The best part about a new year is all the new books. As a book reviewer, I keep lists of what’s coming out, and these are five that I’m excited for in the first half of next year. From heartfelt contemporary to a tale of survival set on another planet to vampires, there’s something for everyone on this list. Get ready to preorder!
When You Get the Chance
About the Book
When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: Jan. 4, 2022
Why I’m Excited
This story of a girl using Mama Mia-like methods to try to find her absent mother while clashing with her high school rival in an enemies to lovers romance sounds like an absolute delight.
Synopsis
Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price’s dream of becoming a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super introverted dad, who raised Millie alone since she was a baby. Not her drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. And not her “Millie Moods,” the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm. Millie needs an ally. And when an accidentally left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do―find her mom.
But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you’ve had all along?
“Chock-full of musical theater references and humor, the novel includes high-stakes emotional drama that is balanced by supportive friendships and strong, deep family connections…An entertaining personal journey with plot twists galore.” – Kirkus Reviews
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
About the Book
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long
Genre: Science fiction/survival
Release Date: Jan. 11, 2022
Why I’m Excited
Sena’s fiesty determination to survive and come out on top puts her up there with YA heroines like Fable (of the Fable series) and Jude (of the Wicked Prince series).
Synopsis
Full Flight
About the Book
Full Flight by Ashley Schumaker
Genre: Contemporary
Release date: Feb. 22, 2022
Why I’m Excited
This book has everything – heartfelt romance, beautiful writing and artistic teens. Also, the author’s debut novel, Amelia Unabridged, was one of my favorite books in 2021.
Synopsis
Ashley Schumacher’s Full Flight is about how first love shapes us―even after it’s gone.
Everyone else in the tiny town of Enfield, Texas, calls fall football season, but for the forty-three members of the Fighting Bearcat Marching Band, it’s contest season. And for new saxophonist Anna James, it’s her first chance to prove herself as the great musician she’s trying hard to be.
When she’s assigned a duet with mellophone player Weston Ryan, the boy her small-minded town thinks of as nothing but trouble, she’s equal parts thrilled and intimidated. But as he helps her with the duet, and she sees the smile he seems to save just for her, she can’t help but feel like she’s helping him with something too.
When her strict parents find out she’s been secretly seeing him and keep them apart, Anna and Weston learn what it truly means to fight for something they love. With the marching contest nearing and the two falling hard for one another, the unthinkable happens, and Anna is left grappling for a way forward without Weston.
Edgewood
About the Book
Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli
Genre: Fantasy
Release date: March 1, 2022
Why I’m Excited
First of all, this cover is gorgeous! Plus, I love the premise of a girl who is born to sing, but every time she sings, a dark sinister forest draws near.
Synopsis
Can love survive the dark?
No matter how far she runs, the forest of Edgewood always comes for Emeline Lark. The scent of damp earth curls into her nose when she sings and moss creeps across the stage. It’s as if the woods of her childhood, shrouded in folklore and tall tales, are trying to reclaim her. But Emeline has no patience for silly superstitions.
When her grandfather disappears, leaving only a mysterious orb in his wake, the stories Emeline has always scoffed at suddenly seem less foolish. She enters the forest she has spent years trying to escape, only to have Hawthorne Fell, a handsome and brooding tithe collector, try to dissuade her from searching.
Refusing to be deterred, Emeline finds herself drawn to the court of the fabled Wood King himself. She makes a deal―her voice for her grandfather’s freedom. Little does she know, she’s stumbled into the middle of a curse much bigger than herself, one that threatens the existence of this eerie world she’s trapped in, along with the devastating boy who feels so familiar.
With the help of Hawthorne―an enemy turned reluctant ally who she grows closer to each day―Emeline sets out to not only save her grandfather’s life, but to right past wrongs, and in the process, discover her true voice.
Belle Morte
About the Book
Belle Morte by Bella Higgin
Genre: Paranormal romance
Release date: April 5, 2022
Why I’m Excited
This promises to give us a feisty heroine paired with a handsome vampire. I’m excited that vampires are coming back and hopeful that this will be an excellent series.
Synopsis
There’s only one way out
Belle Morte. One of five houses where vampires reside as celebrities and humans are paid to be their living donors. While others came here seeking fortune, I came in search of my sister who walked into Belle Morte five months ago . . . and never walked back out.
Now that I’m here, the secrets about this world have proven to be much bigger than I ever anticipated. And lurking around every corner are shocking insinuations of what happened to my sister.
There’s only one person who might have the answers I need, and the undeniable pull I feel toward him is terrifying: Edmond Dantès―a vampire, and my mortal enemy.
The harder I try to resist him, the further I fall under his spell. And in one instant my life is irrevocably changed. My past becomes prologue and my fate becomes sealed behind these doors.
Belle Morte has spoken. And it may never let me go.
If you’re feeling impatient and want a book that’s already out, here’s my list of 15 favorite YA novels from 2021.
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