2020 is now over, and that means a whole year of exciting book releases is ahead of us. Here’s just a list of 10 of the books that I am excited for in January 2021. These are just some of the books coming out in January. There are so many more that I may have missed, so if you have some more that you are excited for, please let me know what those are, as I’d love to check them out
January 5th
Persephone StaTION- sTINA lEICHT
A queer space opera? Yes, please. Anti-corporation and GORGEOUS cover? YES PLEASE.
Persephone Station, a backwater planet has been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, until now. It has become the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. Secrets have come to light, secrete that the Serrao-Orlov Corporation wants to exploit.
Rosie- who owns Monk’s Bar in the town of West Brynner caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists in their front bar. Monk’s back bar caters to members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who look to employ them.
Angel, an ex-marine and the head of a semi-organized band of beneficient criminals, wayward assassins and waashed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing is asked to prepare a job for Rosie.
This job reveals something that will affect Persephone and put Angel and her squard against an army. They are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation, whatever the odds.
This book is sci-fi and it sounds like it’s anti-corporation too? Please, gimme gimme. And don’t even get me started on how gorgeous this cover is.
tHE WIFE UPSTAIRS- rACHEL hAWKINS
Jane, just moved to Birmingham, Alabama and is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates – a gated community full of the rich. No one will notice if Jane lifts tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables. No one will ask Jane her real name.
Then Jane meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is one of the most mysterious resident of Thornfield Estates. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend. their bodies lost the deep. Jane sees an opportunity in Eddie.
Jane and Eddie fall for each other, but even so, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea who lauched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand.
This is apparently a retelling of Jane Eyre, and I’m loving the idea? The concept seems interesting! I’m actually getting this in my Book of the Month box in December, so I might have the opportunity to read it before January!
lORE- aLEXANDRA bRACKEN
Every seven years, the Agon begins. A punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek Gods are forced to walk as mortals. They are hunted by the decedents or ancient bloodlines. They are all eager to kill a God and seize their divine power and immortality.
Lore Perserous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line who long ago turned her back on the promises of eternal glory that the hunt offers. She has pushed away any and all thoughts of revenge against the man responsible for the deaths of her family.
As the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek her help. Castor, her childhood friend that Lore believed long dead, and Athena, gravely wounded. These two are the last of the original gods.
Athena offers the allegiance against their mutual enemy and a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever.
I really like the cover on this one and I’m interested to see where it goes. I’m interested in the Greek myths, so anything loosely based on them is something I’m willing to give a shot to.
cROWN OF bONES- a.k. wILDER
Raise. Your. Phantom.
For fans of epic fantasies and sweeping adventures, this ensemble cast will immerse you in a world of unique magic, breathtaking action and unforgettable characters.
In a world on the brink of the next Great Dying, no amount of training can prepare us for what is to come …
A young heir will raise the most powerful phantom in all of Baiseen.
A dangerous High Savant will do anything to control the realms.
A mysterious and deadly Mar race will steal children into the sea.
And a handsome guide with far too many secrets will make me fall in love.
My name is Ash. A lowly scribe meant to observe and record. And yet I think I’m destined to change us all.
This is one where the cover called to me more than anything. Im really interested to see where this one goes too. There are just so many exciting books coming out in 2021.
January 12th
tHE iNNkEEPER’S dAUGHTER- bIANCA m. sCHWARZ
One November evening, Sir Henry, a man of wealth comes across a badly beaten Eliza, who is desperate to escape her cruel stepfather. Sir Henry, realizing she has nowhere to go, takes her to his home in Mayfair.
While she is there recovering, Henry introduces Eliza to a world of art and literature. Eliza’s brutal world follows her to London, where the salons of the aristocratic elite co-exist with the back alleys of the criminal underworld.
Henry, a secret agent to the crown is able and willing to deal with the man that Eliza’s stepfather sold her to and the pimp who plans to enslave her.
A romance blossoms. Eliza unearths a secret that leads them into the sadistic world of sex trafficking and finally allows Henry to identify the traitor that is responsible for selling military secrets to the French, which causes the death of thousands.
Eliza proves herself a worthy partner, a natural in the spy game, but time is running out and Eliza’s fate is hanging in the balance.
A regency historical fiction that’s about spies and political intrigue? YES PLEASE.
January 19th
cAST IN fireLIGHT- dANA sWIFT
Adraa is the royal heir of Belwar, a talented witch on the cusp of taking her royal ceremony test, and a girl who just wants to prove her worth to her people.
Jatin is the royal heir to Naupure, a competitive wizard who’s mastered all nine colors of magic, and a boy anxious to return home for the first time since he was a child.
Together, their arranged marriage will unite two of Wickery’s most powerful kingdoms. But after years of rivalry from afar, Adraa and Jatin only agree on one thing: their reunion will be anything but sweet.
Only, destiny has other plans and with the criminal underbelly of Belwar suddenly making a move for control, their paths cross…and neither realizes who the other is, adopting separate secret identities instead.
Between dodging deathly spells and keeping their true selves hidden, the pair must learn to put their trust in the other if either is to uncover the real threat. Now Wickery’s fate is in the hands of rivals..? Fiancées..? Partners..? Whatever they are, it’s complicated and bound for greatness or destruction.
rEMOTE cONTROL- nNEDI oKORAFOR
“She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own.”
The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa–a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.
Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks–alone, except for her fox companion–searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.
But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?
January 26th
a bLACK WOMEN’S hISTORY OF THE uNITED sTATES- dAINA rAMEY bERRY AND kALI NICOLE gROSS
A vibrant and empowering history that emphasizes the perspectives and stories of African American women to show how they are–and have always been–instrumental in shaping our country
In centering Black women’s stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women’s unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today.
A Black Women’s History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.
wINGS OF eBOnY- j. eLLE
“Make a way out of no way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue’s taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon—a hidden island of magic wielders.
Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life.
Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves. Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her ancestors’ power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the ground.
dON’T tELL A sOUL- kIRSTEN mILLER
Stay up all night with this modern day Rebecca! Perfect for fans of Truly Devious—a haunting story about a new girl in an old town filled with dark secrets . . . that might just kill her.
People say the house is cursed.
It preys on the weakest, and young women are its favorite victims.
In Louth, they’re called the Dead Girls.
All Bram wanted was to disappear—from her old life, her family’s past, and from the scandal that continues to haunt her. The only place left to go is Louth, the tiny town on the Hudson River where her uncle, James, has been renovating an old mansion.
But James is haunted by his own ghosts. Months earlier, his beloved wife died in a fire that people say was set by her daughter. The tragedy left James a shell of the man Bram knew—and destroyed half the house he’d so lovingly restored.
The manor is creepy, and so are the locals. The people of Louth don’t want outsiders like Bram in their town, and with each passing day she’s discovering that the rumors they spread are just as disturbing as the secrets they hide. Most frightening of all are the legends they tell about the Dead Girls. Girls whose lives were cut short in the very house Bram now calls home.
The terrifying reality is that the Dead Girls may have never left the manor. And if Bram looks too hard into the town’s haunted past, she might not either
Let’s discuss some of the books that you are excited about in the comments! I’d love to hear what your reading plans for January include!
~Cam
Cosmic Lattes and Books 