Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Spring is nearly here, and that means it's time for another roundup of newly-releasing reads. This season's list is very much dominated by a particular author, but it also has so many books that I'm excited for, so let's take a look at what we have to look forward to. As usual, I'm sharing my full list here, but if you want the short version, you can hop over to Light and Shadows.

Spring 2023 Reads

1. Dark Clouds by Suzannah Rowntree (March 23). This book releases next Thursday, but I devoured my ARC within days of receiving it, and it is SO GOOD, y'all. There's heists and humor and heart (and Leverage vibes), we get to properly meet Molly's sisters, Vasily is back and has a rival this time (in more ways than one) . . . it's pretty much everything you could possibly want in a book of this kind. Keep an eye out for my full review next week — or you can still preorder the ebook now.

2. Secret Project #2 by Brandon Sanderson (April 1). I haven't actually read the first secret project (Tress) because there were delays with the hardback and I'm waiting for that to get to my house. Nonetheless, I am excited for Secret Project #2. From what I read in the sample first chapter, it seemed pretty good. It's not the Secret Project I'm most looking forward to, since it's the only non-Cosmere one, but it should be a fun read and an interesting twist on portal fantasy. It seems Dark Lord of Derkholm-ish, but I'm hoping I'll like Sanderson's execution of the concept better than Jones's. (Dark Lord, for the record, is not my favorite DWJ book, but I do like the concept a lot.)

3. Austen Fairy Tale Box Set 1 by Kendra E. Ardnek (April 21). This isn't actually a new book, but it is a new release, so . . . I'm including it. Kendra is releasing the first three Austen Fairy Tale novels in one volume — which is currently on an ebook preorder special of $3.99, only a little more than a single installment in the series would be. If you've been eying this series, now's a great time to get three books for (basically) the price of one!

4. Behind Closed Doors by W.R. Gingell (May 15). Athelas's spinoff series continues! A Whisker Behind, the first in the series, was excellent, and I'm excited to see more of our favorite lavender-grey fae, as well as his new crop of housemates. YeoWoo is a stellar counterpart to Athelas — able to see past his facade and affectations, and delightfully straightforward even when she's scheming — and I'm also quite curious about Camellia and what she might be hiding behind her sunshine exterior. Hopefully this book will start giving us some hints on that.

5. Tide and Scale Anthology (May 16). The blurb for this anthology promises stories "filled with pirates and mermaids on journeys from the depths of the sea to the far reaches of space," so I have two reasons to be excited. The first, of course, is the possibility of space pirates (!!!), a trope that I can almost always get behind. The second is the fact that I have inside info that one Wyn Estelle Owens has a mermaid story in here, and I absolutely cannot wait to read it.

6. Snow Quest Like Home by Kendra E. Ardnek (May 22). After a few years away, we're returning to Bookania! Snow Quest is the first release in Kendra's Beastly Curses solo multi-release (because releasing five of your own retellings of the same fairytale at once is probably the ultimate Kendra E. Ardnek move). It combines The Snow Queen with Beauty and the Beast and a few other tales, and it shifts the spotlight from Robin and Eric to Samson, Madeleine, and Push Au Kim — though, never fear, our original heroes still have their parts to play. I think Snow Queen and Beauty and the Beast are a highly underrated pairing — the sort of mashup I wish I'd thought of myself — and I'm excited to see what Kendra does with it.

7. Fairer Than Beauty by Kendra E. Ardnek (May 23). The second Beastly Curses release! This is another of Kendra's Twists of Adventure, and it sort of combines Fairer Than a Fairy with Beauty and the Beast . . . except not exactly. I beta read this one, and I can confirm it's a pretty interesting twist on the tale of Beauty and the Beast — plus, it has a variation on the "characters know they're in a story" trope that I quite like. I'd definitely say it's worth picking up!

8. Thornrose Estate by Kendra E. Ardnek (May 26). We're skipping the third and fourth Beastly Curses releases (Superheroes Don't Prowl at Night and The Dragon) because (A) they're not on Amazon or Goodreads yet and (B) I don't know enough about either of them to be properly excited. But I am looking forward to Thornrose Estate, which blends Beauty and the Beast with Northhanger Abbey in a move that I think is quite inspired (even if it makes me worried for some of my favorite characters). But besides the merits of the story concept, I'm very eager to find out what happens next after Snowfield Palace left us in such a state of suspense!

So, yes — Suzannah Rowntree, Brandon Sanderson, W.R. Gingell, Wyn Estelle Owens, and a whole slew of Kendra E. Arndek stories all in one season? I am going to be a very happy reader, assuming all the things I need to do that aren't reading don't kill me via stress and lack of sleep. What book releases are you excited for this spring? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!