A second post today! I know, I know, but I couldn’t not do this week’s That Artsy Reader Girl topic for anticipated releases because I have got a lot of books preordered, and I’m hella excited about all of them. I’m only going to list the ones from January to June because although I’ve got some books preordered for the second half of the year already, I want to wait for those for my second post like this later on. And yeah, this is definitely well over ten.

I knew next to nothing about Lore by Alexandra Bracken before I preordered, but the combination of Medusa on the cover–or, at least, someone that looks like her–plus the title leads me to believe this is going to be a Greek mythology retelling, and I am here for it. Bracken’s Instagram is just one of my favorite author social media feeds out there, and all the gorgeous aesthetic pictures she’s been posting of Lore have got me stupidly excited for something I haven’t even read the summary for.

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal was actually the first 2021 preorder that I placed! I also preordered it about halfway through We Hunt the Flame because there was not a chance in hell that I wasn’t going to read this, and I am just so hyped and so scared for so many reasons. There were so much left up in the air at the end of the first one, and I need to know if Altair is okay, or I am going to perish.

Have I read the first book in The Last Hours series? No, of course not, I am the actual worst, but I’ve still got Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare preordered because ya girl is going to be buried with every Shadowhunters book ever, and I’ll keep reading them until I literally can’t read anymore.

I am so, so sad that this series is coming to an end, and though I’d love if it just continued forever and a day, I’m also hella excited for Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab as a finale. I know that Schwab will bring everything together in the perfect ending, and I’m so curious to see what happens with Cassidy & Jacob!

I honestly didn’t even know that Dead Space by Kali Wallace was a thing until very recently, but I’ve read and absolutely loved everything else by Wallace, so this is another book that I have no idea what it’s about and likely won’t read the summary before it arrives. I’m going to go in 100% blind because I trust Wallace implicitly now, and if this isn’t the exact definition of auto-buy author, well.

Cemetery Boys was just–more than I had ever hoped for. I was so damn excited, but I’d also hyped it up so much in my head that I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to my super insane expectations, but then it surpassed them? And I am forever going to read anything Aiden Thomas writes, so here we are with Lost in the Never Woods, and I am DYING. A queer Peter Pan retelling? Bury me with this.

The Shadow Game series will forever be one of my favorite fantasy series in existence, and I am so curious to see what Amanda Foody brings to the middle grade world with The Accidental Apprentice. She’s honestly one of my favorite authors now, and yeah, I also don’t really know what this is about other than what she’s teased on her Instagram, but I am so ready for it!

Look, I actually haunted B&N waiting for One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston to become available for preorder, so sim, it is my most anticipated release of the year, and I have zero doubts that it’s not going to be absolutely out of this world because I read RWRB three times in one year, and I am ready for McQuiston to ruin me for all other books all over again.

I know that my copy of Heartstopper, Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman isn’t going to arrive until a few weeks after its release, given that it’s coming from Waterstones, but I don’t care because I am so excited to continue Charlie & Nick’s story! I stopped reading the webcomic around the middle of volume two because I really enjoy having it all at once, so I’m not caught up, and I am freaking out waiting to find out what happens next. I’ll also probably reread the first three volumes, as has become tradition now, and it’s going to be the best.

Can we just? Not talk about how much I hate both the title and cover for Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater, UGH. I mean, look, I don’t usually love either for Stiefvater books, but this one is particularly bad, and it’s so unfortunate. Either way, I’m hella ready for this story, and you can bet your bottom dollar that ya girl will be rereading CDTH beforehand because it’s been a minute, and I forget everything. And yeah, I’m not screaming as much as I normally am, but just wait. It’s going to get ridiculous real quick.

The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver is the most recent addition to the list, but after I read I Wish You All the Best, I knew that I had to read anything and everything Deaver ever set their hands on, so here we are. Do I know what it’s about? Vaguely, and I can’t wait.

When Destiny Soria announced Fire with Fire, I just about screamed myself into nonexistence. Beneath the Citadel was one of my favorite reads of 2019, and Iron Cast just solidified Soria as an auto-buy author. I know that I was excited at the time by the summary of this, but I can’t remember it anymore, so now I”m just excited about the fiery aesthetic and dragon skull, yay! WAIT–ARE THERE DRAGONS IN THIS?

Y’ALL, WE’RE GETTING TWO QUEER PETER PAN RETELLINGS THIS YEAR, I’M GONNA DIE! Weep a lot, too, and probably scream myself hoarse, particularly because Darling by K. Ancrum promises to be nothing short of epic. I mean, Ancrum alone sold me because they’ve absolutely destroyed me with their past two books–I still can’t get over The Wicker King, just in general, everything about it and my experience reading it–but that tagline? Not all lost boys should be saved. ALRIGHT THEN, I’M READY!

What’s your most anticipated release for 2021?