This year I’ve decided to do my “Most Anticipated” lists a little differently. In the past, I’ve followed the Top Ten Tuesday format of seasonal TBRs (winter, spring, summer, fall), but I like the idea of cleaner, more symmetrical quarterly lists, dividing the year into four neat segments. I’ve seen other bloggers use this format and I really love it!
Believe it or not, we’re now in the second quarter of the year, and today I’ll be highlighting my five most anticipated books for the months of April, May and June. Keep in mind there are a LOT more than five books coming out each month that I’m anxious to read, but these are the top five. Also, some publishers are pushing release dates due to the coronavirus situation, and to be honest, I have not double checked all these dates, so keep that in mind before you get too excited! Here we go (click on the titles to read my review/go to Goodreads):
APRIL 2020
Yes, I’ve already read three of these, but I had to include them because, hey, most anticipated!
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix has a long, unwieldy title, but the story is fantastic. Readers who love the dark side of fiction should read this immediately. Release date: April 7th.
The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #1) by M.R. Carey is the start to a new series, and I absolutely loved this as well! Release date: April 14th.
Titan’s Day (The Carter Archives #2) by Dan Stout. This series is SO GOOD. If you love police procedurals with a twist of cool magic, you definitely need to start reading! Release date: April 7th.
The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan. This will be my third book by Morgan, and this is my current read. So far Morgan is not disappointing me, and I’m loving it! Release date: April 7th.
Shorefall (Founders #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett. I’ve already heard amazing things about this sequel to Foundryside, and it’s coming up soon on the pile! Release date: April 21st.
MAY 2020
Chaos Reigning (Consortium Rebellion #3) by Jessie Mihalik. I love this sc-fi romance series, and I can’t wait for this third book. I’m still waiting on approval for a review copy, so fingers crossed! Release date: May 19th.
Unreconciled (Donovan #4) by W. Michael Gear. May is turning out to be the month of sequels, lol. I can’t believe we’re up to book #4 in this exciting science fiction series. Release date: May 12th.
Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2) by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman. I had a lot of fun with the first book, and I expect more of the same again. I don’t have a review copy of this (anyone out there get one?) but I have preordered the Goldsboro edition with sprayed edges, so once it arrives, I’ll probably drop everything to read it! Release date: May 5th.
Goldilocks by Laura Lam. I’ve heard good things about this book, which the author herself is comparing to The Handmaid’s Tale and The Martian. Release date: May 5th.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. I’ve been holding onto a review copy of this book for months, and I’m not sure how much longer I can wait. I suspect you’ll see a review from me in April… Release date: May 19th.
JUNE 2020
Dragon Unleashed (Fallen Empire #2) by Grace Draven. And the sequels keep on coming! I really loved Phoenix Unbound last year, and this sequel sounds really good too. Release date: June 9th.
Hella by David Gerrold. This sounds like a fun sci-fi adventure with dinosaurs! Can’t wait:-D Release date: June 16th.
Wonderland by Zoje Stage. This book just recently made it onto my radar, and now I’m dying to start it. It sounds like a horror story that falls more on the literary side. Release date: June 16th.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I’ve already heard great things about this, and I couldn’t be more excited to dive into a book by one of my favorite authors! Release date: June 30.
Lone Jack Trail (Neah Bay #2) by Owen Laukkanen. I loved the first book in the series, Deception Cove, especially because there is an awesome dog companion! Release date: June 23rd.
And just for fun, I thought I’d look back on the first quarter of 2020 and see how well I did, reading my most anticipated books. Out of my 15 choices, I’ve read 10, so not too bad! Books marked with an “X” are the ones I’ve read (and special thanks to Caitlin for help me create this graphic!)
I don’t have plans to read any of these books but most of them are unfamiliar to me (until know!). Also, I still need to read Aurora Rising. *cries*
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Aurora Rising is so much fun, and I hope the second book is too:-)
I am waiting for Aurora Burning too! And I haven’t read Foundryside yet, but I hope to do it soon!
Foundryside is sooo good!
I heard great things about Goldilocks and I’m very curious to read it – although I can’t tear my eyes away from Unreconciled: what will happen next on Donovans? 😉
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…PICARD: THE LAST BEST HOPE, by Una McCormack
I know! I’m always curious to see what Gear is going to do next with this series:-)
I want to read Wonderland! I did read The Boatman’s Daughter. If you like Southern Gothic and literary horror, you’d like it. You have a lot of good books listed! Happy reading.:-)
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…One Sentence Reviews: My 1st Quarter 2020 Reads
I’m definitely going to read The Boatman’s Daughter at some point:-)
I loved the book of koli and I am looking forward to mexican gothic and shorefall. I just need to find more energy and motivation to read. Love yer posts as always!
x The Captain
I know what you mean. I’ve been going through phases of reading like a madwoman, and then getting so distracted by STUFF that I can’t read at all:-/
I really want to try The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires but even the ebook is so expensive right now! I’m SO excited for Mexican Gothic and Shorefall, and I’d like to get to The Age of Witches and Dragon Unleashed, too.
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I hope the ebook price goes down:-(
Goldilocks is the only one that’s on my TBR list, but reviews are winning me over to The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and now I’m curious about Hella.
I just got a surprise copy of Hella in the mail today, which definitely made me happy. It sounds sort of crazy!
Your review of The Book of Koli was enough to put this book very high on my list of books to read! I don’t know when I’ll get to it but I’m definitely reading that book! 😀
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I hope you love it when you get to it!
As is often the case there are so many great looking reads here. Hard to pick which I’d most like to try, but I’ll try anyway: Shorefall (after I read Foundryside), The Only Good Indians, and Mexican Gothic. Great job checking off books in the first quarter. You’re already off to a good start this quater, too.
I was surprised I read 10 out of 15, and I hope to do better this quarter:-)
So many good books on the way! The ones I’m definitely planning to read are the Grady Hendrix and The Book of Koli (reading now). I’m most likely going to read Mexican Gothic, and hopefully a few others! Great list — enjoy!
Thanks Lisa, I feel like spring is always really strong with new SFF releases:-)
I remember your tip on the first Laukkanen book! I’ve still got it on my TBR (honestly, I’m just kinda waiting for it to go on sale:)
Ha ha I totally get that. I keep stalking NetGalley and hoping the second book pops up soon:-)
I already read Shorefall, and you know how much I loved it! I haven’t read Aurora Rising yet, but I have a copy, maybe after I finish Darkdawn I’ll turn to that series….
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And then you’ll have at least the first two books to binge:-)
I heard so much about The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires adding that to my TBR. I just received both Mexican Gothic and The Only Good Indians can’t wait to read them. I also have The City We Became waiting on my Kindle (I am a huge NK Jemisin fan). This sounds like a great check in system as well, thank you so much for sharing!
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I preordered The City We Became but it’s not here yet. I can’t wait to start it!
I’m so intrigued by The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires! I’m holding off on getting it until I hear what everyone else thinks, so I’ll be anxious to read your review!
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I loved it! My review is already posted. It’s very dark so probably not for everyone, but if you love horror, I highly recommend it:-)
I’m really looking forward to Mexican Gothic and I’ve been meaning to start the Founders series for a while now. A bunch of bloggers whose opinions I respect have raved about Foundryside a lot.
I’ve heard really good things about Mexican Gothic too, can’t wait:-)
Hey, I think you did great with your first quarter, I’m getting ready to start the Hendrix book tonight since I just finished my current read a few minutes ago. And see, now you can see the reason behind my post today 🙂
Hey I think we’re all book enablers, lol. I hope you enjoy the Hendrix!
I loved The Wolf of Oren Yaro and The Only Good Indians. Just beware with the latter- at one point it scared me so bad I had to hide my kindle for 3 days
Oh I cannot wait to be scared like that!
Awesome list and I see some that will be on my list as well…lol. I am just way behind with getting it out!
I’m looking forward to your list!
Absolutely LOVED The Book of Koli – I’m currently halfway through Shorefall and enjoying it and have just requested Mexican Gothic… So many, many thanks, Tammy:). Your lists are leading me astray – but in a good way:)).
I’m so glad to hear about Koli! I may start Shorefall next. Good luck with your Mexican Gothic request:-)
I think it should come as absolutely no surprise at all that we share a lot of anticipated books. Probably because a quarter of my TBR is there thanks to you. xD I hope you’re happy. Aurora Burning is definitely high up on my list! The Goldsboro edition sounds gorgeous, though! I’ll have to look it up. I still really need to read the Donovan series. I absolutely LOVE their covers, and it sounds like a great series.
Sammie @ The Writerly Way recently posted…Books I Read Because of Hype || Did They Live Up To It?
Hey, happy to help you with your TBR, lol. The Donovan series is a lot of fun!
Quite the list! An amazing collection to be sure. I’m even more surprised you managed to read so many of your anticipated releases for the first quarter! I certainly didn’t. But… no Murderbot though, eh?
I completely forgot Network Effect on my list! Well, it might not have made the list, but I’m excited to read it:-)
Wow you did a great job reading your anticipated books! I’ve been so terrible about reading lately. I really want that new Grady Hendrix peach butt book!
LOL you mean the “buttless” peaches?
Even with the pandemic, there are so many books! My April is pretty insane, but with a lot of May books being pushed back, maybe I can use next month for the overflow or even to get ahead. Nice job on tackling your must read books, last quarter I probably missed one or two per month lol.
I wasn’t even going to see how I did with the first quarter’s books, but now that I’ve done it, I’m going to obsess over crossing off the second quarter list by the end of June:-)
Titan’s Day was awesome – I hope we get to see more of Carter and Jax in the future! I’ve just started on Shorefall and it’s great so far. 🙂
I’m pretty sure that isn’t the end of Carter and his friends. I feel like he’s just getting started!
I plan on reading Goldilocks soon!! When I seen it was compared to The Handmaid’s Tale and The Martian I click request right away.
I can’t wait, I’d love to read Goldilocks this month but it might have to wait until May.
I love this format! Shorefall is coming up next for me and I’m so excited for it.
I hope to start Shorefall tomorrow!
I’ve read Southern Book Club and Book of Koli now and loved them both. I’ve also read Wonderland because I didn’t want to wait.
I am super excited for the only good Indians too! Hoping to get to it soon. I sort of through my ARC schedule out the window, and just started reading what I wanted to.
I hope I didn’t miss your reviews of Koli and the Grady Hendrix? I’ve been doing that too, I’m reading the ARCs I want to first which might be why I’m a little bit ahead with my pile:-)
So many good books to look forward to. I’ve been so off track and ‘meh’ about everything, can’t concentrate or anything but I am pulling myself together finally so maybe I can catch up, particularly after I finish the SPFBO this month.
Lynn 😀
It’s totally understandable, I have a hard time concentrating at times. I can’t stay off facebook for some reason, which is driving me nuts!
I’m planning on reading Aurora Burning! I can’t wait 😀 Good luck with your reading!
Thanks Brittany:-)
I really looking forward Chaos Reigning (Consortium Rebellion #3) by Jessie Mihalik and I haven’t heard of Hella by David Gerrold before but it sounds interesting.
Jessie Mihalik’s series is so good, glad you’re a fan too:-)
Can’t believe the new Mihalik is coming out so soon! I still need to read book 2! So many of these look amazing, it’s going to be a great start to the summer. 🙂