March Book Haul! (And a cry for science fiction recommendations)

The end of February was my birthday, and my parents bought me a few books, and I received some bookstore gift-cards as a gift, so March was a good month for new books! Here's a quick look at what's new to my shelves this month.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee 

Bygone Badass Broads by Mackenzi Lee

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Poems by Maya Angelou

I've been craving science fiction and fantasy reads lately, and science fiction is not a genre that I have a lot of experience with. I decided to use my gift-cards to buy Chambers' novel since I have been hearing really great things about that series, and I LOVED the movie version of Vandermeer's Annihilation so I thought those two would be an okay place to start with science fiction. If you have any recommendations for me, please let me know!  

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

Right now, I'm in a HUGE science fiction and fantasy mood, which you will see reflected in this list of books I really want to get to this spring. I've been craving to sit down with a long and super involved fantasy: problem is, work is taking up all my reading time and energy. Hopefully I'll find some time to dive into a few of the selections from this list during the season. Let me know where I should start! All titles link to Goodreads! 

Hosted by:That Artsy Girl Reader

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi 

And I Darken, Kiersten White

Queen of Shadows, Sarah J. Maas

(Need to reread Heir of Fire before diving into this one)

Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

(Loved the movie, now I want to read the series)

Binti, Nnedi Okorafor

(Will be reading this one very soon)

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, Shaun David Huthinson

Undead Girl Gang, Lily Anderson

(High hopes for this one) 

Alice and the Fly, James Rice

I will be a happy camper if I manage to make it through some of these reads this spring! What are you looking forward to reading this spring? Any good sci-fi or fantasy recommendations? 

Recently Read: Weave a Circle Around

Author: Kari Maaren
Genre: Young Adult- Science Fiction/Fantasy
Publication Date: 2017
Page Count: 336
Rating: 3/5

Add on Goodreads

Freddy lives with her younger sister, her deaf step-brother, her step-father, and her mother. She can't seem to get along with her step-brother Roland, who has bounded with her sister Mel over role-playing games, and her step-dad and mother are never around. Freddy feels out of place at home and at school. When new neighbors move into the often-vacant house next door, Freddy quickly discovers they are not who, or even what, they claim to be. 

I'm pretty sure I saw this book on a list of books recommended to fans of Stranger Things right after I finished season two. And since I, like the rest of the world, am a HUGE fan of Stranger Things I decided to check this one out. 

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and parts that I felt underwhelmed by. I really liked the concept, and the supernatural elements were really unique. The neighbors, Josiah and Cuerva Lachance were unlike any supernatural force I have encountered before, and I'm always interested by time travel in a plot. Even with these super cool individual elements, there was something missing. The characters fell a bit flat for me, and the time travel section of the novel was a bit too scattered and didn't add enough to the overall plot. The mystery of the novel was interesting enough to keep me reading in order to unravel it, but once it was unraveled it was a bit underwhelming. 

The end of the novel was also a little scattered and there was a couple of events that I didn't entirely understand how they were resolved. I know that the supernatural is not always meant to be understood, but I don't think that was what was going on here. 

One element of the novel that I really enjoyed was its connection to the Coleridge poem "Kubla Khan." I'm a sucker for contemporary fiction, particularly YA, that aligns itself with or references a classic work, and this one did it really well. "Kubla Khan" is a heck of a roller coaster ride, and it served its purpose very well in this novel. I thought that was a really clever addition. 

Overall, this was a super quick read and a pretty unique plot. I'm glad I picked this one up from the library, as it was entertaining and pretty light-hearted. I've really been in the mood for sci-fi and historical fiction lately, and this one kind of checked both boxes. If you like supernatural/sci-fi reads, I would give this one a try!  

New Year, New Books: Book Haul

I know I just posted about intending to read more of the books I already own, but I couldn't pass up the Book Outlet Boxing Day Sale, and I have been holding onto some credit from my favorite bookstore, so I picked up a few new reads. I'm really excited to get to all of these, and I think I will read them fairly soon, so I don't feel too guilty about picking them up.

Book Titles link to Goodreads.

From Book Outlet

Love, Lies, and Spies by Cindy Anstey

 This looks like a really cute read. Austen inspired  with spies added in? Yes, please.

And I Darken by Kristen White

I've heard lots of great things about this series, so I couldn't resist picking it up. I love a good YA fantasy series, and I think this one is going to deliver. 

The Muse by Jessie Burton

 I'm currently reading Burton's The Miniaturist and even though I'm only a few chapters in, I'm loving it, so I'm glad to have this one on hand to pick up soon.  

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

This one caught my eye on Goodreads a while back. It's got a super unique premise: a group of mediums contributing to the WWI effort by communicating with fallen soldiers. 

Yesternight By Cat Winters

I'm a big fan of Cat Winters paranormal historical fiction, and I'm a few books behind on her releases. I've been picking them up whenever I come across them; I believe this is one of her adult novels. I have no idea what this one is about, but Winters is an auto-buy author for me, so I know I will enjoy it. 

From the Bookstore

All the Crooked Saint by Maggie Stiefvater

I couldn't pass up a signed copy of Stiefvater's newest release, especially when I had credit for the bookstore. I'm a big fan of The Raven Cycle, but that's all I have read from Stiefvater, so I'm eager to read more of her works. 

What have you bought in the new year? 

Recently Read: The Rose and the Dagger

Author: Renee Ahdieh
Genre: Ya Retelling/Fantasy
Publication Date: 2016
Page Count: 416
Rating: 3/5

Add on Goodreads 

I never got around to reviewing The Wrath and the Dawn when I read it last year because I listened to it on audiobook during a busy school semester, but I have pretty similar feelings about both novels. 

I think listening to these books on audio was a great choice, as the narrator has a beautiful voice and is a great reader. I'm not sure if I would have finished these otherwise- as they are a little slow at times and the writing is extremely detailed. This dualology is a loose retelling of A Thousand and One Nights, and Ahdieh does an amazing job of making these novels feel like legends through her writing style and the atmosphere she crafts. I think the beautiful and detailed writing really adds to this atmosphere, but it does make it a bit of a slower read at times. 

I know a lot of people love these books, but I felt pretty neutral about them. I thought the romance was a bit odd in book one, but the novel was entertaining enough so I stuck around and checked out book two. I didn't feel like there was a lot of substance to The Rose and the Dagger. I found myself about fifty percent of the way through the book before the plot really started. The last quarter of the book or so really picked up, and I was interested to see how it ended, but until that point, not a lot happened. There wasn't a lot of romance, and while I appreciated the lack of a love triangle, I found the romance scenes in book one to be the most entertaining, even if the romance was a bit odd. 

Overall, I enjoyed this dualology. but it's not my favorite YA out there. I loved Ahdieh's writing, as she has a beautiful and mythical voice, but everything else was just 'okay' for me. I still recommend checking this one out if it interests you, as a lot of people love it, and book one is a really interesting twist on A Thousand and One Nights. I really enjoy retellings, but it seems like the same classics keep getting covered over and over, so I love to read retellings that are based on new classics.

And of course, I can't mention A Thousand and One Nights and not mention the Scooby Doo movie that introduced me to the story. I was (and still am) a huge fan of Scooby, so this movie was all I could think about while reading these books. Does anyone else have any idea of what I'm talking about?? 

Recently Read: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Adult Fiction/ Fantasy/ Magical Realism
Publication Date: 2013
Page Count: 181
Rating: 5/5

Add on Goodreads

Also by Neil Gaiman:
The Grave Yard Book

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what. Goodreads

This is my first adult Gaiman novel, and it was a great one to start with. My brother read this last year and lent my his copy and I finally decided to pick it up on a whim. I had no idea what I was getting into besides that this novel would fit in with my weird reads cravings, and I devoured this novel. After I finished it, I actually opened my notebook and wrote my thoughts about the book and the ideas it presented because they were bursting out of me; that's how I know a book is worthy of a five star rating. 

This novel is narrated by an unnamed man, but he is looking back on his childhood. This adds a layer of mystery and intrigue to the story as the narrator becomes some-what unreliable as time may have tempered with his memories. 

This novel fits in with the like of children's classics such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan as it touches on growing up and the gap between childhood and adulthood. Just like those novels, the story seems simple on the surface but is so complex underneath. The idea of magic or "other-wordly-ness" in the gap between childhood and adulthood is common in classic children's coming of age stories and I loved seeing a modern author take on that idea. This book touches on the complexities of children and childhood experiences and puts words to the inexplicable experience that is growing up. Just like in Alice and Peter, you spend a lot of time off -balance or confused while reading the story, but that is the point that these novels try to make. Growing up is confusing and frustrating and it's an amazing feat that these novels can allow us to experience these feelings again as adults. 

The characters in this novel were super interesting. I loved the Hempstock women and how the setting becomes a character in itself. The way that the magical family of women are represented in this novel is great; they are powerful and wise but also kind and sympathetic. The supernatural elements of this novel are so unique and unlike anything I have read before. This was a world I didn't want to leave when the novel was over. I'm very surprised this hasn't been adapted as a movie yet, as Gaimen's writing is so clear, the novel runs as a movie in your head.

Gaimen is an amazing storyteller; my brother says he writes every book like the story actually happened to him, and I agree. I really want to get to Gaimen's back catalog of works soon. Let me know where I should start! 

Just Added to my TBR (16): (Weird Reads)

If you have been reading anything I've been putting out lately, you will have caught on to my craving for weird and creepy reads lately. I've rounded up the last three creepy reads I've added to my Goodreads TBR.

Just Added (15)
Just Added (14)

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

Summary from Goodreads:

The nine stories in Link's second collection are the spitting image of those in her acclaimed debut, Stranger Things Happen: effervescent blends of quirky humor and pathos that transform stock themes of genre fiction into the stuff of delicate lyrical fantasy. In "Stone Animals," a house's haunting takes the unusual form of hordes of rabbits that camp out nightly on the front lawn. This proves just one of several benign but inexplicable phenomena that begin to pull apart the family newly moved into the house as surely as a more sinister supernatural influence might. The title story beautifully captures the unpredictable potential of teenage lives through its account of a group of adolescent schoolfriends whose experiences subtly parallel events in a surreal TV fantasy series. Zombies serve as the focus for a young man's anxieties about his future in "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" and offer suggestive counterpoint to the lives of two convenience store clerks who serve them in "The Hortlak." Not only does Link find fresh perspectives from which to explore familiar premises, she also forges ingenious connections between disparate images and narrative approaches to suggest a convincing alternate logic that shapes the worlds of her highly original fantasies.

Why I added It: Short stories can be a great way to get your creepy fix (think The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits but in book form) and I saw this book on quite a few recommendation lists for creepy reads. Plus I love that cover! 

Alice and the Fly by James Rice

Summary from Goodreads:

A spellbinding debut novel by an exceptional new young British talent.

This is a book about phobias and obsessions, isolation and dark corners. It's about families, friendships, and carefully preserved secrets. But above everything else it's about love. Finding love - in any of its forms - and nurturing it.

Miss Hayes has a new theory. She thinks my condition's caused by some traumatic incident from my past I keep deep-rooted in my mind. As soon as I come clean I'll flood out all these tears and it'll all be ok and I won't be scared of Them anymore. The truth is I can't think of any single traumatic childhood incident to tell her. I mean, there are plenty of bad memories - Herb's death, or the time I bit the hole in my tongue, or Finners Island, out on the boat with Sarah - but none of these are what caused the phobia. I've always had it. It's Them. I'm just scared of Them. It's that simple. 


Why I added it: I saw this one over on Mixed Margins' post about her top five books of 2017 so far, and it sounded perfectly weird and delightful. 

The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson 

Summary from Goodreads:
One day in March 1969, twenty-three- year-old Jane Mixer was on her way home to tell her parents she was getting married. She had arranged for a ride through the campus bulletin board at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she was one of a handful of pioneering women students at the law school. Her body was found the following morning just inside the gates of a small cemetery fourteen miles away, shot twice in the head and strangled. Six other young women were murdered around the same time, and it was assumed they had all been victims of alleged serial killer John Collins, who was convicted of one of these crimes not long after. Jane Mixer's death was long considered to be one of the infamous Michigan Murders, as they had come to be known. But officially, Jane's murder remained unsolved, and Maggie Nelson grew up haunted by the possibility that the killer of her mother's sister was still at large.

In an instance of remarkable serendipity, more than three decades later, a 2004 DNA match led to the arrest of a new suspect for Jane's murder at precisely the same time that Nelson was set to publish a book of poetry about her aunt's life and death - a book she had been working on for years, and which assumed her aunt's case to be closed forever.

The Red Parts chronicles the uncanny series of events that led to Nelson's interest in her aunt's death, the reopening of the case, the bizarre and brutal trial that ensued, and the effects these events had on the disparate group of people they brought together. But The Red Parts is much more than a "true crime" record of a murder, investigation, and trial. For into this story Nelson has woven a spare, poetic account of a girlhood and early adulthood haunted by loss, mortality, mystery, and betrayal, as well as a subtle but blistering look at the personal and political consequences of our cultural fixation on dead (white) women.

The result is a stark, fiercely intelligent, and beautifully written memoir that poses vital questions about America's complex relationship to spectacles of violence and suffering, and that scrupulously explores the limits and possibilities of honesty, grief, empathy, and justice.

Why I added it: This basically sounds like a cross of the last two documentaries I have watched and loved on Netflix: Packed in a Trunk and The Keepers. (Read more about these documentaries here.) It has the family mystery and detective work of Packed in a Trunk and the true-crime mystery element of The Keepers. Bonus: I live in Michigan and have never read a book about true-crime; I'm very intrigued!

Two Middle-Grade Mini Reviews: Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times and The Tell-Tale-Start

Author: Emma Trevayne
Genre: Middle Grade- Steam Punk
Publication Date: 20
Page Count: 306
Rating: 3/5

Add on Goodreads

Jack is bored with London. He is bored with his parents who don't pay attention to him and longs for an adventure, until he stumbles upon one in the form of a mysterious man who does parlor tricks to entertain his mother and her friends. The adventure comes after Jack steps through a doorway and finds himself in an unusual place named Londininum, where everyone is at least a little bit made of metal and The Lady rules all. 

This was a really fun middle grade read. It was the perfect mix of whimsical and dark, and the steam-punk elements worked perfectly to build the atmosphere. My favorite part about this book was the art! I loved the cover art and the illustrations inside and thoroughly wish there would have been more.

The world was enticing and is a setting I would have loved to read more about. Jack was nothing out of the ordinary, but the side characters from Londininum were very interesting and well developed. The atmosphere was thick and encompassing, but the plot was just alright for me.

I really enjoyed this book and found it a fun middle grade adventure. I am interested in checking out Emma Trevayne's other works. 

Author: Gordon McAlpine

Genre: Middle Grade

Publication Date: 2013

Page Count: 208

Rating: 3/5 

Add on Goodreads

Edgar and Allan Poe are the great-great-great-great grandnephews of the famous writer Edgar Allan Poe and they just so happen to be connected through some freaky physics. The twin brothers can hear each others' thoughts and that means they have the potential to be super useful for a not-so-good science professor...

This story was super cute. I loved the elements of classics literature that made an appearance and the humor is great. This was a super fast read, and I have since moved on to book two. Like the above book, this one has some really great art, but of a different style. I loved the sketch- type art in this one and thought it went perfectly with the story, I think this is one that can be enjoyed by both kids and older readers as it's a lot of fun. 

I have been gravitating towards middle-grade lately as I have been pressed for reading time. Both of these books were quick reads but I really enjoyed them and found them to be a lot of fun.   

Top Ten Tuesday: New Release 2016 (Part 2)

As usual, I'm totally behind in the new release department, so I haven't even read half of the new releases from the first half of the year yet! But, here I am today with ten more 2016 releases that I want to read.
You can see my first list of 2016 releases I want to read here.
Hosted by: The Broke and the Bookish

1. The Muse by Jessie Burton
Release Date: July 16, 2016
I just bought Burton's debut the other day, and I can't wait to get into it. I already know I will love The Miniaturist and will be wanting this one too. Also very interested in the crossing timelines and art world mentioned in the premise!  

2. A World Without You by Beth Revis
Release Date: July 19th
I have yet to read anything by Revis, but all of her books intrigue me! This one is about time travel and superpowers.

3.  A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Release Date: September 6, 2016
The Rules of Civility is one of my all-time favorite books and I have been eagerly waiting for Towels to come out with his second book! Regardless of premise, I was going to be picking this up automatically.

4. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Release Date: September 20, 2016
Love the sound of triplet teen queens. Also love that cover.

5. Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge
Release Date: September 27, 2016
I'm a sucker for Romeo and Juliet retellings and I liked Hodge's dark twist on Beauty and the Beast in Cruel Beauty so I think she will do R&J justice.

6.The Good People by Hannah Kent
Release Date:October 2016
The premise of this one sounds so interesting. 1825 Ireland mixed with magical realism in the form of changelings! I haven't read Kent's first novel, but I really want to and this one sounds great too.

7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated Edition 
Release Date: October 4, 2016
AHHHHH!!!!!!

8. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
Release Date: 2016
Crossing my fingers that this book where women can "manipulate beauty" has some feminist themes!

9. Black Widow: Red Vengeance
Release Date: 2016
I thought book one (Review here) was a lot of fun, so I'm looking forward to book two. I'm all about that female super hero action.

10. Captain Marvel Novel by Shannon and Dale Hale
Release Date: 2016
See! I told you, female super heroes.

What made your list? No way I need more books on my TBR, but we all know that's not going to stop me.

Recently Read: The Raven King

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Publication Date: 2016
Page Cont: 432
Rating: 5/5

Add on Goodreads

Also by Maggie Stiefvater:
The Raven Boys Review
The Dream Thieves Review

The first half of this review will be spoiler free.  The second half may contain 

spoilers but will be hidden. I will let you know when this switch happens and make sure to be 

careful while reading comments just in case!

I read Blue Lilly, Lilly Blue and The Raven King back-to-back and I'm sad that I am now finished with this series, but I am pretty satisfied with the ending. I decided not to do a review of book three because I found I didn't have much to say. I found it to be my least favorite of the series. There wasn't a lot of character development or development in the relationships between the characters which I was kinda bummed by, but even though it was my least favorite, it still earned a solid 4/5 because I was sucked in and loved the atmosphere as usual. The characters are what makes this series so great, and I was hoping for some specific developments in book three that didn't happen, but book four was back on track with the character development!

If you haven't started this series yet, please do! It's so addicting and enthralling; just make sure to have all the books on hand so you can marathon! I thought this was a great conclusion. It had a great mix of action and emotion and I already want to reread the series. I think this is a series that will improve upon rereading because there are so many clues and foreshadows worked into the earlier books that I wouldn't have caught the first time. And can we all agree that the real star of this show is Ronan? <3 Gansey who??

Spoilers below: highlight to reveal

OMG finally! I have been waiting for Ronan and Adam to acknowledge their feelings for one another. And shout out to Adam for being attracted to girls and boys and not making an internal crisis about it. He just accepted it without questioning himself and acted on it. I really respected the way that Stievfater built intimacy in Ronan and Adam's scenes in subtle ways. There was no large make-out scene but you felt the intimacy and the spark when they were together. This did wonders to make the romance REAL and not typical YA fiction romance. 

I knew that beloved Gansey was not really going to die, but I was really hoping that the ending woudn't be hokey or a cop-out. I was decently satisfied with how the end went down, but I also feel like it might have better if Gansey actually died or something bigger had happened. I don't know, I would love to reread so I could solidify my thoughts on the ending. I would love to hear yours below, just make sure you mark your spoilers. I also found Henry's role in the novel and the end particularly to be a little random and weird. What did you guys think?

Have you guys read anything else by Stiefvater? I want to read The Scorpio Races for sure, but I have heard mixed things about Shiver and the following books. What did you guys think of them and how do they compare to The Raven Boys? It might be hard to read that series after TRB because from what I can gather, this one is much better and came later in Stievfater's writing career. I love her writing though, so I would be up for reading anything she writes, regardless of plot. 

Recently Read: East of West vol 1 & vol 2

Volume 1: The Promise 
Author: Jonathon Hickman, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Rus Wooton
Genre: Graphic Novel/ Science Fiction
Publication Date: 2013
Page Count: 128
Rating: 3/5

I've seen this graphic novel series around Booktube quite a bit, and when I saw my local library had the first two volumes on their shelves, I decided to pick them up while I was home on break. I had no real idea of what this series was about, so I went in totally blind.

The art is gorgeous, and I love the presentation of the novel. The first volume was pretty confusing. You figure out some things as you go, but at the end of the volume I was still left more confused than not, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After finishing it, I was eager to pick up volume two to see if my questions got answered.

So from what I can gather from the first volume, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are reborn every generation in an AU where the American Civil War was really long and involved Native Americans. Someone has called the horsemen and is attempting to bring about the end of the world before it's meant to happen. So I am both intrigued and confused.  
This series would make a really great action movie, as that it is how it played out in my head as I was watching it. I will say, it is pretty violent, so if that thing bothers you, this might be one to skip. I'm usually not too big on the violence in movies, but I could handle this one just fine.


Volume 2: We Are All One
Rating: 3/5

I enjoyed the second volume just as much as the first, maybe even a little more. This volume gives some more background information about the world and the characters, and I like that information is revealed as you go instead of in big info dumps. The plot continued to pick up, and I am eager to see where it goes next.

This isn't a "usual" piece of reading for me, and I think that is part of the reason I am enjoying it so much. I like that this is different, and the world is so complex. This story is very well suited for the graphic novel style, and I think the visuals accompany the story perfectly. The world is very complex and involved and I'm definitely going to continue on with this series.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases on my Radar

I've spent a lot of time on Goodreads browsing the 2016 releases lately, and I've come across quite a few that I'm excited for. I left off some of the more obvious sequels and novels like The Raven King, The Winners Kiss, and Truthwitch in order to highlight other releases, but I'm excited for them too of course. Leave me your link below so I can check out your list and expand my 2016 releases TBR!
Hosted by: The Broke and the Bookish

Book Titles Link to Goodreads

 

1. The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi  
Release Date: May 3rd
I'm really loving how YA fantasy has been taking inspiration from non-western cultures and traditions lately.

2. A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood  
Release Date: March 8th  
This sounds like an amazing collection of historical fiction, girl-power short stories! I love a lot of the authors in this collection, and I have high hopes for this one.

3. The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude
Release Date: May 3rd 
This one sounds like a creepy thriller about small town life and more importantly, look at this cover!

4. The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters
Release Date: March 8th
Cat Winters is doing a retelling of Hamlet in 1902 Oregon featuring the Ku Klux Klan?! Sign me up.

5. All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Release Date: January 26th
This one sounds really interesting, and possibly a bit complicated. It's got elements of romance, time travel, and magic so you can't go wrong.

6. The Sleeping Prince byMelinda Salsibury 
Release Date: April 26th
The first book in this series was intriguing, but left a lot of things unanswered. After reading the synopsis for this one, it looks like this book is about different characters. I'm confused, yet also interested. And I know people think the cover is beautiful, but I find the prince to be a bit creepy.

7. Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun
Release Date: April 26th  
This premise has got me really intrigued! It sounds like a cool mix of sci-fi and fantasy
 

 

8. The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman 
Release Date: January 26th 
I'm up for any and all historical fiction with fantasy elements.

9. This Savage Song, by Victoria Swab 
Release Date: June 7th
Swab has quite the reputation and I have yet to read many of her works. This one sounds action packed.

10. Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Banderia 
Release Date: January 12th 
This isn't something I would normally pick up, but it looks fluffy and light, which I do get in the mood for every once and a while.