Tammy’s Top Ten Most Anticipated Books for 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I’ve been waiting so patiently for this week’s Top Ten! From now until the end of the year are some of my favorite Top Ten themes. In fact, I’ve been working hard (reading) all year to bring you these lists, as have most other book bloggers. So here we go…these are my Top Ten most anticipated books that will be released in 2013—at least the ones I know about, and the ones that already have book covers. There are several that could have made this list, except the cover designs have not yet been revealed, and since the visual impact of a book is important to me, I don’t want to show you any blank covers.  These are listed in order of release date.

1. Splintered by A. G. Howard. Release date: January 1 2013. Technically I will be reading this in December, in order to have a review up before the release date, but technically it is a 2013 book, so I feel like I can include it here. I’ve read really good reviews of Splintered, and I can’t wait to read it myself. This re-imagined Alice in Wonderland is far closer to the original than Alice in Zombieland which came out earlier this year, from what I’ve heard, so if you’re looking for a good Alice story, this could be the one.

2. The Archived by Victoria Schwab. Release date: January 22 2013. This story is about a girl who keeps watch over the dead, who sit on shelves like books and are violent if awakened. I’ve been waiting forever to read this, and the wait is nearly over! This is another book that’s already received some great reviews. To promote her book, Victoria has been recording her own “histories” on YouTube for the past few months, you should check it out if you have time.

3. The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd. Release date: January 29 2013. This book has my name written all over it! Based on the story The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells, it tells the story of Dr. Moreau’s daughter Juliet, who discovers her father’s terrible scientific experiments with animals when she journeys to the island to find him. It sounds like a mix of science fiction and horror, and it’s set in the same time period as the original story, 1894.

4. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. Release date: February 5 2013. Yea, it’s coming out on my birthday! Happy birthday to me:) Scarlet, in case anyone has been hiding under a rock, is the second book, after Cinder, in Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. (There will be four books in the series.) According to some reviews I’ve read, it picks up right where Cinder left off and continues her story, but introduces us to new characters as well.

5. Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger. Release date: March 5 2013. Wow, this sounds great. It’s about a girl who can walk on the wind and can control it as well. She’s sworn to protect a boy named Vane, who survived a category five tornado which killed his family. It sounds romantic, dangerous, and magical. I can’t wait to read it!

6. In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters. Release date: April 2 2013. I recently chose this as a Waiting on Wednesday (last week in fact!) and it’s true: it is one of the books I’m super excited to read. It takes place in 1908 during the Spanish Influenza epidemic, where a girl named Mary, who doesn’t believe in ghosts, is haunted by the ghost of a boy who died in battle.

7. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Release date: April 30 2013. Joe Hill is one of my top favorite horror writers, and I’m so pleased he has a new book coming out soon. It’s about a girl named Victoria who escapes a place called “Christmasland” after being kidnapped by a bad guy named Charlie. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, and you can bet whatever Hill has in store for his characters, it won’t be pleasant…

8. Invisibility by Andrea Cremer & David Levithan.  Release date: May 7 2013. A story about an invisibly boy? Are you kidding me?? Stephen has been invisible almost his entire life, ever since his grandfather cursed Stephen’s mother. He is surprised to meet someone who can actually see him, a girl named Elizabeth. Can they break the curse? Will they fall in love? Let’s all read it and find out…and don’t you love the cover?

9. Joyland by Stephen King. Release date: June 4 2013. This is one of those instances where I wanted to list King’s other book that’s coming out next year, the sequel to The Shining, Dr. Sleep. Alas, there is no cover art to show you yet, so I had to cross it off the list. But I can’t wait to read Joyland, which comes out exclusively in mass market paperback, and takes place at a carnival.

10. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke. Release date: August 15 2013. Between the title of the book and the author’s name, it’s quite a mouthful, but beneath this gorgeous and Gothic-looking cover lies a terrifying tale of a boy who just might be the devil, and the girl who’s falling for him.

I just realized this list is made up of mostly YA titles.  I didn’t plan it that way, I guess it just goes to show that young adult authors are writing some of the best fiction out there. I’d love to read your top ten list, please leave me your link!