Friday, March 20, 2020

Spring 2020 Reads!

Hello, everyone! It is officially spring; the flowers are blooming outside my window, and yesterday it actually felt kinda sorta warm! So that's a bit of hope for y'all in this crazy, stressful period of life. And I've got several more bits of hope as well in the form of new books releasing this season. Some of the ones I'm most excited about already released, but that's fine; I'll talk about them anyway. Let's get started!

Spring 2020 Reads!

1. Havenfall by Sara Holland (March 3). We all know how much I love portal fantasies. We all also know how much I love fantasy murder mysteries. So if you put those together in a fabulous inn-between-the-worlds, well, it sounds like just my cup of tea! I'm super hopeful that I'll get to pick up Havenfall soon in some form (though I have heard it has some LGBT stuff in it . . . so we'll see how much of that there is).

2. Rerelease: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson (March 10). Aka what I was supposed to post about last Friday but didn't because I was too busy packing, doing job interviews, and trying to figure out my life (and doing homework in between). But, yes, the first two Wingfeather Saga books rereleased with gorgeous new cover art and illustrations, and I highly recommend picking them up. If you've read them before, you'll be delighted to reexperience the beauty of these stories — and if you haven't read them, well, you're in for a treat!

3. The Empire of Dreams by Rae Carson (April 7). I loved the Fire and Thorns trilogy back when I first read it (all the way back in 2014, what the pumpernickel); it was one of my first tastes of fantasy that stepped outside the traditional medieval European setting and one of the books that led to my falling in love with fantasy court intrigue. The Empire of Dreams sounds like a very different story — which is good, but I'm excited to return to the same setting and some of the same characters. (Also, I've been told that there's no? romantic? plotline? in this book? Which I am far too excited for, I'm sorry.)

4. Let the Ghosts Speak by Bryan Davis (April 15). Bryan Davis has a habit of publishing books and then doing next to no marketing for those books, so I'm glad I'm catching this one before it comes out. I'm really not sure what to think about this novel; it's kind of a historical murder mystery, but with bonus ghosts? What even. (Also, Bryan Davis apparently really appreciates Joan of Arc, because this is the second time she's popped up as a character in one of his books.) I get to find out soon, though, since I managed to score an ARC. (Whoo!)

5. The Silence of Bones by June Hur (April 21). Ok, this is not my usual genre; it's a historical mystery set in 1800s Korea and sounds like it could end up being a bit dark. But, y'know, I did say I wanted to step outside the speculative fiction genre more. And we've already established that I love a good mystery. So, I'm excited to give this one a try.

6. Moonscript by H.S.J. Williams (May 7). This is almost certainly the book on this list that I've been waiting for the longest! I've been anticipating the release of Moonscript for, I don't know, seven or eight years? It was back when Anne Elisabeth Stengl was doing her mentoring-young-authors thing (and still writing Goldstone Wood; I think it might have been before Starflower came out, in fact) and Hannah was one of the mentees. I got a glimpse of it through Stengl's blog and have been following (and befriending) Hannah ever since. And now, at last, the hope becomes reality and Moonscript can be on my shelves. (Plus, I scored an ARC of this one too, so huzzah! No, I haven't read it yet; I've been distracted by the Wingfeather Saga. But soon!)

7. By the Book by Amanda Sellet (May 12). We finish off with another not-my-usual-genre title. By the Book is contemporary — YA contemporary romance at that. But it's also about a classics-loving girl who's creating a romance survival guide based on literary romances, so . . . that's kind of hard to resist. Here's hoping that it turns out more like Pride and Prejudice than Emma.

And there's my list! Which of these are you most excited for? Are there any spring releases that I missed that I should be psyched about? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah P

2 comments:

  1. By the Book sounds cool! But - I had an idea that was basically the premise of Havenfall?? (it was a refuge for young characters from different fictional universes, run by someone called Mother Carey [because you mustn't kill Mother Carey's "chickens" or you'll get terrible luck... or something] and was fairly meta.) Now I'll have to read it and see what's going on. ;D

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    Replies
    1. I think yours sounds different enough from Havenfall that there shouldn't be an issue. But your book does sound cool!

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