T5W: Most Anticipated 2019 Releases

Holy guacamole, how are we just a couple of weeks away from 2019? I felt like 2018 went on forever yet happened so quickly! How does time work?

(I’ve always wanted an excuse to use this gif, so here I am. 🙂 )

Anywho, Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by a group over on Goodreads. You can check out the rest of December’s topics here.

Now how the bloop am I going to narrow my most anticipated 2019 releases to 5?! Aaaaahhhhh!

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo — Who exactly isn’t excited for this? The Six of Crows duology is one of my favorite fantasy readers, so how can I not be excited about a whole book about Nikolai? Damn that sarcastic and sassy prince!

This book releases on January 29. January happens to be my birthday month, and I like to celebrate my birthday all. Month. Long! So you know your girl is gonna get this book! Here’s a synopsis if you haven’t read it a hundred times like me:

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

Leigh’s gonna kill me, I just know it. There’s still time to pre-order and submit your receipt for a freakin’ gorgeous enamel pin (U.S.). I thought there was one for the U.K., but I can’t find it. I’m fairly certain it’s a Nikolai print, so if anyone can find the link, can you please let me know in the comments? I’ll be sure to update this post!

This might be considered cheating since I have an ARC of this book, but that doesn’t make me any less excited for Dark of the West by debut author Joanna Hathaway. As soon as I saw it had The Winner’s Curse as a comp title, I was ALL OVER IT. This beauty doesn’t release until February 5th, but I’m keeping a major eye on it!

Here’s the synopsis:

Aurelia Isendare is a princess of a small kingdom in the North, raised in privilege but shielded from politics as her brother prepares to step up to the throne. Halfway around the world, Athan Dakar, the youngest son of a ruthless general, is a fighter pilot longing for a life away from the front lines. When Athan’s mother is shot and killed, his father is convinced it’s the work of his old rival, the Queen of Etania—Aurelia’s mother. Determined to avenge his wife’s murder, he devises a plot to overthrow the Queen, a plot which sends Athan undercover to Etania to gain intel from her children.

Athan’s mission becomes complicated when he finds himself falling for the girl he’s been tasked with spying upon. Aurelia feels the same attraction, all the while desperately seeking to stop the war threatening to break between the Southern territory and the old Northern kingdoms that control it—a war in which Athan’s father is determined to play a role. As diplomatic ties manage to just barely hold, the two teens struggle to remain loyal to their families and each other as they learn that war is not as black and white as they’ve been raised to believe.

While I’m a little sad WHtF is getting a new cover, I know it’s going to be just as amazing, if not better, than this cover! I’ve been following the author for sometime on social media, and she often uses Assassin’s Creed gifs to describe her book, and Y’ALL. Can I be any more excited? (Possibly, but I might just burst out of my body!)

This beauty hits shelves on May 14th! Here’s the synopsis to keep you all on your toes:

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. 

Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.

War is brewing in Arawiya, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

I know it’s a bit unusual for me to include anthologies, considering I’m still trying to figure out if I like them, but when I heard about this little gem of a book (see what I did there? 😉), I knew I had to have it in my hands. These short stories center around Brother Zachariah, or the beloved cinnamon roll that is James Carstairs as a Silent Brother.

These short stories are releasing every month or so since March of this year, but I’ve avoided reading them because I want the full bind-up copy, which is set to release on June 4th. Here’s a synopsis if you’re just as excited as I am:

The Shadow Market is a meeting point for faeries, werewolves, warlocks and vampires. There the Downworlders buy and sell magical objects, make dark bargains, and whisper secrets they do not want the Nephilim to know. Through two centuries, however, there has been a frequent visitor to the Shadow Market from the City of Bones, the very heart of the Shadowhunters. As a Silent Brother, Brother Zachariah is sworn keeper of the laws and lore of the Nephilim. But once he was a Shadowhunter called Jem Carstairs, and his love, then and always, is the warlock Tessa Gray.

Follow Brother Zachariah and see, against the backdrop of the Shadow Market’s dark dealings and festive celebrations, Anna Lightwood’s first romance, Matthew Fairchild’s great sin and Tessa Gray plunged into a world war. Valentine Morgenstern buys a soul at the Market and a young Jace Wayland’s soul finds safe harbor. In the Market is hidden a lost heir and a beloved ghost, and no one can save you once you have traded away your heart. Not even Brother Zachariah…

I’ve been contemplating what the snakes on this book mean because SERIOUSLY. I sped through Iron Gold so quickly, I am begging for some happiness for my beloved characters in the 5th installment of the Red Rising saga by Pierce Brown. But will it happen?! WHO KNOWS. This series calls for a reread for sure!

Releasing on July 9th, here’s a synopsis (beware spoilers if you haven’t read the previous books!):

For a decade Darrow led a revolution against the corrupt color-coded Society. Now, outlawed by the very Republic he founded, he wages a rogue war on Mercury in hopes that he can still salvage the dream of Eo. But as he leaves death and destruction in his wake, is he still the hero who broke the chains? Or will another legend rise to take his place?

Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile, has returned to the Core. Determined to bring peace back to mankind at the edge of his sword, he must overcome or unite the treacherous Gold families of the Core and face down Darrow over the skies of war-torn Mercury. 

But theirs are not the only fates hanging in the balance.

On Luna, Mustang, Sovereign of the Republic, campaigns to unite the Republic behind her husband. Beset by political and criminal enemies, can she outwit her opponents in time to save him? 

Once a Red refugee, young Lyria now stands accused of treason, and her only hope is a desperate escape with unlikely new allies.

Abducted by a new threat to the Republic, Pax and Electra, the children of Darrow and Sevro, must trust in Ephraim, a thief, for their salvation—and Ephraim must look to them for his chance at redemption.

As alliances shift, break, and re-form—and power is seized, lost, and reclaimed—every player is at risk in a game of conquest that could turn the Rising into a new Dark Age.

That last sentence gives me chills.

Again, it’s so hard to choose only 5, so here are some BONUS books:

All of these release on May 7th, and are written by Asian authors!

I already anticipate my wallet getting smaller… Yikes!

What are some of your most anticipated books of 2019?