tells Deka of her true nature: she is an Alaki, a near-immortal with
exceptional gifts. The stranger offers her a choice: fight for the
Emperor, with others just like her, or be destroyed...
23rd March
Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Blurb from Goodreads:
When children go
missing, people want answers. When children go missing in the small
coastal town of Astoria, people look to Wendy for answers.
It's
been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the
woods, but when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions
surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into
light. Attempting to flee her past, Wendy almost runs over an
unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road, and gets pulled into
the mystery haunting the town.
Peter, a boy she thought lived
only in her stories, claims that if they don't do something, the missing
children will meet the same fate as her brothers. In order to find them
and rescue the missing kids, Wendy must confront what's waiting for her
in the woods.
1st April
Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw
Publisher: UCLAN Publishing
Blurb from Goodreads:
17-year-old Mina, from
England, arrives in New Orleans to visit her estranged sister, Libby.
After growing up in Whitby, the town that inspired Dracula, Mina loves
nothing more than a creepy horror movie. She can't wait to explore the
city's darkest secrets - vampire tours, seedy bars, spooky cemeteries,
disturbing local myths...
And it gets even better when Mina
lands a part-time job at a horror movie mansion and meets Jared, Libby's
gorgeous housemate, co-worker and fellow horror enthusiast.
But
the perfect summer bliss is broken when, while exploring the mansion,
Mina stumbles upon the body of a girl with puncture marks on her neck,
clutching a lock of hair that suspiciously resembles Libby's... Someone
is replicating New Orleans' most brutal supernatural killings. Mina must
discover the truth and prove her sister's innocence before she becomes
the victim of another myth.
20th April
Witches Steeped in Gold (Witches Steeped in Gold, #1) by Ciannon Smart
Publisher: HarperTeen/Hot Key Books
Blurb from Goodreads:
Divided by their castes. United by their vengeance.
Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance.
Jazmyne
is the queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no
intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.
Sworn
enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a
mutual threat. But revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is
certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.
Deadly,
fierce, magnetically addictive: this Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut is
a thrilling journey where dangerous magic reigns supreme and betrayal
lurks beneath every word.
The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Blurb from Goodreads:
Hwani's family has
never been the same since she and her younger sister went missing and
were later found unconscious in the forest, near a gruesome crime scene.
The only thing they remember: Their captor wore a painted-white mask.
To
escape the haunting memories of this incident, the family flees their
hometown. Years later, Detective Min—Hwani's father—learns that thirteen
girls have recently disappeared under similar circumstances, and so he
returns to their hometown to investigate... only to vanish as well.
Determined
to find her father and solve the case that tore their family apart,
Hwani returns home to pick up the trail. As she digs into the secrets of
the small village—and reconnects with her now estranged sister—Hwani
comes to realize that the answer lies within her own buried memories of
what happened in the forest all those years ago.
4th May
The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Blurb from Goodreads:
Cee awoke on an
abandoned island three years ago. With no idea of how she was marooned,
she only has a rickety house, an old android, and a single memory: she
has a sister, and Cee needs to find her.
STEM prodigy Kasey wants
escape from the science and home she once trusted. The
eco-cities—Earth's last unpolluted place—are meant to be sanctuary for
those committed to planetary protection, but they’re populated by people
willing to do anything for refuge, even lie. Now, she'll have to decide
if she’s ready to use science to help humanity, even though it failed
the people who mattered most.
1st June
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Publisher: Tor.com
Blurb from Goodreads:
Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.
Jordan
Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American
society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and
invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s
also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her
peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
But
the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions,
lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan
can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
What books are you looking forward to this year?
