12 More 2019 Releases I’m Excited To Get My Hands On

I’m here with my final 2019 preview of January featuring 12 books that didn’t fit into my 2019 Debuts or 2019 Sequels lists. On my list you’ll find contemporaries, thrillers, fantasy and even a non fiction.

Middle Grade

The Star-spun Web

by Sinéad O’Hart – Stripes Publishing. Expected publication date: 7th February 2019.

With her passion for scientific experimentation and her pet tarantula Violet, Tess de Sousa is no ordinary orphan. When a stranger shows up at Ackerbee’s Home for Lost and Foundlings, claiming to be a distant relative come to adopt her, Tess hopes to find some answers to her mysterious origins. But as she adjusts to her new life at Roedeer Lodge, it becomes clear that Norton F. Cleat knows more about Tess – and the strange star-shaped device left with her when she was abandoned as a baby – than he’s letting on. And when Tess discovers that the Starspinner is the gateway between her world and a parallel world in which war rages, she realizes she may be the key to a terrible plan. A plan she must stop at all costs… 

Science, pet tarantulas, parallel worlds – how amazing does this one sound!

Young Adult

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Two Can Keep A Secret

by Karen M. McManus – Penguin. Expected publication date: 10th January 2019

Ellery’s never been to Echo Ridge, but she’s heard all about it. It’s where her aunt went missing at age sixteen, never to return. Where a Homecoming Queen’s murder five years ago made national news. And where Ellery now has to live with a grandmother she barely knows, after her failed-actress mother lands in rehab. No one knows what happened to either girl, and Ellery’s family is still haunted by their loss.

Malcolm grew up in the shadow of the Homecoming Queen’s death. His older brother was the prime suspect and left Echo Ridge in disgrace. His mother’s remarriage vaulted her and Malcolm into Echo Ridge’s upper crust, but their new status grows shaky when mysterious threats around town hint that a killer plans to strike again. No one has forgotten Malcolm’s brother-and nobody trusts him when he suddenly returns to town.

Ellery and Malcolm both know it’s hard to let go when you don’t have closure. Then another girl disappears, and Ellery and Malcolm were the last people to see her alive. As they race to unravel what happened, they realize every secret has layers in Echo Ridge. The truth might be closer to home than either of them want to believe.

And somebody would kill to keep it hidden.

How could the sequel to One of Us is Lying not make my list?! I can never have too many YA mystery/crime/thrillers. I’ve been counting down the days until this one is released and it’s been on pre-order since the beginning of November!

A Curse So Dark and Lonely

by Brigid Kemmerer – Bloomsbury YA. Expected publication date 29th January 2019

Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

I adored Letters to the Lost and who doesn’t like Beauty and the Beast? I’m really looking forward to reading this retelling by Brigid

You Owe Me A Murder

by Eileen Cook – HMH Books for Young Readers. Expected publication date: 5th March 2019

17-year-old Kim never expected to plot a murder. But that was before her boyfriend dumped her for another girl. Now, Kim’s stuck on a class trip to London with him and his new soulmate and she can’t help wishing he was a little bit dead, even if she’d never really do that.

But when Kim meets Nicki, a stranger on the plane who’s more than willing to listen to Kim’s woes, things start to look up. Nicki’s got a great sense of humor, and when she jokes about swapping murders, Kim plays along—that is, until Kim’s ex-boyfriend mysteriously dies.

Blackmailed by Nicki to fulfill her end of the deal, Kim will have to commit a murder or take the fall for one.

A YA strangers on a train, what’s not to be excited about?!

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Hope and Other Punchlines

by Julie Buxbaum – Delacorte Press. Expected publication date: 7th May 2019

The New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things and What to Say Next delivers a poignant and hopeful novel about resilience and reinvention, first love and lifelong friendship, the legacies of loss, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
Sometimes looking to the past helps you find your future.

Abbi Hope Goldstein is like every other teenager, with a few smallish exceptions: her famous alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, she has asthma, and sometimes people spontaneously burst into tears when they recognize her. Abbi has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. On that fateful day, she was captured in what became an iconic photograph: in the picture, Abbi (aka “Baby Hope”) wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing. 

Now, fifteen years later, Abbi is desperate for anonymity and decides to spend the summer before her seventeenth birthday incognito as a counselor at Knights Day Camp two towns away. She’s psyched for eight weeks in the company of four-year-olds, none of whom have ever heard of Baby Hope. 

Too bad Noah Stern, whose own world was irrevocably shattered on that terrible day, has a similar summer plan. Noah believes his meeting Baby Hope is fate. Abbi is sure it’s a disaster. Soon, though, the two team up to ask difficult questions about the history behind the Baby Hope photo. But is either of them ready to hear the answers?

I think this is a book that could go either way with the sensitive topic at the heart of it. But I’m hoping this one will live up to my expectations

Stepsister

by Jennifer Donnelly – Hot Key Books. Expected publication date 14th May 2019.

Stepsister takes up where Cinderella’s tale ends. We meet Isabelle, the younger of Cinderella’s two stepsisters. Ella is considered beautiful; stepsister Isabelle is not. Isabelle is fearless, brave, and strong-willed. She fences better than any boy, and takes her stallion over jumps that grown men fear to attempt. It doesn’t matter, though; these qualities are not valued in a girl. Others have determined what is beautiful, and Isabelle does not fit their definition. Isabelle must face down the demons that drove her cruel treatment of Ella, challenge her own fate and maybe even redefine the very notion of beauty . . .

Cinderella is about a girl who was bullied; Stepsister is about the bully. We all root for the victims, we want to see them triumph. But what about the bullies? Is there hope for them? Can a mean girl change? Can she find her own happily ever after?

I’ve grown fond of a good re-telling over recent years, and while this isn’t a re-telling as such it does expand on the well known tale of Cinderella, looking at what becomes of one of the stepsisters following Cinderella’s happily ever after and it sounds fab!

Call It What You Want

by Brigid Kemmerer – Bloomsbury YA. Expected publication date: 25th June 2019

When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship…

This captivating, heartfelt novel asks the question: Is it okay to do something wrong for the right reasons?

This is the second of Brigid’s books due for release this year to make my list. I adored Letters To The Lost and this seems similar, yet different enough to really pique my interest.

Adult

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The Guilty Party

by Mel McGrath – HQ. Expected publication date: 7th March 2019

On a night out, four friends witness a stranger in trouble.
They decide to do nothing to help.

Later, a body washes up on the banks of the Thames – and the group realises that ignoring the woman has left blood on their hands.

But why did each of them refuse to step in? Why did none of them want to be noticed that night? Who is really responsible?

And is it possible that the victim was not really a stranger at all?

I’ve spoken about this one in another post I’m sure but this synopsis leaves so many questions I need answers to. Mainly who is the victim!

Your Guilty Secret

by Rebecca Thornton – Bonnier Zaffre. Expected publication date 7th March 2019

THIS STORY IS YOUR GUILTY SECRET

You know Lara King. 

The top billing of the showbiz pages, you’ve seen her every morning; over your breakfast, on your commute to work. You know everything about her; you’ve dissected her life. 

Her perfect relationship with film-star Matthew Raine. Her beautiful six-year old daughter Ava. 

And so when a terrible incident shatters the family’s carefully constructed facade, a media frenzy ensues. 

What happens when the perfect woman begins to unravel? When her whole life is really just a lie? One she will do anything she can to stop you from finding out?

This story is . . .

YOUR GUILTY SECRET.

This sounds so interesting! I want to get back into reading more adult crime/mystery/thriller type books and this one sounds perfect.

The Dangerous Kind

by Deborah O’Connor – Bonnier Zaffre. Expected publication date: 16th May 2019

What if the people we trust are the ones we should fear? 

We all recognise them. Those who sit just on the fringes of society. Who send prickles up the back of our necks. The charmers. The liars. The manipulators. Those who have the potential to go that one step too far. And then take another step.

Jessamine Gooch makes a living from these people. Each week she broadcasts a radio show looking into the past lives of convicted killers; asking if there was more that could have been done to prevent their terrible crimes.

Then one day she is approached by a woman desperate to find her missing friend, Cassie, fearing her abusive husband may have taken that final deadly step. But as Jessamine delves into the months prior to Cassie’s disappearance she fails to realise there is a dark figure closer to home, one that threatens the safety of her own family . . . 

Control

by Hugh Montgomery – Bonnier Zaffre. Expected publication date: 8th August 2019

Not all doctors are heroes . . . the darkest medical thriller since COMA Renowned surgeon Michael Trenchard locks his office door and prepares for a relaxing evening – Wagner on the sound system, a fine Scotch to hand. A knock at the door heralds the arrival of the person he most wants to see – the person who excites him more than anyone else. But what follows will turn his dreams into a living nightmare . . . for he will be discovered later that night in a locked-in coma, the victim of an auto-erotic asphyxiation. Can this really be an accident? It is left to Dr Kash Devan, Trenchard’s young protege, to uncover the truth. What he discovers is chilling: in his ruthless pursuit of wealth and success Trenchard has left a trail of wrecked lives behind him. Which of his victims hated him so much they wanted not only his life, but also his reputation ruined?

I remember nabbing Coma from dad’s shelf when I was 13 or 14 and being absolutely hooked so as soon as it was mentioned in the synopsis this became a must read!

Sex Power Money

by Sara Pascoe – Faber & Faber. Expected publication date: 29th August 2019

Part comedy, part anthropological study, here is everything Sara Pascoe has learned from scientists, sex education teachers, pornographers and 90s films about love, cruelty, domination, masculinity, status, and economic pressures. Is internet porn ruining marriage? ‘Mind Rape’ isn’t a thing, is it? 

Like her much-loved first book, Animal, Pascoe overthinks and overshares in the name of our entertainment and education. Sex Power Money is a whipsmart, winningly funny look into who – and what – we are, and what makes us tick.

This is the only bit of non-fiction to make my list. I love watching Sara on TV and Animal has been on my to buy list for quite a while so I think I’ll be buying them both in August.

That’s the last of my 2019 previews for now, I might be back once publishers release their catalogues for the second half of the year! If anything has caught your eye don’t forget I’m currently running a giveaway where you could win the 2019 release of your choice! What 2019 books are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!