Summer 2018 Releases

Good morning you guys! I hope you’ve had a good start to your day!

Earlier, while trying to decide what kinds of posts I could bring to the blog in the next few weeks I decided to check back in with my Spring 2018 Releases post to see how I did with the books I talked about and you guys. I talked about a total of 11 books, right? And out of those, I’ve already read 6 and while this might not sound as good – there are still three books that aren’t released yet. So, as of right now I’ve actually read 6 out of 8 books which is freaking awesome.

And because that seems to have worked so well for me, I decided to share some of the summer releases I’m super excited about and hopefully, this will motivate me as much to get these books read too! But I also already know that I’ll get to some of them the day they drop because how could I not??? I even have pre-orders for some of them, that’s how desperate I am to get my hands on a copy of the book.

Before I ramble on for too much longer and this post gets too long, let’s just jump right into the books, shall we?

The first book we’re going to talk about for this post is Renée Ahdieh’s Smoke In The Sun which is the conclusion to her Flame In The Mist duology – which I only read a couple of months ago but I’ve been looking forward to the conclusion ever since! Renée’s writing is just so damn addictive? And her character dynamics are so much fun – to the point that I now need to read her Wraith & Dawn duology too. Like I have any actual time to add new books to my TBR. *shakes head*

And since this is a conclusion, I obviously can’t tell you anything about the plot (wouldn’t want to spoil anyone) so let me tell you what book one is all about!

We follow our main protagonist Mariko as she is en route to the imperial palace where she is supposed to meet her betrothed, unfortunately, Mariko never makes it there as her convoy gets attacked by the Black Clan. Mariko, the sole survivor, disguises herself as a servant boy and infiltrates the Black Clan to find out who ordered the hit on her convoy. During her time with the Black Clan, she starts to question everything she knows about her family, her purpose and more.

You guys, I read this book in two sittings because of its addictive writing style and that one particular character dynamic. Renée got me hooked so early and I can’t wait to see how the story wraps up in this book!

I was just going to say how this upcoming book is so fitting for the upcoming months because it’s contemporary and I want to read all the contemporary – only to find out that I only have two on my list. TWO. People, I am obviously in desperate need of some recommendations, so if you have any, please leave them in the comments below! Thank you.

ANYWAYS, what I actually wanted to talk about was Summer Of Salt by Katrina Leno. I only just found out about this book while looking up some summer releases, but it sounds so good and like it might be something I’ll really enjoy?

In this book, we follow Georgina Fernweh as she impatiently awaits the day when she feels the tingle of magic in her – a magic that has touched all the female members of her family, except Georgina. We follow her during her last summer on her home island as she deals with storms, falling in love and the mystery behind a three-hundred-year-old bird that will teach her the truth about magic – in all its forms.

So far, I haven’t read too many books dealing with magical realism but this just sounds like it might be a really good story, so I am here for it! Have you guys read some of the author’s previous work?

I feel like if you’re going to talk about summer 2018 releases, you can’t not mention Cait’s (aka the writer of the blog Paper Fury) upcoming release A Thousand Perfect Notes. I mean, it’s a fellow blogger releasing a book. An actual novel. With a big publishing house. Of course, we should support this! I’ve seen some of my blogging friends and read and really enjoy this book which definitely made me more curious too!

In Cait’s debut, we follow the story of Beck, who is being forced by his abusive mother to play the piano every day to follow a dream she was never able to fulfill. Beck’s dream, however, is to write his own music but he is afraid to voice it to his mother because she responds to any suggestion of rebellion with violence. When Back meets Augustine, he starts seeing a way out of his situation – if he wants to take it.

The last June release we’re going to be talking about is a book that I have been looking forward to for so long now and I can’t believe that we’re less than a month away from the official release. What book am I talking about? A Reaper At The Gates by Sabaa Tahir, obviously! I recently finished my reread of the first two books and now I am just ready for whatever Sabaa has in store for us with this third book!

And again, as I did with Smoke In The Sun, I won’t talk about the plot of this book to avoid spoilers and instead tell you what An Ember In The Ashes is about!

In AEITA we follow the perspectives of Laia, a girl seeking revenge for her family and an undercover slave at the Empire’s Blackcliff military academy where she crosses paths with one of its best soldiers: Elias. All Elias wants is to break free of Blackcliff, his mother the commandant and everything his life has been so far.

Can you believe I suck this much at summarizing a book I’ve actually read??? Honestly, have I learned nothing in English/German class during my 14 years of school??? *shakes head* You guys should just click here and check out the Goodreads description for more if you want!

I have to say, I really, really enjoyed watching Laia and Elias’ story arcs throughout this series so far and I am so excited (and terrified) to see where else Sabaa is going to take these characters. It can’t be anywhere good after what happened in the second book. xD

If I don’t get utterly destroyed by whatever Sabaa does, I’m sure Kiersten White will take over that job with her conclusion to The Conqueror’s Saga with the release of Bright We Burn.

And since this post is already getting too long as it is and I have some more books I want to talk about, I will link you guys to a post I did last year in anticipation of Now I Rise which gives you five reasons to read this trilogy and I still stand by everything I said there, so please check out this post if you want to know why I think you guys should read this trilogy!

Earlier this year, I read the first book in Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer’s trilogy and I absolutely fell in love with it and actually requested a review copy of the second book (the translated German edition) and got it months ago – but I still haven’t read it. Please don’t ask me why. I have no idea. But I don’t think you actually need to have read the previous two books in order to read this one – which is fantastic if you ask me.

In Record Of A Spaceborn Few, we follow three different characters (it seems) aboard the Exodus Fleet (a ship that is mentioned in The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet) as they try to answer the question ‘What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?’.

I can’t really give you guys much more information because Goodreads doesn’t offer much and I don’t want to dive too deep into other summaries in case they give away information on the second book (as I haven’t read it yet). All I’ve been able to gather is that we actually get to know Ashby’s (who is the captain in TLWTASAP) sister in this novel, which should be quite interesting I think. Especially since she decided to stay back on the Exodus Fleet while Ashby went off for the stars!

Because I am rather predictive, of course, I couldn’t write this post without including the newest DC Icon’s book that is coming out this summer: Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas! But because I am who I am, I also have to confess that I haven’t read Batman: Nightwalker yet. I know. I am shocked too! I had been looking forward to that book for ages but somehow January just went by and I never actually picked it up. Maybe this release is going to give me that push that I need? 🤞

And since we’re confessing things over here, I’d also like to mention that I have absolutely no idea what this book is about or who the character Catwoman is. I know nothing about the DC comics, actually. And the only reason I first got into this particular series was because of the three women attached to writing these books but then the Wonder Woman hype happened and completely got to me too which had me even more hyped up for the Wonder Woman book. But I do hope that I’ll enjoy Marie and Sarah’s books too!

I was actually first introduced to Sara Raasch through her Snow Like Ashes trilogy which I read (though I haven’t finished it yet…) a couple of years ago and once I heard about These Rebel Waves I just had to put it on my TBR! I actually feel like I’ve been looking forward to this book for ages now? So I’m really happy that the release is happening in the foreseeable future!

In These Rebel Waves, we follow three different characters: a soldier, a pirate and a heretic. The story is set on a rich-with-magic island called Grace Loray that used to be oppressed by Argrid, a country ruled by religion. Five years later, a delegate from Argrid disappears while on Grace Loray for peace talks and the ruler of Argrid demands justice. But our soldier, Adeluna suspects there might be more at work.

The next perspective we follow is that of pirate Devereux, who is part of the stream raiders – a group of people who steal the island’s magic plants to sell them on the black market. When they are accused of having something to do with the disappearance of the delegate, Devereux and Adeluna start working together to find him.

Our last perspective is that of Benat, the son of Argrid’s king and our heretic. His father wants him to reverse his people’s fear of magic but Benat is unsure if he isn’t setting himself up for failure by doing it.

I don’t know about you guys, but to me, this sounds like a really fun and exciting release and I can’t wait to read a new book by Sara Raasch!

How about you guys? What are some summer 2018 release that you’re super excited for and can’t wait to get your hands on? Let me know down in the comments below! And if you were able to read either of these books early – what did you think? Please let me know! 🙂