I know a lot of us bookworms have rather ridiculously big TBR piles that we probably don’t look at often enough (for whatever reason) and I figured I would try a different approach to my TBR after deciding to take a break on my Down The TBR Hole posts for a little while. I want to take a look at my TBR every couple of weeks and highlight books that feature a particular element, be it something about the cover, the protagonist, the world, etc and today I figured I would start by highlighting books featuring POCs on their covers!
Some of the books featured in this post are going to be books that have been released for years, some are newer releases and others are upcoming releases which I think is a really fun way to do this and hopefully get some of you guys excited for some new releases especially! Let’s get into this!
The Bane Chronicles
At this point, I can’t even count the number of times I have talked about The Bane Chronicles and said that I want to read this book, but that doesn’t change the fact that I do want to read this book at some point. I just want to re-read all of the other books in the Shadowhunters Chronicles before, so I have all the events fresh in my mind and can appreciate the stories more. Because I feel like that might’ve played into why I stopped reading this novella bind-up the first time I picked it up! But I am dedicated to Magnus and I will read this. At least by the time Cassie releases her Magnus centric trilogy.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before honestly sounds like the perfect summer type of book, so I’m hoping to get to this trilogy this summer and see what all the buzz has been about! People, from what I have heard over the years, are also very set on who they want(ed) Lara Jean to end up with and I am curious to see which team I fall on! Can you imagine if you had written letters to all the boys you loved before and they got sent out without your consent? I would probably want to hide under my blankets and not come out of my house for a while. I can’t wait to read this, honestly! Have you read it before?
Shadowshaper
I have heard people kind of compare Shadowshaper to The Mortal Instruments but featuring Latinx characters and that just sounds like something I might enjoy! We have spirits that connect with people via different forms of art (which that sounds awesome), some sort of secret society, an evil doctor who is out to kill all Shadowshapers and all of it playing out in New York which is a city I’ve grown really attached to and has become a definite selling point for me! I obviously love The Mortal Instruments and I can’t wait to see how this story is going to play out and if I can see any connections between the two stories!
When Dimple Met Rishi
I feel like if you’re part of the book community in some shape or form, you’ve probably heard all about When Dimple Met Rishi already and might even be tired of people mentioning this book and I’m sorry if you are. But, I’m really excited about this story! We have Indian-American main characters, Dimple who is into coding and goes to a summer camp for it and Rishi who likes the idea of arranged marriage and goes to the same summer camp to meet his potential future wife. I just can’t wait to see how their story plays out! I’ve never read anything about arranged marriages before and since this is an Own Voices novel, I am excited to get to experience it through the eyes of someone who has grown up with arranged marriages!
Upcoming Releases
A Jigsaw Of Fire And Stars
I hadn’t heard anything about A Jigsaw Of Fire And Stars until I saw the cover pop up on NetGalley one day and I was absolutely drawn to the book because of it. It is just absolutely stunning. The colors. The vibrancy of the colors. I want to frame this and hang it up on a wall in my apartment! Stunning. Luckily, I actually got approved for an ARC of this book and I can’t wait to get to it in the upcoming months and just dive into this world and story! I sure hope it’s as vibrant and stunning as the cover is (I suck at summarizing books I haven’t read, so please check out the link)!
Whichwood
When Tahereh Mafi shared the cover reveal for Whichwood the entire book community freaked out and shared all their love and praise and I was most definitely a part of that group of people! The cover is absolutely stunning. Even though I haven’t read a single book by Tahereh Mafi, I’ve definitely seen her books around the internet and I have to say: this is her best cover yet! Furthermore (which was book one in this companion series) was great too, but this tops it for sure! From what I’ve gathered about this book so far it’s about a girl who washes dead people for a living and prepares them for the afterlife. That’s most definitely a unique story idea and something I haven’t read before! I am excited and ready for this. I just need to read Furthermore first.
Love, Hate & Other Filters
Love, Hate & Other Filters is one of the books that caught my eye because I saw people feature it in their BEA/BookCon hauls and so I decided to check it out and I was so glad people got ARCs of this and showed them off! This story follows an Indian-American Muslim girl who is torn between who and what she wants to be and then suddenly a suicide bomber (who happens to share our main characters last name) strikes and we get to follow a family who has to deal with the aftermath of these events in a town where they are the only Muslims.
When I first read the synopsis it definitely reminded me of The Hate U Give and since I loved that book so much (you should absolutely read it if you haven’t yet) and I knew I had to add this to my TBR.
A Girl Like That
A Girl Like That was another book I discovered through BEA/BookCon related videos and posts and I am really excited that I did! It tells the story of a girl whose many relationships have resulted in a lot of gossip about her and parents warning their kids not to be ‘that girl’. But then our main character ends up in a fatal car crash and as her story is being pieced together through multiple POVs we learn that she wasn’t just ‘that girl’. This book apparently ‘tackles issues of race, identity, class and religion ‘ and is both ‘inventive and universal‘. I am most definitely excited and can not wait to read this book and get a glance into life in Saudi Arabia, where the story is set!
There we have it! Eight books featuring POCs on their covers that I currently have on my TBR and can’t wait to get to (some of which I have to wait eight more months for…) and that you guys should definitely check out too if you haven’t yet! Or have you read some of these books already and can share your opinions? I would love to hear them in the comments below!
You should totally check out Tahereh’s Shatter Me series, though! The evolution of the covers says a lot about the protagonist’s character development. Although all her books’ covers are awesome, the Shatter Me book covers will always be my favorites. Great post!!
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I did read the first book and one of the novellas a couple of years ago and just never really like them that much? Which is probably why I haven’t picked up another book by Tahereh Mafi so far, but I definitely want to! She’s such a beloved author!
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I really hope you’ll be giving the series another chance! But i totally understand what it’s like to not like a certain book everyone’s crazy about 😂 She certainly is !!
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I read Shadowshaper earlier this year and I totally loved it! I’m not usually a fantasy person, but I loved the way the fantasy elements were tied in with real life. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything that takes place in Brooklyn 🙂 I also really enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi. This is a great list of books! Some I’ve heard of and some are going straight on my exploding TBR. Thanks for sharing!
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I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed Shadowshaper, definitely, makes me more excited to read it hopefully soon too! *evil laughter* that was exactly my intention!
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DUDE I NEEEEEED WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI! It seems SOOOOO cute. And yas, I’m so ready for Love, Hate, and Other Filters! To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is so fluffy and amazing and even though the third book has come out, I still need to read it!
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OH I love love LOVE the Lara Jean series, it’s so cute and relatable and overall one of the greatest contemporaries. Sorry, kind of setting up high expectations there, ahah. I hope you’ll read it soon and love it, though 🙂 Also, I got When Dimple Met Rishi on my TBR, can’t wait to see what everyone is raving about ahah 🙂
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So many people seem to love that trilogy and with the new book coming out last month it was basically impossible to get by it! I really hope it’s good! 😀
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I am so in love with the Whichwood cover!!! I can’t wait to get my hands on that gorgeous book! And I’m a big fan of the When Dimple Met Rishi cover as well, it’s soooo cute 😍
I got approved for A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars as well and the first thing I noticed about it was the pretty cover! The blurb sounds interesting as well so I can’t wait to read it in the coming months!
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That’s so great! I can’t wait to see what you think of A Jigsaw Of Fire And Stars! I might make it either my next read or definitely the one after that!
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I think it won’t be out until September and I have quite a few ARCs to read inbetween so I won’t be reading it for a while! I hope you enjoy it though! 🙂
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I love this post!! ❤ The Bane Chronicles and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series are SO AMAZING. The latter is a perfect summer read for sure!! 😍 And I SO want to read Shadowshaper and When Dimple Met Rishi, both sound amazing. And I didn’t know of so many of those unreleased books, must check them out asap!! 😍 Lovely post!
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Thank you! I’m so happy you enjoyed this post! I can’t wait to have finally re-read all the books in the Shadowhunters Chronicles so I can finally read The Bane Chronicles!
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