Middle Grade | Owned Books | TBR Posts
Today is my first post for Unread November. Learn all about it here – tl;dr on Sundays in November I’m posting about books I didn’t read this year. Today features 2021 releases. Not every single 2021 release on my TBR – just the highlights. The ones I still feel excited about trying even though the year is nearly over! Organized by target age (adult, young adult, and middle grade), I’ve noted the genre of each book and a few words to explain why I remain interested in reading it.
The List
Adult
🛐 Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long – fantasy, warrior priestess, deceiful gods
🧙🏼♀️ The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec – historical fantasy, Norse gods
☀️ Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro – speculative fiction, spiritual successor to Never Let Me Go
🦴 The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst – fantasy, bone magic, resurrected husband, evil vanquished once upon a time but maybe not actually…
🍻 Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley – fantasy, admittedly I recall nothing about this book but the blurb includes the question “Did humanity really win the war?” which is promising
🐺 For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten – fantasy, wolf wolf wolf, comp’d to Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale
🐺 The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid – same as above: fantasy, wolf wolf wolf, comp’d to Spinning Silver and The Bear and the Nightingale
🌟 Star Eater by Kerstin Hall – science fiction, cannibalistic space nuns?? sure sounds fun
☀️ She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan – historical fantasy, “Mulan meets The Song of Achilles“
🍸 The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo – historical fantasy, The Great Gatsby retelling starring a queer and Asian Jordan Baker, and oh look at the cover
Young Adult
🦷 What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo – horror, monstrous family
🧙🏻♀️ Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley – fantasy, sapphic, pretty pretty soft cover
🪞 The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore – magical realism, one of my favourite authors
Middle Grade
🐶 Red Rover by Christopher Krovatin – horror, evil adopted dog
🦫 Rescue at Lake Wild by Terry Lynn Johnson – realistic, beavers and evnironmentalism
📗 Long Lost by Jacqueline West – mystery/supernatural, funky cover
👻 Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland – historical/supernatural, first middle grade by Ireland (added to my TBR in Nov 2018!)
🏳️🌈 Both Can Be True by Jules Machias – realistic, genderfluid protagonist
🧜🏾♀️ Josephine Against the Sea – fantasy, Caribbean mythology, comp’d to The Jumbies
👻 Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko – horror, comp’d to Small Spaces and Nightbooks
🌊 Along the Saltwise Sea by Deborah A. Baker – fantasy, Middlegame companion novel
Have you read any of these books?
What 2021 release were you looking forward to but haven’t read yet?
If you’ve written a post this year about the books you’ve left unread, drop a link in the comments.
I read one book, I am currently reading 2, and there is 1 that’s on my immediate TBR. And, that’s just based on your list! Let’s face it, this is why our TBR piles keep growing! There is never enough time to read ALL of the books that are released within a calendar year. But, you have may excellent selections!
Glad to hear that! I hope you are enjoying those four books 😀 I’ll keep an eye out for your thoughts.
This is a great way to revisit books on your TBR! It’s about that time that I take a serious look at my Goodreads shelves and do a mass unshelving so maybe this will be a good way to think through each one
Thanks very much! I used to go through my TBR shelf around the end of every year – tis the season 🙂
I love this idea so much, Jenna! I have a draft that says something to the effect of “I wish I read these arcs but gotta boost” haha
I’ve read and love For the Wolf — read it!!!
Thank-you! I’ll keep an eye out for that post if it makes it out of your drafts ;P Glad to hear that about For the Wolf – I’ve heard mixed things so I’m curious to see how I’ll enjoy it.
My list would be longer than 21 books, lol. I’m sad I haven’t read Skyward Inn yet.
I reread the Goodreads description for Skyward Inn and now my interest is re-piqued, haha, I might put it on hold right now…
I am working on a similar post right now. There are so many books I’ve missed out on this year. She Who Became the Sun is at the top of my list. I’m trying to decide if I should go with a physical copy or the audiobook from the library. The Mirror Season is one of my most memorable reads this year.
It will probably be some time before I get to She Who Became the Sun, as I’m generally not keen on long books or series… but it does sound like an interesting read! I don’t listen to audiobooks – do you have a preference for physical vs audio related to how long a book is? The Mirror Season I should hopefully pick up sooner than later…
That’s one of the reasons I’m torn between physical and audio for She Who Became the Sun. The longest audiobook I’ve done was 12 hours. This one is 15! Twelve is probably my limit. I get antsy if I am not moving on to another book after a certain amount of days.
I’m so with you on all of these pretty much. Especially She Who Became the Sun!~