Eighteen Anticipated Releases for 2018

Hi friends!

Happy Tuesday. For those who celebrate, did you have a nice Christmas? For all others, is your week going well? I myself feel fortunate to have had a peaceful holiday with my family, and I’m looking forward to even more celebrations with friends later in the week.

All that said, I don’t want to linger long on introductions, for today’s post is a favorite of mine: my list of the releases I’m most excited about for 2018! I love to put together this post each year, and this round-up was no different – I hope you’ll excuse that my list goes beyond the typical ten. A few notes before the fun: I’ve provided Goodreads link for ease of adding to your own TBR; I’ve chosen not to include debuts on my list (I like to write a separate post for those!); and the books are listed in rainbow order, naturally. What novels are you looking forward to reading this year?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted, as always, by the lovely bunch at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature will soon be switched over to That Artsy Reader Girl; more information – and the chance to link up a list of your own! – can be found HERE.

To start, I can’t wait to get a copy of Monday’s Not Coming. I read Tiffany D. Jackson’s debut, Allegedly, earlier in the year, and her sophomore novel looks just as good, if not better. The pitch puts it best: it’s about “the complex mystery of one teenage girl’s disappearance and the traumatic effects of the truth.” I’m in. [Release Date: June 5]

There are few authors who can consistently write at the level of Morgan Matson – I have yet to read a book of hers that I haven’t adored! I imagine the trend will continue with her 2018 release, Save the Date, a novel about a wedding weekend gone wrong. I have June 5th blocked off for an afternoon of reading. [Release Date: June 5]

Pass me the tissues: my favorite series is coming to a close with the release of The Penderwicks at Last in May. Jeanne Birdsall’s beloved books have been a staple of my childhood, and while I’m sad to see (and certainly not ready for!) the series to end, I’m glad we get one last story with the Penderwick family. I’m thinking of it as my post-finals reward. [Release Date: May 15]

The ice cream scooper in me is all sorts of excited for Siobhan Vivian’s 2018 release, Stay Sweet. And why shouldn’t I be? Involving an all-girls led local creamery, loyal friendships, and first loves (!!), this book will be the first I read to ring in the summertime. [Release Date: April 24]

My favorite summer reads are those with warm, small-town settings, coming-of-age narratives, and dashes of romance (light contemporaries at their finest). Emily Adrian’s second book, The Foreseeable Future, seems to have all that and more, which is to say that I’ll be grabbing a copy as soon as it’s out. [Release Date: May 8]

Each book in the Wells and Wong Mysteries series is better than the last, so I can only expect Jolly Foul Play to be an utter delight. The fourth installment by Robin Stevens, it follows detectives Daisy and Hazel as they investigate the murder of a classmate. I’ll have my sleuth skills ready for when it hits US shelves. [Release Date: April 17]

Like so many authors on this list, Kristen Levine is one of my “auto-buys.” She could write about anything, and I’d read it! I don’t know much about her fourth book, The Jigsaw Jungle, beyond it being a contemporary about a father’s absence, but needless to say, I’ll be devouring it come June. [Release Date: June 19]

Have I mentioned how much I love The Lady Janies series yet? I was late to reading the first installment, My Lady Jane, but with the release of My Plain Jane in June, let 2018 be the year that we all catch up on this wonderful, hilarious collaboration between three talented YA authors. [Release Date: June 26]

Katrina Leno’s Everything All at Once was, without a doubt, one of my favorite reads of 2017. You can then only imagine my joy when I saw that her next book, Summer of Salt, is due out in June. Early reviewers have called it “magical” – I’m counting down the days until I’ll be able to read a copy myself! [Release Date: June 5]

On the nonfiction side of things, Mackenzi Lee’s Bygone Badass Broads sounds like just the feminist pick I need for the new year. Based on her Twitter threads in which she shared interesting stories about women bypassing traditional gender roles, this book highlights 52 of these pioneers. Count me in. [Release Date: March 6]

Carlie Sorosiak is another debut author who came to my attention this year, and yet she already has another novel on the way! I’d pick up Wild Blue Wonder for its cover alone, but the premise – a girl faces grief and frustration after the death of her best friend – makes it sound even more like a book I’ll enjoy. [Release Date: June 26]

Author Adele Griffin is often celebrated for writing unique, riveting fiction. After reading one of her books over the summer, I would agree: she writes YA like no one else. Her next release, Tell Me No Lies, is actually a companion novel to Be True to Me, which means we readers can return to the secretive and atmospheric 1980s narrative. [Release Date: June 12]

I haven’t read Sarah Nicole Lemon’s debut, Done Dirt Cheap, yet – it’s high on my TBR list for the coming year – but I’m nevertheless looking forward to her second book, Valley Girls. It has a tight-knit group of rock climbers, fragile family dynamics, and the backdrop of Yosemite National Park. What more could you ask for? [Release Date: May 8]

Call it the year of Becky Albertalli; not only is her debut, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, making its way to the big screen in March, she also has a third novel – a Simon spin-off that focuses on his best friend, Leah – hitting shelves in April. What a spring it will be. [Release Date: April 24]

Take it from someone who has read all of Ally Carter’s books: you can always count on her to deliver strong protagonists, write thrilling plots, and make you want to be a spy. Her newest novel, Not If I Save You First, seems to follow suit as its main character Maddie finds herself in sudden danger in the Alaskan wilderness. March, come soon! [Release Date: March 27]

Since reading – and loving – Conviction back in 2015, I’ve been awaiting the release of Kelly Loy Gilbert’s next novel. I fortunately don’t have to wait much longer: Picture Us in the Light, her book about a high school senior who uncovers secrets about his family, is out in April. Cue the excitement. [Release Date: April 10]

I feel there are many books that flew under the radar this year, Laurie Devore’s terrific How to Break a Boy among them. I’ll continue to push anyone and everyone to read it as I await the release of her second novel, Winner Take All. With a complex narrator and an empowering plot, I wouldn’t be surprised if I fall in love with this one too. [Release Date: January 30]

Finally, what a treat it is to have new Brandy Colbert novels two years in a row. Little & Lion is a favorite of mine (read it if you get the chance), so I’m looking forward to diving into her third book, Finding Yvonne. It isn’t out until August, but the wait will surely be worth it. [Release Date: August 7]

Have a lovely Tuesday!
B

Psst. Looking to read the backlists of these authors? Here are a few reviews from the Ciao Bella archive to get you started: Like It Never Happened by Emily Adrian, The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, and Murder is Bad Manners by Robin Stevens.