Book Releases I Am Looking Forward To Reading – June 2019 #bookblogger #reviews #amreading #reading #amwriting #writing #mustread #blog #books #bookblog #wishlist #bookreview #toberead #upcomingreleases #bookmail #bookhaul #booknerd

Welcome to yet another upcoming reads post! June kicks off an almost endless supply of amazing books coming to us in 2019. Until about September when it starts cooling down until Christmas we are facing an exponentially high amount of TBR worthy read and this list is a testament to that fact. We have three hugely popular trilogies coming to an end this month and, though I am unbelievably excited to read them all, I am not ready for them to finish! This is another big list (17 books) and there is a good variety here. The non-fiction for 2019 is beginning to pick up after a slow start and I am starting to formulate my plans for Non-Fiction November which is cool because I want a bigger and better event this year! June 2019 is topping up my TBR with some seriously awesome reads and I am ready for anything!

As usual, please enjoy the list and let me know any of the following: Are any of these books on your radar? Have you been lucky enough to read any of these already? Is there a particular book that you are looking forward to in June? How do you think 2019 is shaping up for books so far?

Book Releases I Am Looking Forward To Reading – June 2019

Published by: Little, Brown

Released: 06/06/19

Synopsis: At the age of eighty-five my grandfather Napoleon decided he needed to try something new . . . 

Everything starts to go south when Napoleon leaves his wife. An eighty-five-year-old former boxer with a restless, youthful spirit, Napoleon decides to say to hell with it all! He wants a new life. With his ten-year-old grandson Leonard Sunshine, he embarks on a moving adventure, a rebellion against everything that takes the fun out of life. Above all, Leonard is determined to spare his grandfather the fate of the elderly – his final years spent exiled in a retirement home.

The chaotic duo adopt a dog, drive a fake taxi, escape to the seaside, sabotage door-to-door salesmen and plot to kidnap a famous radio star.

From the heart of Paris to the coast of Normandy, The Last Adventure of Napoleon Sunshine is a moving, life-affirming and melancholy tale of new beginnings and the importance of family.

My Thoughts: I love a road trip with a twist! Rebellion! Freedom! Risk! I don’t read many French authors so I am intrigued about Pascal Ruter’s perspective on life, adventure and spirit. I hope this takes me to some interesting places.

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Published by: Penguin

Released: 06/06/19

Synopsis: A riotously satirical road trip through modern America from the brilliant author of Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan

Barry Cohen, master of the universe, has just had a very public meltdown involving a dinner party, an insider trading investigation and a $30,000 bottle of Japanese whisky. So he flees New York City, leaving behind his beautiful young wife and son, but remembering to bring his six favourite designer watches. Zig-zagging south through Trump’s America on a Greyhound Bus pilgrimmage he is singularly unprepared for, Barry heads to Texas – to find his old college girlfriend and, with her, a shot at a second chance…

Lake Success marries the trademark Shteyngart wit with an astonishing emotional resonance, capturing the vivid eccentricity and contradictions of America right now while speaking to the universal human experience of love, belonging, and the pursuit of happiness.

My Thoughts: Another road trip novel so soon? I have added this to my list because it is so far from anything I have read in the past few years and that catches my attention. I did think the plot sounded rather shallow but I couldn’t resist emotional resonance, vivid eccentricity and the pursuit of happiness. I wonder if this will be a feel good novel or more of a shocking reality check. Let’s see!

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Published by: Chatto & Windus

Released: 06/06/19

Synopsis: ‘Our greatest gift to one another is this: each woman here has been swept out by a riptide, pulled far from the current of normal motherhood. Apart and all together in this space, our odd craft, we are drawn back into the folds of the unremarkable.’

After her identical twin girls are born ten weeks prematurely, Francesca Segal finds herself sitting vigil in the ‘mother ship’ of neonatal intensive care, all romantic expectations of new parenthood obliterated. Her gripping diary of those months combines the tenderness of a love poem with the compulsive pace of a thriller. As each day brings a fresh challenge for her and her babies, Francesca makes a temporary life among a band of mothers who are vivid, fearless, and inspiring, taking care not only of their children but of one another.

MOTHER SHIP is an intimate, raucous, sublime and electrifying memoir. It is a hymn to the sustaining power of women’s friendships, and a loving celebration of the two small girls – and their mother – who defy the odds.

My Thoughts: I thought This Is Going To Hurt was a huge step in the right direction for improving our views towards those around us. Francesca Segal is taking that spirit and sharing her own experience in a deeply meaningful way. It’s these experiences that empower and educate others in life’s hardships. I hope it encourages more people to come forward and share their stories as it is often the struggles that bring us together and walk in each others shoes.

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Published by: Canongate

Released: 06/06/19

Synopsis: After the Sickness has killed off her parents, and the bombs have fallen on the last safe cities, Monster emerges from the Arctic vault which has kept her alive. When she washes up on the coast of Scotland, everyone she knows is dead, and she believes she is alone in an empty world.

Monster begins the long walk south, scavenging and learning the contours of this familiar land made new. Slowly, piece by piece, she begins to rebuild a life. Until, one day, she finds a girl: another survivor, feral, and ready to be taught all that Monster knows. But the lessons the girl learns are not always those Monster means to teach …

Inspired by Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein, My Name Is Monster is a novel about power, about the things that society leaves imprinted on us when the rules no longer apply, and about the strength and the danger of a mother’s love.

My Thoughts: I recently finished The Girl In Red by Christina Henry and it has left me with an appetite for more post-apocalyptic travels with substance and important themes. My Name Is Monster sounds unique yet familiar with strong influences. That is my sweet spot for choosing a new read!

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Published by: Collins

Released: 13/06/19

Synopsis: Life is stressful as f*ck. But it doesn’t have to be.

My Thoughts: This should be good!

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Published by: Harper Perennial

Released: 13/06/19

Synopsis: From bestselling comic-book franchise writer Charles Soule comes a clever and witty first novel of a twentysomething New Yorker who wakes up one morning with the power to predict the future—perfect for fans of Joe Hill and Brad Meltzer, or books like This Book Is Full of Spiders and Welcome to Night Vale

Will Dando is your ordinary Brooklyn guy: he’s handsome, smart, dabbles in music (he has a band) and technology. One day he wakes from a dream in which he’s been given 108 specific predictions for the future—about everything from crop futures, to medical diagnoses, to sports scores. Along with his best friends Hamza and his wife Miko, Dando refashions himself The Oracle, and dispenses these predictions to the highest bidder (i.e. hedge funds, politicians) and/or on his Web site. The three get very very rich very, very fast—but then realize that they need to turn their good fortune into good works for the world. But do-gooding is not so easy—especially when lots of other people, including members of the government and a very famous televangelist, want in on Will’s special talent. Like a comic book without the comics, The Oracle Year has a rollicking, colorful style as it follows our hero from New York to Washington to the Middle East as Will and Co. try to make the world a better place. Along the way, they meet a cast of wacky and nefarious characters—and a few good people, too, like the journalist Will finally decides to unburden himself to. Part thriller, part political comedy, part love story, The Oracle Year is one man’s exuberant take on the millenial view of the world.

My Thoughts: Comics? Joe Hill? This Book Is Full Of Spiders? Welcome To Night Vale? This ticks all my bookish boxes! The Oracle is probably the most ambitious debut novel I have seen in a long time and I am ready for anything. I hope it’s as awesome as it sounds!

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Published by: Hodder & Stoughton

Released: 13/06/19

Synopsis: Some family secrets demand to be told . . . 

Connie lost her words at the age of five, the day she witnessed her mother and father’s untimely death.

Since then she has been all but mute, only being able to choke out a few select words. Now, years on, Connie’s husband is on his deathbed and all she can do is quietly sit by his side.

But there are so many dreadful secrets locked up in Connie’s silent prison. And time is running out to set them free…

My Thoughts: I was taken aback by the implications of this blurb and how simple yet sinister the narrative sounds. As people probably know by now I love books that stand out from the crowd and Don’t Say A Word fits that bill perfectly. I wonder what Connie is hiding?

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Published by: W&N

Released: 15/06/19

Synopsis: “She hears her own thick voice deep inside her ears when she says, ‘I need to know where I am.’ 
The man stands there, tall and narrow, hand still on the doorknob, surprised. 
He says, almost in sympathy, ‘Oh, sweetie. You need to know what you are.’”

Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a broken-down property in the middle of a desert.
Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be there with eight other girls, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious jailers.
Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: in each girl’s past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man.
They pray for rescue but as the hours turn into days and the days into weeks and months, it becomes clear only the girls can rescue themselves.

My Thoughts: Charlotte Wood seems to write pretty up front novels. This sounds incredibly dark and twisted indeed. I am interested in experiencing CW’s own combination horror and feminism in a seemingly hopeless scenario. The Natural Way Of Things sounds like a boundary breaking read. This is going to be an interesting review to write.

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Published by: Constable

Released: 20/06/19

Synopsis: After The Puppet Show, a new storm is coming . . .

Jared Keaton, chef to the stars. Charming. Charismatic. Psychopath . . . He’s currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his daughter, Elizabeth. Her body was never found and Keaton was convicted largely on the testimony of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.

So when a young woman staggers into a remote police station with irrefutable evidence that she is Elizabeth Keaton, Poe finds himself on the wrong end of an investigation, one that could cost him much more than his career.

Helped by the only person he trusts, the brilliant but socially awkward Tilly Bradshaw, Poe races to answer the only question that matters: how can someone be both dead and alive at the same time?

And then Elizabeth goes missing again – and all paths of investigation lead back to Poe.

My Thoughts: I have heard great things about M. W. Craven. Black Summer has that paradoxical and mysterious nature that makes the thriller genre so addictive. I just need to read The Puppet Show first…

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Published by: Orbit

Released: 23/07/19

Synopsis: A huge alien object has entered the solar system and is now poised above the Earth. It has made no attempt to communicate.

Out of time and options, NASA turns to its last living astronaut – Commander Sally Jansen, who must lead a team of raw recruits on a mission to make First Contact.

But as the object reveals its secrets, Jansen and her crew find themselves in a desperate struggle for survival.

My Thoughts: (I thought this was June but its actually July) Having recently read No Way by Simon Morden again recently, I am in the mood for more sci-fi survival thrillers. The Last Astronaut should do nicely.

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Published by: Titan Books

Released: 25/06/19

Synopsis: There exists a secret and highly illegal trade in mythological creatures and their artifacts. Certain individuals pay fortunes for a sliver of a satyr’s hoof, a gryphon’s claw, a basilisk’s scale, or an angel’s wing. Embroiled in the hidden world of the Relics, creatures known as the Kin, Angela Gough is now on the run in the United States.

Forty years ago the town of Longford was the site of a deadly disease outbreak that wiped out the entire population. The infection was contained, the town isolated, and the valley in which it sits flooded and turned into a reservoir. The truth—that the outbreak was intentional, and not every resident of Longford died—disappeared beneath the waves.

Now the town is revealed again. The Kin have an interest in the ruins, and soon the fairy Grace and the Nephilim leader Mallian are also drawn to them. The infection has risen from beneath silent waters, and this forgotten town becomes the focus of the looming battle between humankind and the Kin.

My Thoughts: Tim Lebbon has done a remarkable job with his Relics series so far and I can imagine that he has gone bigger and better for his last instalment. The end of The Folded Land was pretty tense so The Edge should take the narrative into overdrive. TL’s blend of myth, legend and horror is phenomenal. Give it a go if you haven’t already!

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Published by: Gollancz

Released: 27/06/19

Synopsis: Crowfall is a gritty epic fantasy for fans of Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch and Daniel Polansky.

‘Dark, twisty and excellent . . . Grimdark with heart’ Mark Lawrence

A sorcerous cataclysm has hit the Range, the final defensive line between the Republic and the immortal Deep Kings.

Tormenting red rains sweep the land, new monstrosities feed on fear in the darkness, and the power of the Nameless, the gods who protect the Republic, lies broken. The Blackwing captains who serve them are being picked off one by one, and even immortals have learned what it means to die. Meanwhile the Deep Kings have only grown stronger, and are poised to deliver a blow that will finally end the war.

Ryhalt Galharrow stands apart from it all.

He has been deeper into the wasteland known as the Misery than ever before. It has grown within him – changed him – but all power comes with a price, and now the ghosts of his past, formerly confined to the Misery, walk with him everywhere.

They will even follow him, and the few surviving Blackwing captains, on one final mission into the darkness.

You think you know Misery? You’ve not seen anything yet . . .

My Thoughts: I can say with very little doubt that Crowfall is probably one of the most anticipated fantasy reads of 2019 and it is well deserved. The Raven’s Mark series is a shining example that there are still many amazing fantasy tales yet to be written and authors like Ed McDonald are leading the charge. I don’t want this series to end but I want Crowfall in my face now!

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Published by: Gollancz

Released: 27/06/19

Synopsis: Lynx and the rest of the Cards are heading south. There’s money in their pockets, beer in their hands and a simple job ahead – sun, sea and not getting shot at much. Throw in the prospect of a bar fight and it’s almost a holiday.

But the volatile Mage Islands are a powder-keg, one just waiting for a spark. A bloody-handed exile perhaps, or the agent of a foreign power preparing for war. Maybe even a bunch of trigger-happy drunks who’ve upset the balance of magic across the Riven Kingdom.

Or all three together, that’d definitely work…

My Thoughts: I need this. I need it now. The God Fragments series is yet another mind-blowing fantasy effort which is populated by a standout cast of characters and environments you can truly lose yourself in. These books have only gotten better over time so in theory Knight Of Stars should be so good that I never have to read another book again. It’s good to have high expectations for a book 😀

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Published by: Penguin

Released: 27/06/19

Synopsis: There are Heroes – and then there are Greek Heroes.

Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes.

In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells these dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales. Join Jason aboard the Argo as he quests for the Golden Fleece. See Atalanta – who was raised by bears – outrun any man before being tricked with golden apples. Witness wily Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx and discover how Bellerophon captures the winged horse Pegasus to help him slay the monster Chimera.

Filled with white-knuckle chases and battles, impossible puzzles and riddles, acts of base cowardice and real bravery, not to mention murders and selfless sacrifices, Heroes is the story of what we mortals are truly capable of – at our worst and our very best.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed reading Mythos alongside Beth from Bibliobeth and I am ready to go back for more compelling legends and myths told in Stephen Fry’s unique voice. His passion for these stories is inspirational, his knowledge of how it all fits together is phenomenal and his cheeky nature adds a dimension to the material that you don’t get in a straightforward re-tellings of these narratives. Heroes has a different focus than Mythos and I am sure Stephen Fry will entice me in once more.

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Published by: Penguin Life

Released: 27/06/19

Synopsis: A Latina English teacher must choose between losing her mother tongue or her profession. A former TV exec, now homeless, discovers that his life-altering despondency comes from a tumour. A fainting teen learns that deep breathing could be the difference between life and death. Is recovery possible?

In a blend of beautiful storytelling and cutting-edge research, world-leading neuroscientist and neurosurgeon Dr Rahul Jandial uncovers the most extreme examples of brain damage, disorders and illnesses. He takes us to a brain bootcamp as he recollects extraordinary patient stories, sharing invaluable advice on maintaining brain health (neurofitness) along the way.

Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon debunks the many myths around the science of the mind, such as sleep being a time of quiet for the brain. It is also a vital resource on the best ways to: boost your memory, control stress and emotions, minimize pain, unleash your creativity, raise smart kids and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

This is a deeply practical and readable book, which will take you on an expedition through the anatomy of the most fascinating – and mysterious – of organs.

My Thoughts: I have been to many ‘brain bootcamps’ and I always seem to have a great time and leave knowing more helpful and insightful information about the capabilities of our minds. I can never get enough on the subjects of neuroscience and psychology as they are the study of what makes us the way we are. Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon looks like it will deliver on this perfectly whilst giving me a few helpful hints about how to function better as a human being which is always good.

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Honourable Mentions

Published by: Robinson

Released: 04/07/19

Synopsis: Even as the popularity of videogames has skyrocketed, a dark cloud continues to hang over them. Many people who play games feel embarrassed to admit as much, and many who don’t worry about the long-term effects of a medium often portrayed as dangerous and corruptive.

Drawing on years of experience working directly with people who play games, clinical psychologist Alexander Kriss steers the discourse away from extreme and factually inaccurate claims around the role of games in addiction, violence and mental illness, instead focusing on the importance of understanding the unique relationship that forms between a game and its player.

Through vivid psychotherapy case illustrations, autobiographical memoir, and a wide range of psychological theory and research, Universal Play lays out an honest and humanistic vision of games, their potentials and risks, and how they can teach us more about who we are and who we could be.

My Thoughts: Universal Play feels like a book that I have been waiting for all this time. I have been a avid gamer for as long as I can remember and I hate the image problem that games still have even in 2019. Alexander Kriss is taking a good look into the psychology behind games and their importance in people’s lives. I personally see games as not only a deeply interactive form of story-telling (Thanks Hideo Kojima) but they have given me focus, determination, creativity and problem solving skills that I easily transfer into my work and home life. I owe a lot to games and I am excited to read these findings.

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Published by: Constable

Released: 04/07/19

Synopsis: Buddhism, love, art and murder – welcome to the world of the Mindful Detective

When a famously narcissistic performance artist is found floating in a tank of formaldehyde at her own private view, suspicion falls on those closest to her . . .

Leading the murder investigation is DI Shanti Joyce, recently transferred from London to Yeovil following the collapse of her marriage and a case that went wrong. She soon concludes that the mystery requires left-field thinking, and when a colleague at the station suggests Vince Caine, aka the Mindful Detective, Shanti tracks him down to his remote cabin on the Undercliff at Lyme Regis.

The pair delve into the artist’s Bohemian circle and discover a hotbed of resentment and jealousy stretching all the way back to her scandalous art school days in Falmouth. But as they soon realise, the murderer is both canny and elusive – someone with a complex, warped motive who will do anything to point them elsewhere.

Has Shanti made the wrong decision enlisting the unconventional and enigmatic Caine? Can the unlikely mix of her down-to-earth pragmatism and his otherworldly intuition really prove a winning combination?

Or will a killer escape justice and leave Shanti’s reputation in tatters?

My Thoughts: The concept of a mindful detective could be amazing or it could be very cheesy indeed. I appreciate mindfulness and I am a avid crime fan but I am intrigued to see how they fit together in a narrative. I see this being quite a charming buddy cop style novel with some edgier realities hidden underneath. If not I can just stare at the gorgeous cover for hours.

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Thank you for coming by to check out my latest book list post! Oh June is going to be such an epic month for me as a bookblogger and I hope to have plenty of reviews, interviews, guest posts and extracts for that I can share with everyone. I hope you enjoyed the list and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! What book are you most looking forward to in June 2019? I love this list as it highlights how well this year is doing for books and how much authors are upping their game! I’m off to start on my mountainous TBR but please come back next month for another (probably bigger) blogger wish list.