A new year means new books! I feel like every time I make a post like this, I end up reading exactly 1% of the books on the list, but that’s a personal problem. So, without further ado, I present:
18 books releasing in the next 6 months I’ve got my eye on
The Effort
Science Fiction
January 12, 2021
When dark comet UD3 was spotted near Jupiter’s orbit, its existence was largely ignored. But to individuals who knew better, the threat this comet posed to the survival of the human race was unthinkable…. What would happen to Earth’s inhabitants if a similar event were allowed to occur?
Detransition, Baby
Literary Fiction
January 12, 2021
A whipsmart debut about three women–transgender and cisgender–whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood, and sex.
The Project
Mystery/Thriller
February 2, 2021
After her parents died, Lo’s sister joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying to prove it.
What Big Teeth
Horror
February 2, 2021
Eleanor has not seen or spoken with her family in years. She knows them only as vague memories: her grandfather’s tremendous fanged snout, the barrel full of water her mother always soaked in, and strange hunting trips in a dark wood. And she remembers the way they looked at her, like she was the freak.
The Valley and the Flood
Magical Realism
February 23, 2021
When Rose’s car breaks down in the Nevada desert, she heads to a small town where prophets are a dime a dozen, secrets lurk in every shadow, and the diner pie is legendary. And according to the town’s third most accurate prophet, they’ve been waiting for her. Because Rose’s arrival is part of a looming prophecy, one that says a flood will destroy the town.
The Lost Apothecary
Historical Fiction
March 2, 2021
In this addictive and spectacularly imagined debut, a female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course
The Steel Beneath the Silk
Historical Fiction
March 2, 2021
A tale of England in 1012 CE, brimming with treachery, heartache, tenderness and passion as the English queen confronts ambitious and traitorous councilors, invading armies and the Danish king’s power-hungry concubine.
The Stills
Historical Mystery
March 9, 2021
Moonshining is a way of life in rural Ohio, and even upstanding Sheriff Lily Ross has been known to turn a blind eye to the stills. But when a thirteen-year-old boy almost dies after drinking tainted moonshine, Lily knows that someone has gone too far, and she is determined to find out who.
The Heiress Hunt
Historical Romance
March 9, 2021
A Knickerbocker scoundrel returns to New York to discover that his father has bankrupted his estranged family. To save them from ruin, he’s forced to quickly find and marry an heiress. For a matchmaker, Harrison turns to the one woman he wishes he could marry: his childhood friend and love, who once broke his heart and is now engaged to a duke.
The Theft of Sunlight
Fantasy
March 23, 2021
Children have been disappearing from across Menaiya for longer than Amraeya can remember. When her friend’s sister is snatched, Rae knows she can’t look away any longer—even if that means seeking answers from the royal court, where her country upbringing and clubfoot will only invite ridicule.
What the Devil Knows
Historical Mystery
April 6, 2021
October 1814. The war with France is finally over and Europe’s diplomats are convening in Vienna for a conference that will put their world back together. With peace finally at hand, London suddenly finds itself in the grip of a series of heinous murders eerily similar to a series of murders of three years before.
Sistersong
Historical Fantasy
April 15, 2021
In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, King Cador’s three children inherit a fragmented land abandoned by the Romans: Riva, scarred in a terrible fire, fears she will never heal. Keyne battles to be seen as the king’s son, when born a daughter. And Sinne, the spoiled youngest girl, yearns for romance.
Witches Steeped in Gold
Fantasy
April 20, 2021
Sworn enemies, two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game. Deadly, fierce, magnetically addictive: this Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut is a thrilling journey where dangerous magic reigns supreme and betrayal lurks beneath every word.
In Deeper Waters
Fantasy
April 20, 2021
A young prince must rely on a mysterious stranger to save him when he is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour in this swoony adventure, featuring pirates. Gay pirates. (Say no more, fam.)
Arsenic and Adobo
Mystery/Thriller
May 4, 2021
When Lila moves back home to recover from a breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita’s failing restaurant and has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead, her life quickly swerves from a Jennifer Crusie romp to an Agatha Christie joint.
The Jasmine Throne
Fantasy
June 10, 2021
Set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother. (They’re lesbians, Harold.)
Rising Like a Storm
Fantasy
June 22, 2021
With the king dead and a usurper queen in power, Gul and Cavas face a tyrannical government that is bent on killing them both. Their roles in the king’s death have not gone unnoticed, and the new queen is out for blood. What she doesn’t know is that Gul and Cavas have a connection that runs deeper than romance, and together, they might have the power to end her for good.
Dominus
Historical Fiction
June 29, 2021
165 CE: The empire of Rome has reached its pinnacle. Universal peace—the Pax Roma—reigns from Britannia to Egypt, from Gaul to Greece. Marcus Aurelius, as much a philosopher as he is an emperor, oversees a golden age in Rome. The ancient Pinarius family and their workshop of artisans embellish the richest and greatest city on earth with gilded statues and towering marble monuments. Art and reason flourish. But history does not stand still.
And there you have it! As usual, I’ve got my eye on a pretty wide mix of books, from a whole bunch of genres. Hopefully I actually read some of these (and hopefully I like them if I do…)
(I’m putting this in parentheses because I know I am Extra on this topic, but hey, if you like gay pirates, can I interest you in Black Sails?)
This is a great list of books! I hope you will not feel patronized when I say that it has been very fun watching you get into SFF and I am super excited to see so many SFF releases on this list. I too am excited for them! Esp the Suri and Khanani books, since I already know I am crazy about those authors.
The Project has been on so many lists this week! Enjoy.
My post.
The Valley and the Flood sounds so interesting—and look at that cover! Gorgeous. I’ll definitely be checking that one out at some point this year.
I’m excited for quite a few of these! And thank you for reminding me to preorder Arsenic and Adobo!
I’m so excited about a lot of these: The Project, What Big Teeth, The Lost Apothecary, and In Deeper Waters!
-Lauren