most anticipated book releases of 2024 📚✨

cometh the new year, cometh NEW BOOKS

One of my favourite types of BookTube video to watch is people’s most anticipated book releases for the next year. I always find so many more books to be excited about that way, and when I see people excited for books I’m already vibrating about, I get a small smug moment of like yes, you have good opinions. So here are some of my most anticipated book releases for 2024, as of writing. There will almost definitely be more book news throughout the year so I might have to do a part two of this list later on (oh no what a shame) but for now, here are some books already making me feral.

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faebound - saara el-arifi*

• out now!

starting us off, Faebound by Saara El-Arifi is a sapphic fae romantic fantasy that’s out now! I’ve never read a Saara El-Arifi book before but that’s on me because her previous trilogy sounded incredible (and gay) too, but I’ve seen a few author events that she’s moderated and she’s just so funny and warm and smart, and I can’t wait to read this. (I ordered the Waterstones edition because the sprayed edges are SO pretty and it’s just sitting and being beautiful and gay on my bookshelf, waiting for me.)

what feasts at night - t kingfisher*

• out now!

I read What Moves the Dead last year as my first T Kingfisher book and loved it. A fantasy House of Usher retelling with creepy mushrooms and a cool approach to gender? Amazing. And now the sequel novella is out, following our ex-army main character back to their home country where there are more sinister shenanigans afoot, and I am READY. (Also then last year I read a bunch more of T Kingfisher’s horror books, and I’m so into her horror voice. I will read any of her horror any day.)

an education in malice - st gibson*

• out now!

This is a gothic dark academia Carmilla retelling, so obviously I am immediately on tenterhooks for it. Fucked up f/f relationships in a prestigious academy and a weird obsessive relationship with a charismatic female poetry teacher? I was always going to read this, let’s be clear, but then I saw the preorder incentive art and preordered at the speed of light.

the warm hands of ghosts - katherine arden*

A new Katherine Arden book! A new Katherine Arden book!!! Like so many people, I loved The Bear & The Nightingale and especially Katherine Arden’s writing, so I was ready to be down for basically whatever she writes next and then what she’s written next is a world war historical fantasy presumably with ghosts about a woman searching for her brother who is presumed dead in the trenches, and also about what actually happened to the brother in question. Bring this to me IMMEDIATELY; I love ghosts, I love Katherine Arden’s writing; I hope this is also gay (pls.)

a botanical daughter - noah medlock*

Two Victorian men in a relationship make a… plant-corpse daughter? That’s basically all I know about this and honestly, I don’t need more. Victorian weird queer occult shenanigans with weird found family!

the sins on their bones - laura r samotin*

This is a queer Jewish Russian-inspired dark fantasy about the ex-Tsar, the ex-Tsar’s spymaster, and the ex-Tsar’s his estranged husband who overthrew him. So many authors I love (and have mentioned on this list) have recced it loudly and repeatedly and it sounds so much my cup of jam. Betrayal, survival, queer fantasy? Extremely my jam

a dark and drowning tide - allison saft*

Tis the year for enemies-to-loves f/f fantasy dark academia and I could not be happier about it. In this one, I think the academia in question is about folklore and there’s also a murder mystery and maybe mermaids?? Allison Saft is pushing all my buttons.

long live evil - sarah rees brennan*

Sarah Rees Brennan is BACK. I’ve loved her books for years and I couldn’t be more excited for her first adult novel, a portal fantasy where our heroine falls into her favourite book — only to find she’s not hanging out with the shining heroes but instead with the villains. V excited to quote every line at my wife and then linger together in pain at whatever SRB throws our way!!

lady macbeth - ava reid*

Juniper & Thorn was one of my favourite books in 2022 and A Study in Drowning was one of my favourites last year so it’s safe to say I love Ava Reid, and anyone who knows me at all will not be shocked in the least to hear that I’ve been in love with Lady Macbeth as a character since I was a baby Moog, so this combination of writer + subject is like Kryptonite to me. I cannot WAIT. Ava Reid’s writing ruins me in the best way and I cannot WAIT. (Teen Moog Trivia Hour: we had to write a practice essay in Year 9 about the Macbeths’ relationship and I was the only one in the whole class who argued that they were in love and I STAND BY IT.)

the pairing - casey mcquiston*

The new Casey McQuiston! Italy! Non binary MC! Second chance romance! An autobuy even without the rest of the blurb, which involves two exes meeting again on the trip they never took together and making the incredibly smart decision to throw a hook-up competition between them both. CMQ says this is their horniest book yet, and I am DOWN.

the mars house - natasha pulley*

Natasha Pulley is one of my favourite authors and I will read literally anything she writes. This time she’s not writing queer historical, she’s writing queer scifi, and it’s political arranged marriage of convenience… in space… and I think one of the protags uses they/them and I cannot WAIT. I always say reading Natasha Pulley makes me want to eat her writing and it really does. Can you consume talent like that? I am willing to try!!!

LATE ADDITION

(because no i didn’t want to edit the graphics i made)

Somehow I got all the way to the end of this post without mentioning the new Leigh Bardugo book coming out this april?? It’s called The Familiar* and it’s gothic historical fantasy and considering how much I LOVED Ninth House, I can’t wait to see what else Leigh Bardugo gives us in the adult fantasy space.

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What are some of your most anticipated releases this year? I’m always looking to add more to my TBR! Also, we need to take a moment for these COVERS. Goddamn.