Top 10 Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2022

One of my favourite kinds of posts to make in general is about my most anticipated books that are coming soon! I always struggle to narrow these lists down because there are tons of books that I’m interested in, and this year was no exception. As usual, it was much easier to find upcoming books from July and August, and it tapers off quite a bit the further into the year I went. Even though I already have several 2023 releases on my list, I don’t have very many books due out this year in November or December. I would imagine December is not the biggest publishing month in general, but it always surprises me a bit to see such a noticeable decline in the number of books that I’ve added. This year, there are so many books that I’m interested in, especially thrillers and YA fantasy! I will definitely need to restock my wishlists on Amazon and Indigo and look out for some good preorder deals so I can grab some of these as they come out. I am so excited to read them all!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

1) The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (July 19)

I keep getting drawn to retellings of The Island of Doctor Moreau even though I have never read the original. This book is about a young woman named Carlota Moreau whose father’s scientific experiments created human-animal hybrids that remain in the shadows. The balance of their home is disrupted when Eduardo Lizalde, the son of Doctor Moreau’s patron, shows up to their estate, setting off a dangerous chain reaction. Even though I don’t know much about the original storyline, this sounds so interesting! Most of what I do know comes from The Madman’s Daughter, which was one of my favourite YA series. I’m very interested in seeing this story retold again from an adult perspective. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is also one of my top priority authors to try this year, and while I’m not sure I fit this book into my challenge plans, I may need to make some room for it.

2) The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell (July 21 or August 9)

I’ve listed two different release dates because I’m a little confused about which one it will be. I’ve consistently seen both dates listed, possibly because one is for the UK release and the other may may be US? Either way, this is easily one of my most anticipated books of the year. The Family Upstairs was the first book that I ever read by this author, and she immediately became one of my new favourite thriller writers. While I do find the concept of a sequel to a thriller a little weird, I’m very curious to see what the author will do with it. This book is about a woman named Rachel who receives the shocking news that her husband Michael has been found dead in his home in France, and the police need her to come answer questions about him and his past. At the same time, Lucy has finally come home after fleeing London 30 years ago, but soon after her arrival, her brother Henry takes off to find the boy who haunts their past. I’m on the fence about whether I should reread The Family Upstairs before I get into this one because I really don’t remember much about it at all, but I can’t wait for my preorder of this one to arrive so I can start reading!

3) Stay Awake by Megan Goldin (August 9)

This is a book that caught my attention as soon as it was announced last year, and I’ve already read and really enjoyed the other two by this author. It is about a woman named Liv who wakes up in the back of a taxi with no memory of where she is or how she got there. After being forced away by the stranger who now lives in her apartment, Liv discovers a bloodstained knife in place of her phone, and notices her hands covered in graffiti saying “stay awake.” Upon seeing a news clip showing a horrific crime scene where the victim’s blood was used to write similar graffiti on the window, Liv finds herself on the run for a crime that she doesn’t think she committed, trying to piece together what happened over the past two years from which she has no memory. This sounds like such an interesting premise and I am so intrigued to see it compared to Before I Go To Sleep, which is a thriller that I absolutely loved (although that comparison does seem like it may verge on spoilers)! This book is one of my 5-star predictions for the year, so I’m excited to see if it lives up to my completely self-imposed hype.

4) Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood (August 23)

This book jumped straight to the top of my most anticipated list after I read The Love Hypothesis earlier this year. I went into that book not expecting too much, and absolutely loved it! This book is this author’s latest full-length release, after publishing three novellas as well. it is about a young woman named Bee who is working with NASA on a new project, where she is forced to co-lead the project with Levi, her grad school enemy. To be honest, I added this book to my TBR long before I had any idea what it was about, but it sounds so cute! I love how this author’s books are romances that are centered around science and academia, which is such an interesting setting and a bit more unique compared to other romances I’ve read so far, although to be fair, I’m still quite new to the genre. I definitely need to preorder this book as soon as possible, and may need to find a place to squeeze it in to my challenge plans this year!

5) Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (August 30)

Alice Feeney has quickly become one of my favourite thriller authors, after making it onto my priority authors to try list for 2021. Since then, I have read all of her thrillers except I Know Who You Are and loved all three. This book is her most recent release about a woman named Daisy Darker whose family is gathering for her Nana’s 80th birthday party at her crumbling gothic house on a tiny island. At the stroke of midnight, Nana is found dead and within hours another family member follows. Trapped on the island where they are being killed off one by one, the Darker family must figure out who is responsible while also grappling with the secrets they are all hiding before all is revealed. This is one of my all-time favourite thriller premises, along the lines of And Then There Were None. I love Alice Feeney’s writing so I’m especially intrigued to see what she does with this! It’s another book that I’d added to my list without really knowing much about it, but now that I’ve seen the synopsis, I’m even more excited.

6) The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson (September 9)

It’s no surprise that the latest Tiffany D. Jackson book made my most anticipated list. Her previous two releases were both on my Most Anticipated lists for the years they were published, after Monday’s Not Coming became one of my all-time favourite YA books because of how impactful it was. I also really want to reread Allegedly, which I originally read as an ARC and had a bad cold at the time, so I’m not sure I fully processed it, although I still loved it. The Weight of Blood is inspired by Carrie, and it is about a biracial teenager named Madison, who is the constant target of bullying, and whose school is hosting it’s first integrated prom as a show of unity after a viral video shows how the school’s racist history. When the popular class president convinces her Black boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, she begins to wonder whether it may be possible to have a normal life, however her classmates are not done targeting her yet. Unbeknownst to them, Maddy has another secret that could cost them all their lives. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Carrie when I read it, but I’m also not the biggest fan of Stephen King’s writing in general. However, I do love the premise and I think this sounds like a very interesting updated version, and I’m expecting to love it!

7) Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong (September 30)

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I have not read the These Violent Delights duology yet, despite it being one of the series I was most excited to pick up this year. It may be a bit early to be so highly anticipating her next book considering I haven’t even tried this author yet, but this sounded too good to pass up. This book is set in Shanghai in 1931, and follows Rosalind who was brought back from the brink of death with an experiment that has left her unable to die. Seeking redemption, Rosalind becomes an assassin for her country, with orders to infiltrate the Japanese Imperial Army to uncover who is behind a series of murders. To minimize suspicions, she must pose as the wife of a Nationalist spy Orion, who has an agenda of his own. This sounds absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to try it. I’m not usually that interested in books that focus on assassins, but the historical element of this one combined with the Shakespeare-inspired storyline sounds so intriguing.

8) Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan (October 4)

Jodi Picoult’s latest releases always make it onto my most anticipated lists, so it’s no surprise that this one did as well. This book is about a woman named Olivia whose life is upended when her husband revealed a dark side, forcing her to move back to her New Hampshire hometown with her son Asher and take over her father’s beekeeping business. There, she crosses paths with Lily, a teenager who has just moved to the town for a fresh start for her senior year of high school, where she soon falls for Asher. When Olivia receives a phone call informing her that Lily is dead and Asher is being questioned by police, she is sure that her son is innocent but soon realizes that he may have been hiding more than she knew. My favourite Jodi Picoult books are the ones that center around some kind of court case or trial, and it’s been quite a while since she’s written one of those, so I’m especially excited to try this one.

9) Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe (October 11)

I was interested in this book from the moment I first heard about it, after absolutely loving A List of Cages. I remember finishing that book and jumping straight onto Goodreads to see what else the author had written, only to find that she didn’t have anything else! This book is about a 16-year-old boy named Sayers who is kidnapped by a man who tells him that his privileged life so far has all been based on a lie, and he is forced to play the part created for him in order to survive. While I’m not really a huge fan of survival stories in general, I’m expecting to love this one just because of Robin Roe’s amazing writing and characters. If her first book is any indication, this one is going to be so impactful and probably heartbreaking. I definitely hope there isn’t such a long gap between this one and her next book!

10) Cursed by Marissa Meyer (November 8)

Again, this may be a bit presumptuous to choose because I haven’t read the first book in this series yet, but it’s Marissa Meyer and I’ve loved everything she’s written so far! This book is the sequel to Gilded, and I’ve intentionally not looked too far into the synopsis because I didn’t want to risk any spoilers. I just know that this series is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, which is one of my favourite fairy tales. I will probably end up waiting until this one is released in November and read the two of them back-to-back, if I can wait that long! Marissa Meyer is one of my favourite YA authors, and I’m especially interested to see her return to another fairy tale retelling with this series. I procrastinated on the Lunar Chronicles for a very long time because they seemed annoyingly overhyped, and they ended up becoming one of my all-time favourite series, so I’m hoping this book and its predecessor will as well.

Honourable Mentions:

As always, since it’s so hard to narrow my list down, here are some more of the books taht I’m anticipating for the second half of this year:

The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay (July 5)
The It Girl by Ruth Ware (July 12)
Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier (July 19)
The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda (July 26)
The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh (August 4)
The Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao (August 9)
Blood Like Fate by Liselle Sambury (August 9)
The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead (August 16)
The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones (August 16)
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (August 30)
The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim (August 30)
Nothing More To Tell by Karen M. McManus (August 30)
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas (September 6)
I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers (September 13)
Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco (September 27)
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (September 27)
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (October 4)
The First To Die at the End by Adam Silvera (October 4)
Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater (October 18)
The Prisoner by BA Paris (November 1)
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn (November 8)
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman (November 8)
A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Earnshaw (November 29)
The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle (November 29)
A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson (December 6)
The Last Invitation by Darby Kane (December 6)

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