10 Books I'm Looking Forward to Reading in 2022 (part 1)

 

It's a New Year, and you know what that means: More amazing books to read! There are many 2022 releases that I can't wait to get my hands on, and I thought it might be fun (and possibly introduce you guys to some new books coming out!) to make a list of 22 that I'm eagerly anticipating. Hopefully I'll get a chance to read them all this year, and discover some new favorites! 

1. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Retellings
Release Date: 02/22/22
Summary: "Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…"

2. Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, LGBT
Release Date: 05/10/22
Summary: "“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli’s world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

Siren Queen offers up an enthralling exploration of an outsider achieving stardom on her own terms, in a fantastical Hollywood where the monsters are real and the magic of the silver screen illuminates every page."

3. The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
Genres: Fantasy, LGBT
Release Date: 06/23/22
Summary: "Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the Empire from the red-blooded ruling classes' tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes.

Anoor has been told she's nothing, no one, a disappointment by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the Empire. But dust always rises in a storm.

Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution.

As the Empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn."

4. This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke
Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, LGBT, Magical Realism, Fantasy
Release Date: 04/05/22
Summary: "In the middle of Budapest, there is a river. Csilla knows the river is magic. During WWII, the river kept her family safe when they needed it most--safe from the Holocaust. But that was before the Communists seized power. Before her parents were murdered by the Soviet police. Before Csilla knew things about her father's legacy that she wishes she could forget.

Now Csilla keeps her head down, planning her escape from this country that has never loved her the way she loves it. But her carefully laid plans fall to pieces when her parents are unexpectedly, publicly exonerated. As the protests in other countries spur talk of a larger revolution in Hungary, Csilla must decide if she believes in the promise and magic of her deeply flawed country enough to risk her life to help save it, or if she should let it burn to the ground."

5. The Wild Hunt by Lucy Holland
Release Date: 06/23/22
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, LGBT, Retellings
Summary: "Once an Iceni warchief, Herla was tricked into spending three days in the faery realm. But a century passed for each day she feasted, and when she and her followers emerged, it was to find the Iceni wiped out and Britain overrun. Cursed to bring death to all she meets, Herla now presides over her grim court, dreaming of vengeance.

710 AD. Orphaned and raised in a monastery on the edge of Dumnonia, eighteen-year-old Cryda spends what she believes to be her last days in study – until the night Ine of Wessex slays the king and lays waste to her home.

Desperate to escape, she flees west. But when Cryda loses her way on the moor, it’s Herla who assists her. Herla realizes that to befriend Cryda is to risk the girl’s soul, and yet she finds herself drawn to the young scholar. Together, Herla and Cryda must walk a knife’s edge between the living and the dead, the faery realm and a war-torn land, in an effort to save a kingdom and ultimately their own souls."