 And welcome back to my channel. I hope you're all good. Today we're chatting about my most anticipated releases for the first half of 2022 and I'm very excited. However, I went into this this year, right, with Beatitude. Oh, I'm going to be really selective with what I pick as my most anticipated, what releases I'm picking to read. I really need to be harsh because I think I ended up with over like a hundred on my list for last year. And that's just not feasible. It's just not happening. And my first, for the first half of 2022, I have 33 books to talk to you about. I want to go home. I want to go home. I don't feel comfortable in this house. I don't like the energy in this house. 33. We have 33 to talk about. And I'm just going to try and fly through them. This is going to be a quick whistle-stop tour of all the books I'm interested in. Most of these are authors I have read from before and really enjoyed. And it's their new releases that are coming out. A few aren't. A few are authors I've always wanted to read or just releases that sound really interesting to me. But the vast majority are authors I have already read. And we're just going to try and like get through this because no one wants this video to be 40 minutes long. And we all know that is within my repertoire because I can't shut up. Like sometimes I'm editing myself and I'm like, Megan, you go on too many tangents. As I'm going on one now anyway. I'm going to go through them in chronological order. I did think about doing genres so like people could skip to the genre they're most interested in. That was a lot of work and I said, sorry, you got to deal with this. You got to live with it. It's like having a job working 24 seven for two days on the trot. So the first few have already come out. The first one is the chosen one by Echo Brown. So I read Black Gone Limited by Echo Brown two years ago. I don't think it was last year, it was the year before. And I really, really loved it. All I know about this is that I think the main character goes to this like school and it's very like white privilege and white supremacy and it's about them navigating this. From Echo Brown I kind of expect something unusual, something a little about the box and something that is really going to like put a different slot on things. So I'm really excited to read this. Then we have The Monarchs by Cas Morgan and Danielle Page. So I read The Ravens. Where is she? There. There. I read that at the end of last year and I really enjoyed it. This is a duology. So I'm really excited to finish off this series. This is like following witches at this sorority and like their sisterhood. And I can't say much about what this book is about because I don't want to spoil The Ravens. But yeah, it's about them kind of backing each other and like fighting for one another. And it's I thought it was a really, really solid book The Ravens. So I'm excited to see how the geology ends up and it will also be a great opportunity for me to finish a series, get a series done. Next is The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown. I'm going to be honest, don't know too much about this. Don't know. Don't know what she's saying. I didn't know she's saying. I thought she rapped or whatever. I know it's a Victorian like historical mystery kind of thing. I think it's kind of more like not literary, but like you know, it's kind of like Elizabeth McNeil. But I just really liked the cover. This is like the only one, the only book on this list that I don't actually know too much about. I think it's about a woman and her brother that died many years ago in a mystery that's wrapped up in all of that. Listen, The Key in the Lock, that's a good title in my opinion. Good cover, that's all I need to know. There's not another book like that. The other books are all books I know a lot about and I've made like a real, a real, I figured it out. I figured it out when I want to read it or not. But this one, just vibes. We're just going on vibes. Then we have Love and Other Disasters by Anita Kelly. This is probably one of the only romances on my list, but I got this one back of the month, this month, and it sounds really interesting. We're following like a cooking competition, which I love. I love MasterChef, Great British Bake Off, like anything that's inspired by cooking or baking, I'm probably gonna read it. I really like that in romances like cooking. We can cook for each other. Anyway, I think these are two contestants on this cooking show. One of them is non-binary and they're like, I think the first non-binary contestant to be on this show and it's them falling in love and I'm very intrigued by it. Yeah, I don't read a ton of romance, but this is one that kind of fell into my lap and I thought, that sounds quite good. Cooking, I'm up for it. Next we have Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. Now this one has been super hyped. It's on my list primarily because a lot of my patrons have hyped it up. It's like a new fantasy where I think like our protagonist is, has to do something to like save her mum, like her mum's the moon goddess and she like gets casted out just to save her mum. The cover, immaculate, immaculate. But she's beautiful. Right, but she's beautiful. And this one is one that I've kind of trusted other people. I was like, oh, I'm so excited for this. It's gonna be one of my most anticipated releases. So that's kind of why I am excited for it. I'm hoping for kind of just beautiful writing. The cover makes me think of like, you know, I think it's gonna be very dreamlike and serene. And like, that's what I'm hoping for from it. Then we have probably what I regard as one of my top two most anticipated releases of the first half of this year, which is The Maid by Nita Pros. I finally got my UK edition of it yesterday. Look at the sprayed edges. Look at them. I love them. So I spoken about this quite a lot. We're following a maid at this very expensive posh hotel. And she loves her job there, but she kind of can struggle to like socialise with people. She's a little bit like socially awkward. And a rich man, a very, very rich man dies at the hotel. And she is the kind of prime suspect for the murder. And so she has to figure out what is actually happening. It's kind of pitched as like a cosy murder mystery, which I mean, that is me. That is me. That is me. I'm obsessed. I eat up any time a murder mystery is like a mainstream hyped up release because it doesn't happen enough. It's like, this is why I have to read a lot back at the Christie guys, because murder mysteries, like a murder mystery, they're not abundant, shall we say. And so any time one is super hyped up like this has been, I am just so excited. The cover of it. Oh, look at the end pages. I mean, come on. I much prefer the UK cover. I do have the US one as well because I got it from back in the month. But I much prefer the UK edition. It's just absolutely gorgeous. I'm so excited to read it. I don't know when I'm going to get a chance to. I might just have to do a vlog where I read some of my most anticipated releases, because I need to fit this into a vlog somehow. Then we have the overnight guest by Heather Kudankov. Couldn't remember the author's name. This is about an author who goes to this like snowy isolated house to write her book. And she's like, oh my God, this is perfect. I can get so much writing done. I'm going to be a new me. But little does she know, there was like a double death homicide, suicide situation, I think. Or maybe not homicide, suicide. Maybe just two homicides. I don't know. At this house many, many years ago. And she's writing. She's tippy tap typing on a keyboard. And then there's a child outside in the snow somehow. She writes a child in, but so it becomes clear something else is happening here is what I think. Yeah, this isn't author I've read from before, but I've heard a few people speak about this thriller. And listen, snowy isolation. It's written for me. It is written for me. I love that kind of thing. So I recently knew this is one that I wanted to keep my eye out for. Then we have No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado. So I read Fat Chance Charlie Vega this year, this year. We're 20 days running from this into 2022 Megan, get a grip. Good God, get a grip girl. Good God, get a grip girl. I read Fat Chance Charlie Vega in 2021. And I really loved it. I think I gave it five stars. It's one of my favorite like YA contemporary romances I've ever read. Like it was just, I find when I like YA contemporaries, I'm usually looking for a little bit extra like a little bit like something special about it. And not to say that it didn't have something special about it, but it was more of your like traditional contemporary romance. You know, and I really, really loved it. So I knew I wanted to read more from this author. And this one sounds really fun. I think it's about a teenager who has like a fake Instagram that like catfishing catfishing is not the right word, but like runs an Instagram where they still someone else's photos and pretend to be them basically. And then one of their posts goes semi viral and they're having to explain to like the people in their lives why they're doing this. I don't know, it sounds really, really interesting. And Crystal Madinada is just a YA author that I'm really interested in reading in the future. Oh, by the way, I just realized I have to say this, all of the release dates I'm putting up on the screen are the UK release dates. A lot of these books like come out probably a little bit earlier in the US. I think some of the ones I'm about to show you are, but the states I'm showing are UK ones because it would be too confusing for me to try and figure out US versus UK release dates for all these. So that's what we're going with. Okay. So next I have a couple other Book of the Month books that I got. First we have Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. I'm so excited for this. It's another kind of isolated close circle who done it. This group of friends like young 20 somethings who think that the shit go on holiday to like isolated island together. And then one of them goes missing and another one of them ends up dead. And they're kind of trying to figure out what's going on. They're trapped. Oh my god, I'm so excited. I've heard a lot of good things about this. I've heard the writing is really good. It's really well paced. I've heard so many good things. So this is another one that I would really like to get to like ASAP. And then we have Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. This is one that has been super hyped up in the UK. I think it's going to be like a really big literary debut. And we're following these siblings whose mum has just died and all she leaves them is this Caribbean Black Cake and a story that she's telling them I think over a voice note. And it's kind of them coming back together, rebuilding their relationship and kind of learning something through their mum. It's a bit of a strange nonsense, but I'm intrigued. And then we have A Flick It In The Dark by Stacey Willingham. This has already been optioned for like film or TV, like before it was even released, which is kind of a sign that this author and this book is going to be big. This is about a girl who when she was 12, 16-year-old girls went missing. And at the end of the summer her father confessed that he was the killer of those girls. And so she's kind of lived with that for many years. And now similar things are happening again. So the question is, is it a copycat killer? Or was the wrong person incarcerated? Was her dad actually innocent? So very intrigued for this. My mum has read it and she quite liked it. So yeah, there's like, I feel like it's a lot of thrillers, a lot of mysteries I really want to get to that I already own. I need to just read them. Huh, much to think about. Next we have The Long Weekend by Julie McMillan. This is another thriller. I've never read from this author before, but the synopsis really intrigued me. So I think we have three friends who go, they go on holiday together as a group of friends. Their husbands are coming I think the next day, but the women have gone there early and they come back to their house and they find a note saying, by the time you read this, I will have already killed your one of your husbands. And then it doesn't tell them who. And it just sounds really fun. I mean, I mean, fun. I do not remember saying those things. And those things were meant to be. That was, that was not meant to be serious. But it sounds like kind of like a fun thriller, like trying to figure out what's happening. And like a friendship group kind of tearing themselves apart. It's a trope that I've always been intrigued by, but I haven't read it many times where I've really loved it, like this tight knit friendship group being torn apart. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley has that, but I didn't really like that. So it's something I really want to read like done really well for me. Then we have a book that's honestly embarrassing that I haven't read it yet. This is already out in the US, but it's not out in the UK yet. Where the Young Girls Go by Seanan McGuire. I need to just read it. I need to read it. It's the next way we're children book. And listen, I haven't been reading a lot to start this year. We're 20 days in, I've read four books. That's not great, especially when I was like, I'm going to read 150. No, Megan, Megan. But yeah, this is the next in the way we're children series, one of my favorite series ever. I've spoken about this quite a lot already. I need to just fucking hurry up and read it. We're at a different school than in the West home for where we're children. Another school fees children that isn't as nice. And I think Cora, who is a character we've met before, goes there. I've been treated. I mean, oh, Cora, I'm so excited for this one. Oh, then we have the Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart. So this is one, this sounds very intriguing. So it's at this hotel where you can go to time travel. That's the idea, like rich people turn up and they're like going to go back in time or whatever. And our protagonist is kind of like, I think works there is like a cleaner or something. I don't know. But there's a murder. There's a death, right? There's a body. And she finds it that she's one of the only people that can see it because like time is like tearing itself apart. I don't know. This sounds really fun. It sounds like a twist on a murder mystery for me. So it's one that I'm definitely excited to read. Then we have the girl who fell beneath the sea by Axi O. Gonna be honest. Don't know much about it. I just like the cover. Something to do with like this town that has sacrifices and her brother's girlfriend is sacrificed. But then her brother throws himself in to be sacrificed, like into the sea. And then she throws herself in to be sacrificed in his place. And she like discovers this like magical world under the sea. I don't know. But this is another one that's been like kind of hyped up for coming out at the start of the year. So I really want to read it and see if the hype is like justified. Then we have Gallant by the Eshwab. And I read the synopsis for this like twice yesterday. And I can't remember it, which isn't a good sign. I do not want to comment. Why? The Eshwab is an author I really enjoy. I've read, what have I read from the Eshwab? I've read Vicious, which I gave five stars. I've read Vengeful, which I gave two stars. And I've read Life of Addie, Invisible Life of Addie Louie, which I think I gave five stars as well. So listen, we have like an interesting relationship, five stars, two stars. But I feel good about this. And I really want to read it. I love the cover. And I remember reading the synopsis and being like, wow, that's great. But could I tell you now? No. Oh, yep. I remember now. I remember. So we're following this orphan who gets this letter from her uncle saying, come to my estate. And she gets there, turns out my letter was delayed. Her uncle is dead. And she's allowed to stay there. The servants still at the house. As long as she doesn't go out after dusk and always stays on the right side of a wall that runs along the estate's western edge. Beyond it is another realm, ancient and magical, which calls to Olivia through her blood. So yeah, I am excited. It's like another kind of fantastical standalone dream Vee Schwab. And yeah, I feel like Vee Schwab is just an author I'm probably always going to give a go. I still need to read the Dark Chain of Magic series. I do own the first one. But I don't need to start any more series right now. Let me, let's focus on getting a few done before we start any more. Then we have Nine Lives by Peter Swanson. So all I know about this is I think nine characters get a letter with just each other's names on the letter, but they don't know any of each other and they start dying. That's all I know about it. But I've always wanted to read Peter Swanson. I've never read a Peter Swanson. And it's probably one of these thriller authors I want to pick up most that I've never read from before. So I put his release last year on my want to read and I didn't end up getting it because I thought it had pretty bad reviews. So then let's give this one a go and see if it's any better. And then we have probably my other top two, my anticipated release for the first half this year and that is the Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley. So excited. So I know we're following a girl whose brother lives in this apartment and she can't really figure out how he lives in this apartment complex. It's like a very rich Paris apartment complex. And there is a murder that happens essentially. And like one of Lucy Foley's books, we have archetypes which I really, really love. We have the watchful concierge, the scorned lover, the prying journalist, the naive student, the unwanted guest. There was a murder here last night. A mystery lies beyond the door apartment three. Who holds the key? Oh my god, I'm so excited. Because I love the guest list so much, it really got me into reading like mysteries and thrillers. I just, I feel like I love Lucy Foley. And I've been looking forward to this back for a long, long time since you pitched it to me when I went to a signing of the guest list. And I've just been waiting ever since. So I'm very excited for this to come out. Then we have Lake Law by Anna Marie Macklemore. I've always wanted to read one of their books. Never have. I own What Beauty and the Mirror Season. I should probably read one of them before I go into one. I just know it's about two non-binary teenagers and for water and underwater worlds and very magical, like all of Anna Marie Macklemore's stuff is. I've put it on here because I really want to read their books but I should probably read one of the other to my own first. Then we have Until the Last of Me by Sylvain Neuvel. This is the second in the series that the first one was a history of what comes next. I don't know if this is going to be a duology or if it's going to be a longer series but we're kind of following, I can't remember what I can say. In the first book we're following a girl and her mother as they, they're not human and they try to influence historical events around the second one war and the space race to their own cause, to what they want to achieve. That's what I'm gonna say but this is the second in that series. The first one wasn't that loved but I really really liked it. I thought it was a solid unusual sci-fi so I'm very excited to get to this one and hopefully if it's a duology I'll finish off another series but I don't know if it's going to be a longer series or not. Oh then we have The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James. This is a thriller. We're following past and present. The past, this small town was kind of rocked by this murder that happened and this rich heiress was kind of the chief suspect but she got off and now she lives like in this reclusive estate and in the present day our main character kind of interviews her or asks to interviews her and she goes to her estate and things are strange like oh the sun is out. Yeah strange thing happened like items of objects move when she's not looking. She keeps thinking she sees a child outside in the snow. That's suspicious. That's weird. So I'm just really excited for this. I did want to read Simone St James's other book. Is it The Sundown Motel? Something like that but I never got around to it and this one just sounds really fun and creepy and strange. Yeah probably one of my ones I'm most excited for because it's like a little bit unusual. Then we have In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power which is not a kind of book I'd expect Rory Power to read. I've read both Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down and I really enjoyed both of them but this is like a high fantasy series. Following siblings and this kind of like centuries old power battle between them and their father. I don't know it's very different than what I expected Rory Power to come out with because Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down are very similar and you kind of expect stuff to continue in that vein but this is more of like a traditional fantasy it seems like. So I'm very intrigued. I love the cover but it's like so different than what I was expecting to see. Then we have Portrait of a Thief by Grace D Lee. I don't know too much about this I know it's about like a heist of Chinese artwork that kind of America has and it's like these young students like trying to steal the artwork back. This has been super hyped so that's really why it's on my list because it's been so hyped up and I'm like okay I feel like it's gonna be a big release this year so it's something I'm very intrigued by. Oh my god her voice! Excuse me? And then we have Amari and the Great Game by Bibi Alson so I loved Amari and the Night Brothers. This is like a story of a girl called Amari who grows into this like magical underground world. The sun is our enemy. The sun does not want us to succeed. Now that it does this piece of hair can we talk about how annoying this piece of hair is? It always fucks me up anyway. If you can't be my friend just please don't be my enemy because my life is tough enough as it is. Yeah into this like underground magical world where there's like monsters and there's a secret agency that like cover magic and she's sewn to this world and it's just beautiful. It's a great middle grade. It's very touching. I thought the character's all super origin so I'm very excited for this sequel. Then we have Theatre of Marvels by L.M. Dilsworth. I do actually have another arc of this. They sent me two. This is the first one they sent me and they sent me one with like a more like the actual cover illustrated but I think that's wrapped up. I can't find it so I think it's wrapped up. So this is like a very this circusy inspired book. Think The Greatest Showman kind of book and our main character is this mixed race girl who performs in the circus as the Great Amazonian Warrior but she's literally just a mixed race girl from the east end kind of falling down with her performance but then I think some girls from the circus or in the kind of performance circuit start to go missing and she takes on for herself to kind of investigate it. So yeah I own two copies of it so I've got no excuse not to read it and I'm very very excited for it because I love circus theatrics and books so I feel like this is right out my street. Then we have Book of Night by Holly Black. This is Holly Black's adult debut and it just sounds really interesting to me with it kind of the synopsis reminds me a little bit of Ninth House by Li Bardugo like anyway we're following this character with a very troubled past trying to escape it and I think going to university to kind of try and escape it but the past comes back to her and she's like again trapped in this circle of like dastardly dudes like murder and stuff and thieving and stuff like that. I'm very intrigued by this because I've never read any Holly Black. I've never read anything by her and I would I would like I would like to experiment. Something fun, something for the summertime. Then we have Seasonal Fairs by Shulin McGuire. So this is the like companion book to middle game where this was announced as a sequel to middle game I was like oh shit like oh no because I didn't feel like middle game should have a sequel but we're following different characters I think we're following like a brother and sister again. I've avoided the synopsis list because I often like with like middle game and Shulin McGuire's other books. I like to be a little bit blind. I like to be a little bit blind. I just know we're going to be following like people with powers again in some capacity and it's going to be clever. It's going to be complex and I just need to get my hands on it like right now. Yesterday I need to get my hands on it yesterday. Oh then okay okay okay I need to like reorganize myself for this one. We have Siren Queen by Nevo. So Nevo I absolutely love. I have read Empress of Sorton Fortune and when the tiger came down the mountain by Nevo I have yet to read The Chosen and the Beautiful excuse me there she is um but this one I love the cover so much and it's like a fantastical old Hollywood setting of this actress how to negotiate like old Hollywood and like we're looking at like sleaze and like shitty men. I don't I don't think you guys understand a fantastical old Hollywood setting. I think I love books set in Hollywood and I've always been looking for more of it like Evan Hugo right? Sometimes with Evan Hugo. I loved that setting. I love the kind of like Hollywood film studio setting. It comes I think from my love of the Disney park Hollywood studios and like I just love like Who Framed Roger Rabbit like I love Hollywood film setting like I love that. I love the behind the scenes of that kind of thing. If you get it you get it if you don't you don't if you know you know and if you don't know like I honestly feel bad for you. Like this just sounds incredible. I love the cover and so I feel like I really need to read it. Like maybe I'm gonna read like five Nevo books this year. No I haven't got that many books coming out. Then we have Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta was on my favorite books of 2021 list and this is his next release. It's again told in verse and we're following this boy who found love for the first time when he's so happy. He's dating this guy and they're so in love but then his boyfriend has to move. His dad gets a different job and he has to move and he's heartbroken and then he starts falling in love with another guy and I think he's kind of dating them both at the same time when it's about that complexity and yeah I don't know Dean Atta's writing is so beautiful and I've just always been so excited for another release from him so I'm oh I can't wait to read the gorgeousness that it's going to be this writing. Then we have Yerba Brenner by Nina Lacour. So this is Nina Lacour's adult debut. Another one that I'm super anticipating although I don't know the synopsis that well but we're following these two troubled girls I believe. They're past intersect and they push each other away again and again and again and it's kind of about the difficulties that they've had in their lives and their stories I think and their relationship and I think I'm really excited to read an adult from Nina Lacour because I think it will give her more time to really go into like these characters inner feelings and monologues and I think that's going to be really interesting to read from. Then we have A Miramented by Alex Ihara which is the second in the Fractured Fables series. Now I started reading synopsis for this and I think it's a spoiler for a spindle splinter. I started reading it and I was like oh no I think it's spoiling this. I thought they were novellas that were like separate stories but I think they may be links somehow but as many of you know The Once and Future Witches was my second favourite book of last year so I want to read everything about Alex Ihara because Alex Ihara's writing is just gorgeous. So this is the second in this series. And then my final book, my final anticipated release for the first half of this year is Harlem Sunset Banakisa Affia. This is the sequel to Dead Dead Girls which is like a 1920s murder mystery series which I really like. It was a debut and I feel like you could feel it a little bit but I'm really excited to see where this series goes and I feel like our main character and some of her friends are really interesting and again it's just like another murder mystery that's like coming out so I'm like I'm like that's what you said and you know what I what was that okay. Clicking on to the Murder Mysteries from Dear Hope. So yeah another series that I'm making progress in but I don't think this series will end this year. I think it's going to continue on. So yeah another one I'll make progress in but won't finish. So they are all my 2022 anticipated releases for the first half of the year. I feel like that was a lot. I'm sorry if this video is still long. I tried to like keep myself in check as much as I could. Let me know which of these you are most excited for. If you've read any of them already because a few of them have come out already. Yeah let me know what ones you're most excited for has come out or which ones I've made you excited for which you didn't know about beforehand. If you've gotten to the end of the video comment, comment, comment, comment a key emoji. I feel like the Paris apartment, the maze, like I feel like keys play a big role in a lot of these books. So comment the key emoji if you've gone to the end. Thank you so so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye!