Top Ten Tuesday #476

Hi all! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine has been a slightly mad one, I’ve been to quite a few shows, I took my friend to see Operation Mincemeat for the first time on Wednesday (she enjoyed it, it’s okay we can still be friends), then I was at Next To Normal on Thursday and it turned out some of my Mince friends had booked for the same show in a complete coincidence so that was really fun and then I was back at Moulin Rouge on Friday. Then on Saturday, I went to West End Live, which for anyone who doesn’t know is a big, free, musical theatre event in Trafalgar Square where loads of shows from the West End come and perform. It’s a really fun, if slightly exhausting day and they had a fantastic line-up of shows this year which had me really excited for all the theatre I will likely end up seeing over the summer. To round it all off, on Sunday, I saw the pro-shot of Waitress in the cinema which was amazing, I loved finally getting the chance to see Sara Bareilles’ Jenna and it made me want Waitress back in the West End even more and then in the evening I was at Overtures with the same Mince friends I was with at Next To Normal and that was so much fun, Overtures has been closed for a bit, so it was lovely to be back singing around the piano again!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is another annual topic and we’re talking about our Most Anticipated Releases For The Second Half of The Year (July-December). I have to admit over the last few years, the second half of the year has always been somewhat lacking in new releases for me, which is strange because I remember as a teenager, September/October was always a big time to launch new books but I don’t know if it’s just me having got older and my tastes changing that means I’ve moved into a different place where January-April seems to be the big time for new releases! But anyway, enough of my rambling, onto the books:

1. Daughters of Olympus-Hannah Lynn-Releases 9th July

Cover Designed By: Sourcebooks Landmark

The trend of feminist Greek mythology retellings seems to be showing no sign of slowing down and I am not complaining, I will devour them all! This one is a Demeter and Persephone one and I love that angle because I feel like all Persephone retellings end up centring Hades so I’m excited to see what this one’s take on the whole thing is.

2. The Briar Club-Kate Quinn-Releases 18th July

Cover Designed By: Harper Collins

You know whenever there is a new Kate Quinn book, I will be there! This is another one that’s a bit of a departure from the books she’s been doing in recent years, it’s set in the 1950s, in the McCarthy Era in the US and follows four women in a boardinghouse in Washington DC who become fast friends, but elderly widow Grace’s secrets threaten to tear them apart. It sounds really interesting and though I was a little disappointed by The Phoenix Crown, I’m still really excited for this.

3. The Last Witch In Edinburgh-Marielle Thompson-Releases 20th August

Cover Designed By: Kensington Books

Ugh this one sounds so good! I love anything with a Scottish setting, it’s not utilised nearly enough in books and Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in the world so I was already excited enough with that and then you add in that it’s an alternate 19th century Scotland where women can still be hanged for witchcraft and a queer love story between two women? Yup, I will be there!

4. The Booklover’s Library-Madeline Martin-Releases 10th September

Cover Designed By: Hanover Square Press

A new Madeline Martin book just in time for my birthday, how wonderful! Madeline Martin, like Kate Quinn has become one of my go-to authors recently though much like The Phoenix Crown, I didn’t totally love her most recent release, The Keeper of Hidden Books. This one sounds wonderful though, giving me very Last Bookshop In London vibes, it’s about a widow in Nottingham who is separated from her daughter during the Blitz and in order to earn money for her, takes a job at a local library which becomes a community hub and place of solace during the Blitz. She did a really good job on a similar theme in The Last Bookshop In London so I hope I enjoy this one just as much.

5. Wrath of The Triple Goddess (Percy Jackson and The Olympians #7)-Rick Riordan-Releases 24th September

Cover Designed By: Puffin

I have to admit, I have not yet read The Chalice of The Gods yet but anything Percy Jackson related instantly goes on my TBR! I wasn’t totally enamoured with The Trials of Apollo series but my friend read The Chalice of The Gods and said she really enjoyed it so that gives me renewed hope that I may not been done with Rick Riordan after all! I don’t like the cover though, the US one is much better!

6. By Any Other Name-Jodi Picoult-Releases 10th October

Cover Designed By: Penguin Books

This sounds quite different to anything Jodi has ever written before but I’m super excited to see her take on a historical novel and it’s a very cool concept to write about Emilia Bassano, a woman who has been speculated to have been the real author of Shakespeare’s plays. I love anything about overlooked historical women so this sounds like it will be right up my street and it’s the most excited I’ve been for a Jodi Picoult book in a while to be honest, her recent stuff hasn’t grabbed me as much as her older stuff did.

7. The Hollow and The Haunted-Camilla Raines-Releases 22nd October

Cover Designed By: Titan Books

I don’t read a whole lot of YA fantasy, I’ve grown away from it somewhat these days but this one sounds so fun, I couldn’t resist it. It’s about a teenage boy who comes from a family of psychics and has a vision of a violent supernatural murder of a boy from a family that is the sworn enemy of his. One tiny problem being that he then falls in love with this boy and has team up with him to solve his murder before it happens. Sounds fun right?!

8. Spectacular (Caraval #3.5)-Stephanie Garber-Releases 22nd October

Cover Designed By: Hodderscape

I’m not usually a novella person but I love the Caraval world and something about a Caraval holiday novella sounded just completely magical and like something I absolutely had to read. Plus the Hodderscape team always knock it out of the park with their covers for Stephanie Garber’s books, so there’s that too, I couldn’t resist a book with a cover this gorgeous!

So there we have it, a short but sweet list of my most anticipated releases for the second half of the year, I’ll probably realise loads that I’ve missed when I see what other people have on their lists! Do we share any? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we’re talking Books With My Favourite Colour On The Cover. I think I’ve done a purple books topic before but I’ll see if I can find more purple cover books, if not I can always go for pink!