January is almost over and I am just doing this “Most Anticipated” blog. Forgive me for being such a lazy ass blogger.
Anyway, I am here now with the books that I am anticipating for this year! This is not a very long list as I have expected it to be. And I would like to divide this into two categories. The first category is the books that actually captured my interest based on the synopsis that I have read and heard from BookTube or other bloggers. While the second category is the books that I am really looking forward to and are already in my Want to Read on Goodreads as soon as it was announced.
So without further ado, here are my most anticipated books of the year…
We Used To Be Friends by Amy Spalding
Publication Date: January 7, 2020
Synopsis:
Told in dual timelines—half of the chapters moving forward in time and half moving backward—We Used to Be Friends explores the most traumatic breakup of all: that of childhood besties. At the start of their senior year in high school, James (a girl with a boy’s name) and Kat are inseparable, but by graduation, they’re no longer friends. James prepares to head off to college as she reflects on the dissolution of her friendship with Kat while, in alternating chapters, Kat thinks about being newly in love with her first girlfriend and having a future that feels wide open. Over the course of senior year, Kat wants nothing more than James to continue to be her steady rock, as James worries that everything she believes about love and her future is a lie when her high-school sweetheart parents announce they’re getting a divorce. Funny, honest, and full of heart, We Used to Be Friends tells of the pains of growing up and growing apart.
~I don’t usually read contemporary but the synopsis gets me. I feel like this will hit too close to home and I am ready to cry my eyes out if that happens.
The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne
Publication Date: February 4, 2020
Synopsis:
Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, only has one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin?
But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one that got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now, he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg Season, she finds herself falling for her first love in a game of love, lies, and past regrets.
~First off all, the cover is so gorgeous. And second, I feel like I need this kind of angst in my life. Sometimes, fantasy are too heavy that I need a good trashy angst romance to balance my reading life.
The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
Publication Date: March 03, 2020
Synopsis:
Two siblings. Two brilliant talents. But only one Mozart.
Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish—to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she’ll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age—her tyrannical father has made that much clear.
And as Nannerl’s hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true—but his help may cost her everything.
~This book is on my list not because it was written by Marie Lu but because of Mozart. I remember watching a movie about Mozart in one of my class in college and I am interested to see how this historical fiction would unfold.
Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller
Publication Date: April 14, 2020
Synopsis:
Everyone knows Emma. Neesha’s her best friend, Aiden’s her basketball star boyfriend, and Evan’s her shadow, following Emma’s every move. She stands out, which is hard to do at Redemption Prep, a school where every student has been handpicked to attend its remote campus in the forest of Utah. So when she goes missing in plain sight, everyone notices. And everyone becomes a suspect, especially at a school with strict rules: Don’t skip mass. Don’t break curfew. Don’t go into the woods.
Emma’s disappearance ignites an investigation, and Neesha, Aiden, and Evan all want to find her—for different reasons. But they each have their own secrets to hide, and not everyone wants Emma to be found.
As the search continues, the students realize that they’re not the only ones trying to hide something. Redemption Prep has secrets, too—secrets bigger than any of the students could have imagined, and Emma could be the key to finding out the truth… if anyone can find her.
~A mystery in a school setting and that’s all I need. Really excited to read this!
The Loop by Benjamin Oliver
Publication Date: April 07, 2020
Synopsis:
Life inside The Loop-the futuristic death row for teens under eighteen-is one long repetitive purgatory. But when news of the encroaching chaos in the outside world reaches the inmates and disorder begins to strike, the prison becomes the least of their worries. Perfect for fans of The Fifth Wave and The Darkest Minds.
It’s Luka Kane’s sixteenth birthday and he’s been inside The Loop for over two years. Every inmate is serving a death sentence with the option to push back their execution date by six months if they opt into “Delays”, scientific and medical experiments for the benefit of the elite in the outside world.
But rumors of a war on the outside are spreading among the inmates, and before they know it, their tortuous routine becomes disrupted. The government issued rain stops falling. Strange things are happening to the guards. And it’s not long until the inmates are left alone inside the prison.
Were the chains that shackled Luka to his cell the only instruments left to keep him safe? In a thrilling shift, he must overcome fellow prisoners hell-bent on killing him, the warden losing her mind, the rabid rats in the train tunnels, and a population turned into murderous monsters to try and break out of The Loop, save his family, and discover who is responsible for the chaos that has been inflicted upon the world.
~Not many sci-fi dystopian story really captures my interest lately, especially the new ones. But this book really intrigues me. I hope it will not disappoint!
That’s all the book that captured my interest and I am anticipating to read this year. Hopefully I will get to it this year. And now, I will list down the top 6 books that I will surely read or buy this year as soon as it hit the shelf. So let’s get into it!
Top 6: One True King by Soman Chainani
Publication Date: June 02, 2020
Synopsis:
Beyond Good and Evil. Beyond Ever Afters.
The fairy tale of Sophie and Agatha comes to a dramatic conclusion in this sixth and final book of Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling fantasy series
Who will sit on Camelot’s throne and rule the Endless Woods? Who will be the One True King? Prepare yourself for the End of Ends . . .
~This is the 6th and final book in Soman Chainani’s School for Good & Evil. I am very excited to binge read all of them at once when I finally have this book. I already have all the books in my shelf and I only read the first 2 because I heard that this will be a 6 books series so I stopped. I don’t like waiting because I might forget some details here and there so binge read it is!
Top 5: The Last Confessions of Mara Dyer and Noah Show by Michelle Hodkin
Expected Publication: August 25, 2020
~So here is the thing, this book was the conclusion to the spin-off trilogy of Mara Dyer Trilogy. And this book was said to be released last year. But for some reason, it got pushed back to 2020. At first it was September 2020, now it is August. There is no synopsis and no cover. But I was still hoping that this will come out this year. I wanted to read Noah Shaw’s story so bad.
Top 4: Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi
Publication Date: March 31, 2020
Synopsis:
The explosive finale to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Shatter Me series.
Juliette Ferrars.
Ella Sommers.
Which is the truth and which is the lie?
Now that Ella knows who Juliette is and what she was created for, things have only become more complicated. As she struggles to understand the past that haunts her and looks to a future more uncertain than ever, the lines between right and wrong—between Ella and Juliette—blur. And with old enemies looming, her destiny may not be her own to control.
The day of reckoning for the Reestablishment is coming. But she may not get to choose what side she fights on.
~I still haven’t read the 4th book in this series but I already read the original trilogy. It is one of those cases that I am a little hesitant to read the succeeding books because it might ruin the original trilogy for me. But of course I want more Warner. And I must say that from the ending of the 3rd book, I know in my heart that it could be expanded much more and here it is now. Will definitely binge read this whole series once I get my hands to this.
Top 3: One of Us is Next by Karen McManus
Publication Date: January 07, 2020
Synopsis:
The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller everyone is talking about, One of Us Is Lying! There’s a new mystery to solve at Bayview High, and there’s a whole new set of rules.
Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this.
A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.
Until now.
This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.
Truth or Dare.
Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark.
Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.
But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.
Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.
~I already have this in my Kindle because it is already out. My reread of the first book really gets me excited into diving back to this world again. Will surely read this soon, probably my next read!
Top 2: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Publication Date: January 07. 2020
Synopsis:
The fifth installment in Seanan McGuire’s award-winning, bestselling Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones
When Jack left Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister–whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice–back to their home on the Moors.
But death in their adopted world isn’t always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.
Eleanor West’s “No Quests” rule is about to be broken.
Again.
~I have been reading this series ever since I stumble upon it. It is one of those books that made me pick it up the moment that it came out. It’s already out and I cannot wait to read it. Each book in this series feels like a new surprise, you wouldn’t know what you’re getting until you have it in your hands. And I am so excited to finally see Jack and Jill again because I really need to know what happens next!
And last but not the least of my most anticipated book of this year and the book that I would surely drop everything just to fly through it…
Top 1: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Publication Date: May 19, 2020
Synopsis:
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games.
~I will take whatever crumbs I get just to revisit this world. I wish Suzanne Collins have done this sooner or more prequel like this would come out. I really really missed The Hunger Games and now we’re getting a new book!! So excited.❤
That’s all for this super long blog. Those are all my anticipated books of this year, what are yours? I would love to know and I might as well give it a try if it intrigues me.
Till next time!
Maria❤
A Daughter of Parchment and Paper 