Another month, another opportunity to ruin your TBRs! Welcome to my list of April 2022 Anticipated Reads (and sorry for missing March this year – would you like a ‘Here’s what you may have missed in April” post?). It was a little difficult to narrow it down to these 13 but such is the journey I embark upon to highlight new books.
Also, beware of April 5th as there are Too Many Good Books coming out. Here are 12 books I definitely think you should check out… what new releases are you excited to get your hands on?

📝 Related: How I Stay on Top of New Releases – Edelweiss 2.0 Guide
Think of the Reader Voracious Anticipated Reads as a list of noteworthy books coming up for publication. These posts focus on books from my preferred genres (fantasy, science fiction, mystery/thriller in YA & adult) but are by no means a representation of everything being published. There’s no way I will be able to get to all of these books personally, but I think my readers would be interested in them so I want to share and boost.




Books Releasing on April 5, 2022
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Dreams Bigger than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders
Publisher: Tor Teen • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Science Fiction • Pages: 320




They’ll do anything to be the people they were meant to be — even journey into the heart of evil.
Rachael Townsend is the first artist ever to leave Earth and journey out into the galaxy — but after an encounter with an alien artifact, she can’t make art at all. Elza Monteiro is determined to be the first human to venture inside the Palace of Scented Tears and compete for the chance to become a princess — except that inside the palace, she finds the last person she ever wanted to see again. Tina Mains is studying at the Royal Space Academy with her friends, but she’s not the badass space hero everyone was expecting. Soon Rachael is journeying into a dark void, Elza is on a deadly spy mission, and Tina is facing an impossible choice that could change all her friends lives forever.
Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Action Adventure • Pages: 400
StoryGraph Goodreads Preorder Incentive




“Utterly absorbing, and packed with heart, action, and questions that lingered long past the final page. I read it in a single day.”–Amie Kaufman, author of the Aurora Cycle and the Elementals trilogy
The year is 2072. Soon a volcanic eruption will trigger catastrophic devastation, and the only way out is up.
While the world’s leaders, scientists, and engineers oversee the frantic production of a space fleet meant to save humankind, their children are brought in for a weekend of touring the Lazarus, a high-tech prototype spaceship. But when the apocalypse arrives months ahead of schedule, First Daughter Leigh Chen and a handful of teens from the tour are the only ones to escape the planet. This is the new world: a starship loaded with a catalog of human artifacts, a frozen menagerie of animal DNA, and fifty-three terrified survivors. From the panic arises a coalition of leaders, spearheaded by the pilot’s enigmatic daughter, Eli, who takes the wheel in their hunt for a habitable planet. But as isolation presses in, their uneasy peace begins to fracture. The struggle for control will mean the difference between survival and oblivion, and Leigh must decide whether to stand on the side of the mission or of her own humanity.
With aching poignancy and tense, heart-in-your-mouth action, this enthralling saga will stay with readers long after the final page.
Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor
Publisher: Razorbill • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Fantasy • Pages: 400
StoryGraph Goodreads Preorder Incentive Read an Excerpt




Decadent and darkly enchanting, this lavish YA fantasy debut follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique.
All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.
The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.
With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.
Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk
Publisher: Versify • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Contemporary • Pages: 288




Two girls. One wild and reckless day. Years of tumultuous history unspooling like a thin, fraying string in the hours after they set a fire.
They were best friends. Until they became more. Their affections grew. Until the blurry lines became dangerous.
Over the course of a single day, the depth of their past, the confusion of their present, and the unpredictability of their future is revealed. And the girls will learn that hearts, like flames, aren’t so easily tamed.
It starts with a fire.
How will it end?
Very Bad People by Kit Frick
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Mystery • Pages: 416
StoryGraph Goodreads Read an Excerpt




Six years ago, Calliope Bolan’s mother drove the family van into a lake with her three daughters inside. The girls escaped, but their mother drowned, and the truth behind the “accident” remains a mystery Calliope is determined to solve. Now sixteen, she transfers to Tipton Academy, the same elite boarding school her mother once attended. Tipton promises a peek into the past and a host of new opportunities—including a coveted invitation to join Haunt and Rail, an exclusive secret society that looms over campus like a legend.
Calliope accepts, stepping into the exhilarating world of the “ghosts,” a society of revolutionaries fighting for social justice. But when Haunt and Rail commits to exposing a dangerous person on campus, it becomes clear that some ghosts define justice differently than others.
As the society’s tactics escalate, Calliope uncovers a possible link between Haunt and Rail and her mother’s deadly crash. Now, she must question what lengths the society might go to in order to see a victory—and if the secret behind her mother’s death could be buried here at Tipton.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Publisher: Tiny Reparations Books • Age Range: Adult • Genre: Contemporary • Pages: 384




History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now.
Will Chen plans to steal them back.
A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago.
His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they’ve cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down.
Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they’ve dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted attempt to take back what colonialism has stolen.
Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary critique of the lingering effects of colonialism.
Story Locale:Southern California, China, New York, Norway




Books Releasing on April 12, 2022
Gone Dark by Amanda Panitch
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Action & Adventure • Pages: 352




When seventeen-year-old Zara escaped her father’s backwoods survivalist compound five years ago, she traded crossbows and skinning hides for electricity and video games…and tried to forget the tragedy that drove her away.
Until a malware attack on the United States electrical grids cuts off the entire country’s power.
In the wake of the disaster and the chaos that ensues, Zara is forced to call upon skills she thought she’d never use again—and her best bet to survive is to go back to the home she left behind. Drawing upon a resilience she didn’t know she had, Zara leads a growing group of friends on an epic journey across a crumbling country back to her father’s compound, where their only hope for salvation lies.
But with every step she takes, Zara wonders if she truly has what it takes to face her father and the secrets of her past, or if she’d be better off hiding in the dark.
You Should Have Seen This Coming by Sani Michelle
Publisher: Swoon Reads • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Thriller • Pages: 368




Hayden sees the past. Just touching an object will occasionally give her flashes of the previous owner’s memories. And if that memory happens to be a deeply hidden secret, then she has no problem making you pay for your crime, in cash.
Cassie sees the future, and it sucks. She will randomly wake up from dreams filled with disasters that she feels compelled to stop, and she would really like to stop watching her boyfriend fall in love with someone else!
But when Cassie tries to warn Hayden that her latest blackmailing scheme is a trap, she knows she’s really in trouble. All her visions warn her of the upcoming kidnapping, but nothing she does stops it. And it’s all Hayden’s fault!
Can Hayden’s gift help her find Cassie before it’s too late?




Books Releasing on April 19, 2022
Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Epic Fantasy • Pages: 416




Music runs in Sofi’s blood.
Her father is a Musik, one of only five musicians in the country licensed to compose and perform original songs. In the kingdom of Aell, where winter is endless and magic is accessible to all, there are strict anti-magic laws ensuring music remains the last untouched art.
Sofi has spent her entire life training to inherit her father’s title. But on the day of the auditions, she is presented with unexpected competition in the form of Lara, a girl who has never before played the lute. Yet somehow, to Sofi’s horror, Lara puts on a performance that thoroughly enchants the judges.
Almost like magic.
The same day Lara wins the title of Musik, Sofi’s father dies, and a grieving Sofi sets out to prove Lara is using illegal magic in her performances. But the more time she spends with Lara, the more Sofi begins to doubt everything she knows about her family, her music, and the girl she thought was her enemy.
As Sofi works to reclaim her rightful place as a Musik, she is forced to face the dark secrets of her past and the magic she was trained to avoid—all while trying not to fall for the girl who stole her future.
Spear by Nicola Griffith
Publisher: Tordotcom • Age Range: Adult • Genre: Fantasy • Pages: 192
StoryGraph Goodreads Read an Excerpt




She left all she knew to find who she could be . . .
She grows up in the wild wood, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake drift to her on the spring breeze, scented with promise. And when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she decides her future lies at his court. So, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and sets out on her bony gelding for Caer Leon.
With her stolen hunting spear and mended armour, she is an unlikely hero, not a chosen one, but one who forges her own bright path. Aflame with determination, she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust and fights to death. On her adventures, she will steal the hearts of beautiful women, fight warriors and sorcerers, and make a place to call home.
The legendary author of Hild returns with an unforgettable hero and a queer Arthurian masterpiece for the modern era. Nicola Griffith’s Spear is a spellbinding vision of the Camelot we’ve longed for, a Camelot that belongs to us all.




Books Releasing on April 26, 2022
Dig Two Graves by Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion • Age Range: Young Adult • Genre: Thriller • Pages: 352




I did my part, BFF. Now it’s your turn.
Seventeen-year-old film noir fan Neve Lanier is a girl who just wants to be seen, but doesn’t really fit in anywhere. When Neve is betrayed by her best friend, Yasmin, at the end of the school year, she heads off to a girl’s empowerment camp feeling like no one will ever love her again. So when she grabs the attention of the beautiful, charismatic Diane, she falls right under her spell, and may accidentally promise to murder Diane’s predatory step-brother, Javier, in exchange for Diane murdering Yasmin. But that was just a joke…right?
Wrong. When Yasmin turns up dead, Diane comes calling, attempting to blackmail Neve into murdering Javier. Stalling for time, Neve pretends to go along with Diane’s plan until she can find a way out that doesn’t involve homicide. But as she gets to know Javier – and falls for him – she realizes that everything Diane told her is a lie. Even worse, she discovers that Yasmin probably wasn’t Diane’s first victim. And unless Neve can stop her, she won’t be the last.
In this twisted game of cat and mouse, the reader never quite knows who’s telling the truth, who’s playing games, and who is going to end up dead.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Tor Books • Age Range: Adult • Genre: Fantasy • Pages: 256




Marra never wanted to be a hero.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate—and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.
Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
—build a dog of bones
—sew a cloak of nettles
—capture moonlight in a jar
But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.
Hero or not—now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar—Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.




Bookshop List
The publishing industry is always focused on the new and shiny releases, typically ceasing promotion within a week of the book birthday. I hope that this list brought some new books to your attention and I hope you are able to support the ones you’re interested in!
Let’s Chat!
Which books coming out this April are you excited about? What have you read and would recommend? Let’s talk in the comments!




I really want to read Nettle and Bone!
ME TOO, so badly!!!
I’m so excited for Spear and Portrait of a Thief!
Ugh me too, I really would love it if my copy would arrive so I can read it – I have so much fomo lol
We’re excited for Very Bad people.
Ahhh, it was such an interesting read – I hope you enjoy it when you pick it up!
I’m really excited for Hotel Magnifique and Portrait of A Thief!
Me too, me too! I need to order a copy of Hotel Magnifique — apparently I only THOUGHT ABOUT preorder it, oops
So many good books coming out!! 🥰 I’m especially excited for Alone Out Here and Very Bad People! Another April release I’m excited for is Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf 😊
I feel like we are going to be bombarded with more and more amazing book releases this summer, it’s gonna be WILD! And how did I miss that Hanna Alkaf had an upcoming release?!?!!?
Hotel Le Magnifique is one I can’t wait to read!
Neither can I – the library list is so long I might have to buy my own copy instead lol
ooh kit frick’s new book looks so interesting! i’ve been enjoying ya thrillers/mysteries but i still haven’t read a kit frick book yet… need to rectify that!
MAY YOU NEED TO READ IT! I’ve really enjoyed Kit’s books so far and I think this is such a great time of year for thrillers/mysteries.
I read and mostly enjoyed Very Bad People, although I had a few issues with plotting. Most of the others on your list were new to me, so thank you for sharing them! Happy reading in April. <3
I also mostly enjoyed Very Bad People! 🎉 Happy reading, Dedra, and thanks for stopping by!
April 5th really did have some dangerous book releases! Wen Spencer’s Harbinger also released on that day. It’s been a highly anticipated book of mine for a VERY long time — that’s the latest in Spencer’s Elfhome series (which started with Tinker).
I love/hate when a certain day has like ALL THE BOOKS! It’s very exciting but also overwhelming??? Oooh, going to have to look at Harbinger/the Elfhome series.