Hello, everyone! Spring is finally here (and the weather's actually cooperating with that statement), which means it's time for another season of reads! Now, I'm still way behind on my winter releases (and I'm sure I'm not the only one), but that's no reason not to be excited for more new books. After all, you can never have too many books. And this season actually has a lot of pretty promising releases, so let's get started!

Spring 2019 Reads!

1. The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds (March 5). Ok, so I normally avoid contemporary books unless I'm being paid to review them because, let's be real, if I want real-world angst, I can just walk outside and find the nearest awkward couple. But this one has time-travel in it, and . . . ok, it's a time-travel trope I'm a little iffy on. Still, I'd be willing to give it a try if I have time.

2. To Best the Boys by Mary Weber (March 19). I honestly thought this was a contemporary, just based on the title, and so avoided it on principle. Then everyone I knew abruptly started yelling on the internet about how good it was, and I decided that I'd better look into it. And what I found? Scientist girls, mysterious mazes, and potentially-deadly challenges. With all those factors in its favor, I just might have to pick this one after all.

3. Once and Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cory McCarthy (March 26). It's a sci-fi King Arthur retelling! With a cranky teenage Merlin! (I'll bet you and anyone else five bucks that the authors took at least a little inspiration from the BBC Merlin.) I am, naturally, down for this. I might even buy it if it turns out really good, if only so I can shove it at my roommate and tell her to read it too.

4. We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett (April 2). Y'know how I keep yelling about how I want more historical fantasy in unique time periods? We've got historical fantasy set during the Civil War, "complicated friendships" (yes please!), and spying! What more could I ask for? (Don't answer that.)

5. The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews (April 4). And here we have one of the few authors whose books I'll read even if they are contemporary. I'm 99% certain that The Boy Who Steals Houses will make a mess of my emotions just based on what Cait Grace has said about it. All the same, I'm looking forward to reading more of her books and hopefully getting some cute found-family moments. We'll see!

6. Descendent of the Crane by Joan He (April 9). Asian! Inspired! Fantasy! I still haven't gotten to most of the books in this genre that came out this winter, but that just means I can binge-read all of it once I get home on summer break. It'll be fabulous. Also, reluctantly responsible rulers and murder mysteries are two of my favorite things. So, yeah, I can't wait to read this one.

7. The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala (April 23). And now we've got Indian/Hindu mythology in the mix, which is probably going to be a wild ride, but I'm not complaining. We've got assassins, we've got politics, we've got masterminds . . . if it goes right, it'll be awesome. Admittedly, some things in the synopsis make me a little worried about whether or not it'll actually go right, but we can hope!

8. Romanov by Nadine Brandes (May 7). More historical fantasy! About Anastasia! Not that I know a whole lot about Anastasia, but still: historical! fantasy! In Russia! My reading list is deliciously multicultural, and I'm so excited. Plus, I've been meaning to read Nadine's books for ages — I have Fawkes on my shelf, but I just haven't had time, but maybe Romanov will change that.

9. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (May 14). Ok, we all know how this one's going to go — any time a young, reasonably attractive person in fantasy is sent to kill another young, reasonably attractive person, they end up falling in love and having to make semi-complicated moral choices. But the characters themselves sound interesting, and the last Arabian fantasy I read was beautiful, so I'm hoping for a repeat experience. We'll see how it goes.

10. The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg (May 28). The first time I heard about this book, I passed it by. However, since I've been taking a class on AI this semester, I'm more interested in how modern media presents artificial intelligence and deals with the question of whether or not a program can be a person. With that plus the fact that this is a mystery, I think it's worth including on the reading list.

What reads are you most excited for this spring? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)