 Who's ready to hear me chat about over 40 books that I barely know anything about? But I'm really excited to read. I loved how are we doing? We're gonna be doing my most anticipated releases for the first half of 2023 now. I always try to be pretty strict with what I let go onto this list but today I think we have wait for it 48. This is just January to June. I do this video twice a year. This is just the first half of the year. So strap in. I can't take it. I can't take it anymore. I can't do this anymore. I'm actually, we're gonna try and get through these quickly. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna try and race through them. I'm not gonna spend too long on every book because A, I don't know too much about them. I've just read every synopsis over again but can I remember everything? Not necessarily. My natural inclination is to spend like two minutes on every single book. We'll be here for two hours. So I'm gonna try and speed run and give you the basic information whilst still making you as excited for these books as I am. I'm gonna go through them in chronological order. I'm sitting at my desk today so that I'm in front of my laptop and it's a bit easier for me to see everything and I think that's all we have to say. Should we just get into it? First is Age of Vice by Deep Tikapur. I got sent this from Book of the Month. This is one of my choices this month. I think this book opens with a car accident that leaves five people dead. The car enrolled was a very rich man's car in this society but it becomes clear it wasn't him driving the car. I think it's definitely a family tale about power, about money, about corruption, and kind of like unraveling this family's secrets. Then we have Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Keep by Talia Hibbert. This is Talia Hibbert's YA debut and I'm very excited. We're following, I think like a vlogger, like an online content creator and they're in high school these characters though and like a sports star and they both sign up for this like survival course and the words and they bond together. I'm really excited to see how Talia Hibbert's writing converts into a YA novel because I feel like her books are kind of steamy. So like how are we gonna build the room? I don't associate her with like a YA book so I'm very very excited for this. Then we have a Million to One. I have been so excited for this one but I need to get my hands on the US cover because the UK one is horrible. It's not nice. That is so mean. But anyways, this is set on the Titanic. It's a heist on the Titanic, excuse me. We're following these four different girls as they kind of band together. They're trying to steal this drill but then something goes wrong. Well the ship sinks. I think that's gonna happen. We know that's happening at the end of the book. Yeah this one's been super hyped up and I'm intrigued. I haven't actually seen what many people have thought of this yet but I'm excited. Oh then we have This Book Kills by Ravina Gron. This is another YA book. A student is murdered at this school that's drama enough but then our main character gets a text thanking her for the inspiration. It becomes clear that he has been killed in a way that she kind of wrote in a short story that she wrote recently. Well she has to solve it otherwise she is gonna be next. Uh oh. There's a few YA murder mysteries that have really been pitched for fans of Holly Jackson which I still class myself as um despite the events of the five survive book. Then we have Hellbent by Leigh Bardugo. This is the sequel to Ninth House. I loved Ninth House. I adored Ninth House. I'm very excited to dive into this. I spoke about this in my last video but I just think this is Leigh Bardugo's bag. Bin off the Grishaverse. If I could choose I'd say get rid of it Leigh. Get rid of the Grishaverse and just write this. Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave? Then we have Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwin. I think this is a debut. I think this has been pitched for like fans of the Secret History. It's been very promoted. This is obviously like this is Penguin. It's published by Penguin and I think it's set in Edinburgh. It's gonna be very like the University of Edinburgh. It's gonna be very gothic dark academia vibes and I think it's kind of about this toxic uh what sort of I'm looking for codependent relationship between these friends and I think Mudd is gonna get involved. I'm really really excited for that. Then we have How To Set The Haunted House by Grady Hendricks. This one is following two siblings whose parents have recently died at the end of the coronavirus pandemic. The siblings both of their um monetary situations have been pretty ravaged by the pandemic so they need to to fix up and sell the house. But it becomes clear it's haunted as the name suggests. I've connected the two dots. You didn't connect shit but I've connected them. I read my first Grady Hendricks last year and I loved the campiness. Like I just loved the ridiculousness so I'm so excited to get this one. I feel like Grady Hendricks could be my flavour of horror. Oh then we have another one of my most exciting ones. We have The Mysterious Case of the Alpeton Angels by Janice Hallett. Again I spoke about this in my last video. I think we're following a true crime author who discovers this box of materials about the Alpeton Angels who were a cult, who convinced a young girl within the cult that her baby was the Antichrist and this is all mixed media so it's emails, interviews, messages, like all these kind of things is what the story is told through with Janice Hallett so I'm then we have Godkiller by Hannah Kinair. This is another, oh this is Helper Collins but it's another big release I think of this year in the fantasy realm. Some of the fantasy ones in this list, I read the synopsis and I'm like what do you want me to say? We've got a person who's supposed to kill gods but she meets a god that's, oh I don't know, they? I don't know what gender the person is sorry. They meet a god that they cannot kill. I think there's also another guy in the story who's, I don't know, it's about a godkiller. Okay it's fantasy, it's got a cute cover, everyone's eating up. Then we have The Drift by CJ Tudor. This is I think verging or more horror for CJ Tudor and I think we're following three different characters. There's a deadly virus happening. One of them I know is making, trying to make the vaccination. What's not clicking? What's not clicking? Another one wakes up in like a snow lift in uniforms with other people that they don't know, they don't know how they ended up there and the one's been in a crash. I don't know I've had really good reviews from people who have read this already so I'm very excited. Then we have All the Dangerous Things by Stacey Willingham. In this we are following a woman whose child was stolen from their room many years ago. I think we're a year on and she agrees to be interviewed by a true crime podcaster and I think things start to unravel from there. I really enjoyed A Flickr in the Dark by Stacey Willingham, I thought it was a really strong debut thriller so I'm very excited to dive into this. Then we have The Murder Game by Tom Hindle. Tom Hindle wrote A Fatal Crossing which I didn't love but I have high hopes for him. He's an Agatha Christie lover, he's a like classic crime, classic murder mystery lover I can tell. This one we've got like nine characters summoned to this stately home in England for a New Year's Eve party and one of them is murdered. It's essentially the thing and secrets come out and yada yada, it's like a classic Christie plot. Then we have nobody asked for this by Charlie Cox, I almost forgot to put this on here. So Charlie Cox is one of my favourite poets, she hasn't bought out a book in probably like three years I want to say. This is her first poetry collection in that time. I just love Charlie Cox's writing, she's very open about her mental health. It's just my favourite poetry, I've never really found a poet that I love as much as Charlie Cox so very excited for her to be coming out with something new, I've waited a long time for this. Then we have Venco by Shoei Demeline, this is a witches. It's on there because it's witches, I think it's like about these spoons. There's these witches who have been lying in wait for these seven spoons to be reunited again and then they can resurge as witches. Anything with witches in the synopsis, I put on my list at the moment because I'm into witches, which I'm so into witches right now. Anyways, the last tale of the flower bride by Roshani Chotsky, this is about two characters who get married and they make a deal that they'll get married as long as the bridegroom never looks into the bride's past and and then. But then I think they have to go take care of her mother or an elderly relative and they go back to her home and it starts unraveling, it's been compared to Mexican Gothic. I've never read Roshani Chotsky but I know this is her adult debut and this one has been super hyped up, I think this could be a really big release this year. Then we have The Villa by Rachel Hawkins, I love Villa Rachel Hawkins, well I've read one, I read Reckless Girls but it was one of the most like fast paced, ridiculous thrillers I've ever read. This one I think is following these characters who are kind of friends in the 70s, think like rock stars, artists the kind of thing and they were at this villa and a murder happened and then we're in the present day looking back, was there more truth to what happened? What are the truths? I've heard amazing things about this one, everyone's been saying it's her best one yet, I'm really really excited. Then we have Lost in the Moment and Found by Shona McGuire, this is the 8th in the Wayward Children series, we're deep in. In this we're following I think Antoinette who lives in the place or her world is the place where things are lost go and I just love The Wayward Children series, I'm not going to tell you much more than that because it's on the villa but there is trigger warnings in this for child abuse and I've heard it's very much one of the heaviest in the series so far so do read the trigger warnings, I know that there's an author's note at the beginning about this as well. Then we have What Lies in the Woods by K. Alice Marshall, this is my first K. Alice Marshall I've owned but I've always been interested in her books, this is about these three girls who went into the woods, they were attacked, they survived, being stabbed, they identified the serial killer that tried to kill them but they were liars. I'm really excited, I think this sounds really really good, it sounds haunting, it sounds mysterious, I love this kind of thing so very very excited. I need to stop saying I'm excited but I am, talking about this to you ignites like a passion in my soul. What do I need to say? I am not excited but I did tell a bit of a lie there. This is one of the big releases of the year, it's one of the most anticipated books I've seen on so many anticipated lists, it is I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Mackay, so our main character her roommate was killed when she was at college, a person was convicted for the murder and then she's invited back to the school to teach a course and she's like was the right person convicted, what's the truth? Last one in February is she is a haunting, I just know this is a YA, what do I know? It's a YA haunted house book and I think she's travelling back to this house with her family and thinks like going wrong and my main character wants to protect her family. I just am excited about this because of the cover okay, I think a lot of people are excited about this because of the cover, I love the cover. Then we have The Unforgettable Alexandra Shaw by Aloys Spanton, this one is about a girl who killed her father, it was an accident, then she meets this boy who says that not only did her dad die in the accident but she did too, so I don't know if it's like a ghost story, I don't know, I'm really excited with this one, I haven't really had anyone speak about it, I saw it on a list of some sort and I've been really excited ever since. Then we have The Writing Retreat, I ooh girl, I'm so excited for this one, it's about a struggling author who's never made it, goes on this writing retreat, finds out there's a competition, you have to write a book in this one month and whoever writes the best one will get a seven figure publishing deal and stuff starts going wrong, I think murders started caring. I'm really excited for this, I spoke about this in my last video as well and I've already seen, I posted it last night for me, there's already been people in the comments telling me they read art because it was like a five star and I'm gonna love it, I'm so excited. I have to say that sounds a little bit twisted, a kind of great too. Oh there we have a non-fiction, I think this might be the only non-fiction, I don't tend to put non-fictions on my most anticipated but this is The Once and Future Sex, this is all about women in medieval history and the narratives around women in medieval times. It sounds super interesting, I read the synopsis and it spoke about how male thinkers that we still look towards from medieval times drew a lot on Greek ideas and Christian theory on women but when you look at the actual historical women that we know about from medieval times it really kind of counteracts that and they were completely different characters so this is kind of unpacking the truth of women's roles and women within the medieval society so I'm really intrigued by this, this is like we know I just love women. Oh the mimicking of nine successes, I've seen a lot of people talking about and all I'm gonna tell you is that it is a sapphic murder mystery set on Jupiter, that's all we need to know. Then we have what happened to Ruthie Ramirez, this is about a girl who went missing I think when she was about 10, the family have never really recovered but then they see a girl on a reality TV show calling herself Ruby who looks just like their sister and they kind of endeavor to bring her home. I've heard a lot of good things about this, I think this one's a bit more literary fiction, literary friction, literary fiction so I'm intrigued, a lot of you in the comments I see a lot of people mentioning their excitement for this one so yeah. Then we have Vera Wong's Uncisted Advice for Madness, I have never read anything by this author, this is the author of Dial A for aunties, this one really intrigues me, I think it's about this grandma who runs a restaurant, I think it's a restaurant, yeah I'm pretty sure it's a restaurant or it could just be in her living room where dead body turns up, I'm not sure if I'm getting confused with other cozy mystery books but anyways she finds this dead body and it's got a flash drive in its hand and rather than like call the police she like pockets the flash drive which is like I'm gonna solve this, the police couldn't do a good job as me so yeah I'm super excited for this one, I think it's a standalone which is why I've put it on here because a lot of cozy mysteries are series and I can't start them all so. Next we have The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner, this is by the author of The Lost Apothecary which I really enjoyed, I just noticed about seances in Paris and London we're trying to solve a murder, we're trying to find out something about a sister's death and yeah I really enjoyed the writing in The Lost Apothecary so I'm hoping this will give me the Victorian vibes that I'm looking for. Next we have Three Drops of Blood by Gretchen McNeil, this is the author of the hashtag murder trending theories which I have only read the first one but I'm gonna read the rest okay, this is YA again this is another one there's picture fans of Holly Jackson but we're following a girl who witnesses a murder through a window, I think it's actually a double homicide through a window which I love that as a synopsis. It reminds me of, is it the 450 from Paddington? I think Bag of the Christie where someone witnesses a murder on a train that's passing and I just think Gretchen McNeil is kind of campy and fun so I'm against, this is my kind of flavour of horror I think. Next we have A House with Good Bones by Teaking Fisher, I have not yet read any Teaking Fisher but I'm excited to get into all of her flavours of her work, she publishes so many different kind of genres, fantasy horror, cozy fantasy, this one is a horror and I think we're following a person who goes home to see the mother and the house has very much changed and the mother is very scared for some reason and we don't really know why. Next is Camp Zero, I just know this is a climate change esk book, I think a character agrees to travel to this kind of climate ecological base I think somewhere very cold in exchange for housing and it becomes clear that things aren't all that they seem. Oh this one's so stupid, We Have Reach for the Stars by Michael Craig and this one's on Goodreads, it's gone, I can't find it on Goodreads anymore, I hope everything's fine at home. This one's more I think for my British girlies, I think this is going to be very Britpop focus but this is basically a book about the kind of British pop scene from 1996 to 2006 so I think Spice Girls, Girls Loud, Escobb Seven, Hence Reach for the Stars. I'm really excited, I love pop culture, I love like British pop culture, I think it's so interesting so I'm so glad that someone is writing a book about this, I can't wait. Oh that was another non-fiction, we have two, okay that's not bad. Next is Nick Blake and the Remarkables by Andrew Thomas, this is Andrew Thomas' middle grade debut. All I know about this is that I think it's like fantastical and our main characters dad had powers and she kind of goes on this quest to find her magical powers and free her dad, I think her dad is in prison as well but I love Andrew Thomas' writing, I've heard her speak about this book actually a long time ago on a podcast, I think this was one of the first books she ever wanted to write and didn't end up writing it, so very excited for this one. Then we have Untethered Sky by Fonderly, I don't know much about this because it is a novella, this is her first release I think since the Greenbone Saga and I think it's like an animal based fancy series, I think our main characters, one of her family members was killed by this magical beast. I kind of want to go into it blind, it's a short novella but I loved Fonderly's writing this year so I definitely want to dive into this. We have In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune, this is T.J. Klune's new release this year, we're following these robots, this family of robots. I think they're in hiding and one of the family members by accident reveals their location and the dad is kind of taken away and that's what I really know. But like I was saying I think in my last video again, it's one of the books I mentioned for my 2023 TBR, T.J. Klune's books always have a message so I'm feeling this one's going to be about family or perhaps even work, I don't know, I'm intrigued to see kind of what the underlying meaning is of this that isn't revealed unless synopsis. Next is Death of a Bookseller, I think this is going to be another popular book this year, so we're following this bookseller who works in this bookshop who's very kind of shy, reserved and this new bookseller comes in who is the opposite, who is bright, exciting, everyone's obsessed with her. Our main character is like, there's something dark beneath the surface of her and I think perhaps she wants to kind of like the newbie wants to like erase the main character. I don't know, very excited for this one, I keep saying that. For the first time again by Sylvain Neuval, I'm just mentioning here, I'm not gonna, I have not read the synopsis list because it is the third in a series and I've only read the first. But this is a sci-fi series following these characters throughout history who want to go to the moon and seeing how they've affected historical events, that's all I'm gonna say. But it's very, very interesting and very unique series that I really enjoyed the first one from. Ellie Engel saves herself is Leah Johnson's middle grade debut. This one, I think we're following a girl where there's an earthquake and it gives her magical powers and she's recorded and put on social media like having her magical powers and it's up to her to save herself. The Chateau by Jacqueline Goldes is another thriller that's coming out. We have this grandma who's like rich living in this French chateau, she invites her granddaughter and three of her friends there, they grew up there, they spent a lot of their summers there, they wake up after the first night and the grandmother has been brutally murdered. Too much drama for me. And there's also an Instagram account pops up kind of revealing stuff about the girls and secrets they have, it sounds very interesting. Next is Yellow Face by R.F. Kwong. This is about two authors, a white author and I think an Asian author. And I think the white author witnesses the death or something of the Asian author and steals a manuscript that she was writing and publishes it as her own along with like an ethnically ambiguous author photo I think the synopsis said. So this is very much about racism in publishing, about white privilege in publishing. It's very different from R.F. Kwong. We've only seen fantasy from her so far. Yes, her fantasy has had social commentary, but this is a contemporary with social commentary and I'm ready to see her drag the publishing industry. Another sequel that I have not read the first one for so I have not read the synopsis but I'm just going to bring it to your attention. It's The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson. I really want to get to the first one this year so it's just on my list to make me pay attention. We have Austin is Bleed by S.A. Cosby. I've never read anything by S.A. Cosby but this one sounds really interesting. So I think we're following a main character who is the town's only black sheriff ever and a school shooting occurs. I think a student shoots a teacher. It becomes clear that the student was being abused by the teacher and it's just kind of about I think the reaction within the town and how our main character deals with it and about many different kind of social commentaries I'm sure. Then two more that I'll quickly mention because again I have not read the synopsis. They are sequels to books I have not read yet. We have Never A Hero by Vanessa Len which is the sequel to Only a Monster and we have A Death in the Parish by Richard Coles which is the sequel to Murder in Even Songs. Just bringing those to your attention. We have The Last Word by Taylor Adams another one I put on my 2023 TBR. This one we're following a reviewer who writes a negative review of a book and the author does not react well and I think stalks the author and turns up at our home and maybe murderousness ensues. That's me stabbing. Whenever I do that it's me stabbing someone okay. Then Love Theoretically by Ellie Hazelwood. I love Ellie Hazelwood. She loves me. We're besties. This one we're following academic rivals in fake dating. That's all I need to know. I'll pick it up and I'm sure I'm gonna love it because Ellie Hazelwood fulfills my fanfic fave writing. And then the last one oh my god I'm so proud of myself for like not spending 10 minutes speaking about each book because it's well within my remit. I've tried to keep it cut and dry. The last one is The Other Side of Mrs. Wood by Lucy Baker. This is about a medium I think within Victorian times and I think someone threatens to expose fake mediums but I think our girlie is a real medium and I've heard this is funny. Like I think this is a funny historical fiction so intrigued by it. I like the cover and I'm willing to give it a go. So oh my god. So thank you for watching that video. Oh my god. Let me know which of these you're excited for. I'm really excited for these. I'm sure there'll be other new releases I'm excited for throughout the year but I cannot believe at the moment how many of the ones I'm excited for are the first half of the year. I suppose that's kind of only natural though. More books will be announced you know throughout the next couple months for the second half of the year. Thank you for watching. My voice hurts. I hope that was somewhat coherent. I tried my best. There's a lot of books to remember synopses for so thank you so much for watching. If you got into the end comment the book stack emoji because that was a hell of a lot of books so comment that down below if you got to the end. Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope I've added some more books to your TBR for this year and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.