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Welcome to Top
Ten Tuesday! Today, we’re talking about the July-December 2021 releases I’m
excited to read. In this post, I’m going to focus on adult books. There will be
another post in a few weeks for new young adult and children’s books. If you’re
interested in the books that came out in the first half of 2021, I have a post
for that too!
Best New Book Releases 2021
Reputation by Lex Croucher
Adult Historical Humor
July 8, 2021 (UK Release Date)
Abandoned
by her parents, middle-class Georgiana Ellers has moved to a new town to live
with her dreary aunt and uncle. At a particularly dull party, she meets the
enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd who lives a life
Georgiana couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams.
Lonely and vulnerable, Georgiana falls in with
Frances and her unfathomably rich, deeply improper friends. Georgiana is
introduced to a new world: drunken debauchery, mysterious young men with
strangely arresting hands, and the upper echelons of Regency society.
But the price of entry to high society might
just be higher than Georgiana is willing to pay.
Why I’m excited to read it: Early reviewers say it’s hilarious, and it’s
being described as Mean Girls meets
Jane Austen. I love both those things. Bring on the debauchery!
The Final Girl
Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Adult Horror
July 13, 2021
In
horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits
roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends.
The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the
audience moves on, what happens to her?
Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl
who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of
her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting
with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for
those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by
piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette's worst
fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to take
their lives apart again, piece by piece.
But the thing about these final girls is that
they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night,
how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.
Why I’m excited to read it: Grady Hendrix wrote Horrorstör, which is one of my favorite horror novels. His work is
self-reflexive. It pokes fun at common horror tropes while still delivering the
spookiness and twists I want from a horror novel.
Bring
Your Baggage And Don’t Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis
Adult Humor Essays
July 13, 2021
When
Helen Ellis and her lifelong friends arrive for a reunion on the Redneck
Riviera they unpack more than their suitcases: stories of husbands and kids,
lost parents and lost jobs powdered onion dip and photographs you have to hold
by the edges; dirty jokes and sunscreen with SPF higher than they hair-sprayed
their bangs senior year, and a bad mammogram. It's a diagnosis that scares
them, but could never break their bond. Because women pushing fifty won't be
pushed around.
In these twelve gloriously comic and moving
essays, Helen Ellis dishes on married middle-age sex, sobs with a theater full
of women as a psychic exorcises their sorrows, gets twenty shots of stomach
bile to the neck to get rid of her double chin, and gathers up the courage to
ask, Are you there, Menopause? It's Me, Helen.
Why I’m excited to read it: Goodreads describes it as “A book that reads
like the best cocktail party of your life.” Sounds fun. A few years ago, I read
Helen Ellis’s short story collection, American Housewife, which was funny and intensely relatable.
Billy
Summers by Stephen King
Adult Horror
August 3, 2021
Billy
Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in
the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And
now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best
snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to
vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?
How about everything.
Why I’m excited to read it: Another Stephen King book. How does he write
so fast? How am I ever going to catch up? Someday I’ll read everything he’s
written. This new book sounds like it has an intense plot and a complicated
character.
The
Ophelia Girls by Jane Healey
Adult Historical Mystery
August 10, 2021
In
the summer of 1973, Ruth and her four friends were obsessed with
pre-Raphaelite paintings—and a little bit obsessed with each other. Drawn to
the cold depths of the river by Ruth’s house, the girls pretend to be the
drowning Ophelia, with increasingly elaborate tableaus. But by the end of that
fateful summer, real tragedy finds them along the banks.
Twenty-four years later, Ruth returns to the
suffocating, once grand house she grew up in, the mother of young twins and
seventeen-year-old Maeve. Joining the family in the country is Stuart, Ruth’s
childhood friend, who is quietly insinuating himself into their lives and gives
Maeve the attention she longs for. She is recently in remission, unsure of her
place in the world now that she is cancer-free. Her parents just want her to be
an ordinary teenage girl. But what teenage girl is ordinary?
Alternating between
the two fateful summers, The Ophelia Girls is a
suspense-filled exploration of mothers and daughters, illicit desire, and the
perils and power of being a young woman.
Why I’m excited to read it: There’s so much creepy stuff happening in this
story! I want to know about the weird drowning game. And who’s the childhood
friend who’s interfering with this family’s life? So many mysteries to solve.
Velvet
Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Adult Historical Thriller
August 17, 2021
1970s,
Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of
Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city,
Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger.
Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art
student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When
Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself
searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret
life of student radicals and dissidents.
Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for
Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads
dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric criminal who
longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock
’n’ roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe
Maite from a distance—and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who
shares his love of music and the unspoken loneliness of his heart.
Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to
discovering the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, they can no longer escape
the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government
agents, and Russian spies all aiming to protect Leonora’s secrets—at gunpoint.
Why I’m excited to read it: Goodreads calls it “an edgy, simmering
historical novel for lovers of smoky noirs and anti-heroes.” I’m not sure about
“smoky noirs,” but I can’t resist a good “anti-hero.” All my favorite
characters are a little bit evil.
The Flames Of
Albiyon by Jean Z. Menzies
Adult Fantasy
September 2, 2021
A century
since the monarchy was overthrown, the country of Albiyon has become a haven
for its citizens, the young scholar Adairia included. Raised within the Albiyan
university’s walls she has dedicated her life to the pursuit of knowledge.
Preferring to hole up in the library than seek adventure elsewhere, she has
grown accustomed to her comfortable routine . . . until the day everything
changes. When she unwittingly awakens a sleeping dragon’s egg, Adairia is
thrust into unfamiliar territory. Never having dreamed of dragons she is forced
to seek out guidance from the exhilarating Isla, last direct descendent of the
royal family and companion to a century’s old dragon. Together they must
navigate the surprises to come; for beyond the prospect of a new-born dragon
Albiyon is about to face a dangerous conspiracy that threatens the peace of
their realm.
Why I’m excited to read it: This is not my normal type of book. It’s high fantasy, and it’s written by a YouTuber. Usually,
those things both earn an automatic “No” from me. I’ve been following Jean on
YouTube for years. She’s smart, articulate, and funny, and I have confidence
that she can write a thought-provoking book.
From The Neck
Up by
Aliya Whiteley
Horror Short Stories
September 14, 2021
The new
collection of beautiful, strange and disarming short stories from the
award-winning Aliya Whiteley, deftly unpeels the strangeness of everyday life
with her trademark wit. Witness the future of farming in a new Ice Age, or the
artist bringing life to glass; the many-eyed monsters we carry and the secret
cities inside our bodies.
Why I’m excited to read it: I’m always on the lookout for good short story collections. Aliya
Whiteley is a prolific horror writer whose work has tons of rabid fans online,
so I should probably see what the hype is about. The cover of this collection
is certainly creepy! I hate it.
Fuzz: When
Nature Breaks The Law by Mary Roach
Environment Nonfiction
September 14, 2021
What’s to be
done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous
tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned
legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling
author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence
but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at
the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
Why I’m excited to read it: Mary Roach is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. Her
work is fascinating and hilarious. She’s not afraid to ask the awkward
questions that we’re all thinking about but are too afraid to say out loud. I’ll
read anything she writes.
Cloud Cuckoo
Land by Anthony Doerr
Adult Historical Fiction (?) Science Fiction (?) I don’t
know!
September 28, 2021
The heroes
of Cloud Cuckoo Land are trying to figure out the world around
them: Anna and Omeir, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the
1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour in an attack on a public
library in present day Idaho; and Konstance, on an interstellar ship bound for
an exoplanet, decades from now. Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Anna,
Omeir, Seymour, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders who find
resourcefulness and hope in the midst of peril.
An ancient text—the story of Aethon, who longs
to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the
sky—provides solace and mystery to these unforgettable characters. Doerr has
created a tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast
interconnectedness—with other species, with each other, with those who lived before
us and those who will be here after we’re gone.
Why I’m excited to read it: “Excited” is the wrong word because I’m completely confused.
What even is this book? I don’t understand
the synopsis. I’m interested in the book because I love All The Light We Cannot See. It’s vivid and beautifully written. I
even taught a class on it and didn’t end up hating it! Usually I loathe a book
by the time I finish teaching a class. I like Anthony Doerr’s writing enough
that I’m willing to try this confusing new thing.
She Kills Me:
The True Stories Of History’s Deadliest Women by Jennifer Wright
True Crime Nonfiction
September 28, 2021
A powerful collection of stories about women who murdered—for revenge,
for love, and even for pleasure—rife with historical details that will have any
true crime junkie on the edge of their seat.
In every tragic story, men are expected to be
the killers. There are countless studies and works of art made about male
violence. However, when women are featured in stories about murder, they are
rarely portrayed as predators. They’re the prey. This common dynamic is one of
the reasons that women are so enthralled by female murderers. They do the
things that women aren’t supposed to do and live the lives that women aren’t
supposed to want: lives that are impulsive and angry and messy and
inconvenient. Maybe we feel bad about loving them, but we eat it up just the
same. Residing squarely in the middle of a Venn diagram of feminism and true
crime, She Kills Me tells the story of 40 women who murdered
out of necessity, fear, revenge, and even for pleasure.
Why I’m excited to read it: If you’re a fan of Mary Roach, please check out Jennifer
Wright’s work. Both authors have a similar tone. Their nonfiction is fast-paced
and very readable. These are not dry textbooks! I’m a true crime junkie and can’t
wait to get my hands on this book.
The Death Of
Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
Adult Horror
October 19, 2021
Practical,
unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the
most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who
will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her
first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to
her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall,
his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an
accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him
changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified,
paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an
apparition, come to haunt him.
By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane
knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so
hastily bound her safety to.
Why I’m excited to read it: It’s being recommended for fans of Rebecca. That’s me! The synopsis is definitely giving me Rebecca vibes. And Jane Eyre vibes. And Bluebeard
vibes. And Doctor Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
vibes. With so many vibes, I have to read this book! It sounds like a
compelling mystery.
Dark Stars:
New Tales Of Darkest Horror by John F.D. Taff (Editor)
Horror Anthology
November 2, 2021
Dark Stars is a tribute to horror’s long-standing short fiction
legacy, featuring 11 terrifying novelettes from today’s most noteworthy
authors.
Within these pages you’ll find tales of dead men walking, an insidious secret summer fling, an island harboring unspeakable power, and a dark hallway that beckons. You’ll encounter terrible monsters—both human and supernatural—and be forever changed. The stories in Dark Stars run the gamut from traditional to modern, from dark fantasy to neo-noir, from explorations of beloved horror tropes to the unknown—possibly unknowable—threats.
Why I’m excited to read it: This anthology is packed full of stories by amazing horror
authors! Check it out if you like Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Josh
Malerman, or Caroline Kepnes. I’m excited to read stories from familiar authors
and potentially discover a new favorite.
Which new releases are you excited to read?
I didn’t know Mary Roach had a new book coming out. Cool!
ReplyDeletehttps://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-most-anticipated-books-of-the-second-half-of-2021/
Do you know I saw The Final Girl and didn't think much about the title. Then I read a book featuring a horror writing, and now I know what a final girl is. Hope you enjoy them all!
ReplyDeleteI need to check out She Kills Me and Reputation. I have The Final Girl Support Group on my wish list too!
ReplyDeleteLauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
I love Aliya Whiteley! I'm a bit behind with her books but I've loved what I've read so far.
ReplyDeleteGood list of books! Reputation looks really appealing to me and I've seen the Support Group on a couple lists.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these. I will look for Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light as well as Cloud Cuckoo Land. Fuzz is on my list, too.
ReplyDeleteOh Reputation sounds like such a fun read! Hope you'll enjoy all of these!
ReplyDeleteVelvet Was the Night is a popular choice this week. Hopefully you enjoy it if you read it!
ReplyDeleteHere's my Top Ten Tuesday list this week.
I'm excited for the new Hendrix as well. Enjoy all these!
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
Fuzz sounds so fun!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your reads when you can read them.
Here's my post: https://readbakecreate.com/?p=441
Great list! I have a couple of these on my TBR, and just added Reputation - it sounds so fun!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great list. I'm excited for the new Grady Hendrix and I'm with you on Anthony Doerr’s book. The synopsis confuses the heck out of me but I loved All the Light We Cannot See so I can't resist the new book.
ReplyDeleteLovely list! I am so looking forward to The Ophelia Girls! Hope we both enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteOkay so you have officially put some new books on my TBR! Some were already there (looking at you, Final Girl and Jane Lawrence), but Fuzz sounds amazing, as does Dark Stars (THOSE AUTHORS!) and a few others that I shall be checking out. Also, I didn't understand what the Anthony Doerr book was supposed to be either. Like, at all. I feel like I am supposed to want to read it, but also, I don't want to pay to feel dumb and confused, so I will wait to read some reviews first 😂
ReplyDeleteReputation seems so good! But there are so many to come!
ReplyDeleteI've never read Mary Roach, but you make me want to!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Death of Jane Lawrence is goign on my tbr!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the final girl support group one! The high fantasy one might not be your normal kind of book, but it might be something I would like, so I'll have to look into it.
ReplyDeleteThe Doerr novel seems to be a bit crazy right? Multiple storylines galore. Perhaps I will try the Mary Roach book!
ReplyDelete