Most Anticipated Releases 2022
Image compiled by Kasey Watts. Find her @kaseyskingdom on instagram and TikTok!
Last year I aimed to read the most books I’ve ever read in one year and set my reading goal at 150 books. This year, I want to savor my reads a little more and have more time to write blog posts and review books so I’ve decreased it 135. This is a goal I’ve reached numerous times before and should hopefully allow me some time to reflect and appreciate what I’m reading rather than just immediately jumping to the next book. Here are some books that I’m most hoping to read this year:
Gallant by V.E. Schwab - March 1, 2022 - This has been billed as The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak for fans of Holly Black and Neil Gaiman ( I am a fan of both, and I actually have a Holly Black book later in this list). The book starts off following Oliva Prior at Merilance School for Girls where she has been raised with only a puzzling journal to remind her of her mother and her past. When she receives a letter inviting her to come home to Gallant she accepts only to find that no one is expecting her and the environment it not particularly friendly. However; Olivia feels drawn to this place and knows it as her home so she stays and begins to unravel its hidden mysteries. This book is bound to be haunting, and mystical, and so vividly portrayed that I absolutely can’t wait to fall into it. It’s a standalone, and I think it’s YA, but V.E. Schwab is my all-time favorite author and she’s never let me down before so I already know it’s gonna be great.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mendel - April 5th 2022 - Emily St. John Mendel is an auto-buy author for me and has been ever since I read and loved her book Station Eleven (now a TV series!). I also really enjoyed her most recent novel The Glass Hotel. This book takes place all over the universe and covers many centuries worth of time. It starts with a teenager crossing the Atlantic by steamship in the early 1900s, then picks up with an author on a book tour 200 years later. In this tour she's traveling Earth, but her home is the second moon colony. A few centuries later and a Night City detective is hired to investigate something strange in the North American wilderness. What he uncovers is bound to connect these people across time and space in the beautiful, haunting way only St. John Mendel can.
A note: Even though this book involves people living on the moon and travel Emily St. John Mendel’s books always excellently center around the characters in such a way that I imagine it’ll have appeal to readers that don’t normally read a lot of science or speculative fiction.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry - May 3, 2022 - This book follows cutthroat literary agent Nora who agrees to go on a trip to North Carolina with her sister Libby. She pictures herself as the heroine of a cutesy romcom full of afternoon picnics and meet cutes with the strapping men in town, but instead suffers repeated run-ins with Charlie Lastra, a book editor she knows from the city. Books about books and book lovers is one of my absolute favorite sub-genres and I’ve enjoyed Emily Henry’s books in the past so I’m really excited for this one.
Book of Night by Holly Black - May 3, 2022 - This is Holly Black’s adult debut, having multiple times taken the Young Adult literary world by storm. It’s a dark fantasy following a retired low-level con artist and current bartender named Charlie. She’s working in a town at the edge of the Berkshires, trying to get by and mind her own business, when someone awful from her past comes back into her life. Charlie then jumps into a world of dangerous shadow magic and even more dangerous people to save herself and her future.
I’m a little bit nervous fro this one because Holly Black’s books can sometimes get a little dark for me, but even when they do they’re always so well written and composed that it’s worth the trauma. I’ve already got this one pre-ordered so I can read it as soon as it comes out.
Babel by R.F. Kuang - August 23, 2022 - Another all-time favorite author of mine. R.F. Kuang wrote the Poppy War series that I absolutely loved and now she’s back with a novel focused around Oxford scholars in the 1800s. I’ll read absolutely anything R.F. Kuang publishes, but the fact that she’s a writing dark academia, Oxford magic book is so incredibly exciting to me. I can’t wait to see how she spins together scholarship with magic while providing commentary on colonialism and the British Empire. This is, by far, most anticipated book for the year and August cannot come soon enough.
Silverborn by Jessica Townsend - October 13, 2022 - This is the 4th book in the Nevermoor series following Morrigan Crow after she’s ripped from her awful mundane life and plunged into the “Wundrous” magical world of Nevermoor. There isn’t much released about the plot of this book yet (or a cover), but if you’re looking for an engaging and delightful middle grade fantasy series this one is #1 series on my list by far.
A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams - November 2022 - Something I hope to add a little levity and cheer to the end of the year. This is book 5 of the Bromance Book Club Series and if you’ve read any of my past blogs you know this is a favorite contemporary romance series of mine! These books are so fun and funny and I’m expecting this one to be no different. This installment is a second chance story featuring country music star, Colton, who agrees to be the face of defense attorney Gretchen’s family limited edition holiday whiskey if she agrees to go on three dates with him. Gretchen and Colton had a brief fling previously and he’s been in a creative slump ever since. He’s helped by his hilarious and heartwarming book club friends who provide guidance via their Christmas romance book with the goal of helping Colton show Gretchen that he’s worth loving this holiday season and hopefully for many more to come.
What do you most want to read this year? Anything I should add to my TBR? Let me know!
