My to-be-read pile gets pretty hefty during the school semester, which is great because then I get to spend my summer doing what I love most – discovering new books! While I try to read the books that are already in my pile, I do like to “occasionally” add more to my collection (and by “occasionally,” I mean I usually go to a bookstore about every two weeks). Currently, I’m trying not to stock up during quarantine and just read what I have on hand, so instead of buying books I’ve been making a list of new releases for this year and here are a few that I am excited to get my hands on after the world is back to normal.
1. Chain of Gold – Cassandra Clare: this is the first book of a planned trilogy that was released this March. When I was in the 9th grade I was a huge fan of the Mortal Instrument series that she wrote, so I’m picking up this book for nostalgia’s sake, but I also just can’t wait because the novel is set in the early 1900s and expands on the society of demon slayers called the Shadowhunters (and if you’re not familiar with the books, there was a popular television series called Shadowhunters based off the original series) and I’m super excited to see more the folklore that Cassandra Clare has spun in a different timeline!
2. The Ballad of Songbirgs and Snakes – Suzanne Collins: this is another novel that made my summer reading list due to nostalgia. The Hunger Games was my absolute favourite series when I was in the 7th grade, so even if I’m not really a part of the fandom anymore, I feel like I still gotta give this book a read just because it’s what thirteen-year-old me would have wanted. The novel is a prequel to the trilogy and follows President Snow when he was a young man, so I can’t wait to see how Suzanne Collins is gonna make a villain likeable enough for readers to engage in his story!
3. The Night Country – Melissa Albert: this book was released at the beginning of the year so luckily I’ve already read it, but I feel like it deserves to be on this list because the first novel in this series is probably one of my favourite books. The sequel (like most sequels in my personal opinion) wasn’t quite on the same level as the first book, but it’s still worth the read. Melissa Albert takes fairy tales and twists them so their totally wicked and sort of have like this Brothers Grimm type of effect, and she creates these awesome worlds that I totally wish I could travel to.
4. Yes No Maybe So – Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed: this book is on my list because I love Becky Albertalli’s other books. Leah on the off Beat is definitely in my top favourites, and her other YA novels are totally cute and fun reads that lift your spirits, and we all need that in a time like this. Albertalli writes really interesting coming of age plots that aren’t overdone narratives that you can get from other books, but still supply the classic tropes of teen drama and romance that I love. Plus two of her novels focus on LGBT+ characters which is what drew me into her work in the first place.
5. The Sweeney Sisters – Lian Dolan: I chose this book based off of the title alone. I was really intrigued by the last name Sweeney (cause I’m a big Sweeney Todd fan) and while I doubted this book was about murdering barber sisters, I still thought I’d give it a shot and see what the plot was about. The three Sweeney Sisters find out upon their father’s death that they actually have another sister they didn’t know about and the novel navigates how they handle this situation. Which sounds really promising to me, so I definitely can’t wait to read it!
6. All the Stars and Teeth – Adalyn Grace: This is another book that drew me in by title and cover as well. It’s all about magic masters, pirates, mermaids and battling monsters, which sounds like it’s going to be an epic fantasy novel to me, and I think this might be the novel that I have the highest anticipation for this summer!
Hopefully you find a recommendation that gets you excited enough to add it to your own to-be-read pile! Happy reading!