This week: The books released in 2014 that I’m excited about. I feel like I’m a little behind, and have little idea about what’s coming out next year. So I wandered over to YALit.com to take a look at what books will grace us with their presence next year.

I was surprised to find out that Laurie Halse Anderson is releasing a novel, January 7: The Impossible Knife of Memory.  Clearly I’ve been away from Twitter this semester because I haven’t heard anything about this one. According to Goodreads, it’s a contemporary novel about a daughter and father. The father, Andy, is dealing with PTSD after having returned from Iraq. Haley, now that they’ve moved back to the town where Andy grew up, can have a normal life, which includes falling for the pretty guy who (of course) has secrets of his own. Laurie Halse Anderson is one of my favorite rock stars, so I was thrilled to find out she has a new book coming out.

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi. I have Shatter Me sitting on my TBR shelf (it’s going to appear in one of my future Top 10 Tuesdays) and I’ve heard good things about it. All of my Goodreads friends who have read it gave it 3+ stars, which is promising. From what I’ve read, Shatter Me sounds like a dystopian version of Graceling by Kristin Cashore. We’ll see. I’ve got to read Shatter Me and Unravel Me before February 4.

We also get the third book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Cress. This one adds Rapunzel to a cast of strong female characters. I’m super interested to see how Meyer weaves Rapunzel’s story into the exciting narratives. Lots of characters, lots of things going on.  This one will be out February 4. If you can’t wait until then, you can read the first five chapters for free.

On March 11 we get Ruins by Dan Wells, the third book in the Partials series. Partials was on my Top 10 Tuesday recommendations for Gamers. I don’t know what to say about this one, except that it totally feels like an RPG that I would play.

The one book that I am most excited about, because clearly these are in release date order and not order of excitement, is Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor.  This is the third book in the  Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. As is the custom, I’m going to have to reread Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Days of Blood and Starlight before reading this one. And of course I’m stoked about that. It’s a world I can’t wait to go back to. Except that a friend of mine has both books 1 and 2.  I should probably get those back.

As part of my YA Romance Book Gap Challenge this year I read Jennifer E. Smith’s The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. And despite my reservations about reading mushy love stories, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy my dystopian action/adventure novels. So on April 15, I’ll probably pick up her new book, The Geography of You and Me. It seems like the premise is very similar, which is good for readers who like pattern books. (Yes, btw, I will be continuing this challenge into 2014.)

JENNIFER BROWN IS RELEASING A NEW BOOK NEXT YEAR!!! Sorry about the shouting but I’m as excited about this one as I am about Laurie Halse Anderson’s new book. Ever since Hate List, which I thought was amazing, I’ve picked up as much by her as I possibly can. Perfect Escape is on my TBR list and I need to replace Bitter End because was lovingly stolen by a student. So I have until May 6 to read Perfect Escape. That’s when Torn Away comes out.

July 22 = Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz. I’m bad at scary books. I’m bad at finding them and bad at reading them. But I read Project 17 years ago and it reminded me of The Blair Witch Project (throwback, anyone?) and as such, enjoyed it. So I’m willing to see if she can scare me again. This one sounds a little bit like Patrick Carman’s Dark Eden meets Scream 4 (I think that’s the one I’m remembering)

I do quite wonder if the second installment of Libba Bray’s Diviners series is going to be as long as the first one. Because it was long. Very long. It took me two weeks to read which is unheard of for me, long. I suppose I’ll find out (because I’m currently too lazy to look it up) around August 5, when Lair of Dreams is released. And maybe this time — talk about epic reread — I’ll write the music I wanted to write during my first read.

Whew.

What 2014 releases are you excited for?