Last year, getting back into reading was like reacquainting with an old friend; I had so much to catch up on. Thankfully, this year, I am on top of all the books I want to read and have my eye out (and my wallet open) for all the fantastic books releasing in 2022. Here are five of my most anticipated reads this year:
Taylor Jenkins Reid returns with her eighth novel and gives a spotlight to Carrie Soto, who first appeared in Malibu Rising last year. In Carrie Soto is Back, the renowned tennis player has a short-lived retirement as she returns to the sport to reclaim her records broken by the up-and-coming Niki Chan. Coached by her father, a former champion himself, Soto is determined to prove herself one last time in this “epic final season.” I still cannot find the words to describe how excited I am for this one. Taylor Jenkins Reid, take all of my money!
Carrie Soto is Back will be released on August 30!
Abida Jaigirdar is a Queer Muslim author who made her debut in 2020 with The Henna Wars, which landed a spot on TIME’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time. Her newest book, A Million to One, is described as the Titanic meets Ocean 8, following four women, a thief, an artist, an acrobat and an actress, in this transatlantic heist for treasure on a sunken ship. These women, who couldn’t be more different, come together to steal a jewel-encrusted book aboard the Titanic that has the potential to be the golden ticket to solving all their problems. I don’t know about you, but a sapphic heist on the Titanic is all I need to know to be 100% hooked.
A Million to One will be released on December 13!
After her success with the These Violent Delights duology, Chloe Gong is ready to deliver once more with the first book in a new duology, Foul Lady Fortune. The story is about incompatible spies who have to pretend to be a couple to investigate and solve a string of gruesome killings in 1930s Shanghai. This book ticks all my boxes, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
Foul Lady Fortune will be released on September 27!
The cover of Queen of Tiles is a young Asian hijabi, and that is enough for me to want to pick it up and read; luckily for me, the story is just as enticing. It follows a teenage girl named Najwa Bak, a competitive Scrabble player, as she is forced to investigate her best friend’s death after her Instagram comes back to life with strange posts and messages a year after she passed.
Queen of Tiles will be released on April 19!
Last but certainly not least is Janelle Monáe’s sci-fi anthology. This queer short story collection is interconnected with her entire discography starting from Metropolis to her most recent music like Dirty Computer. Monáe constantly incorporates afrofuturism in her songs and visuals, so I expect nothing less from her debut book. This book is promised to, “explore how different threads of liberation—queerness, race, gender plurality, and love—become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape… and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.” If she’s as talented a writer as a musician, this book will be electric.
The Memory Librarian will be released on April 19!