New year, new you? Nah - how about new year, new read instead? A new read sounds like the perfect way to start 2023 and I hope you join me on a wonderful journey of reading this year. Below are the fifteen books released between January - June that I am most excited about reading. I hope you find your newest read below and as always, here is to another wonderful year of reading!
Plus, if you're curious what my favourite reads of 2022 are that I absolutely recommend - click here (release date mid Jan 2023, I'm not ahead of the game this year..).
The Stranded
By: Sarah Daniels
Release Date | January 3
Genre | Young Adult
Welcome to Arcadia: An old luxury ship whose current use is a refugee camp for those who survived the apocalyptic war. Forty years have passed since the destruction, for forty years the passengers aboard have been prohibited from docking. On a ship filled with the extremes of have and have nots, Esther craves to live a normal life on land. She is a loyal citizen desperately working towards her goal as a medic unlike Nik, the rebel who is planning something unforgettable to free those on the Arcadia. When their paths cross, their lives and all those aboard will change forever.
Frankly, The Stranded can go either way. It has the potential to be cliché and superficial with no logical thinking behind the decision making or it can be an enjoyable dystopian with a romance that heightens the fight. If this is a story about how Esther and Nik fall in love immediately and will sacrifice themselves for one another despite knowing each other for a week or so, then I know I will not like this novel but, if it subverts that trope - I'm going to have fun reading this futuristic dystopian which apparently already has a sequel lined up. If a sequel is already in the works, then this feels like a novel worth reading.
Disclaimer (yippie!): Aster's Book Hour is an Amazon Associate. It earns a small commission from qualifying purchases attached to the Amazon affiliate links in this post.
They're Watching You
By: Chelsea Ichaso
Release Date | January 3
Genre | Young Adult
It's been two weeks since her roommate disappeared. The police, her parents, and even the headmistress at Torrey-Wells Academy have deemed her disappearance a runaway but Maren knows Polly wouldn't leave like that. Polly was keeping a secret, one to do with the ultra-rich crowd at Torrey-Wells, a secret she was about to share with Maren before her disappearance.
Then Maren finds an invitation to the Gamemaster's Society hidden in Polly's things: Do Not Tell Anyone printed on the letter. Maren is certain those in the society know what happened to Polly and to find out the truth, she is going to have to join them. A society where members compete in high-stake games for unimaginable rewards: connection, privilege, and for Maren - clues to Polly's whereabouts. And as Maren continues to win, she begins to see how powerful the Society is and that the games she playing are leading her to something bigger and deadlier then she could have imagined. They control. They see. And they kill.
I think They're Watching You will be a light read which I am hoping has intriguing gameplay, not improbable gameplay, and that Maren discovers what happened to Polly. Do I think Polly is alive? My guess is that the last game will require Maren to sacrifice something important to save Polly. I'm intrigued to read They're Watching You as I adore secret societies and games where winning means the difference between success and failure.
Hell Bent
By: Leigh Bardugo
Release Date | January 10
Genre | Fantasy
Everybody shut your doors and settle in, the newest and final instalment of Alex Stern has arrived. After three years of waiting, it is time for the story to continue and it is going to begin with a bang - Alex Stern must steal a soul out of hell. Not only is she putting her life on the line to rescue Darlington as the odds of returning from the underworld are slim - that is even if she can find a gateway - she's also putting her future at Yale and Lethe at risk.
She has been forbidden to attempt a rescue but Alex will not be deterred. With the help of Dawes and a questionable team of allies, they will have to navigate the complexities of the societies' most guarded secrets to succeed. When faculty members begin to die, Alex knows their deaths aren't accidents - something evil is lurking in New Haven and to survive, she'll not only have to break the rules, she'll have to face the monsters of her past and the very darkness within the university's own walls.
I am excited, that is all. Extremely excited and I hope my expectations are met.
Exiles
By: Jane Harper
Release Date | January 31
Genre | Mystery
A mother disappears. A baby lies alone in a pram. One year later, the absence of Kim Gillespie still haunts her friends and loved ones who are currently gathered together to celebrate the newest addition to the family. Joining the celebrations in South Australia's luscious wine country is federal investigator Aaron Falk who despite his holiday status is soon noticing the cracks within the tight-knit group of people he is celebrating with. Between his closest friend, Kim's disappearance, and a woman he is drawn to - questions linger and soon the truth begins to emerge.
In Exiles, I don't anticipate anything. I like Aaron Falk as a character and Jane Harper writes well. I expect this story to be captivating and I already know I'm going to enjoy every word of it.
Delicious Monsters
By: Liselle Sambury
Release Date | February 28
Genre | Horror
Daisy sees the dead, and she can't even ignore the unwanted ability in her ghost-packed hometown of Toronto. She also can't ignore the devastation and shock she feels having just been dumped by her boyfriend. When her mother inherits the secluded mansion in Ontario she spent her summers at, Daisy eagerly accepts the chance to escape. Upon arrival, Daisy realises nothing is what it seems and that her gift may be no match against her mothers' secrets nor whatever lurks within the mansion walls.
Ten years later and Brittney is desperate to be free from her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at "Miracle Mansion" showed her the error of her ways. Brittney knows the claim is nothing but lies and she's determined to use the new season of her popular Haunted web series to disprove her mother's claims and uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the same mansion a decade ago. The longer she investigates, the more she realises she may only be able to bring one story to light and if so, which one matters most - her own or Daisy's?
I think Delicious Monsters will provide a split protagonist POV with Daisy and Brittney as the narrators. For both POV's, I want horror and fear that slowly meshes into a combined story. Delicious Monsters sounds delectably delicious and I cannot wait to read it.
The Island
By: Natasha Preston
Release Date | February 28
Genre | Thriller
Jagged Island houses a private amusement park for the wealthy, or very influential. Social media influencers: Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley, have been invited to attend an exclusive weekend at the adjacent resort to promote the park and its facilities. When they arrive, they are stunned by it all. The hotel rooms are unbelievable, the themed rides unforgettable, and the island's beauty breathtaking. Their itinerary for the weekend is filled with park activities but how long will it take for them to discover the one event missing from the list: Leaving the island alive.
I anticipate The Island to involve lack of cell service, adventures gone wrong, and tragedy seen initially as a horrible mistake then murder. I am looking forward to reading about survival where escape may not be possible... but hopefully some do leave the island alive.
She Is a Haunting
By: Trang Thanh Tran
Release Date | February 28
Genre | Horror
For fans of Mexican Gothic comes a new novel about a haunted house and a broken family with one individual fighting for survival. Jade Nyugen has recently arrived in Vietnam for a five-week stay with her estranged father in the French colonial house he is restoring. All Jade has to do is pretend to be happy and as she's always lied to fit in, she knows she will be able to leave with the promised college money he offered if she visited.
Except, the house has other plans. The walls thrum, bug appendages appear in places they don't belong, traces of her ancestors are scattered throughout the garden, and the ghost of a beautiful bride continues to provide a cryptic message: Don't eat.
What's worse is that neither Ba or her sister Lily believe her about the house's strangeness nor that it is causing her to be paralysed night after night. With the help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove the house is determined to destroy them and that the home they always wanted is not what it seems and hopefully this time she can keep her family together.
As someone who is not a fan of Mexican Gothic, this novel can go either way for me. What I want from She Is a Haunting are hauntingly beautiful and intense descriptions of the house's tricks which hopefully suit my preference for haunted house reads. I want a cohesive story and something creepy and I hope it is different enough from Mexican Gothic in writing style that I will be able to read and appreciate this story.
Hang the Moon
By: Jeanette Walls
Release Date | March 28
Genre | Historical Fiction
Born into a life of privilege and wealth, Sallie Sinclair is the daughter of the biggest man in town, Duke Kincaid. She remembers little of her mother who died after a violent argument with the Duke and by the time she was eight, her father had remarried and given her her half-brother, Eddie. Sallie is like her father: sharp-witted and resourceful whilst Eddie is like his mother: timid and cerebral. After a terrible accident occurs when she's teaching Eddie to be more like their father, Sallie is cast out and thrown into an unknown world.
Nine years later and Sallie returns home, determined to reclaim her place in the Kincaid family. Her return is more complicated than expected and her determination to become part of the family means entering a world of lawlessness and conflict. As Sallie confronts secrets and scandals that hide within her own family and town, she will begin a journey to become her own as a bold, and occasionally reckless bootlegger.
Hang the Moon by Jeanette Walls has a slightly ambiguous direction and what I hope will occur is a powerful journey where a woman discovers herself in an era of turmoil and after hardships of being disowned.
Loyalty
By: Lisa Scottoline
Release Date | March 28
Genre | Historical Fiction
Handsome lemon-grower Franco Fiorvante has toiled for years to maintain the estate of his boss, Baron Zito. Franco dreams of owning his own lemon grove but with the rigid class system Sicily is built upon, his dream is unlikely to ever fruit. Regardless, Franco is still determined to secure a prosperous future and he will do anything to prove his loyalty and obtain that lemon grove. When he is asked to arrange the kidnapping of a little boy, Franco crosses the line and sets in motion the creation of the first Mafia family.
Gaetano Catalano is a member of the Beati Paoli, an aristocrat secret society that investigates crime. As a young lawyer who specialises in crime, the disappearance of a little boy causes him and his society to set out and return the boy home. As the search continues, Catalano turns obsessed and will risk everything to right this wrong and bring justice to his home.
Dante, the kidnapped boy, grows up not knowing his last name. He lives in a mad house and doubts his own sanity until he meets another with a tragic past of their own. They fall in love and begin their own journey to find Dante's kidnapper and uncover his true identity.
Loyalty sounds intense. I am anticipating crime, murder, power, devotion, and pain from this novel. Loyalty is a read that I think will immerse you in a world of crime where power and truth rule supreme.
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
By: Colleen Oakley
Release Date | March 28
Genre | Mystery
Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. A place where she can continue living in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Her options are limited and when one falls into her lap to be a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman, she takes it.
One slip was all it took for her daughter to demand she have a caretaker. It doesn't matter that Louise can walk fine, always finishes the daily crossword, and can still throw back the two fingers of vodka she drinks daily with ease - her reluctance to have a caretaker is greater than Tanner's reluctance to be one.
The arrangement between them starts as roommates: Two individuals who ignore each other, that is until Tanner begins to notice Louise's habits. Why is her garden locked up tight? Why is the local news fixated on a major jewellery heist whose main suspect looks eerily like Louise? And more importantly, why does Louise appear in the middle of the night in her room with a bag packed and demanding they leave immediately. Thus begins the story of two women outrunning the mistakes of their past which if they can do so successfully, could lead to the greatest adventure of their lives.
Okay, if Louise didn't steal the jewels then I'm thinking she's a high profile person in the crime world or an undercover FBI-like agent. I kind of hope that Louise is a bit shady and that the road trip leads us through a world of crime and delivers on an amazing adventure.
Homecoming
By: Kate Morton
Release Date | April 4
Genre | Historical Fiction
As the sun fades on a scorching hot day in 1959 Adelaide Hills, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. The police are called to investigate on Christmas Eve and South Australia is soon embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases the state has ever seen.
Sixty years later, journalist Jess is searching for a story. Having just been laid off from a job she's had for almost twenty years, she is struggling to make ends meet. When a sudden phone call notifies her that her beloved grandmother, Nora, the woman who raised her when her own mother couldn't, is in the hospital after a bad fall she rushes back to Sydney to be by her side. Growing up, Nora was a vibrant and strong presence and seeing her frail and confused, is a shock to Jess. According to Nora's housekeeper, Nora had been distracted in the weeks leading up to the accident and that the fall had occurred on the attic steps - the one place Jess was not allowed to enter as a child.
Confused by the sudden switch in demeanour, Jess begins to investigate. In her grandmother's bedroom she finds a true crime book detailing the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is after a quick skim that Jess discovers the shocking truth - their families are connected. For a journalist without a job, a crime without a resolution, and a grandmother in the hospital, this story may be the best distraction she can find.
In Homecoming, I anticipate a slow burn story that contains flashbacks to 1959 which will finish with a surprise discovery that has something to do with her grandmother. Now, I'm just guessing and I could be way off the mark here, guess I'll just have to read it to find out if I was right.
The Ferryman
By: Justin Cronin
Release Date | May 2
Genre | Science Fiction
The islands of Prospera lie hidden and away from the horrors of the outside world. Created by the man known as the Designer, those lucky enough to live in Prospera enjoy long and fulling lives until their health monitors fall below 10%. They then retire themselves and embark on a journey to the Nursery where their bodies are renewed, their memories wiped, and they can begin life again anew.
Proctor Bennett, employee of the Department of Social Contracts, works as a ferryman, gently transporting people from the island of Prospera to the Nursery - and sometimes forcefully if need be. Not all is well with Proctor, he's been experiencing dreams - a phenomena impossible on Prospera, his percentage is starting to rapidly drop, and he's been summoned to retire his own father whom after resisting transport delivers him a cryptic and disturbing message.
It is not only Proctor who feels the unrest. The local staff, ordinary men and women, who keep Prospera running are questioning their status on the islands. Unrest is building and rumours of a resistance group are spreading. Soon Proctor begins to question what he used to believe as he becomes further entangled in a cause much larger than he knew.
I think The Ferryman has a compelling blurb and I am enticed to read this novel. What I want from The Ferryman is mischief and for a dystopian hierarchy to come crashing to the ground, or some insane creation that is so convoluted you don't know how it was imagined. I hoping for all of the above as I love dystopians and cannot wait to read The Ferryman.
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight
By: Kalynn Bayron
Release Date | June 20
Genre | Young Adult
For fans of The Last Time I Lied, The Box in the Woods, and The Counsellors is a new potential read by Kalynn Bayron involving a terrifying game where at Camp Mirror Lake, you must survive the night to make it out alive. Charity Curtis is employed at Camp Mirror Lake and it is the job of her dreams. She is the "final girl" and her job is to engage with the guests during the full-contact terror game based off the slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake.
During the last weekend of the season, her dream job turns into a nightmare when her coworkers begin disappearing and when one ends up dead, her fictional role as final girl becomes all too real. If she and her girlfriend hope to survive the night, they'll need to figure out what the killer wants and if there is more to the story behind Mirror Lake's past and what it means for their survival.
I think You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight will be an easy to read thriller. It is currently classified as YA horror so I am curious to see if the final girl trope will be challenged and instead true fear is emoted to the reader, not just "light" thrills. Overall, it sounds like a thrilling read, and one I am ready for this June.
The Invocations
By: Krystal Sutherland
Release Date | June 27
Genre | Fantasy
Zara Jones believes in magic. If she didn't, then her sister's murder was really by the hands of a serial killer and there's nothing she can do to bring her back. But because magic is real, Zara is willing to go any length to bring her back from the dead, even if it means partaking in the occult.
Jude Wolf is cursed. She might be perceived as a wealthy and carefree daughter of a billionaire but her soul is turning necrotic after a deal with a demon went horribly wrong. Flowers and insects die around her and monsters taunt her nights. If she can't find someone to fix her mistake, she fears her death is imminent.
The solution to Jude and Zara's problems is Emer Brynn: Daughter of a witch who sells spells to those so desperate they're willing to sell a part of their soul to her in exchange for power, just enough magic to transform their lives. But despite her own power, Emer has a dark past of her own which after her clients are murdered one after another, knows came with her to London. Together, they must team up and stop the killer otherwise all three are next on the list.
I am awfully excited for The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland. Her novel, House of Hollow, is one of my favourite reads of all time. It is gothic and atmospherically beautiful and it blew my mind away with its descriptions. What I want from this story is the same haunting beauty House of Hollow was enveloped in and if I find that in The Invocations, I'm going to love this read.
Update: It seems like the release date of The Invocations may have been moved to January 30, 2024. I refuse to believe that and hope it will still be released on June 27, 2023. Cross your fingers!
Starlings
By: Amanda Linsmeier
Release Date | June 27
Genre | Young Adult
Growing up, it was just Kit and her father. She had no other family to speak of until her father's sudden death revealed it was all a lie. Now she has an extended family she wants to know and an invitation to come visit them and her father's hometown, Rosemont, is the perfect way to do so. And it's picture perfect. Downtown is a relic of the 50s, the roses bloom year round, and there's even a cute guy to show Kit around town.
But the longer she stays, the stranger it feels. The Starling's are revered but it's odd how the women are at the centre of the town's history and despite how welcoming the locals are, Kit can sense they're hiding something from her. Her grandmother, Agatha, is overjoyed to meet her only granddaughter and the town is charming which leaves Kit to wonder about her feelings, why her father left, and why he didn't want her to know about Rosemont.
Starlings sounds like a story involving hidden magic and powerful women. I think it will either involve the women being the powerful epicentre of the town who are loved for keeping the town thriving or they are the powerful epicentre who are hated because of the demands of their powers. Kit's role in this new life will be interesting to follow and like the all the books above, I am eager to read about it.
Comments
I actually don’t think Hell Bent is the last book in the series. Goodreads shows a third book will be coming out at some point.