Top Five Anticipated Reads for January-March 2022

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @Bionic Book Worm, and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. You can check out last week’s post here!

This week’s topic is my Top 5 Anticipated Reads for January – March 2022 and let me tell you, this was a hard one to narrow down. There are so many books, old releases and new, that I desperately want to read this year – and hopefully I’ll get through them all this time – that it was hard to narrow them down. In the end, I chose to focus on some of the upcoming reviews I’ve planned as well as a few titles I’m dying to finally get to.

Wish me luck, and let’s get started!

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Top Five Anticipated Reads for January-March 2022

The Queen of Sorrows by Sarah Beth Durst

Queen Daleina has yearned to bring peace and prosperity to her beloved forest home—a hope that seemed doomed when neighboring forces invaded Aratay. Now, with the powerful Queen Naelin ruling by her side, Daleina believes that her dream of ushering in a new era can be realized, even in a land plagued by malevolent nature spirits who thirst for the end of human life.
And then Naelin’s children are kidnapped by spirits.
Nothing is more important to her than her family, and Naelin would rather watch the world burn than see her children harmed. Blaming the defeated Queen Merecot of Semo for the kidnapping, Naelin is ready to start a war—and has the power to do it.
But Merecot has grander plans than a bloody battle with her southern neighbors. Taking the children is merely one step in a plot to change the future of all Renthia, either by ending the threat of spirits once and for all . . . or plunging the world into chaos.

I started this trilogy in 2021 and this year I will finish it. I don’t know why I put this off for so long when I was so amazed with how the series became (The Queen of Blood was pretty okay, but The Reluctant Queen was spectacular), but this will be the year I finish this series. And tell you all about it, of course.

Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer

A kingdom burns. A princess sleeps. This is no fairy tale.
It all started with the burning of the spindles.
No.
It all started with a curse…
Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and her voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.
And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.
As the faerie queen and her army of Vultures prepare to march, Isabelle must race to find a prince who can awaken her sister with the kiss of true love and seal their two kingdoms in an alliance against the queen.
Isabelle crosses land and sea; unearthly, thorny vines rise up the palace walls; and whispers of revolt travel in the ashes on the wind. The kingdom falls to ruin under layers of snow. Meanwhile, Aurora wakes up in a strange and enchanted world, where a mysterious hunter may be the secret to her escape…or the reason for her to stay.

I have a confession: I have a gigantic weakness for fairy-tale retellings, and that’s exactly what Spindle Fire is. Reimagining the story of Sleeping Beauty with a few fantastic sounding twists and turns, I’m so excited to see how this book plays out.

The Engineer by Darran M. Handshaw

“We are born in the shadow of fading memories and fallen dreams, living our days within the decaying bones of an age long gone.”
When the Engineer, Actaeon, arrives at Pyramid in the heart of Redemption, nothing goes according to plan. Mysterious raiders pursue him relentlessly across the shattered remains of the ancient metropolis, and the leaders of his homeland pay no heed to his ambitious ideas. Meanwhile, deep beneath Pyramid, a deadly creature stirs. And, when Actaeon meets a skilled young Knight Arbiter with brilliant blue eyes, he starts down a path he could never have imagined.
The vast, fallen city of the Ancients is home to a new people who face the constant struggle to find resources needed to survive in the dangerous ruins. For the Engineer, however, Redemption is a treasure trove of technology, opportunity, and answers. But his unique skills make him a target for those who would use his talents to achieve their own dreams of power and control.
In his endless quest for the truth, will Actaeon discover the fallen city’s greatest secrets? Or will he share the same fate as the Ancients of whom nothing remains but a whisper?
One thing is certain: in Redemption, everything comes with a cost.

This one is cheating because I already read it, but it’s the first self-published book I’ve read in 2022 and I am so freaking excited about it. And knowing that this was a semi-finalist in of Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off in 2018 just makes it that much more special. Check out my review of this book if you haven’t already!

The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies

When the saints fail, the sinners step up.
Cruel gods rule the steam-powered city of Chime, demanding worship and tribute from their mortal subjects. Kayl lost her faith in them long ago, and now seeks to protect vulnerable and downtrodden mortals from their gods’ whims. But when Kayl discovers powers that she didn’t know she had—and destroys a mortal’s soul by accident—she becomes Chime’s most wanted.
Quen’s job was to pursue sinners, until the visions started. Haunted by foreboding images of his beloved city’s destruction, Quen hunts soul-sucking creatures made of aether who prey on its citizens—and Kayl is his number one target.
To ensure Chime’s future, Kayl and Quen must discover the truth of Kayl’s divine abilities before the gods take matters into their own hands.
For a city that bows to cruel gods, it’ll take godless heathens to save it.

Back in 2021, I saw so many bloggers absolutely raving about this title. And at long, long last I’ve finally grabbed a copy for myself! I can’t wait to see what all the excitement was about, but I’m already certain I’ll love every second of it.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

Another older title, but one I’ve been desperate to get to for so long. It’s just been sitting on my shelf, utterly neglected, for just short of forever. But 2022 will be the year I dig through the forgotten corners of my shelves and finally read the books I’ve been anticipating for months. And this one has enemies-to-lovers, so I’m guaranteed to enjoy it anyway.

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And there we go, that’s my list of Top Five Most Anticipated Reads for January to March 2022. Honestly, there were so many great options to choose from – since I have so much catching up to do – and I haven’t even touched on the amazing new releases or the other incredible books I have waiting. But either way, I can’t wait to get started.

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Are you looking forward to any of these books? What are your most anticipated reads for the months ahead? Comments below and let me know!

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