Top Ten Tuesday- Most Anticipated Releases of 2020 (Jan.-May)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ ThatArtsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt is pretty straight forward but it was difficult to narrow it down to five titles each! Since we’ve already shared a few different most anticipated lists for next year, we both tried to find books we haven’t already yammered on about here on the blog. We hope you find something new to preorder!

Haley’s Picks

1- Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold

Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold
Published by Balzer + Bray on February 25, 2020
Pages: 368
Goodreads

You are alone in the woods, seen only by the unblinking yellow moon. Your hands are empty. You are nearly naked.
And the wolf is angry.
Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old, Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle. She’s kept mostly to herself. She’s been good. But then comes the night of homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks. Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the woods—frightened, but not alone.
Elana K. Arnold, National Book Award finalist and author of the Printz Honor book Damsel, returns with a dark, engrossing, blood-drenched tale of the familiar threats to female power—and one girl’s journey to regain it.

I have not read Arnold’s debut Damsel but you bet it is high on my list. This book is essential a dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with a particularly violent, bloody twist. I want it so desperately I keep reminding myself of the release date to make sure I haven’t missed it.

2- The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
Published by Feiwel and Friends on February 25, 2020
Pages: 336
Goodreads

Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:
1) Woo the Shadow King.2) Marry him.3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.
No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.
But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?

I have been a fan of Tricia’s books from the beginning so you bet I am stoked for her next book which is a new standalone fantasy. We are so excited about it that we have invited Tricia to be our Author spotlight for February so come with your questions!

3- The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood

The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood
Published by Penguin Books on January 14, 2020
Pages: 400
Goodreads

Shocking, tense and sharply written, The Poison Garden is the gripping new novel from the international bestseller and Edgar award-winning Alex Marwood.Where Romy grew up, if someone died you never spoke of them again.
Now 22, she has recently escaped the toxic confines of the cult she was raised in. But Romy is young, pregnant and completely alone - and if she is to keep herself safe in this new world, she has some important lessons to learn.
Like how there are some people you can trust, and some you must fear. And about who her family really is, and why her mother ran away from them all those years ago.
And that you can't walk away from a dark past without expecting it to catch up with you...

This book rings tons of my wheelhouse bells and I only just consciously became aware of it thanks to our friends on the Professional Book Nerds Podcast, who happen to share a lot of similar reading tastes with me. Our protagonist is Romy, who is one of the few survivor of an apocalypse cult that shared in a mass suicide. The book follows Romy as she tries to move on from the cult and protect the life that she carries inside her. Cult, check. Coming to terms to life outside the cult, check. Pregnant protagonist, check. You bet I’ll be running to the library on release day to pick up my hold!

4- Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
Published by Tor.com on January 21, 2020
Pages: 176
Goodreads

"Riot Baby bursts at the seams of story with so much fire, passion and power that in the end it turns what we call a narrative into something different altogether."—Marlon James
Rooted in foundational loss and the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is both a global dystopian narrative an intimate family story with quietly devastating things to say about love, fury, and the black American experience.
Ella and Kev are brother and sister, both gifted with extraordinary power. Their childhoods are defined and destroyed by structural racism and brutality. Their futures might alter the world. When Kev is incarcerated for the crime of being a young black man in America, Ella—through visits both mundane and supernatural—tries to show him the way to a revolution that could burn it all down.

I don’t want to spoil this book too much, but suffice it to say that it is an ownvoices dystopian novel the tackles issues of race and violence through the eyes of two siblings who wield incredibly destructive, awe-inspiring powers. I haven’t read any thing by this author but this release coming out later this month is definitely high priority.

5- Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
on March 17, 2020
Goodreads

Sharp Objects meets My Lovely Wife in this tightly drawn debut that peels back the layers of the most complicated of mother-daughter relationships...
For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.
Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.
After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.
Patty insists all she wants is to reconcile their differences. She says she's forgiven Rose Gold for turning her in and testifying against her. But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty Watts always settles a score.
Unfortunately for Patty, Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...
And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.

This is a psychological thriller that goes dark and I am here for it. Our protagonist Rose Gold Watts believed that she was seriously ill for the first 18 years of her life. Turns out, she was completely healthy. Her mother was just really good at lying. Now, decades later, Patty wants to reconcile with her daughter but Rose isn’t a little girl anymore, at the last thing she wants is a meaningless apology. Have you one-clicked it on Amazon yet?

Emily’s Picks

1- Rogue Princess by B.R. Myers

Rogue Princess by B.R. Myers
Published by Swoon Reads on January 21, 2020
Pages: 304
Goodreads

A princess fleeing an arranged marriage teams up with a snarky commoner to foil a rebel plot in B. R. Myers' Rogue Princess, a gender-swapped sci-fi YA retelling of Cinderella.
Princess Delia knows her duty: She must choose a prince to marry in order to secure an alliance and save her failing planet. Yet she secretly dreams of true love, and feels there must be a better way. Determined to chart her own course, she steals a spaceship to avoid the marriage, only to discover a handsome stowaway.
All Aidan wanted was to “borrow” a few palace trinkets to help him get off the planet. Okay, so maybe escaping on a royal ship wasn’t the smartest plan, but he never expected to be kidnapped by a runaway princess!
Sparks fly as this headstrong princess and clever thief battle wits, but everything changes when they inadvertently uncover a rebel conspiracy that could destroy their planet forever.

I spent some time trying to find releases that I haven’t already gushed about and this one jumped out at me right away! A gender-bent, sci-fi Cinderella retelling where the love interest is a thief?! Yes, please! Retellings are already in my wheelhouse, but really I should have put books about thieves in there as well. I tend to adore them and I’m SO excited for this one!

2. Spellhacker by M.K. England

Spellhacker by M.K. England
Published by HarperTeen on January 21, 2020
Pages: 416
Goodreads

From the author of The Disasters, this genre-bending YA fantasy heist story is perfect for fans of Marie Lu and Amie Kaufman.
In Kyrkarta, magic—known as maz—was once a freely available natural resource. Then an earthquake released a magical plague, killing thousands and opening the door for a greedy corporation to make maz a commodity that’s tightly controlled—and, of course, outrageously expensive.
Which is why Diz and her three best friends run a highly lucrative, highly illegal maz siphoning gig on the side. Their next job is supposed to be their last heist ever.
But when their plan turns up a powerful new strain of maz that (literally) blows up in their faces, they’re driven to unravel a conspiracy at the very center of the spellplague—and possibly save the world.
No pressure.

Magical. Heist. What else do you need to know here? You need more? Ok. LGBTQ+ representation. Found family. New magic system. Gang of lovable miscreants. One reviewer calls it a mix between a heist novel and a fantasy quest. There, NOW what else do you need to know?

3. Diamond City by Francesca Flores

Diamond City (Diamond City, #1) by Francesca Flores
Published by Wednesday Books on January 28, 2020
Pages: 400
Goodreads

Good things don't happen to girls who come from nothing...unless they risk everything.
Fierce and ambitious, Aina Solís as sharp as her blade and as mysterious as the blood magic she protects. After the murder of her parents, Aina takes a job as an assassin to survive and finds a new family in those like her: the unwanted and forgotten.
Her boss is brutal and cold, with a questionable sense of morality, but he provides a place for people with nowhere else to go. And makes sure they stay there.
DIAMOND CITY: built by magic, ruled by tyrants, and in desperate need of saving. It is a world full of dark forces and hidden agendas, old rivalries and lethal new enemies.
To claim a future for herself in a world that doesn't want her to survive, Aina will have to win a game of murder and conspiracy—and risk losing everything.
Full of action, romance and dark magic, book one of Francesca Flores' breathtaking fantasy duology will leave readers eager for more!

Ok, another thing I really should have put on my wheelhouse list is books about assassins and this one sounds AMAZING. A young girl’s family is murdered and she becomes an assassin to survive. This is another found family book, with dark magic and conspiracies and oh my GOSH why don’t I have this book yet. Plus, it’s a duology, which I am really loving lately.

4. The Empire of Dreams by Rae Carson

The Empire of Dreams (Fire and Thorns, #4) by Rae Carson
Published by Greenwillow Books on April 7, 2020
Pages: 448
Goodreads

New York Times-bestselling author Rae Carson makes a triumphant return to the world of her award-winning
Girl of Fire and Thorns
trilogy in this extraordinary stand-alone novel. With action, adventure, and a heroine set on destroying the patriarchal limits meant to keep her in her place,
The Empire of Dreams
once again proves that Rae Carson is a master of epic fantasy.
Even though Red Sparkle Stone is a foundling orphan with an odd name and a veiled past, she's about to be adopted into the royal family—by Empress Elisa herself. Sixteen-year-old Red can hardly believe her luck. Then, in a stunning political masterstroke, the empress's greatest rival blocks the adoption, and Red is left with no family and no future.
Grieving and lost, but determined to find her place, Red hatches a daring plan: she will prove herself as a recruit for the world's most elite fighting force, the legendary Royal Guard—something no woman has done before. But it's no coincidence that someone wanted her to fail as a princess, someone whose shadowy agenda puts everything she loves at risk. As danger closes in, it will be up to Red and her new friends—and maybe some new enemies—to save the empire. If they can survive recruitment year.

This novel will be a standalone set in the Girl of Fire and Thorns world and I am losing my mind with excitement. Girl of Fire and Thorns is one of my favorite trilogies. I honestly was only just ok with the first one, but then it proceeded to get better and better and end up with one of my favorite love stories in YA. I can’t wait to see what the characters have been up to and read a new one in this world.

5. Rebelwing by Andrea Tang

Rebelwing (Rebelwing, #1) by Andrea Tang
Published by Razorbill / Penguin Random House on February 25, 2020
Pages: 368
Goodreads

Business is booming for Prudence Wu.
A black-market-media smuggler and scholarship student at the prestigious New Columbia Preparatory Academy, Pru is lucky to live in the Barricade Coalition where she is free to study, read, watch, and listen to whatever she wants. But between essays and exams, she chooses to spend her breaks sweet-talking border patrol with her best friend, Anabel, in order to sell banned media to the less fortunate citizens of the United Continental Confederacy, Inc.
When a drop-off goes awry, Pru narrowly escapes UCC enforcers to find that her rescuer is, of all things, a sentient cybernetic dragon. On the one hand, Pru is lucky not to be in prison, or worse. On the other, the dragon seems to have imprinted on her permanently, which means she has no choice but to be its pilot.
Drawn into a revolution she has no real interest in leading, Pru, Anabel, and friends Alex and Cat become key players in a brewing conflict with the UCC as the corporate government develops advanced weaponry more terrifying and grotesque than Pru could have ever imagined.

This one is a science-fiction novel set in the far future. Our protagonist is a student in university who earns money by smuggling banned media. She almost gets caught and, while on the run, finds a sentient cybernetic dragon who imprints on her and she is forced to become its pilot. Smuggler is really just another kind of thief, so checkmark there. PLUS DRAGONS?! Yes, yes, yes.

What About You?

Are any of ours on your list? What do you think we missed? What are you most excited about?! We can’t wait to chat with you!