Happy winter! I am not a fan of cold weather, but I AM expecting to be a fan of all these wonderful new books that are releasing this season!! So without further ado, I present: my most anticipated releases for winter 2021.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
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January
I actually have like almost no books in my Goodreads that are releasing in December?? So here are some picks for January 2021.
Happily Ever Afters | Elise Bryant| Januay 5th, 2021 | Teen romance writer searches for romance in real life, pitched as Jane the Virgin x TATBILB! This sounds so cute omg.
Genre: young adult; contemporary; romance
Rep: Black main character; disabled major character; gay minor characters
Bookshop | Amazon
One of the Good Ones | Maika & Maritza Moulite| January 5th, 2021 | A story of sisters and social justice, pitched as The Hate U Give x Get Out (another fantastic pairing).
Genre: young adult; contemporary; thriller
Rep: Black main characters; non-straight major character
Warnings: death of a loved one; police brutality
Bookshop | Amazon
Concrete Rose | Angie Thomas| January 12th, 2021 | All I know is that this is a prequel about Starr’s dad from THUG and that’s really all I need to know. I will read anything Angie Thomas writes!
Genre: young adult; historical fiction
Rep: Black main characters
Bookshop | Amazon
Last Night at the Telegraph Club | Malinda Lo | January 19th, 2021 | A love story between two girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the ’50s.
Genre: young adult; historical fiction
Rep: Chinese American lesbian main character; Chinese and Chinese American minor characters; lesbian major and minor characters
Warnings: homophobia; racism
Bookshop | Amazon
Take Back the Block | Chrystal D. Giles | January 26th, 2021 | Middle grade debut about community and gentrification.
Genre: middle grade; contemporary
Rep: Black main and major characters
Warnings: one instance of police brutality
Bookshop | Amazon
February
The Project | Courtney Summers | February 2nd, 2021 | Honestly don’t know that much about this, but it’s about some kind of cult-type thing, the main character is an aspiring journalist, and it’s written by Courtney Summers, so…
Genre: young adult; thriller
Warnings: death of loved ones (and I know there are a lot more warnings for this but unfortunately I couldn’t find a list)
Bookshop | Amazon
Yesterday is History | Kosoko Jackson | February 2nd, 2021 | Organ donors and time travel! From the author: “Yesterday is History was written because I wanted to write a book where a black boy is seen as a love interest. I wanted to explore things not often seen by black and queer authors – love triangles, adventures, coming of age stories that don’t feature black pain. This is a story, about a boy who goes on a fantastic adventure, and finds himself along the way. He happens to be black, happens to be gay, and happen to have…an extra ability.”
Genre: young adult; science fiction; historical fiction
Rep: Black gay main and major characters; Black minor characters
Warnings: discussions of cancer
Bookshop | Amazon
Make Up Break Up | Lily Menon | February 2nd, 2021 | A rom com about rival app developers, penned by Sandya Menon (under a pen name), the queen of enemies-to-lovers and women in STEM. (Not that I have any interest at all in STEM career-wise, but solidarity!)
Genre: adult; contemporary; romance
Rep: Indian American main character
Bookshop | Amazon
A Pho Love Story | Loan Le | February 9th, 2021 | Children from competing family-owned restaurants! (Sounds Romeo & Juliet-esque.) This sounds so adorable. (I mean, just look at the cover.)
Genre: young adult; contemporary; romance
Rep: Vietnamese-American main and minor characters
Bookshop | Amazon
The Gilded Ones | Namina Forna | February 9th, 2021 | A quest with an army of girls! Smashing the patriarchy! West African-inspired fantasy!
Genre: young adult; fantasy
Rep: Black main character; Black, Asian, and Brown major and minor characters; wlw minor characters
Warnings: violence; trauma; abuse; rape (more details in Kai’s review)
Bookshop | Amazon
Thanks for stopping by! Please squeal with me in the comments about your most anticipated releases!!
♥ Annie
Concrete Rose is definitely my most anticipated read of 2021 – I absolute adore Angie Thomas’ writing and THUG is one of my all-time favourite books. I adore the Carter family so I’m excited to see more of their backstory with Maverick!
The Gilded Ones (which has a stunning cover!!) and A Pho Love Story are also two I’m excited to get to!
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SAME omg Angie Thomas and the Carter family are amazing!! And yess the Gilded Ones’ cover is incredible
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love this post so much!!!
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Thank you so much Erin!!
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this is a great list, annie! glad i know about last night at the telegraph club and yesterday is history, they sound amazing!
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Ahh I’m so late to this but thank you Sophie! :))
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So many good ones! I am particularly excited for Concrete Rose, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, and The Project!
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Yess omg they all sound incredible!!
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