Oh, hey there.
Looks like somehow it’s a new year again.
And for me, new year means new reading list. So, here are some books I’m so excited to dig into in 2022, some of which (I am thrilled to say) are even written by people I know!
(If you would have told younger Gigi she would be friends with amazing published authors, she would have perished, so just know that dreams do come true.)
Anyway, enough chatter. Here are some books I’m stoked about reading:
1. Kaikeyi
Step aside Circe; here comes Kaikeyi: the oft-maligned queen of Indian mythology. Her story has been told for her, and now she’s here to tell her side. I cannot wait to read it and I hope you’ll all join me.
Release date: April 26!
2. Her Name is Knight
This one had me at “elite assassin heroine.”
From the book description: “While on assignment in Miami, Nena ends up saving a life, not taking one. She emerges from the experience a changed woman, finally hopeful for a life beyond rage and revenge. Tasked with killing a man she’s come to respect, Nena struggles to reconcile her loyalty to the Tribe with her new purpose.”
3. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
I love a good humorous non-fiction, so when I saw this book about jaywalking moose and murdery trees, you can bet your buttons I bought a copy.
4. Dangerous Remedy
I can’t believe I didn’t get to this one in 2021! From my 2021 wishlist:
I’ve been waiting for this one, which sounds like a romp through the French Revolution full of history and magic, and am hoping I can find an ebook version sometime this year. Per the description: “Camille, a revolutionary’s daughter, leads a band of outcasts – a runaway girl, a deserter, an aristocrat in hiding. As the Battalion des Mortes they cheat death, saving those about to meet a bloody end at the blade of Madame La Guillotine. But their latest rescue is not what she seems. The girl’s no aristocrat, but her dark and disturbing powers means both the Royalists and the Revolutionaries want her. But who and what is she?”
5. Daughters of a Dead Empire
Historical! Russian! An Anastasia retelling! I am so ready for this book. Inject it directly into my veins.
Release date: February 22!
6. Mindwalker
I read a pre-publication of this book and it is a brilliantly fun, intense sci-fi romp. I look forward to reading again when it’s officially published.
From the description: “Eighteen-year-old Sil Sarrah is determined to die a legend. In the ten years she’s been rescuing imperiled field agents for the Syntex Corporation—by commandeering their minds from afar and leading them to safety—Sil hasn’t lost a single life. And she’s not about to start now.
“She’s got twelve months left on the clock before the supercomputer grafted to her brain kills her, and she’s hell-bent on using that time to cement her legacy. Sil’s going to be the only Mindwalker to ever pitch a perfect game—even despite the debilitating glitches she’s experiencing. But when a critical mission goes south, Sil is forced to flee the very company she once called home.”
Release date: fall 2022!
7. All Her Little Secrets
This thriller comes highly recommended and sounds like a trip. From the description, “In this fast-paced thriller, Wanda M. Morris crafts a twisty mystery about a Black lawyer who gets caught in a dangerous conspiracy after the sudden death of her boss…”
8. This Poison Heart
Another one I can’ t believe I didn’t get to in 2021…The Secret Garden with dark magic and sans the old version’s racism? Yes, please.
Here’s the description: “Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Briseis and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind, seeking a quieter existence. But their new home is more sinister than they could have imagined—it comes with a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world, one that can only be safely entered by those who share their bloodline.
Haggard strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs that Briseis has a surprising knack for creating. But when a nefarious witch comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir, Breisis must protect herself and her family. She’s up against centuries-old secrets that may threaten their lives—but can love be more powerful than darkness?”
9. The Sleepless
Literary sci-fi thriller incoming! From the description, “In a near-future New York City where a minority of the population has lost the need for sleep, a journalist fights to uncover the truth behind his boss’s murder on the eve of a sinister corporate takeover—while his own Sleeplessness spirals out of control…”
Release date: June 2022!
10. One for All
I have been dying for this book to be out! Stabby girls? Check. Disability rep in historical fiction? Check. And you know I love all things Three Musketeers.
From the description: “One for All is a gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.”
Release date: March 8!
11. Monsters Born & Made
For fans of The Scorpio Races and The Hunger Games, this intense thrill-ride of a fantasy novel is one I was lucky enough to read in manuscript form last year. So looking forward to getting my hands on a published copy!
From the description: “A girl from a family of sea-monster trainers who will stop at nothing to be the first of her caste to compete in a monstrous chariot race. Winning means saving her family and losing will cost her everything.”
Release date: September!
12. She Who Became the Sun
This is one of those books that I keep hearing great things about, so time to give it a try myself. From the description: “She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor.”
13. Love and Other Disasters
How cute does this sound? From the description: “The first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show falls for their clumsy competitor in this delicious romantic comedy debut ‘that is both fantastically fun and crack your heart wide open vulnerable.’ (Rosie Danan, author of The Roommate)”
Release date: January 18! (TOMORROW.)
14. Love from Scratch
Speaking of cute, this romance has been described to me as a YA romantic version of the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen. And um, yes please.
From the description: “This summer, Reese Camden is trading sweet tea and Southern hospitality for cold brew and crisp coastal air. She’s landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern—and her main competition for the fall job.
Reese’s plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles like a day-old muffin when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet’s newest ship. Audiences are hungry for more, and their bosses at Friends of Flavor are happy to deliver. Soon Reese and Benny are in an all-out food war, churning homemade ice cream, twisting soft pretzels, breaking eggs in an omelet showdown—while hundreds of thousands of viewers watch.”
Release date: April 5!
15. The Evolution of Claire (Jurassic World)
You know how there are some authors you’ll read anything by, no matter the topic? Tess Sharpe is one of those for me. And even though I’m not a Jurassic World stan, I’m interested to see what Tess does with the notorious Claire.
16. An Unexpected Kind of Love
This reluctant romance between a reclusive bookstore owner and a not-even-a-little-reclusive up-and-coming actor sounds like a real treat. I expect one of those delightfully grumpy protagonists and plenty of queer shenanigans.
From the description: “Bookstore owner Aubrey Barnes likes his quiet, orderly London life, thank you very much. His shop may be struggling, his only employee is a menace, and his plumbing is one creaky pipe away from disaster, but he can handle it. Maybe. He cannot, however, handle the film company that’s thrown his Soho street into chaos.
And he definitely can’t handle the charismatic American actor Blake Sinclair.”
17. Dead End Girls
Wendy Heard’s previous YA thriller (She’s Too Pretty to Burn) scared the shit out of me (in the best way), so I’m all-in for her second YA release, which features two teen girls who fake their own deaths.
Release date: May 10 2022!
Now, to you: What are you excited to read in 2022?