I always love seeing these kind of posts, so I thought it’d be fun to give it a go! I wanted to start this in January, but seeing as I just had an entire month of Tolkien-related posts to work through, it seemed a better idea to give myself some breathing room and post this in February instead. Plus, this week’s That Artsy Reader Girl TTT topic is also 5-star predictions, so it works out perfectly!

I’m currently on a very minor book buying ban until April, so I’ve got a lot of fun books to choose from. Since I was literally forcing myself into a reading slump by mandating 15 books before the end of 2019, I decided to just compile my entire owned unread TBR and give it a due date. Originally, I was going to give myself until the end of March, but since my reading has changed quite a bit this year, I just want to finish them all before December 31st. However, my birthday is at the end of March, and that’s usually when I’ll next realistically do a big haul, so trying to get as many of these read by then. At the time of posting this, I have 70 books left of a total 80 books to read by then, so things are looking pretty good so far!

Thus, here are ten books that I think I’ll end up giving five-star reviews and why!

I have built up The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh so much in my head that I’m mildly terrified I won’t love it. I think I’ll be a little biased going in because I’m currently working with vampires (for the first time ever!!!) in my writing life, so I totally bought this intending to inspire me and then left it on my shelf forever. I’ve never read anything by Ahdieh, either, so I think this’ll be a fun starting point, especially considering I own another one by her.

I’m hoping to read Zenith by Sasha Alsberg this month, so hopefully it will kickstart me wanting to complete this list since I’d like to do a round-up post at some point. Like another book below, this is kind of cheating because just the setting of space puts it at an automatic definitely going to like category, and usually, things just go up from there. I also haven’t seen a single other person on my radar talking about this series, so I’m really excited to go in blind with no other expectations.

I both want to read We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal because it was being shouted about so much during the Goodreads choice awards, but also, one of my favorite Instagram artists was absolutely losing it over this book for a solid few weeks, and their love of it made me want to see what all the fuss was about.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, has read Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin and loved it, so I am hecka excited to join the masses. I’m also writing about witches right now, so this is right up my alley, and also means I’m biased to like it ahead of time. Fingers crossed it’s as amazing as everyone says!

I know! I also can’t believe I haven’t read A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna yet either! This is kind of sort of cheating a little because space. Anything that takes place in space means that I’m going in thinking I’m going to like it, so that usually sways me a little. However, it also means that I have mildly high expectations, which often also ends up hurting my experience because I have a very niche space love, and usually only nonfiction lives up to it, which is entirely my own fault, but this one has so many good reviews from people I really trust, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Oh, I am here for The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen. I originally bought it for two reasons–THAT COVER, and everyone and their mother was talking about it. But also, it does my favorite tropey thing in the summary–a future chieftain, a fugitive prince, a too-cunning bodyguard. Look, if you list out your characters like that, I’m immediately going to steer myself in your direction because HECK and YES.

Look, sometimes you just want to put a book on a 5-star prediction list that you know, without a doubt, that you’re going to like, and Strange Birds by Celia C. Pérez is that book for me. I’m biased to pretty much love all middle grades ever, but one about friendship between outcast girls? SIGN ME THE HECK UP.

David Tennant leads me to believe that I’m really going to enjoy Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, and I haven’t even watched the show yet. Look, if Tennant is in it and likes it, I don’t know what to tell you, that just sounds like a stellar good time to me. Plus, I’ve seen some screenshots of quotes floating around on Tumblr from the book, and it looks hilarious.

I was about to say that sometimes I cover buy when that’s a blatant lie because I cover buy every time I go shopping. It’s probably a problem, but it led me to Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye, and if the gorgeous cover didn’t do it, the whole trained assassins accidentally falling into a rebellion definitely would have done it. I’m a sucker for pretty much all high fantasy, and it’s pretty hard to disappoint me since I like everything, so I’m hopeful about this one.

And rounding out this motley crew is The Babysitter’s Coven by Kate Williams! This is definitely going to be a When Life Gives You Demons situation in that it really doesn’t matter if the book isn’t actually a five-star read, I’m going to enjoy it so much that it’ll end up a five-star from me anyway. Seriously, give me something campy and ridiculous and poking fun, and I’m here for it.

And those are my five-star predictions! I’ll hopefully have these read sometime soonish(???), so keep an eye out to see if I was right. And if you’ve read these, what do you think? Am I going to love them or not?