2016 New Releases I'm Most Excited For!

This post may seem over a month too late (real life is mostly to blame for that), but in fact this is something that is never definite. I'm learning about new releases all the time. In general, this list has the books I am most excited for, so it is not comprehensive of all the books that have piqued my interest, and these are also mostly books that I decided I wanted to read after reading their synopses, rather than "it's supposed to be really good, apparently." I've found this has the most success with me, and it allows me to discover books I might otherwise not have.

Books marked with a * are ones I'm most excited for and will probably preorder or buy this year, which I usually save for those that I have faith in and/or seem like they will be quite personal to me. Others I may wait for paperback, or get from the library, or an ebook sale.

January
In the Memory of Light by Francisco X Stork (January 26): I've actually started reading this from the library (I was going to buy it but got impatient). It came to my attention because it's about depression, but about the recovery process and figuring it all out, which interests me greatly right now.

February
*Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (February 25): I enjoyed Solitaire once I got into it, but I've had my eyes on this young author's second book since seeing her talking about it on social media. And the audio preview completely won me over--the tone is perfect. This is a book about academic pressures, living up to an image of yourself, friendship, diversity, fandoms and stories as escpamism, and probably more that I'm not getting from what I've seen so far. Regardless, this is for me. Unfortunately the US publication date hasn't been announced yet, so I'm going to order the UK edition through Book Depository, even if I'm not a fan of faces-on-the-cover.

May
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley (May 10): This is a contemporary involving friendships and probably be some crazy escapades..the plot summary is vague. But I came across it when reading an interview with the author about mental health and anxiety, so I'm interested in it for that perspective. Plus, it should be fun.

*Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand (May 17): I'm so glad I discovered this middle grade book, because I've been trying to explore the market as I'm currently writing in that category, and this one appeals to me in so many ways. It's about a girl struggling with anxiety and depression but keeping it to herself, and escaping by writing about a magical forest, and when she has to live with her grandparents, she discovers the forest is apparently real. So this sounds like a very important, wonderful, relatable book.

Literary Starbucks: Freshly-Brewed Bookish Humor, No-Whip, Half-Caf by Nora Katz, Wilson  Josephson, and Jill Poskanzer (May 17): This isn't a novel but an expansion (with new material, and in more of a story format?) of this wonderful blog.

A View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman (May 31): This is an essay and other writings collection, and as I've loved what I've read (and watched, in the case of speeches) of Gaiman's blog posts and such, I'll be reading this at some point.

June
You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour (June 7): A story about the close friendship between two gay teens, a boy and a girl. It looks beautiful and emotional, and yay for complex friendships.

July
*Sticks and Stones by Abby Cooper (July 19): Another middle grade book with a fantastic, relatable concept. This one is about Elyse, who has an unusual skin disorder (some magical realism going on here) where the words people say about her appear on her skin. This becomes challenging as she deals with the changes in middle schools and kids becoming meaner, but the words that hurt the most are the ones she thinks about herself.

*Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (July 31): Obviously.

August
Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia (August 2): This is a comedy that makes light of the impossibly perfect things students have to do (or feel they have to do) to get into good colleges (noticing a theme here?). While it isn't about struggles with these pressures and perfectionism like I original thought, it sounds interesting in its own right: believing it will give her a competitive edge on her college application, a girl named Reshma works with an agent to write a YA novel, but since she thinks her life is kind of boring, she decides instead to do all the cliches in YA novels. Very much expecting meta hilarity here.

September
As I Descended by Robin Talley (September 6): I just finished reading Macbeth for school and loved it, though admittedly, I loved the summary of this from the beginning: "...a retelling of Macbeth set at a contemporary Virginia boarding school. It centers around a lesbian couple who set out to dethrone the school's resident Mean Girl, only to find themselves struggling to hang onto their sanity and their lives when they accidentally summon a trio of brutal, manipulative ghosts" (This summary has since been replaced, and it includes the phrase "Cawdor Kingsley Prize,") I say I'm not into retellings, but I have a weakness for Shakespeare and exploring the malleability of his stories, so...perfect.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (September 27): I still haven't finished The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (the last book I haven't read and just may not, because I should reread the second one first because let's just say I'm not great at reading sequels back-to-back like that), but I did enjoy Taylor's writing style and I'm intrigued by what she's coming up with next.

October
*Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King (October 11): A new A. S. King book, yay. I'm especially interested because it seems to explore a loss of creativity, and I like the concept of meeting oneself from the past and the future.

*Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz (October 18): Another middle grade book, this one about OCD. I just found this while writing up this post and I'm so glad I did. Especially interested in the need for things to be perfect and how these obsessions start to make being creative difficult.

November
Heartless by Marissa Meyer (November 8): I haven't gotten around to finishing The Lunar Chronicles yet (later this year, hopefully), but I've found Meyer's stories very fun, and this one's an origin story for the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, so that sounds up my alley. 

???
The Inexplicable Logic of My Heart by Benjamin Alire Sáenz: There's an Ari & Dante sequel coming next year, but I also am excited about another YA novel from him. (Though I should read his adult novels too.)

That's about it, as of now! There's plenty that has piqued my interested, and I'm sure I'll discover more (especially in the literary fiction realm), but right now I'm REALLY EXCITED about these.

My Most Anticipated Releases, 2015

I know this is a little late, but honestly, I don't really keep up with new releases, and I rarely buy books straight as they come out. However, I found that several of them were appearing on my to-read list, and some of them are lesser known but I'm really excited about them.

Books I Will Definitely Be Buying in Hardback

August 4th: Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead: Stead's When You Reach Me has been a favorite of mine since it won the Newbery Medal. It means a great deal to me. Now, this one is strictly realistic--no philosophical time-travel discussions, I'm sure--but it still interests me. It concerns relationships between middle schoolers, both friendships and romantic, and it apparently tackles some themes not often seen in middle grade. I love Stead's quiet storytelling and it informs my own writing for that age group, so I'm very excited for this!

September 22nd: I Crawl Through It by A.S. King: I absolutely loved the three A.S. King novels I read last year, and I've been wanting to read this since I discovered that it's her most surreal yet and involves escaping from standardized tests. But then a more official blurb was released, and I am more in love:

Four talented teenagers are traumatized--coping with grief, surviving date rape, facing the anxiety of standardized tests and the neglect of self-absorbed adults--and they'll do anything to escape the pressure. They'll even build an invisible helicopter, to fly far away to a place where everyone will understand them... until they learn the only way to escape reality is to face it head-on.

Different from her recents, but I love it

Basically, I really need this book. I always feel under pressure (a lot of it by myself) due to perfectionism which has possibly led to other issues at this point. I wish I could fly away in an invisible helicopter. Although, an invisible helicopter? I must understand all this weirdness!

King also said:

I Crawl Through It is a surrealist novel. I love surrealism and it seems in my twenty years of writing novels, I was always moving in this direction. The teens in the book aren’t just trying to escape standardized testing, they’re also escaping school violence—intruder drills and bomb threats—and their lives, in general. In a standardized society, those who don’t fit into the little ovals feel freakish. Except the ovals are really a lie. No one has a perfect life, no matter how many advertisements seem to want to sell us one.

September 22nd: Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? by Lemony Snicket: This is the fourth and final book in the All the Wrong Questions series, the companion/prequel series to the A Series of Unfortunate Events of our childhoods. I've been following these as they've come out, usually asking relatives for each one for Christmas, which will probably be what I do again instead of buying it when it comes out. I don't have much to say because I haven't read the third book yet (which apparently has more to do with the driving plot), but I expect childhood wonder mixed in with cynical sarcasm.

Books I Will Read (Wait Until Paperback/Library)
January 6th: Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick: This one's already out, and it's a series of four interconnected stories from different points in history (including the future, I believe). I've heard it's pretty weird and not the kind of thing to get mass appeal...so I'm really curious. Plus, it's a different way of telling a story.

January 27th: Fairest by Marissa Meyer: I've changed my mind, I think I'll probably read this. It seems like an interesting little story. (See Winter below for context if you need it).

February 3rd: Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman: Right now I need to catch up on some Gaiman before I read this, but I've been enjoying short stories lately and I'm interested. I've already read the Doctor Who story (it was one of the ebooks published for the 50th Anniversary).

February 24th: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: I still have yet to read anything by Victoria/V.E. Schwab, though I plan to soon, but I've heard nothing but good things and I can get behind some adult/general fiction fantasy.

March 30th: Solitaire by Alice Osman: This was released in the UK and elsewhere last year and is now making it around to the U.S. Mostly I am interested because it was written by a very young author (19), the front cover (of the original edition at least) claims that it's a love-free YA story, and it features a cynical protagonist. Sounds fun.

April 7th: None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio: A YA debut that's been getting some press. It follows a girl who discovers she intersex. I've been attempting to read more diversity lately, so I'm interested in reading this story and learning something.

April 21st: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman: This is apparently an in-depth look into the mind of someone with a mental illness, so I'm very interested to see how it is written and how it plays out. Plus, it was influenced by Shusterman's own son's condition. I've also enjoyed Susterman's writing in the past and currently, as I'm making my way through the very fascinating Unwind.

April 28th: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley: This is pitched as Stardust meets The Fault in Our Stars, which is a tirelessly annoying marketing tactic that has me rolling my eyes. However, upon looking at the summary, the ship-in-the-sky and travels to another world sound like it's mostly Gaimanesque fantasy, so I guess TFiOS = the lung disease the character has, and a hint of romance. Additionally, a reviewer I trust has said this is actually a very unique and original novel, and it sounds very dream-like, so I'm in!

April 28th: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is a pretty hyped-up (currently stand alone!) fantasy, and since I have fond memories of fantasy stories but haven't had much luck lately, I hope this will do something for me.

August 28th: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness: This is apparently the story of a nobody in a YA-story-like world. Sounds hilarious and interesting.


July 14th: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee: I know, I know, this is going to be insanely a big release based on the frenzy that has gone on since the announcement was made. I like To Kill a Mockingbird fine, though I wasn't too fond of the way it ended, and I was originally pretty excited for this. However, I'm having some ethical questions regarding its publication that are making me uncomfortable. (If you haven't heard, check out articles like these.)

November 10th: Winter by Marissa Meyer: I've been really enjoying The Lunar Chronicles lately, so I'm sure once I read Cress I'll be really excited for this one! It looks like it's going to be quite long, too...

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And that's it! There are some others I've seen hyped up, but I'm not completely sure if I'll like them. What are you looking forward to?