Most Anticipated: January 2023

MOST ANTICIPATED

Most Anticipated Books for January 2023

New Year, new set of books – and a new chance for me to actually keep up with this list for more than a month or two! These lists, like the wrap-up posts, tend to take a lot of time so when my time’s running short (like, uh, always lately) they tend to get put on the back burner in favor of actually writing reviews. But I’m trying out some organizational changes so we’ll see how it goes!

After the drought of the last few weeks of December, I am very much looking forward to new books, especially since there are follow-ups to several favorite series. Along with some favorite authors, there’s also a few quirky books that’ve caught my eye. So here’s nine books I’m looking forward to next month!

Note: The * marks items I’ve received ARCs for.

Table of Contents

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The Stolen Heir – Holly Black (January 3)

Return to the opulent world of Elfhame, filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires, with this first book of a captivating new duology from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black.

A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.

Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.

Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.

I loved The Folk of the Air trilogy (despite being unable to stand most of the characters most of the time) so of course I want to read this one! Not sure about the cover, but hey, I’m curious about Suren!

Goodreads

Unseelie – Ivelisse Housman (January 3) *

Twin sisters, both on the run, but different as day and night. One, a professional rogue, searches for a fabled treasure; the other, a changeling, searches for the truth behind her origins, trying to find a place to fit in with the realm of fae who made her and the humans who shun her.

Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde… but as an autistic changeling trying to navigate her unpredictable magic, Seelie finds it more difficult to fit in with the humans around her. When Seelie and Isolde are caught up in a heist gone wrong and make some unexpected allies, they find themselves unraveling a larger mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.

Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister, and herself?

That gorgeous cover caught my eye, and once I read the blurb? You had me at autistic changeling! With an autistic author!

Goodreads

My Review

Fall Back Into Me – Lauren Connolly (January 10)

When a stuntwoman and bodyguard collide, will they heal two broken hearts or leave behind more scars?

Harper Walsh’s first reaction to seeing a familiar face from her past is to make the man eat dirt. Fred Sullivan was her best friend until he abandoned Harper in her darkest hour. The guy deserves to get body slammed. But after the slightly violent reunion, Harper can’t seem to escape the charming man who could always make her laugh. A meddling sister lands Harper and Fred in a mountain cabin together, and a twist of fate (or poor planning) has the two working for the same A-list actress. Every day spent with Fred reminds her of the boy she used to love and has her prickly defenses softening.

Soon, the burn of her anger transforms into a heat of a different kind…

Fred Sullivan doesn’t mind getting tossed to the ground if it means Harper’s hands are on him. He still doesn’t know if cutting off contact with his closest friend a decade ago was the right choice, but he’s had to live with the pain of her absence for years. He’s not eager to let her go again. She was his first crush. First love. First heartbreak.

But he never told her the depth of his feelings. Is this his chance to fix an awful mistake? Can he get the words out before the furious redhead breaks his jaw?

I love second chance romances and I love Lauren Connolly’s books so I’m pretty sure this is going to be a home run for me!

Goodreads

Hell Bent – Leigh Bardugo (January 10)

Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in #1 New York Timesbestselling author Leigh Bardugo’s Hell Bent.

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

It took me three attempts to read Ninth House, but once I finally got into it? Oof, what a ride! I totally ship Alex and Darlington, but this time I’m looking forward to seeing Alex and Dawes working together!

Goodreads

Good Girl Fail – Roni Loren (January 17)

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Loving on the Edge and the Say Anything series comes a new steamy standalone MMF romance that proves good girls can have fun too…especially when she’s their good girl.

O’Neal Lory has been taught that one mistake can undo an entire life of right decisions. That it doesn’t matter if a person has been good ninety-nine percent of the time. One misstep, one snap judgment, can derail everything. So, she’s taken a lot of right steps on the straight and narrow path. Eighteen years of them, in fact. Perfect grades. No rules broken. And definitely no boys.

Until she kisses him.

Auden Blake knows he shouldn’t touch his little sister’s best friend, knows that innocent girls like her should stay far, far away from him and his roommate Lennox—especially when she could reveal their behind-closed-doors activities to his family. But when sheltered O’Neal goes rogue, ditching her scholarship to a conservative all-girls college and showing up at Bennette State—his school—instead, it’s going to take everything Auden has to keep his and Lennox’s hands off the curious good girl whose teach me vibes could unravel them both.

Good Girl Fail is a full-length standalone MMF romance with lots of steam, two heroes who like to share and get a little bossy, and a good girl heroine who’s about to break every rule that’s ever been placed upon her.

This isn’t my usual cup of tea, but I’ve loved the author’s past contemporary romances, so I figure I’ll give this a try!

Goodreads

How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (January 17)

Your past and your family can haunt you like nothing else… A hilarious and terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group.

Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.

When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.

Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.

I have a thing for haunted house stories, and this story involving estranged siblings trying to sell their dead parents’ house? Yeah, that ticks a lot of my horror boxes.

Goodreads

Mysteries of Thorn Manor – Margaret Rogerson (January 17)

In this sequel novella to Sorcery of Thorns, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas must unravel the magical trap keeping them inside Thorn Manor in time for their Midwinter Ball!

Elisabeth Scrivener is finally settling into her new life with sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. Now that their demon companion Silas has returned, so has scrutiny from nosy reporters hungry for gossip about the city’s most powerful sorcerer and the librarian who stole his heart. But something strange is afoot at Thorn Manor: the estate’s wards, which are meant to keep their home safe, are acting up and forcibly trapping the Manor’s occupants inside. Surely it must be a coincidence that this happened just as Nathaniel and Elisabeth started getting closer to one another…

With no access to the outside world, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas – along with their new maid Mercy – will have to work together to discover the source of the magic behind the malfunctioning wards before they’re due to host the city’s Midwinter Ball. Not an easy task when the house is filled with unexpected secrets, and all Elisabeth can think about is kissing Nathaniel in peace. But when it becomes clear that the house, influenced by the magic of Nathaniel’s ancestors, requires a price for its obedience, Elisabeth and Nathaniel will have to lean on their connection like never before to set things right.

I don’t care that it’s a novella, I’m just so, so happy to see more Elisabeth, Nathaniel and Silas! I adored Sorcery of Thorns when I first read it and I can’t wait to revisit everything!

Goodreads

Georgie, All Along – Kate Clayborn * (January 24)

The acclaimed author of Love Lettering weaves a wise and witty new novel that echoes with timely questions about love, career, reconciling with the past, and finding your path while knowing your true worth.

Longtime personal assistant Georgie Mulcahy has made a career out of putting others before herself. When an unexpected upheaval sends her away from her hectic job in L.A. and back to her hometown, Georgie must confront an uncomfortable truth: her own wants and needs have always been a disconcertingly blank page.

But then Georgie comes across a forgotten artifact—a “friendfic” diary she wrote as a teenager, filled with possibilities she once imagined. To an overwhelmed Georgie, the diary’s simple, small-scale ideas are a lifeline—a guidebook for getting started on a new path.

Georgie’s plans hit a snag when she comes face to face with an unexpected roommate—Levi Fanning, onetime town troublemaker and current town hermit. But this quiet, grouchy man is more than just his reputation, and he offers to help Georgie with her quest. As the two make their way through her wishlist, Georgie begins to realize that what she truly wants might not be in the pages of her diary after all, but right by her side—if only they can both find a way to let go of the pasts that hold them back.

Honest and deeply emotional, Georgie, All Along is a smart, tender must-read for everyone who’s ever wondered about the life that got away . . .

Grouchy main character? Fulfilling a teen bucket list? This sounds like this is going to rip my heart out and I’ll love it because it’s Kate Clayborn.

Goodreads

The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone – Audrey Burges (January 24)

A woman learns to expand the boundaries of her small world and let love inside it in this sparkling and unforgettable novel by Audrey Burges.

From her attic in the Arizona mountains, thirty-four-year-old Myra Malone blogs about a dollhouse mansion that captivates thousands of readers worldwide. Myra’s stories have created legions of fans who breathlessly await every blog post, trade photographs of Mansion-modeled rooms, and swap theories about the enigmatic and reclusive author. Myra herself is tethered to the Mansion by mysteries she can’t understand—rooms that appear and disappear overnight, music that plays in its corridors.

Across the country, Alex Rakes, the scion of a custom furniture business, encounters two Mansion fans trying to recreate a room. The pair show him the Minuscule Mansion, and Alex is shocked to recognize a reflection of his own life mirrored back to him in minute scale. The room is his own bedroom, and the Mansion is his family’s home, handed down from the grandmother who disappeared mysteriously when Alex was a child. Searching for answers, Alex begins corresponding with Myra. Together, the two unwind the lonely paths of their twin worlds—big and small—and trace the stories that entwine them, setting the stage for a meeting rooted in loss, but defined by love.

I was a huge fan of dollhouses when I was a kid (and books about dollhouses) so this sounds like exactly my kind of wacky. I’m a little worried about this hitting more litfic notes than women’s fit or romance, but I’m curious enough to give it a try.

Goodreads

And that’s my list for the month! What books are you looking forward to?