Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2017 Debuts I’m Excited For

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new topic for bloggers to choose and list their top ten. This week’s theme is Top Ten 2017 Debuts I’m Excited For.

There are so many amazing books being released this year, and more than a few on my to-read list are debuts which I am definitely eagerly anticipating. Some of my picks this week have been on my to-read list for ages while others I’ve only just discovered; some I can’t wait to get my hands on while others I’ve received an ARC of and already read, I simply want to feature them this week because they’re beyond amazing books that I think are going to get a lot of love when they’re released.

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Frostblood by Elly Blake
Release Date: 12^th January 2017

This is the first of the debuts I’ve already read, and posted a review for on this blog which you can check out here. Frostblood is an amazing story, setting up the characters and the setting for what is sure to be a brilliant trilogy. I’d highly recommend this book, I know it’s going to be a lot of people’s favourite read this year.

The first in a page-turning young adult fantasy series perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen and Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.

In a land governed by the cruel Frostblood ruling class, seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has spent most of her life hiding her ability to manipulate heat and light—until the day the soldiers come to raid her village and kill her mother. Ruby vows revenge on the tyrannous Frost King responsible for the massacre of her people.

But Ruby’s powers are unpredictable…and so are the feelings she has for Arcus, the scarred, mysterious Frostblood warrior who shares her goal to kill the Frost King, albeit for his own reasons. When Ruby is captured by the Frost King’s men, she’s taken right into the heart of the enemy. Now she only has one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who took everything from her—and in doing so, she must unleash the powers she’s spent her whole life withholding.

Frostblood is set in world where flame and ice are mortal enemies—but together create a power that could change everything.

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Gilded Cage by Vic James
Release Date: 26^th January 2017

Again this is another ARC I received and another book I’ve already read and loved, my review will be posted a little closer to the release date. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Gilded Cage but this book had me hooked from the beginning, and after the way it ended I am desperate for the second one in the series.

For readers of Victoria Aveyard and George RR Martin comes a darkly fantastical debut set in a modern England where magically gifted aristocrats rule and commoners are doomed to serve.

NOT ALL ARE FREE.
NOT ALL ARE EQUAL.
NOT ALL WILL BE SAVED. 

Our world belongs to the Equals – aristocrats with magical gifts – and all commoners must serve them for ten years. But behind the gates of England’s grandest estate lies a power that could break the world. 

A girl thirsts for love and knowledge.

Abi is a servant to England’s most powerful family, but her spirit is free. So when she falls for one of the noble-born sons, Abi faces a terrible choice. Uncovering the family’s secrets might win her liberty, but will her heart pay the price? 

A boy dreams of revolution.

Abi’s brother, Luke, is enslaved in a brutal factory town. Far from his family and cruelly oppressed, he makes friends whose ideals could cost him everything. Now Luke has discovered there may be a power even greater than magic: revolution. 

And an aristocrat will remake the world with his dark gifts.

He is a shadow in the glittering world of the Equals, with mysterious powers no one else understands. But will he liberate—or destroy?

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Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Release Date: 31^st January 2017

This is a book a lot of people have been anticipating the release of, I only finished my ARC copy earlier today and all I have to say is the hype is definitely real. Every wonderful thing you’ve heard about this book is true, and reading it myself I was enchanted by the story, the characters and their world.

Welcome to Caraval, where nothing is quite what it seems. 

Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show.

Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.

When the sisters’ long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show’s mastermind organiser, Legend. 

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But nonetheless she quickly becomes enmeshed in a dangerous game of love, magic and heartbreak. And real or not, she must find Tella before the game is over, and her sister disappears forever.

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Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Release Date: 7^th February 2017

Although I have an ARC of this book I haven’t quite gotten around to it yet, so I can still say this is one I’m excited for. I’ve never read a book featuring goblins before, at least not one I can remember right this second, so I’m not sure quite what to expect but if the blurb is anything to go by it’s going to be a brilliant story.

Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell.

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favour of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.

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Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza
Release Date: 7^th February 2017

I haven’t read many sci-fi books, though it’s a genre I love and really want to explore more of, so I am definitely looking forwards to getting my hands on Empress of a Thousand Skies. It sounds fast-paced, addictive, and if the pre-release reviews it already has are anything go by it’s going to be a five-star read for me.

Empress
Rhee, also known as Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta’an, is the sole surviving heir to a powerful dynasty. She’ll stop at nothing to avenge her family and claim her throne.

Fugitive
Aly has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. But when he’s falsely accused of killing Rhee, he’s forced to prove his innocence to save his reputation—and his life.

Madman
With planets on the brink of war, Rhee and Aly are thrown together to confront a ruthless evil that threatens the fate of the entire galaxy.

A saga of vengeance, warfare, and the true meaning of legacy.

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The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera
Release Date: 21^st February 2017

It was only after I saw a review for this book that I added it to my to-read list. It sounds like a wonderful story, and the fact that Margot’s family plays such a large role was a huge draw for me. If you’re still on the fence about The Education of Margot Sanchez then check out Naz’s review at Read Diverse Books; it will certainly convince you to pick it up.

Pretty in Pink comes to the South Bronx in this bold and romantic coming-of-age novel about dysfunctional families, good and bad choices, and finding the courage to question everything you ever thought you wanted—from debut author Lilliam Rivera.

THINGS/PEOPLE MARGOT HATES:

Mami, for destroying my social life
Papi, for allowing Junior to become a Neanderthal
Junior, for becoming a Neanderthal
This supermarket
Everyone else

After “borrowing” her father’s credit card to finance a more stylish wardrobe, Margot 
Sanchez suddenly finds herself grounded. And by grounded, she means working as an indentured servant in her family’s struggling grocery store to pay off her debts. 

With each order of deli meat she slices, Margot can feel her carefully cultivated prep school reputation slipping through her fingers, and she’s willing to do anything to get out of this punishment. Lie, cheat, and maybe even steal…

Margot’s invitation to the ultimate beach party is within reach and she has no intention of letting her family’s drama or Moises – the admittedly good looking but outspoken boy from the neighbourhood – keep her from her goal.

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You’re Welcome Universe by Whitney Gardner
Release Date: 7^th March 2017

There aren’t many YA contemporary books on my to-read list at the moment, something I need to change soon, but You’re Welcome Universe is one very close to the top of my TBR list. Julia sounds like an amazing character with a unique story to tell, plus this is a book that I can count towards my goal of reading more diversely in 2017 as well.

A vibrant, edgy, fresh new YA voice for fans of More Happy Than Not and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, packed with interior graffiti.

When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural.

Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up.

Out in the ‘burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off—and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war.

Told with wit and grit by debut author Whitney Gardner, who also provides gorgeous interior illustrations of Julia’s graffiti tags, You’re Welcome, Universe introduces audiences to a one-of-a-kind protagonist who is unabashedly herself no matter what life throws in her way.

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Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves
Release Date: 28^th March 2017

Normally I’m a little wary when books are described as ‘perfect for fans of such and such’, and I wouldn’t say I’m a massive fan of Red Queen either, but Blood Rose Rebellion is still a book I’m really excited for. It already has some glowing five-star reviews and I’m hoping by taking this book on its own merits I’ll end up really enjoying it.

The thrilling first book in a YA fantasy trilogy for fans of Red Queen. In a world where social prestige derives from a trifecta of blood, money, and magic, one girl has the ability to break the spell that holds the social order in place.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Arden is barred from society by a defect of blood. Though her family is part of the Luminate, powerful users of magic, she is Barren, unable to perform the simplest spells. Anna would do anything to belong. But her fate takes another course when, after inadvertently breaking her sister’s debutante spell – an important chance for a highborn young woman to show her prowess with magic – Anna finds herself exiled to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary.

Her life might well be over.

In Hungary, Anna discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people around her, from her aloof cousin Noémi to the fierce and handsome Romani Gábor. Not the society she’s known all her life, for discontent with the Luminate is sweeping the land. And not her lack of magic. Isolated from the only world she cares about, Anna still can’t seem to stop herself from breaking spells.

As rebellion spreads across the region, Anna’s unique ability becomes the catalyst everyone is seeking. In the company of nobles, revolutionaries, and Romanies, Anna must choose: deny her unique power and cling to the life she’s always wanted, or embrace her ability and change that world forever.

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The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
Release Date: 16^th May 2017

I am NOT a fan of love triangles at all, however after reading the blurb and some of the five-star reviews The Love Interest already has I am definitely going to be picking this book up as soon as it’s released. It sounds hilarious; a book which turns the love triangle trope on its head to create a fresh story with great characters.

There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.

Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?

Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be—whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.

What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.

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Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser
Release Date: 6^th June 2017

This was a book I only discovered recently, and it was the cover that actually drew me to Song of the Current when I first saw it on Goodreads, but after reading the blurb I am very glad I found it. Pirates, gods, magic, this book seems to have everything I love in YA stories. Hopefully my expectations will be met when I pick this one up.

Caroline Oresteia has always been destined for the river. Her father is a wherryman, as was her grandmother. All Caro needs is for the river god to whisper her name, and her fate is sealed. But at seventeen, Caro may be too late.

So when pirates burn ships and her father is arrested, Caro volunteers to transport a dangerous cargo in exchange for his release. Secretly, Caro hopes that by piloting her own wherry, the river god will finally speak her name.

But when the cargo becomes more than Caro expected, she finds herself caught in a web of politics and lies. With much more than her father’s life at stake, Caro must choose between the future she knows, and the one she never could have imagined.

This immersive fantasy debut set along the waterways of a magical world will entrance fans of Sabaa Tahir and Victoria Aveyard. Sarah Tolcser weaves an epic story of danger and destiny with enchanting world-building and captivating characters.

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So what do you think? Did you take part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, if so let me know what some of your most anticipated 2017 debuts are.