Top 10 Tuesday: 2024 part 1

January 9: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

2024 is going to be amazing ❤️

1

The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James

• Expected publication January 23, 2024
• 272 pages, Kindle Edition
• Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Western

…  follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generation in the making.
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. …
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. …

goodreads

Mexico, western, AND magical realism – sign me up!

2

Baby X by Kira Peikoff

• Expected publication March 5, 2024
• 336 pages, Kindle Edition
• SciFi, Thriller, Mystery

When any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder–or the craziest stalker …
Famous singer Trace Thorne is tired of being targeted by the Vault, a black market site devoted to stealing DNA. Sick of paying ransom money for his own cell matter, he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety.  
Ember will do anything she can to protect her clients. She knows all the Vault’s tricks–discarded tissues, used straws, lipstick tubes–and has prevented countless DNA thefts. Working for Thorne, her focus becomes split when she begins to fall for him, but she knows she hasn’t let anything slip–love or not, his DNA is safe. But then she and Thorne are confronted by a pregnant woman, Quinn, who claims that Thorne is the father of her baby, and all bets are off. 

goodreads

I am thankfully not a celebrity – this has got to be a concern for future celebrities, though.

3

Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa

• Expected publication February 20, 2024
• 400 pages, Kindle Edition
• Horror, Gothic, Mystery

…  late 19th century Sri Lanka where the daughter of a traditional demon-priest—relentlessly bullied by peers and accused of witchcraft herself—tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been terrorizing her coastal village.
Lush, otherworldly, and recalling horror classics like Carrie and The Exorcist , Island Witch is a deliciously creepy and darkly feminist tale about the horrors of moral panic, the violent space between girlhood and adulthood, and what happens when female rage is finally unleashed.

goodreads

❤️”… what happens when female rage is finally unleashed.” ❤️

4

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

• Expected publication March 19, 2024
• 240 pages, Kindle Edition
• SciFi, Women, Literary

Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard.
She’s learning, too.

goodreads

Annie Bot is possibly the one I want most this spring. If my local library does not carry it by the time my birthday rolls around in May, it will be at the top of my Wish List.

5

The Women by Kristin Hannah

• Expected publication February 6, 2024
• 480 pages, Kindle Edition
• Historical Fiction, Women, Vietnam War

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

goodreads

6

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

• Expected publication May 14, 2024
• 384 pages, Kindle Edition
• Horror, Gothic, Mystery

Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the only good thing in Roos’ life, which is filled with sordid backroom séances organized by her mother. That is, until wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop attends one of these séances and asks Roos to come live with her at the crumbling estate she inherited upon the death of her husband. The manor is unsettling, but the attraction between Roos and Agnes is palpable. So how does someone end up dead?

goodreads

I just love the title and the book cover.

7

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

• Expected publication February 27, 2024
• 336 pages, Kindle Edition
• Historical Fiction, Native Americans, Literary

… traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Redfeather’s shooting in There There.
Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion Prison Castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity.
Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together after the shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. From the moment he awakens in his hospital bed, Orvil begins compulsively googling school shootings on YouTube. He also becomes emotionally reliant on the prescription medications meant to ease his physical trauma. His younger brother Lony, suffering from PTSD, is struggling to make sense of the carnage he witnessed …

goodreads

I read There There and feel emotionally obligated to continue the journey forwards and backwards.

8

James by Percival Everett

• Expected publication March 19, 2024
• 320 pages, Kindle Edition
• Historical Fiction, Retelling, Literary

… reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. 
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. 

goodreads

It is about time that James (aka Jim) got to tell his story.

9

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina

• Expected publication April 16, 2024
• 352 pages, Kindle Edition
• Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks.
All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on—just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her—things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down.
After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death.

goodreads

10

The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez

• Expected publication March 5, 2024
• 336 pages, Kindle Edition
• Historical Fiction, Literary, Panama Canal

It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built. For Francisco, a local fisherman who resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country, nothing is more upsetting than the decision of his son, Omar, to work as a digger in the excavation zone.
Ada Bunting is a bold sixteen-year-old from Barbados who arrives in Panama as a stowaway alongside thousands of other West Indians seeking work. Alone and with no resources, she is determined to find a job that will earn enough money for her ailing sister’s surgery. 
John Oswald has dedicated his life to scientific research and has journeyed to Panama in single-minded pursuit of one goal: eliminating malaria. But now, his wife, Marian, has fallen ill herself, …

goodreads

Thoughts