New Releases I'm Looking Forward To: 4th Quarter 2020

 My usual disclaimer:

Let me state, this is really based on authors or series that I'm already reading since those are the things I follow.  I'm not paid to write this blog nor do I have any affiliations with any publishers so I don't receive free books or advance notice of things except what I glean off Facebook from people who do have those contacts or what I research on my own (which again, leads back to authors that I'm already reading).  Maybe someday I'll be one of those who has the contacts and gets ARCs but it's not today.

Well, I guess it had to happen sometime.  Between work going absolutely nuts, pandemic fatigue/stress, my college courses, homeschooling, and losing some beloved pets, my reading mojo has fizzled. I'm not sure I'm going to get anywhere near my reading goals this year and I'm seriously behind in all my series. I'm hoping that it will come back sometime in November but that is still so far away.  When it does though, there are so many good books coming out, I need a time turner to read them all.

My husband has been a huge Cory Doctorow fan for a long time. I've read some of his stuff and enjoyed it but admit that he's not one I typically follow to see what new stuff he has coming out.  This time is different.  Attack Surface is a standalone novel in the Little Brother universe and looks to be really good.

Release Date: October 13

I'm really far behind in the Alex Craft series by Kalayana Price but hoping at some point to get caught up and I'm really curious as to what has been happening that brought Alex into a truce with Faerie. Gonna have get caught up before reading Grave War.

Release Date: November 24

There are some other books I've got a passing interest in but nothing that's got me ready to call in a pre-order to my local bookstore.  Maybe that means I'll get a chance to actually get some of this reading caught up?  Hey, a person can dream.

New Releases I'm looking Forward To: 3rd Quarter 2020

My usual disclaimer:

Let me state, this is really based on authors or series that I'm already reading since those are the things I follow.  I'm not paid to write this blog nor do I have any affiliations with any publishers so I don't receive free books or advance notice of things except what I glean off Facebook from people who do have those contacts or what I research on my own (which again, leads back to authors that I'm already reading).  Maybe someday I'll be one of those who has the contacts and gets ARCs but it's not today.

Work has slowed a bit but I've been crazy busy trying to catch up everything else that fell to the side when things were super nuts, including my breath. Spring semester is over but summer semester has now started so I'm still trying to get a feel for how busy that will be. In other words, I've stretched myself thin again and am still desperately trying to find time for reading with everything else I'm trying to do. I really need more hours in my days.

In A Peculiar Peril, Jeff Vandermeer has created new worlds attached to our own through doorways in the basement of newly orphaned Jonathan Lambshead which must not intrude upon our own. The first in a YA duology, I have no doubt that the worlds will be rich, the characters intriguing, and highly unusual things will be afoot.

Release date: July 7

Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter is the 5th book in the Soulwood series, a spin-off from the Jane Yellowrock. I really enjoy the Jane Yellowrock series and I have the first few in the series but haven't yet had time to read them. Rick and Nell have a new team member, they are on a case in Tennessee where dead bodies are decaying at a rapid pace, and someone at the FBI doesn't like paranormals. All the shit seems to be going down with this one.

Release date: July 27

The second of Carrie Vaughn's Robin Hood duology, The Heirs of Locksley, looks to be a fun imagining with the children of the famous outlaw and his nemesis, Prince John. Still need to read the first one though.

Release date: August 4

I enjoyed Binti by Nnedi Okorafor and have been trying to find time to read more of her work as the story synopsis are generally intriguing.  Ikenga is her first foray into writing for a middle-school audience with the main character, 12-year old Nigerian boy Namdi, gaining superpowers after the death of his father.  

Release date: August 18

Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm behind in the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews. I think I've only read the first book which was delightful bubblegum and that is definitely about the speed my brain can handle right now so I think I need to get caught up so I can read Emerald Blaze. It looks like the series has moved away from the original power couple and I know it's on the paranormal romance side so I'm not sure if  it's going to be like their The Edge series where the main couple changes every book.  Either way, I'm sure it's going to be fun.

Release date: August 25

My oldest got into the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne several years ago and I've recently read the first book in that series for my book club and enjoyed it. I'll definitely we working my way through all of them so I'm definitely interested in Ink & Sigil which is set in the same world with some cross-over characters while looking to be very much it's own thing.

Release date: August 25

For me, September with new releases has come to be synonymous with the newest October Day book coming out.  These books always have enough high stakes to make me bite my nails until I'm sure everything is going to be ok because sometimes they aren't and characters die or are wounded in ways that are not easily mended and I think my heart would break if something actually caused the break-up of Toby and Tybalt. In A Killing Frost, they are moving closer to their wedding when they are told that by Fae tradition, Toby's mother's husband is considered her legal father and must be invited to the wedding.  That same man would be the one who trapped Toby as a fish for 12 years and who just recently lost all the progress he made towards becoming less of an asshole to everyone. Yeah, that sounds like just the way to fuck with Toby and Tybalt's marriage that Seanan would come up with.

Release date: September 1

New Releases I'm Looking Forward To: 2nd Quarter 2020

My usual disclaimer:

Let me state, this is really based on authors or series that I'm already reading since those are the things I follow.  I'm not paid to write this blog nor do I have any affiliations with any publishers so I don't receive free books or advance notice of things except what I glean off Facebook from people who do have those contacts or what I research on my own (which again, leads back to authors that I'm already reading).  Maybe someday I'll be one of those who has the contacts and gets ARCs but it's not today.

School and crazy work have definitely slowed all reading for pleasure to a crawl but work should hopefully start slowing down a bit for the next few months (I hope) so maybe I'll be able to actually get some reading for me in and since the second quarter is very light in terms of new releases I'll definitely be grabbing, maybe, just maybe, I'll get caught up in a few series.

Really, there is just one book that I can't wait to get my hand on and that is the return to The Hollows with American Demon by Kim Harrison.  Seriously, we all had to know that things would not just work out smoothly for Rachel after the thirteen previous books and when they fixed things, they sort of unleashed some unintended consequences, like zombies.  Can't wait to follow Rachel and the rest in this new installment.

Release date: June 16

2019 recap and 2020 goals

So 2019 was slower in the first half with work which was nice.  I got a few things caught up but not nearly as much as I would have liked as there was illness and lots of school stuff to handle since the first half of the school year was spent dealing with many things outside of my control.  I thought the summer would bring time enough to catch up other things but instead I went back to college a year sooner than originally planned and there went any free time I thought I might have.  A local group I work with also decided to put on the first volunteer fair in the area in August and I was doing a lot to help make that happen as well. 

Even with all that going on, it was still less crazy than 2018 and I was able to hit the goal of 100 books (101 actually) and over 20,000 pages but fell short on the new authors (only 25 instead of 30) but on the whole, I think it was a good reading year.  My To-Read pile has only grown a little bit (up 14 books to 1410) but my Read pile is continuing to grow faster so that's good.  I found some new authors to enjoy and that is always a happy thing.

For 2020, the first couple of months are going to be extremely busy with work and I'm still taking college classes and homeschooling one kid so the goal is to get through with my little sanity shreds still intact and reading is one of the ways I do that.  So 2020 goals are 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages read.

What are your goals?