Book covers Scholastic Press, St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, Flatiron Books
With a new year—comes new books, so I decided to share a list of four books I’m personally looking forward to this year. These books are by authors I love, as well as authors new to me that I’m keeping an eye on.
“I Hope This Doesn’t Find You” by Ann Liang
I previously reviewed Liang’s book before and loved it. I’m looking forward to this book with high expectations. She’s quickly raised up to the top of my favorite romance authors.
“I Hope This Doesn’t Find You” is about a model student, Sadie Wen, who vents about people through unsent emails. She especially rants about her rival, Julius Gong. One day, her email drafts get sent out and chaos ensues.
A lot of Liang’s characters share similarities, but I love that in comparison the plots are all so different and engaging. Though many of her leading characters are similar archetypes, Liang manages to always find ways to make them unique. I always enjoy seeing how these characters handle different conflicts thrown at them.
I look forward to seeing how Liang has tackled this book, though if it’s like her others, I’m sure it’ll be a hit. If you’re into rom-coms and YA, Liang is definitely the author for you.
“A Song to Drown Rivers” by Ann Liang
This book is different from Liang’s previous ones, being her first book in the adult genre.
“A Song to Drown Rivers” is based on the legend of Xishi, one of the four beauties in ancient China. In this retelling, Xishi is trained by a military advisor named Fanli to turn her beauty into a weapon. She is trained to use her beauty to bring down a rivaling kingdom, Wu.
The only issue is, Xishi and Fanli grow an attraction towards each other that only deepens the longer Xishi’s mission goes.
I absolutely adore historical fiction, so I’m curious to see how Liang will make the legend of Xishi her own. Considering this is her first adult book, I’m wondering how this story will differ from her others.
Lastly, I need to emphasize the stunning artwork on the cover of this book, especially the edges of the pages. On Liang’s Instagram, she credits Ervin Serrano for the cover design. I absolutely adore when books have amazing cover art, I think it really adds to the appeal.
I can’t wait to see what she does with this, I think it’ll be a book you need to keep an eye on.
“Canto Contigo” by Jonny Garza Villa
This is a story about a star mariachi singer named Rafael Alvarez who has to move schools and leave his group in his final year of high school.
At his new school, he expects to join their group easily, but finds out they have their own star singer named Rey Chavez–who he had a steamy encounter with just months before.
As a result, Rafael battles with his growing attraction towards Rey and his ambitions as a mariachi singer.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m an absolute sucker for the rivals to lovers trope. When done correctly it’s such a thrilling plot to read.
With this book, what initially pulled me in is that before being romance genre or rivals to lovers trope, this is a Mexican story. When I was younger, I found it difficult to find books with diverse representation, especially in LGBTQ+ stories.
Seeing stories like this now brings me so much joy and shows how far books have come.
I have not yet read any books from this author and will go in blind, but I have hope that this book will be just as good as it sounds.
“Anita de Monte Laughs Last” by Xochitl Gonzalez
My holy trinity of genres as a kid was fantasy, history, and mystery, which is why I’m excited for this release.
My absolute favorite of those three was always mystery, which is the very core of this novel; so you can imagine how excited I was when I stumbled upon this story.
“Anita de Monte Laughs Last” is about a third year art history student named Raquel who’s preparing her art thesis. She is first generation and an Ivy league student who grapples with being a minority at her school.
Her life starts to change after getting involved with a well-connected art student and then has to juggle both of her worlds. She starts to question her relationship and finds that it oddly mirrors the life of a long dead artist named Anita de Monte.
The book states it shifts between the perspectives of both women.
I haven’t read anything by Gonzalez, so I can’t wait to see how this book is written. This type of book is right up my alley.
The plot reminds me of telenovelas, filled with drama and surprises. If you enjoy anything like that, I think you’ll want to pick up this book too.
To finish off this list, here are a few honorable mentions. These books are eye-catching, with intriguing plots many would be interested in. While they didn’t make the main list, they’re definitely worth taking a look.
Honorable Mentions:
“How You Get the Girl” by Anita Kelly
“Evocation” by S.T Wilson
“To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods” by Molly X. Chang
“A Crane Among Wolves” by June Hur
“The Honey Witch” by Sydney J. Shields
All the books mentioned can be found on Bookshop.org by clicking the titles above. You can also find them through most other book retailers.
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