My Most Anticipated Releases Of 2023 Part Two:

So here’s part two of My Most Anticipated Books Of 2023; if you haven’t checked out part one already you can do so here. Curiosity got the better of me whilst I was finalizing this post off and I decided to see how many books from my 2022 list I actually read. It’s a subject I plan to do a post on eventually (with others for the previous years too) but for now I’ll simply share that I’ve managed to read 10 of the 29 books listed in part one although a couple of those were sadly let downs. Out of part two I only read 4 (a pretty horrifying result) although I will stress that I did at least adore all of those novels and two of them even made my top 3 books of 2022. Plus seven of those books were actually postponed until 2023 so let’s blame that for my failings…Now onto the list.

Dance Of The Starlit Sea by Kiana Krystle

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On Luna Island – where disgraced ballet dance Lila Rose Li is sent by her own parents – a girl is ‘sacrificed as a bride to the Devil’ every seven years. Okay that premise sounds incredible!! To protect herself Lila seeks the help of ‘the angel who keeps appearing in her dreams’…an angel that, unbeknownst to her, is actually ‘the Devil’s servant in disguise.’ How on earth could my dark fantasy loving heart ever hope to resist that kind of promise?

Garden Of The Cursed by Katy Rose Pool

That title! I’ll admit I added this back when it was called ‘Cursebreakers’ but I adore the new one even more. Doesn’t ‘Garden Of The Cursed’ just scream gothic intrigue? This novel follows Marlow who has ‘made a name for herself as the best godsdamn cursebreaker in Caraza City’ yet is still ‘haunted by the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.’ When Adrius – an old friend and scion of one of the city’s ‘most affluent spell-making families’ – asks her to help him break a ‘life-threatening curse’ she’s reluctant. Until a new lead makes her realize that the ‘only way to get the answers she desperately seeks’ is to help him and return to Evergarden society ‘even if it means suffering through a fake love affair with him to avoid drawing suspicion from the conniving Five Families.’ There’s promises of ‘a web of deadly secrets’, ‘powerful enemies’, ‘shocking truths’ and an even larger mystery…

‘one that could unravel the very foundations of Caraza and magic itself.’

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Back in 1929 ‘the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast’ and seventeen year old Lenora was assumed responsible. The police were unable to prove it though and she denied it. Since then she hasn’t set foot outside the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred. Now it’s 1983 and Lenora, in her seventies, is confined to a wheelchair. Her last nurse ‘fled in the middle of the night’ but Lenora offers to tell her new home-health aide Kit everything, communicating over an old typewriter as she’s now mute. Kit learns there’s ‘more to the tale than people know’ but details about her predecessor’s departure leave her wondering if Leonra is telling the whole truth…‘and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.’ Plus it’s described as a ‘gothic chiller’ and oh how I adore those.

Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto

Any book blurb that mentions ‘The Cruel Prince‘ inevitably catches my attention and when I read this one in full I was instantly impatient for it to release. It follows a ‘failed ghost fighting warrior’ who has to journey into the ‘haunted wasteland of the Breach to rescue a kidnapped prince.‘ If that wasn’t enough how’s this for a further complication? She’s ‘forced to team up with the very person responsible for the kidnapping in the first place!

Sing Me To Sleep by Gabi Burton

Promise me a central character like Saoirse and obviously I’m 100% on board. She’s a siren – who struggles constantly against an impulse to kill – who has to hide what she truly is to avoid execution. She’s the top trainee in her class as a soldier-in-training and spends her nights working as an assassin for a dangerous group of mercenaries. And she ‘survives on lies’. How could anyone resist? If that alone somehow isn’t enough to entice you it’s set in a kingdom with ‘brutal creature segregation laws’ and a mysterious blackmailer threatens Saoirse’s sister, pushing her to take on a dangerous job in an effort to investigate. The job? Becoming a personal bodyguard to – the surprisingly kind, thoughtful and charming – crown prince. Together they’re forced to work together to stop ‘a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city’. Unfortunately that killer just so happens to be Saoirse herself. Give this to me already!

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

Information is limited still as I’m writing this up but after House Of Hollow you bet I’m going to read whatever Krystal Sutherland writes next. Especially as it’s another gloriously intriguing sounding blend of contemporary and fantasy. It’s about three lonely girls – ‘one cursed, one haunted and one out for revenge’ who come together to ‘track down and take out a brutal supernatural killer’. And it’s set in a world where only women can use magic ‘and the men who know about it seek to eradicate them’. Obviously I’m itching for this novel!

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

In truth I was going to wait to write about this one once a full blurb of it was released but re-reading the information now I just want to scream about it already. It’s set in ‘a half-sunken city where the descendants of the gods have inherited their powers’ and follows Io, ‘a descendant of the Greek Fates’. When she ‘witnesses a murder committed by a woman who should be dead’ _{(I must know more!)} she’s ‘drawn into a conspiracy that reaches from the darkest underbelly of the city to its shiniest heights.’ How can one short premise make me infinitely excited?

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

‘At ten-years-old, the Heir of Jasad flees a massacre that takes her entire family.

At fifteen, she buries her first body.

At twenty, the clock is ticking on Sylvia’s third attempt at a home.’

Okay you’ve convinced me to read this book already! If those few lines of the blurb somehow haven’t enticed you then let me mention that this book is set in a world where ‘Nizahl’s armies have laid waste to Jasad and banned magic’ across it’s four remaining kingdoms. When Aylvia accidentally exposes her magic to Arin – whose ‘tactical brilliance is surpassed only by his hatred for magic’ she’s surprisingly offered an escape. The chance to ’compete as Nizahl’s Champion in the Alcalah tournament and win immunity from persecution’ although in exchange Arin ‘will use her as bait to draw out the Jasadis he’s hunting.’ It sounds like a game of cat and mouse with the pair forced to work together to ‘free her trapped magic’ whilst Sylvia struggles to keep her identity hidden. It promises a world of ‘cunning royals and double-dealing politics’.

‘The scorched kingdom is rising again, and Sylvia will have to choose between the life she’s earned, and the one she left behind.’

So yes, I’m certainly impatiently awaiting this one…

Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long

I’ve adored The Hall Of Smoke books so far so naturally I’m bursting with excitement over H.M. Long’s new series too. It’s set in ‘a baroque fantasy world of warring fleets and winter seas’ and follows Mary Firth a Stormsinger (‘a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas’) who’s ‘faced with servitude to pirate lord Silvanus Lirr’. To escape this fate Mary ‘barters her skills’ to his arch-rival in exchange for protection and ‘aid in putting Lirr in a watery grave’. Complicating matters are Mary’s dark dreams ‘full of ghistings’ (‘spectral creatures who inhabit the ancient forests of her homeland and the figureheads of ships’), the fact that her new ally has a vendetta of his own and the disgraced pirate hunter on their trail…who ‘will stop at nothing to restore his good name and claim the only thing that stands between himself and madness: a talisman stolen by Mary herself.’ Oh I need this book!!

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing

I’ve adored everything that I’ve read by Samantha Downing (how I still need to read her debut I do not know) so obviously I was excited to finally learn what her newest book would be about. The title reeled me in further and the premise sounds fantastic. It’s about a toxic sounding relationship with major ups – grand gestures, deep meaningful conversations – and downs – vengeful fights, damaged property, arrest warrants. Wes and Ivy, the couple in question, find a common enemy in a detective because ‘the night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far someone ended up dead’. Plus this author writes the most compelling – fascinating yet not necessarily likable – characters so I have a feeling this will be a major hit with me. Fingers crossed.

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

How have I not read anything by this author yet? I’ve seen the hype and her books sound incredible so truly there’s absolutely no excuse. This year I shall do so! Including this mesmerizing sounding new novel. It follows Calla, ‘a former princess who wants to remove her uncle, the king, from his throne’ and is set in the ‘dense and ruthless twin cities of San-Er’ a place where certain individuals possess ‘the ability to take over others’ bodies’. To take vengeance on her uncle ‘who only ever appears to congratulate the winner’ Calla enters ‘a deadly city-wide competition – and makes alliances with both her cousin and her fiercest competitor, an exiled aristocrat. If that wasn’t somehow enticing enough ‘Calla is running from a dark past’ and the final kicker?

‘Only one of them can walk out of the games alive.’

Mister Magic by Kiersten White

 ‘Magic never forgets the taste of your friendship…’

That single line – and the fact that I adored ‘And I Darken’ by the author (although how I still haven’t finished that series I seriously do not know) – enticed me. Then I found the full blurb and was immediately itching for more. It’s set thirty years after a tragedy shut down the classic children’s program ‘Mister Magic’; a show that has ‘no remaining video, no evidence of who wrote the show, who produced it, who-or even what-Mister Magic actually was.’ Amber, one of the surviving members of ‘the circle of friendship’ was abducted by her father the night before the show ended with the death of its youngest cast member. Now there’s an invitation to a reunion, ‘coupled with a threat that makes it impossible to refuse’, where answers may finally be held. If this is done correctly then I have a feeling that it’ll be eerie as hell.

Guardians Of Dawn by S. Jae-Jones

This feels like it has been on my TBR forever but – with a full blurb, actual release date and gorgeously enchanting cover all up – I think it will finally release in 2023. It’s described as ‘Sailor Moon meets Cinder’ which just screams intriguing. I’ll admit my memories of the former are hazy but I’m sure I enjoyed a couple of episodes of it in the past. Besides which the blurb sounds fascinating. It’s set in a world where ‘magic is forbidden’ and ‘magicians are called abomination’ as they’re ‘blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before’. The main character is Jin Zhara who has to ‘appease her stepmother’s cruel whims’ and look after ‘her blind younger sister’ whilst ‘keeping her own magical gifts under control’. There’s ‘a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn’ and ‘a mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters’. If all of that somehow wasn’t enough it’s believed that a demon is responsible for this plague.

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

For some reason this book doesn’t have a Goodreads page yet so I’ve linked this to Fantastic Fiction instead.

The one and only MG novel to make this list but something about this one makes me think – and hope – that it could be the next big thing. It’s about Christopher who ‘witnesses an avalanche of mythical creatures’ whilst visiting his reclusive grandfather who, he then learns, is the guardian of one of the ways ‘between the non-magical world and a place called the Archipelago, a cluster of magical islands where all the creatures we tell of in myth live and breed and thrive alongside humans.’ For thousand of years they’ve been protected from discovery but now the protection has worn thin and ‘creatures are breaking through.’ Together with Mal – a girl in possession of a flying coat whose being chased by a killer – and the baby griffin she’s pursuing Christopher embarks on an ‘urgent quest across the wild splendor of the Archipelago’. It’s a place ‘where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder’. And I hope it lives up to the hype that it already appears to be creating.

A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid

If you’ve read anything by Ava Reid then surely you know exactly why this book made it onto this list. Her writing is utterly divine and her most recent book was the most glorious – and disturbing – mix of beautiful and macabre. I’m writing this only from a limited blurb but even so this book promises ‘a contest to design a favourite author’s family manor’ which ends up being a ‘crumbling estate filled with disturbing secrets’. Throw in a rival student, decades-old mystery and dark forces that are both mortal and magical and naturally I’m sold. My countdown to this book began the second I finished Juniper & Thorn.

A Prayer For Vengeance by Leanne Schwartz

Okay yes I said I’d avoid writing about anymore novels with vague blurbs on this list but I simply couldn’t resist in this case. This was pitched as ‘Strange the Dreamer meets Girl, Serpent, Thorn’ and features a central character who has spent centuries trapped as a statue, now she’s out for revenge. To ‘kill the immortal man who doomed her and usurped her sister’ she’ll need to get a hold of ‘the handsome autistic poet whose prayers woke her.’ And her blade may well be involved. I seriously cannot wait to see the full blurb of this one!

Paramour by Robin Alvarez

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Oh how I adore the premise of this; here’s hoping it lives up to my expectations. It’s about Sadie, ‘a banshee aging over the span of a thousand years’, who ‘is built from rules’ and ‘likes to keep an emotional distance from humans’. ‘Her paranormal abilities to warn of impending death, inspire loved ones to say their goodbyes, and help grieving souls rests easier at night’ but when she meets Nathan – ‘who is fated to lose someone he loves’ – they have no effect, forcing her ‘to comfort him like a true banshee for the first time in her long life.’ For the first time ever she finds herself falling for someone but then she discovers the truth of why her abilities don’t work on Nathan…his family has hunted the supernatural for centuries.

‘With their families at war for centuries, it becomes increasingly unclear whether Nathan’s intense passion for her is love, or his instinct for the hunt.’

If this is done in the way that I imagine then it could absolute be the sort of dark romance to send me head over heels.

This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson

Technically I had decided to hold off on writing about anymore books with vague blurbs until the full versions were released but with this one I simply couldn’t resist. It’s described as ‘The Scorpio Races’ meets ‘Peaky Blinders’ and although I’ve read/seen neither I’ve heard glorious things about both. It’s ‘set in a world of enchanted animals inspired by Jewish folklore’ and focuses on ‘a cutthroat horse race’ with a cast of characters ‘forced together to win it.’ I’m infinitely intrigued and must know more!

A Tempest Of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

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Details of this novel are still vague but let’s be honest – I see the word ‘vampires’ and instantly I’m intrigued. A Tempest Of Tea is said to have been ‘pitched as King Arthur meets Peaky Blinders with vampires.’ That definitely sounds like an interesting and unique combination. It follows ‘a gang of outcasts in a deadly heist’ to save Arthie’s tearoom – ‘which fronts an illegal blood house, where local vampires can purchase fresh blood.’ Vampires, Camelot inspiration and gangsters? Plus a tearoom with secret illegal dealing in blood. How am I meant to wait until October for this? Or possibly even 2024 as it’s changed to on Amazon…I seriously hope that change of date is misinformed.

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker

How have I not read The Keeper Of Night yet?…Anyway onto this book and I’ll confess it was the title that first caught my eye. Who can resist looking into the premise of a book with a name like this one? It’s set in ‘an alternate Tang Dynasty China’ in a world where ‘the rich eat gold to achieve eternal youth.’ Fascinating, right? It follows ‘a poor biracial girl’ with ‘the ability to raise the dead’ who ‘gets caught up in the dangerous political games of the royal family’. Magic, danger, darkness and royals? Sign me up already

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

A non shadowhunters book by Cassandra Clare that I’m itching to read (let’s hope it finally comes out this year!). In an effort to make you all as impatient for this book as me let me still share a few details… It’s the story of ‘a young man raised to be the body double for an unworthy prince’ and ‘a young woman destined to change the world.’ Cassandra Clare’s writing is gloriously beautiful (and let’s face it, devastating too a lot of the time) so I can not wait for this to come out. Why do release dates constantly have to change? (I wrote up the information for this way back in 2021, that’s how much the date has changed). Also we finally have a cover and I’m in love! Please, please, please let Waterstones do a special edition with a hidden cover beneath and glorious end pages.

The Scorpion Queen by Mina Fears

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When a book promises to be inspired by a Malian fairy tale and is steeped in West African traditions then it goes without saying that it’s going to end up on my most anticipated books of the year list. Especially when it features a disgraced merchant’s daughter who’s forced to become a chambermaid to the emperor’s daughter...a princess who challenges her suitors to trials described as both gruesome and impossible in an effort to win her hand. Needless to say, I’m intrigued. This one also appears to have moved to 2024 but I’ll leave it here for now.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

‘Step Into Lark House – if you dare…’

Even without a blurb this book would 100% be on my 2023 list. Why? Because both books that I’ve previously read by the author are incredible, one even becoming my surprise favourite read of 2020. With the blurb already released my excitement couldn’t be higher however with it’s alluring promise of ‘a sweeping gothic fairytale’ (AKA one of my favourite kind of reads) that features Lark House – rumored to be ‘the beginning of Eden’s bad luck.’ When Opal find herself working at the house in question she discovers ‘there are monsters beneath Lark House’ who are ‘clamoring to escape’ but even worse?

‘they might not be the biggest threat…’

Please, please, please can this book come out already?!?

Wish Of The Wicked by Danielle Paige

‘A dark spin on fairy godmothers’; as a fan of both retellings and villainous characters I’m 100% on board for that promise. It’s set in a world where ‘the enchanted members of the Entente have worked in tandem with the Three Fates’ for centuries to ‘maintain destiny across the Thirteen Queendoms.’ At least until Queen Magrit burns Hecate at the stake and ‘decrees death to all Entete’ in an attempt to live forever. ‘But some survive’ and it’s one of them that this story follows as she ‘hatches a dangerous plan to seek revenge.’ I’ll confess that the talk of Fates made me think of Stepsister which instantly intrigued me. So I must know more…

To Kill A Shadow by Katherine Quinn

Yet another book that I’ve not only added to my TBR but also marked as high priority despite it’s current summary being just several lines long. When it promises ‘a warrior recruit’ venturing into ‘a monster-filled mist’ in an effort to ‘free the cursed sun goddess’ how can I possibly do anything else though? Especially when she’s ‘led by the handsome young commander whose secrets may doom them all.’ Honestly I don’t need to know anymore than that to know that this is my sort of read.

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

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Somehow I’ve still only read the author’s debut but I adored it and am naturally curious about everything else that she writes. Even if that wasn’t the case this book sounds fascinating though. It’s a YA contemporary fantasy that’s set in a suburb where four seemingly unconnected people disappear in a single night. Whilst trying to uncover the truth about what’s happened the best friend of one of the vanished individuals ‘uncovers her hometown’s elusive shadow history, including a piece of local lore about a goddess folk figure who played an eerie role in her own childhood games.’ Strange disappearances, eerie childhood games, local lore and a goddess folk figure? Obviously I have to read this.

What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge

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I love a good fairytale retelling and I adore dark and twisty novels that blend danger and allure. This sounds like it will be both of those things and I’m honestly ever so impatient for it. The story starts where Sleeping Beauty leaves off with Lia – ‘a girl chosen by the gods of Runakhia’ – releasing ‘the royal family from 500 years of enchanted sleep’ and killing ‘the heretic sorcerer who trapped them’. What should be the end of the story is only the beginning though as she discovers

‘that the gods are not as benevolent as they appear, and the ghost of the sorcerer she killed may be her only help to protect her life and country.’

This is 100% a me book and I need it already! Please, please come out this year; I’ve already had to move this off of my 2021 list… & now my 2022 one too

We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim

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Last year I read my first book by Tara Sim and loved it. I’ll admit it’s received pretty mixed reviews but as someone who thoroughly enjoyed City Of Dusk I’m naturally curious to check this book out too. Especially as it promises ‘Mary Shelley meets Indian mythology’; a combination I never would have guessed at and follows a young woman who is desperate to resurrect her sister and ends up joining a group of rebels in her efforts to escape accusations of witchcraft. The condition they set her? That she raise their rightful prince from the dead…

Another that may well have moved to 2024, somehow it looks like next year’s list may well already be writing itself.

The Voice Upstairs by Laura E. Weymouth

Another that I added way before a full blurb was released. But come on; ‘Downton Abbey with ghosts’. Downton Abbey with ghosts?!? Need I say more? All I currently know is that this book features a young housemaid with supernatural gifts which warn her an opulent manor house is connected with a string of murders…something that jeopardizes her secret romance with the wealthy family’s youngest son. Oh how I need this. Books that merge history and the supernatural always fascinate me to no end.

Fallen City by Adrienne Young

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Firstly how on earth have I not read anything by this author yet? Secondly I can’t say overmuch about this book as the details are limited but I’m definitely intrigued. It’s a ‘Greco-Roman inspired fantasy’– and is set in ‘a glittering world’ with ‘a lottery built on lies’. It follows 18 year old Maris as she ‘desperately attempts to escape a city under siege.’ And it features a forbidden romance! I’m itching for this already and simply can’t wait to read it’s full blurb… and see the cover; this author’s ones are always stunning.

The Girl That Time Forgot by Victoria Lee

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Another two line summary? Another author who I’ve heard tremendous things about but still need to read? Another book that I literally cannot wait to get my hands on? Yes, yes and hell yes. All I know is that this book follows a teenage girl who is ‘one of five adepts training in a mysterious new magic.’ Alone that premise would be intriguing enough but there’s more…she discovers that her fellow trainers have recently murdered someone. And unless she can stop them, will do so again.

Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

I was waiting to see if a full blurb for this one would release or not but it’s now January and I’m finishing this list off so here comes the vague premise that left me itching to read this book. It’s a YA thriller that follows ‘a cutthroat competition for the world’s best thieves’ and is ‘filled with intrigue and secrets buried within secrets’. It’s a ‘globe-trotting adventure’ with ‘spectacular museums, opulent galas, and elite boarding schools.’ And one teen girl must win to ‘save her parents’ lives‘. Deciding ‘who to con and who to trust’ is vital to survival and the title, I confess, also helped to reel me in.

Bad Blood by Morgan Rhodes

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As the information is super vague for this one & I somehow still haven’t read any of the author’s other books I debated whether I should include this book. But it’s vampires and I’m a weak vampire fiction addict so… It’s described as the start of ‘an epic saga’ and is about ‘a wealthy vampire family, their badly behaved heirs, and the long-lost sibling who never even knew she was half-vampire.’ That is quite literally all that I know but I’m still intrigued enough to include this. Wealthy vampires, badly behaved heirs and long lost siblings? Naturally I’m curious.

Orphia And Eurydicius by Elyse John

All you have to do to know that I adore Greek mythology is look back over the rest of this two part list so when I discovered this offering very last minute (Wednesday) I instantly added it in. It’s the story of Orphia who ‘dreams of something more than the warrior crafts she’s been forced to learn’. ‘Her blood sings with poetry and her words can move flowers to bloom and forests to grow … but her father, the sun god Apollo, has forbidden her this art.’ Need I say more really? After a chance meeting with Eurydicius, Orphia uses her gifts to ‘defeat one final champion’ and ends up drawing ‘the scrutiny of the gods.’ Thanks to her poetry she ‘wins the protection of the goddesses of the arts’ and is welcomed into their sanctuary on Mount Parnassus. When Eurydicius joins her she ‘struggles with her desire for fame and her budding love.’ She also ‘joins the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece.’ There’s promises of dragons, sirens, ruthless warriors and an even darker journey too. And this lovely line from it’s blurb:

‘Their love transcends every boundary. Can it cheat death?’

Naturally I need this. Although one small warning – I can’t yet see any release information for this in the UK.

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And that’s it for part two of this mammoth list. I hope it helped you discover some new books. And I apologize if it’s left you impatient for any that end up not releasing until next year. Past experience has certainly taught me that there will be a few. I’ll also update this to include any covers as they release.

What are your most anticipated books of 2023? Have you read any of them yet? Are there any that I’m missing?