Most Anticipated Reads from July-Dec 2018

Hi all!!

Today I’m bringing you a MASSIVE list of all my anticipated books for the end half of 2018: from July to December!!

So sit back, relax, and get ready to add A LOT of books to your never-ending Goodreads TBR lists! Sorry not sorry.

Annex (The Violet Wars, #1) – A young trans woman must find a way to fight back against the aliens who have overtaken her city. (Jul 24)

Bright We Burn by Kiersten White – The third book in The Conqueror’s Saga that concludes Lada, Radu and Mehmed’s stories. (Jul 10)

Contagion (Contagion, #1) by Erin Bowman – After receiving an SOS call on a distant planet, a crew responds to the call but finds only dead bodies on arrival. (Jul 24)

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie – Mechanically engineered soldiers fighting against the government in space!! (Jul 17)

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning – A retelling of the origin story of Ursula, the evil witch from The Little Mermaid 😱😱😱 (Jul 31)

The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas – The sister of a superhero falls in love with a fledgling supervillain. (Jul 10)

The Unfortunates by Kim Liggett – A senator’s son escapes justice after he commits manslaughter, so he attempts to fake his own death to leave his life behind, but he and a group of hikers get trapped in a cave and find themselves being hunted by something. (Jul 10)

After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson – After the lights and communication go out, a doomsday prepper family try to keep their bunker a secret as people become desperate. (Aug 1)

City of Ghosts (Cassidy Blake, #1) by V.E. Schwab – A middle grade novel about a young girl who can see ghosts after she died and was brought back by one, and what happens when she meets a girl who can also see the dead, who tells her that their job is to send ghosts on their way beyond the Veil. (Aug 28)

Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves #1) by Mary E. Pearson – A reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that might cost them their lives. (Aug 7)

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram – A young American-Irani man is about to travel to Iran for the first time, and once there, he befriends the boy next door to his grandparents’ house. (Aug 28)

The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Bérubé –  A young woman believes something is after her, so she has an exorcism performed on her, but that just makes the thing angry. (Aug 7)

Girl at the Grave by Teri Bailey Black – A young woman is accused of murder, and the only person who believes her is the son of the man her mother murdered. (Aug 7)

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry – A young atheist boy, who is forced to attend a Catholic school, finds a group of like-minded friends who form a secret group to expose the school’s hypocrisies. (Aug 7)

Mirage by Somaiya Daud – A young woman is kidnapped by her brutal rulers and discovers she bears a striking resemblance to the star system’s cruel princess. (Aug 28)

#MURDERTRENDING by Gretchen McNeil – Set in the near future where citizens watch criminals be executed on an app, a young woman, framed for a crime she didn’t commit, realises she’s going to be the next victim of the app. (Aug 7)

Seafire (Seafire #1) by Natalie C. Parker – A group of all female pirates has to decide whether or not to trust a boy who defected from the army they’re hunting down. (Aug 28)

The Truth Lies Here by Lindsey Klingele – An aspiring journalist teams up with the boy-next-door and a quarterback to find her missing conspiracy theorist father. (Aug 21)

These Rebel Waves (Stream Raiders #1) by Sara Raasch – A soldier, a pirate and a prince must join together to search for a missing delegate before two countries – one magical – go to war. (Aug 7)

Toil and Trouble: 15 Tales of Woman and Witchcraft by Various – A young adult fiction anthology of 15 stories featuring contemporary, historical, and futuristic stories featuring witchy heroines who are diverse in race, class, sexuality, religion, geography, and era. (Aug 28)

Attack of the 50 Food Wallflower by Christian McKay Heidicker – A magnet for monsters, a young woman and her mother are kept safe by the man in the sky; but when her mother disappears, the young girl is left to fend for herself and she begins to transform. (This book used to be titled Throw Your Arm Across Your Eyes and Scream and I’m so annoyed the title changed.) (Sep 11)

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney – Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, a young black woman has to juggle an overprotective mother, caring for her friend and doing well in school, all the while battling monsters in Wonderland. (Sep 25)

A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy #1) by Sangu Mandanna – Inspired by the Mahabharata, a young woman enters a competition to help win her brother’s throne back that was stolen by their uncle. (Sep 4)

Black Wings Beating (Skybound, #1) by Alex London – A brother who dreams of glory and a sister who wishes to be free of their family’s ancient gift must journey treacherous mountains as war closes in: one, going for the boy he loves, the other trying to atone for her past, but both hunted by those who seek power. (Sep 25)

For a Muse of Fire (For a Muse of Fire #1) by Heidi Helig – Featuring a bipolar heroine in a world inspired by Asian cultures and French colonialism, a young woman must hide her magical powers as she and her family earn a place aboard a royal ship. (Sep 25)

Here to Stay by Sara Farizan – A young man becomes his school’s hero of the hour when he wins a playoff basketball game, but not everyone is happy – a cyberbully photoshops him dressed as a terrorist and he has to deal with the fallout. (Sep 18)

Ignite the Stars by Maura Milan – A criminal mastermind, a young Asian woman spends her life fighting against the imperialist nation that destroyed her home. When he identity is revealed, she is forced into her enemies military academy, and plots her escape. (Sep 4)

Not Even Bones (Untitled #1) by Rebecca Schaeffer – After her mother brings home a living specimen instead of the usual body parts she sells on the internet, a young woman is sold on the black market as a supernatural being and has to try to escape. (Sep 4)

Pride by Ibi Zoboi – Inspired by Pride and Prejudice, an Afro-Latinx girl fights to save her gentrifying neighbourhood, while also dealing with the wealthy Darcy family that moved in across the street. (Sep 18)

Sadie by Courtney Summers – After her sister is murdered, a young woman hits the road to find her killer, while a young man follows along, creating a podcast about her. (Sep 4)

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton – A town once made a deal with the devil to protect them, but for that protection, they have to sacrifice a young man to the devil each Slaughter Moon. (Sep 18)

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White – A young girl is taken in by the Frankenstein family and becomes inseparable with their young son Victor; but as the years pass, her survival depends on managing Victor’s violent temper – but she’s determined to stay alive, no matter what. (Sep 25)

Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns #3) by Kendare Blake – Katharine sits on the throne, Mirabella and Arsinoe are in hiding, and an unexpected renegade is about to wage a war of her own. The crown has been won, but these queens are far from done. (Sep 4)

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens by Various – A YA Anthology of short stories featuring disabled teens, written by #OwnVoices disabled authors. The stories reflect a range of genres and disabilities; contributors include bestselling authors Kody Keplinger and Francisco X. Stork, as well as newcomers Fox Benwell, Keah Brown, and more. (Sep 18)

Vengeful (The Villains #2) by V.E. Schwab – The conclusion to The Villains duology where Victor must confront Eli once and for all, and make him pay for what he has done. (Sep 25)

What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra – A young woman returns to her childhood home and has to deal with the effects of her mother’s disappearance years ago, her father’s theories about a supernatural race, strange symbols in the woods and the boy next door who’s all grown up now. (Sep 18)

An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason by Virginia Boecker – After her father is arrested for a failed assassin attempt against Queen Elizabeth I, a young woman disguises herself as a boy, joins Shakespeare’s newest play that is to be performed in front of the Queen, so she can kill her monarch herself. (Oct 23)

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi – A year after 9/11, a young Muslim woman who wears the hijab is sick of all the violence people swing her way because of her religion, so she closes herself off to people and focuses only on her dancing, until a boy breaks through her walls. (Oct 16)

Blanca y Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore – Sister-rivals, who’s family has been cursed for generations to turn one sister into a swan while leaving the other human, meet two local boys who become drawn into their game. (Oct 9)

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver – While the town thinks they killed their best friend, two girls, on the anniversary of their friend’s death, are pulled back together after an insignificant discovery. (Oct 2)

Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7) by Sarah J Maas – The final novel in the Throne of Glass series that concludes Aelin’s story. (Oct 23)

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (Guide #2) by Mackenzi Lee – A year after her tour of Europe with her brother and his best friend turned lover, Felicity travels to work as an assistant to a famous physician, but along the way, she gets caught up in a mysterious plot with a mysterious girl. (Oct 2)

Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor – The final book in the Strange the Dreamer duology that concludes Lazlo and Sarai’s stories and answers all the final questions: where did the gods come from? What happened to the rest of their children? Can monsters be saved? (Oct 2)

Odd One Out by Nic Stone – Two best friends, male and female, welcome a new girl into their group, but both begin to fall for her and she begins to fall for them too. (Oct 9)

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand – A group of three friends fight back against a creature of legend that has been kidnapping girls for generations. (Oct 2)

Shadow of the Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) by Julie Kagawa – Every thousand years, whoever holds the Scroll can ask the Kami Dragon for one wish, and as that time draws closer, a young woman finds herself with one of the pieces of the Scroll and forced to work with the samurai who is under orders to kill anyone who has it. (Oct 2)

That Night by Amy Giles – A boy and a girl become close friends a year after a tragic school shooting that affected both of their lives in different ways. (Oct 2)

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke – A group of girls who trade in killing mercifully hear of a monster ravaging a nearby town, and set out to kill it. (Oct 2)

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta – A young woman who turns her family’s enemies into decorative items must travel to the capital transformed as boy in order to save her sick father, accompanied by her tutor who can switch back and forth between male and female. (Oct 30)

The Steel Prince Vol. 1 by V.E. Schwab – A graphic novel that tells the story of Kell’s adoptive father, Maxim Maresh, before he became king of Red London. Set before the events in the Shades of Magic series. (Oct 8)

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kheryn Callender – A bisexual boy, still dealing with his father’s passing and helping his mother, tries to find love with a boy who happens to be his childhood best friend, with the help of an ex-girlfriend-turned-friend. (Oct 30)

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera – Two boys in New York for the summer meet, get separated, meet again and try to make it work, even if it seems the universe is against them … or is it? (Oct 9)

Any Second Now by Kevin Emerson – Five years after he’s been kidnapped, a young boy is sent by his kidnapper into a mall with a bomb strapped to his chest, and by fate, a young girl with crippling anxiety tries to help him. (Nov 20)

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean – Each generation, a competition is held to find the next Empress; a young woman enters, but must keep her identity a secret as she has the ability to transform into the very monsters the emperor is sworn to kill. (Nov 6)

Four Three Two One by Courtney C. Stevens – A year after they survived a bus bombing, a group of four teenagers takes a road trip to the site in order to heal, but have to deal with the secrets from that day that they’ve been hiding. (Nov 13)

Girls on the Line by Jenny Liu – A teen pregnancy puts two orphan girls in contemporary China on a collision course with factory bosses, family planning regulators, and a bride trafficker. (Nov 1)

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan – A member of the Paper caste, a young woman catches the eye of the king and is sent to the palace to learn the skills of being the king’s consort; but while there, she falls in love with another and uncovers a plot. (Nov 6)

Mammoth by Jill Baguchinsky – A plus size fashion blogger thinks she’ll have a fantastic summer when she gets an internship with her favourite palaeontologist and gets to flirt with the grouchy intern, but when her hero steals the credit for one of her accomplishments, she has to make a stand in a male-dominated field. (Nov 8)

Of Love and Illusions by Madeline J. Reynolds – A young man, born to wealth and privilege, becomes the apprentice of an ageing magician, who’s attempting the greatest illusions ever seen, but he has real magic. Rival magicians want to know the secret to this illusion, and one rival’s apprentice seeks to seduce the young magical man, but soon both boys fall for one another. (Nov 6)

Outrun the Wind by Elizabeth Tammi – A young woman with prophetic powers, part of Artemis’ hunt, saves a fellow huntress; in order to win back Artemis’ favour, she has to complete a dangerous task for a king, who’s daughter is the woman she saved. As she and this woman fall for one another, they create a deadly game to ward off suitors. (Nov 27)

Pulp by Robin Talley – A dual POV story about a young lesbian woman in 1955 trying to keep her love a secret, and a senior student in 2017 who is determined to find the identity of the writer of her favourite lesbian 1950s cult book. (Nov 13)

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson – A young woman dreams of being a pilot to fight against an alien race, but her fate is intertwined with her father’s, who was killed years ago. (Nov 6)

The Incredible True Story of the Making of the Eve of Destruction by Amy Brashear – A young woman wins a walk-on role to a movie being set in her town, which is known for it’s nuclear missile silo, and chaos ensues when she invites her black step-brother on set too; and when people can’t figure out if a real missile has gone off or not. (Nov 13)

The Lying Woods by Ashley Elston – When a young man discovers his privileged life was financed by money his father stole (who has since disappeared), he is forced to move back to a town that hates him and tries to figure out the culprit behind threatening letters. (Nov 13)

The Resolutions by Mia Garcia – A group of four friends makes a New Years resolution to dare each other over the year, which tests the bonds between them in their final year of high school. (Nov 13)

This Splintered Silence by Kayla Olsen – After a deadly virus killed every first-generation crew member, a second-generation woman becomes captain of a spaceship, but when the people who are immune to the virus start dying, she has to figure out if the virus has mutated or if someone is killing them. (Nov 13)

Toxic by Lydia Kang – A secretly created teen girl, abandoned aboard a sentient biological spaceship that is dying, encounters the mercenary boy doomed to perish on the ship for his last job. (Nov 6)

Your Own Worst Enemy by Gordon Jack – A group of three high school students go head-to-head during their elections for student body president, in this 2016 election satirical spin-off. (Nov 13)

Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love by Adi Alsaid, Becky Albertalli, Libba Bray, Heather Demetrios, Amy Ewing, Zach Fehst, Gayle Forman, Corey Ann Haydu, Varian Johnson, A.S. King, Nina LaCour, Kim Liggett, Kekla Magoon, Sarah McCarry, Sandhya Menon, Cristina Moracho, Jasmine Warga, and Ibi Zoboi –  In this powerful collection, YA authors answer real letters from teens all over the world about the dark side of love: dating violence, break-ups, cheating, betrayals, and loneliness. This book contains a no-holds-barred, raw outpouring of the wisdom these authors have culled from mining their own hearts for the fiction they write. Their responses are autobiographical, unflinching, and filled with love and hope for the anonymous teen letter writers. (Dec 18)

Fire & Heist by Sarah Beth Durst – A were-dragon leads her first heist, trying to find out secrets about her mother, the real reason her boyfriend broke up with her and a jewel that could restore her family’s wealth. (Dec 4)

Kiss Collector by Wendy Higgins – When a young woman is cheated on by the only boy she’s ever loved then watches her parents get divocered, she decides to give up on love and turn the tables on the boys of the world instead. (Dec 18)

Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices, #3) by Cassandra Clare – The third and final book in The Dark Artifices series that concludes Emma, Julian, Mark and Cristina’s stories. (Dec 4)

Strange Days by Constantine J. Singer – After a young man discovers his parents have been murdered by aliens, he becomes a “Witness” – a person who can glide through time and witness futures – and now has a duty to save the world from aliens. (Dec 4)

The Disasters by M.K. England – After being kicked out of an elite space academy, four washouts, on their way back to Earth, are attacked by terrorist and witness the biggest crime in space colonisation, but become the perfect scapegoats. To prove their innocence, they have no choice by to commit a heist. (Dec 18)

The Fade by Demitria Lunetta – Four girls went missing several years ago, and the police never solved the case, but a young woman believes that they were murdered and that their ghosts are talking to her. (Dec 11)

Wow, that’s … a lot of books. Don’t say I never do anything for you!

What books from the list are you most excited for? Is there a book you’re highly anticipating that I didn’t mention? Let me know!

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A small note: writing big posts like this take a lot of time and effort, and require a huge amount of research. I primarily blog as a hobby, and would never ever demand compensation for my work, because it’s something I genuinely love doing – having lovely people like you read and/or comment on my posts is as much thanks as I need! That being said, I am going to leave my Ko-fi button here, in case anyone feels like supporting me further – but please do not feel obliged. Have a wonderful day, friends!