Top Ten Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

I always start the year with a pretty small number of books on my anticipated list and then by the end of the year there are just as many as the previous years. For example, for 2020, I have 34 books on my 2020 releases shelf. 2019 was very similar but is now sitting at 208 books - and that's not including the 2019 books I read during the year. So I know that (have no fear) I will end up with an insane amount of books added to my TBR that I definitely don't have time to read. But here we go!

1. The Night Country by Melissa Albert - Jan 7: This is the sequel to The Hazel Wood. I put off reading it for so long because of the mixed reviews but really loved it and cannot wait for more of the story.
2. Lucky Caller by Emma Mills - Jan 14: I never retain what this is about. All I know is that it's Emma Mills and I always just put her books on my TBR. I don't care what the cover is. I don't care what the synopsis is. I love her books.
3. Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey - Jan 14: I have this one from Netgalley and I cannot wait to read it. I'm preparing this post in December, so maybe I've picked it up by now. Hopefully? It comes out next week, so I'm hoping to read it before release day. It's the sequel to Tessa Bailey's Fix Her Up, which I was insanely in love with. I really enjoy finding adult authors who do romance/contemporary in a slightly comedic way with a little smut thrown in.
4. Infinity Son by Adam Silvera - Jan 14: I have read a few Silvera books and really have enjoyed his contemporaries. I am looking forward to a fantasy set in the real world and hopefully some fantastic LGBT representation.
5. The Mystwick School of Musicraft by Jessica Khoury - Jan 21: I'm honestly a sucker for the cover and I want to read it simply because the girl playing flute on the front cover is actually holding it correctly. Whomever did the cover art...you are a brilliant artist. My favorite artist. Anyways, this story is a fantasy with music and a boarding school. It's a middle grade and I think I'm going to love it.
6. The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper - Feb 4: I also have this book via Netgalley. It's a contemporary story about two teen boys who have been uprooted from their lives because of their parents' involvement in the mission to Mars. Again, excited for some LGBT representation. I feel like I didn't read a lot of LGBT books in 2019 and I want to remedy that in 2020. It's a debut too, so I'm just excited to read from a new author :)
7. The Shadows Between Us by Trisha Levenseller - Feb 25: Another instance of just loving an author's work and not really caring about the synopsis. I love the cover and it's a fantasy. It looks dark and brooding. I am ready.
8. Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez - Mar 3: Another Netgalley book - this story is pitched as Simon Vs meets Clueless meets Grease and yo....why wouldn't you want to read something that is a mashup of those three things?! This is another LGBT story with two boys at the heart of the story.
9. Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa - Mar 31: I have this one preordered. I haven't yet (as of Dec 13) read the 2nd book but I do have it in my possession. This is the 3rd (and final) book in the Shadow of the Fox trilogy which is based on Japanese lore. I loved the first book so much. I know I'll love the second and third as well. Also the covers are all so dang stunning!
10. Break in Case of Emergency by Brian Francis - Feb 4: This is newly on my radar and I think it sounds just heartbreakingly beautiful. It takes place in 1990s Canada where the MC has lost her mother to suicide and has discovered her father is gay and moonlights as a drag queen. It seems like it will tackle so many things.