Most Eagerly Anticipated YA Debut Novels of 2016

I decided to try a weekly book meme (or tag type thing) held by a blog called The Broke and the Bookish, which is called Top Ten Tuesdays. This Tuesday is the debut novels of 2016 that I'm most looking forward to reading when they come out. Mine will be YA literature, because that's mostly what I read - the full list can be read on my Goodreads shelf here because there were way more than ten books that I thought sounded interesting and I didn't want this post to go on forever. So, in no specific order, here are my ten favourites (UK release dates):

LEARNING TO SWEAR IN AMERICA - Katie Kennedy (July 2016)

When an asteroid is on track to collide directly with the Earth, Yuri, a 17 year old Russian physics prodigy, is called to NASA to help prevent what is essentially the end of the world. But he has trouble making the older physicists listen to him - until he meets Dovie, a normal teenager who is completely unaware of the impending doom, and realises what it means to save the world and a life worth living. 

This is kind of exciting for me, because it apparently has bits of physics and antimatter stuff in it, and that's what I'm currently spending my days learning about. Yuri sounds like a great character - I can't imagine how hard it would be to try to work in a different country with older people who don't respect your input - and I think it'll be really interesting to see what the author does with it all. 

A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE - Brittany Cavallaro (March 2016)

This is sort of a Sherlock Holmes re-telling; the two main protagonists (Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson, funnily enough) are the descendants of the original Holmes and Watson. When their Connecticut boarding school witnesses a murder, and the pair become the primary suspects, they team up to solve the mystery, just like their predecessors. 

As someone who has read all of the original Sherlock Holmes books and multiple re-tellings or spin-offs (and watched the BBC drama Sherlock, which is great), I'm actually really excited to see what Cavallaro does with the story. I LOVE the fact that 'Sherlock' is now a female, 'Charlotte', just because swapping the gender of such an iconic character is a really intriguing idea. So definitely one that I'm looking forward to.

THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE - Heidi Heilig (March 2016)

As long as he has a map, Nix's father can sail anywhere. Together, they travel across continents, centuries and into places of myth and legend. But when he discovers a map to 1868 Honolulu, before Nix's mother died in childbirth, he puts Nix's entire future in jeopardy. In helping her father regain the love of his life, Nix may lose her own.

First off, can we just talk about how cool this sounds? I mean, a magical time/space travelling pirate ship? That is about the best thing I've ever heard of. I have always had a soft spot for time travelling adventure stories, especially ones with a touch of romance, so this honestly sounds great to me. 

THE READER - Traci Chee (September 2016)

In a world where reading is forbidden, and books are a rarity, Sefia survives with her aunt in the wilderness after her father's murder. Following the disappearance of her aunt, she discovers one of the few precious books in an illiterate society, and sets out with a mysterious stranger to find out the truth behind her father's death and her aunt's kidnapping.

This is recommended for fans of Inkheart, which was one of my favourite book series growing up. And on top of the whole 'reading is forbidden' thing, the synopsis for it actually says 'with overlapping stories of swashbuckling pirates and merciless assassins', which wow. Just wow.  

DON'T GET CAUGHT - Kurt Dinan (April 2016)

Max is tired of slipping under the radar, and when an invitation to join the infamously secretive prank-pulling Chaos Club turns out to be just that, a prank, he decides he's had enough. With his own heist team, he sets out to beat the Chaos Club at their own game.

I actually really like heist stories, and that's part of what I enjoyed so much about The Disreputable History, hearing about all the stunts they pulled off, so an entire book of it sounds great to me - especially since I feel like everyone has felt unnoticed at some stage in their life, so Max would be someone we could all relate too. 

JERKBAIT - Mia Siegert (May 2016)

When Tristan's twin Robbie tries to commit suicide, Tristan is forced to share a room with him to stop him hurting himself again. As he quickly realises that aside from being an NHL prospect, Robbie is dealing with the pressure of being a closeted gay teen in the professional sports world. When Robbie suggests they run away with 'Jimmy2416', a guy he has been talking to online for months, Tristan must decide whether to betray his trust and tell his parents, or follow on a journey that puts their lives in jeopardy.

So I may have been going through a bit of an LGBT book phase at the moment, and I know homophobia in professional sports is a really big issue, so I actually just think it'll be really interesting to see how the author tackles this.     

THESE VICIOUS MASKS - Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas (February 2016)

Set in Victorian London, 1882 - Evelyn is bored of society's expectations. When her sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she travels to London with the dashing Mr Kent to find her. But another man, Sebastian Braddock, is also searching for Rose, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. When Evelyn discovers that his tales of extraordinary people are the truth, she realises that her sister is in more danger than she thought. 

Any book that claims to be 'Jane Austen meets X-Men' has to be worth a read, doesn't it? Also I found this quote: "Please wait for me, I'll be home shortly. Feel free to save Robert's life if you're bored" and it reminds me so much of the witty type of humour that made me fall in love with The Mortal Instruments, so I really can't miss out on this. 

LOVE, LIES AND SPIES - Cindy Anstey (April 2016)


Juliana Telford is not an average 19^th century lady - more interested in researching ladybirds than dresses and dances, she is determined not to become attached to anyone during her season in London. Fortunately, Spencer Northam is also more concerned with his first mission as a spy for the War Office than with meeting ladies. The two agree to pretend to fall for each other so both can finally focus on their work ... until Spencer is tasked with spying on Juliana's companions, and Juliana herself.

I appear to be going through a historical-setting, Jane-Austen-style phase as well as the aforementioned LGBT one, but doesn't this sound good? It has 19^th century London, romance (or faux-romance, even), and a little bit of spy drama thrown in there for good measure. And any woman who is more focused on research than getting married is brilliant in my eyes.

WHERE FUTURES END - Parker Peevyhouse (February 2016)

Five people, divided by time, will determine the fate of our entire world. This book tells the story of two worlds across five times - one of which is hell bent on destroying itself, and the other which may just be its saviour. 

This is actually a book made up of five novellas, each of them focusing on a different teen and moving a little bit further forward into the future, but which all link together at the end. All of the stories seem to have a link to the effect of social media on society, which would be interesting to read about. I'm just guessing all of this from the synopsis, but I actually just think this sounds like a really different story from anything I've read before. 


TELL ME THREE THINGS - Julie Buxbaum (April 2016)

Everything about Jessie is wrong - that's what it feels like when she's forced to move across the country to her new, intimidating prep school in LA. Struggling to cope with the death of her mother and her father's new family, she accepts an offer of help from the anonymous Somebody/Nobody, or SN, to learn to navigate her new school. SN quickly becomes her confidant and closest ally, and she longs to meet him - but are some mysteries better left unsolved?

'Will appeal to fans of E.Lockhart'. Given how much I loved The Disreputable History (see here) and We Were Liars, I feel like I'm obliged to at least try this one. I've always the loved the whole 'trying to figure out who an anonymous person is' storyline, so that gives it some massive plus points in my mind ... And then there are cute waffle hearts on the cover. So why not?

This ended up way longer than I expected, so I applaud you if you made it all the way down to the bottom, and feel free to comment which books you're looking forward to reading next year!