Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about and have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released, but not necessarily. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, which was originally hosted at Breaking the Spine.

With the year-end approaching, I wanted to take the next 2 weeks to look at the titles I’m anticipating most in the new year…

January

• Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton [January 7, 2020]
  • A story of Lady Knights and female Princes, the second female-fronted Shakespearean adult fantasy novel from Gratton
• The Broken Heavens by Kameron Hurley [January 14, 2020]
  • The long-awaited final chapter in an epic fantasy saga with an abundance of strong women that does stunning things with gender, roles, and relationships . . . and kiss ass magic
• A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff [January 21, 2020]
  • The first of 4 novels being released over 4 months, featuring an exiled Princess pursuing her destiny
• The Bard’s Blade by Brian D. Anderson [January 28, 2020]
  • The story of a wine maker and her betrothed, forced down their own dangerous paths by a dark prophecy

February

• Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey [February 4, 2020]
  • A near-future pulp tale of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies from the woman who brought man-eating hippos to the Mississippi River
• The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood [February 11, 2020]
  • A debut fantasy about an orc priestess turned wizard’s assassin, complete with orcs, epic quests, powerful women, monsters, and more
• The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave [February 11, 2020]
  • Historical fiction about women in love, set against the backdrop of real-life witch hunts in 17th century Norway
• Sword of Fire by Katharine Kerr [February 18, 2020]
  • The start of a new Deverry trilogy about Guildwoman Alyssa and Lady Dovina, two women who must risk their lives against tyranny and corruption

March

• Docile by K.M. Szpara [March 3, 2020]
  • A science fiction parable about love and sex, wealth and debt, abuse and power that has been described as disturbingly sexy and a dystopian erotica human rights masterpiece
• The Queen’s Bargain by Anne Bishop [March 10, 2020]
  • A long-awaited return to the dark, sensual, powerful, female-dominant world of the Black Jewels saga
• The Fortress by S.A. Jones [March 17, 2020]
  • A society run and populated exclusively by women, and the man who agrees to spend a year as their supplicant in order to save his marriage
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo [March 24, 2020]
  • A feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy with the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama

April

• The Ranger of Marzanna by Jon Skovron [April 21, 2020]
  • A young woman training to be a Ranger of Marzanna, warriors who have protected the land for generations, must journey across Russian-inspired tundra to stop an army of invaders
• The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence [April 21, 2020]
  • A return to the world of Red Sister with another young woman who must fight with everything she has to survive
• Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst [April 21, 2020]
  • A standalone epic fantasy featuring a pair of women who must risk their lives to battle corruption while attempting to become monster racing champions
• Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett [April 21, 2020]
  • The second book in the story of a magical revolution where the only way to fight a god may just be with another god

May

• Goldilocks by Laura Lam [May 5, 2020]
  • The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Martian with an all-female mission to a planet where conditions are just right for human habitation
• If It Bleeds by Stephen King [May 5, 2020]
  • Four new novellas from the master of horror, including Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and If It Bleeds
• Stealing Thunder by Alina Boyden [May 12, 2020]
  • A Crown Prince born with the soul of a woman, who has run away to become one of her dera’s finest dancers and its most profitable thief, embroiled in a dangerous political war
• Queen of the Unwanted by Jenna Glass [May 12, 2020]
  • With the ability to do magic having given women control over their own bodies, they must now learn to rule as women

June

• The Last Druid by Terry Brooks [June 2, 2020]
  • The last and final volume in the the decades-long Shannara series
• The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison [June 23, 2020]
  • In an alternate 1880s London where angels, vampires, and werewolves walk the streets . . . and so does Jack the Ripper
• The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth [June, 2020]
  • Miss Constance Haltwhistle, blue-blooded rogue inventor and firearms dealer, faces off against royal foes who are creating an invisible army to start a global war
• The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu [June, 2020]
  • Not a lot of details yet, but with the first two Dandelion Dynasty novels being 5-star reads, I’m anxious for more

Check back next week for Part Two, covering the 2nd half of the year!