Anticipated Releases (April-June 2026)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with my annual Anticipated Releases post, this time, for April through to June. 

I have a fair few more than I did for the last Anticipated Releases post, so I hope at least one of them catches your eye! 

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy! 

~April~

1. Maybe Tomorrow I'll Know, by Alex Ritany

Release date: 7/4/26

"Laurie wakes up in a girl's body with no memories, driving down an unknown highway, and promptly crashes the car. Thankfully, a handsome named Gideon comes to his rescue. It's awkward for Laurie to pretend he's a girl, but at least this is the scariest thing he'll ever have to deal with. 

Except the next morning- and every morning after- Laurie wakes up battling down that same highway. He re-meets Gideon every day, with no idea who this girl whose body he's inhabiting even is. Only one thing is clear: he's on a countdown. Laurie has been given only one hundred days to get back in the right body, break the time loop, and not fall for Gideon while he does it." 

This sounds like a unique, fun and light-hearted story with a twist, and the fact that it comes out in just over a week is very exciting. If I have some spare cash in a couple of weeks, I may order it, or get it from my local Waterstones (if it's stocked there). It sounds like the perfect read for Spring, when the weather is just that little bit warmer. I can't wait for this release. 

2. The Escape Game, by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss

Release date: 7/4/26

A MARISSA MEYER MURDER MYSTERY! 

I was totally sold, straight away. 

Basically, The Escape Game is a tv show, that just wrapped up it's fourth season. The ending- Alicia Angelos, contestant- is found murder on set. 

And now, Season Five is underway, and the new contestants are ready to put their skills to the test- figuring out the clues in order to solve the show's trickiest escape rooms. Contestants that include Season Four's murder victim's sister, Sierra Angelos. 

But Sierra's not just there to win. She's here for justice. 

When the contestants start to uncover the clues for the actual murderer's identity, they realise the stakes aren't just high this year- they're deadly. If the teens want to win- and survive- The Escape Game- they must solve the biggest mystery of all- who killed Alicia Angelos?

(Pretending I'll be getting to all of these anticipated releases) this feels very much like a September/October read, but who knows? Maybe I'll be in the mood for it sooner? 

It sounds crazy good. 

3. Until We Meet Again, by Lily Kim Qian 

Release date: 7/4/26

Goodreads describes this as "poignant and vivdly illustrated graphic memoir", and honestly, that is all I needed, when I read what it was about. 

Until We Meet Again is about Lily, who, upon entering her college years, has never felt like she's in control of where she belongs. Her family is contantly on the move, from different towns scattered across Canada and, eventually, to Shanghai, China. Her father plays the role of prime caregiver, while her mother is absent for extended periods of time. 

Now, growing into an adult, all Lily wants is to better understand her family, and her place within it. But can she escape the inherited trauma passed down by her immigrant parents?

Now, clearly, I'm not the target audience for this. But I do understand the feeling of knowing how you fit within your family, even if this family is vastly different to my own. 

And I'm always a sucker for a self discovery graphic novel. 

~May~

1. In the Blood, by April Henry

Release date: 12/5/26

"Adopted as a newborn, Tessa has always wondered who her biological parents are. After turning 18, she takes a DNA test in hopes of finding the answers. With best friend El and lab partner Victor, Tessa uses the results to start building her family tree. But they find more dead ends than answers. Her biological mother, who was raised in a religious cult, has cut all ties with her controlling family. And her biological father remains a complete mystery, at least until the police show up. For fifteen years, they've been trying to identify a serial killer known as the Portland Phantom. Tessa is the link they've been waiting for." 

From what I've seen on Goodreads, this book isn't wildly known. There aren't a huge amount of reviews from ARC reviewers, but what is, shows that it's a well liked books. The majority are 4 and 5 star reviews, and if you add that with the simple, yet unique premise, you have quite the show-stopper here. 

I really hope they stock this in my local Waterstones, because I would quite like to read this one. 

2. Force of Nature, by Melissa Clark 

Release date: 19/5/26

Obviously, a book is so much more than what the blurb describes it to be. We force feelings, thoughts, romances, plotlines, passions and all of the above into a couple of short paragraphs, and hope that articulates what's in a story. 

What I got from this blurb- it's a whirlwind of everything. 

(See what I did there? Hehe.)

Anyway. Here's the Goodreads blurb. I am definitely excited for this one. 

"Who is Chloe Lovejoy, really? A straight C- student, a girl with a crush on the cutie from chorus, an all-powerful being responsible for taking care of the planet... or perhaps all three. That's what Chloe finds out on her sixteenth birthday, when she unexpectantly inherits the role of Mother Nature from her grandmother. Chloe is overwhelmed, to say the least. Then, when the unthinkable happens, and grandma is no longer around to guide her, Chloe is left to oversee the natural laws of the world all by herself. 

Between managing earthquakes and hurricanes, rivals at school, and her not-very-helpful-mother, Chloe tries to maintain balance and harmony on Earth and in her everyday life. But someone in the community has an eye towards harnessing her powers for nefarious purposes, which means Chloe needs to dig deep and get her act together before her secret is found out. After all, the universe is depending on her." 

I mean, I'm not gonna lie, the cat on the cover was what drew me in. But the premise is what held my attention. 

And hey, I've been throwing the world unique around a lot in this- but that's what this book is. It doesn't have the best reviews on Goodreads, but then, there's only five of them. 5 reviews doesn't mean a thing. 

I'm willing to give this book a chance. It might even be a favourite of the year. You never know. 

~June~

1. The League of Dangerous Young Ladies, by J.A. Morgenstein

Release date: 2/6/26

    Now, I have no idea how J.A. Morgenstein came up with something this genius, but that's precisely what it is. Famous villains' offspring, running round, solving mysteries, and killing monsters? That's a story I can get behind.

Reading from the POV of Rose Moriarty- daughter of Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis, has made a name for herself by fighting off monsters and solving crimes. But that was before she was faced with a mystery she couldn't work out- her Headmistress' murder. Now, she's out of school, without a purpose, or a friend and completely alone. 

"On the very day Rose receives word that an old friend is drying, the shadowy Count Christoph and his ward Clara show up at her door. Rose has already figured out why they're here (to hire her) and what's in their bag (an ancient orb with incredible powers), but questions remain: Can Rose convince these strangers to help save her friend's life? What are the grotesque, bug-shaped stalkers that plague their every step? And how can Rose pursue this adventure while avoiding a certain boy from her childhood? The only thing certain is that Rose is no longer alone, because danger forges strange alliances... 

... and Professor Moriarty wasn't the only famous villain to have a daughter." 

I love the idea of this. It has a Girl in Red (Christina Henry)/ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies vibe to it. Not to mention this is a debut novel. 

I'm expecting this to be a huge hit, to be honest with you. 

2. How to Lose Yourself Completely, by Peter Bognanni

Release date: 2/6/26

An extremely emotion novel, about Case, that goes to 'adventure therapy' to try and start coming to terms with his brother's death. Sean, Case's brother was basically the only person to truly understand him. 

Who else is there? Brother's girlfriend, Diana, trying to do exactly the same thing. 

Sorry, this adventure therapy sounds like a horrific idea. But, thinking that maybe, just maybe, roughing it out in the woods with a group of strangers, might actually help, he agrees. 

And what happens? In between the horrific bonding over shared pain, the counselor mysteriously disappears, turning a cheesy camp into a night of survival. This leaves Case, Case's brother's girlfriend, and the rest of the kids to go out and look for him, with the only thing in common being their prescriptions, and lack of social skills. 

In order to survive, they must find their own way back home, lost and alone. In the process, they will change each other's lives forever.

 

3. The Music of Us, by Emereld Alexandrea

Release date: 2/6/26

This was all I needed, in order to get on board with this book:

-Set in cat cafe. 

-Student, instead of enjoying her summer before college like her friends, is struggling to make enough to pay the rent in her mother's cat cafe. 

-Emails old school friend, now part of a band, with past romance history- can he do a live performance to raise Cat Cafe money? 

-Old flame romance & raising money for Cat Cafe plot

-Did I mention it's set in a Cat Cafe? 

-Also romance, which is very cute and fluffy. 

That's literally all I needed to know. Should be enough to get you to read this too, if you like cats and romance. 

4. Finish Lines, by Sarah Broyles & Hannah Schroy

Release date: 16/6/26

This is more or less a bullet point book as well to be honest. Pretty simple in it's premise, but straight and to the point. Also a graphic novel, so I expect to get sucked into this in the first page when I get to it eventually.

"Miranda has a plan: ace her junior year, get into an Ivy League school, and skip anything that doesn't look good on a college application. But the pressure is getting to her, and now her parents have cut her off from every club, competition and committee she's a part of. 

Desperate to get back on track, Miranda sets her sights on the Texas Water Safari- a 260-mile canoe race her mom was set to do with her grandad. With her mom sidelined with an injury, Miranda joins her grandfather. It's grueling, messy, and scorching hot. 

Can a perfectionist survive the wild long enough to find out who she is outside of a college checklist?"

I've been dying to get my hands on another fast-paced, standalone graphic novel for the longest time, and this seems like the perfect choice. I personally love a physical challenge, but I can understand the feeling of falling behind on the future you've set your heart on, so I think this will be the perfect fit for me on a personal level. I genuinely can't wait for this release. 

Okay! Those are all of my anticipated releases for April- June! I may already have a list started for July onwards, but that doesn't mean I'll be skipping these releases! 

As always, if you have an interest in these or any other releases, let me know in the comments, and we can chat about them! 

I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx

Skulduggery Pleasant: Month 1

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And right now, both my brain and body feel absolutely fried. 

But I promised myself, I would be doing a blog post tonight, and I intend to follow through with that. 

Unfortunately, that means that this Skulduggery Pleasant update will be the bare bones of what I was planning, so sorry in advance. 

Or maybe not- I'll see what I'm able to do. 

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy it. 

(I won't be doing a wrap up up at the end of the month, by the way. Just so you know.)

How things are going...

Surprisingly, not bad. I'm kind of exactly where I thought I'd be. Do I wish I'd read more this weekend? Absolutely. But missing a couple of days isn't the end of the world. 

So, the plan for this update is, I was thinking of going through each of the books I've finished so far, and give a brief description of what I thought, how many pages, and finish dates. 

So far I've finished:

1. Skulduggery Pleasant

Pages: 371

Reading dates: 1st March- 4th March 

What did I think: Book 1 will always be one of my favourites. I love that this first book has the ability to make me forget the page count and lose myself in the story. Every character I love: Stephanie, Skulduggery, Tanith, Ghastly, Mr. Bliss, China, even bloody Serpine. This was the foundation for a now, 17 book series (and extras), and I can't fault it one bit. 

2. Playing with Fire

Pages: 351

Reading dates: 5th March- 12th March 

Yeah, Playing with Fire is always a sore spot for me. It always feels like more of a slog to get through after the first book. Don't get me wrong, it introduces some characters that becoming recurring characters over the next few books, but something about defeating a villain that Skulduggery has history with, and then three, seemingly more dangerous killers show up? That seems a bit off for me. Playing with Fire is basically where the storyline for the next two and a bit books starts off, which is preventing the faceless ones from returning to that dimension. 

I can't really fault the direction that the story takes, but for some reason I've always struggled with this particular book. 

3. The Faceless Ones

Pages: 395

Reading dates: 12th March- 15th March 

If you can't tell by how quickly I finished this book, I like this one. Like, a lot. Nearly 400 pages and I finish it in three days. It all kicks off in this one. Everything that was bubbling in book 2, comes to the surface in this. The stakes are higher. The faceless ones are coming, teleporters are being killed. Necromancers start making an appearance. People get killed, and someone gets pulled into a deadly dimension where he'll likely be tortured to death. It's the first time everything isn't magically fixed, and you're left wondering what's going to happen next. These kinds of books are why I love this series so much. 

4. Dark Days 

Pages: 413

Reading days: 16th March- 19th March 

I read this so quickly because it was on my list to complete before tomorrow night. I was ready to push to finish this book as long as I could, that very first night. 

With Dark Days, we say goodbye to the faceless ones chapter (although some grudges against Valkyrie are very much active, but that's nothing new- a lot of people want her gone). We move on to a whole other threat, one that is consistent throughout the remaining 6 books in this series (phase one). 

That threat is Darquesse. A mysterious person that seemingly destroys the world. It sounds cheesy, but is anything but. Dark Days definitely isn't a filler book, it's more building things up, for something big to happen in book 5. 

Remnants arrive, you get your fair share of psychics, and some of the good guys get hurt quite a bit. The stakes are starting to bubble higher, waiting to spill over in Mortal Coil. 

I enjoyed this one immensely. 

5. Mortal Coil 

Pages: 571

Reading days: 20th March- currently

Currently on page 37. 

After reading Dark Days, I decided not to persist with this for a couple of days. It's not that I didn't want to read it- I happen to think this is the book that changes the direction of the series more than any of it's predecessors- but I didn't want to burn out, especially as I have another 12 books ahead of me before I get to the new release. I'm ready to hit the ground running with this come tomorrow, when I have more time to focus on it. 

Very much anticipating this one. 

Total page count for 1/3- 22/03: 1567

Averaging 72 pages a day. 

Pretty good going for month one, considering. 

I'm expecting next month to be bigger though- the later books in this series reach the high 600 page mark. 

I am very much enjoying this re-read. It's so nice to get re-acquainted with the series, and all of it's wonderful characters. 

Can't wait to get to the rest of them. 

Okay! That is my present Skulduggery Pleasant update! I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you're enjoying whatever book you're reading at the moment too! 

That is all that I have for you today! I will be back soon with my anticipated releases (probably Saturday- must admit, I completely forgot). 

I hope you have a lovely evening, and I will see you all soon! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx

Watermelon (Walsh Family #1), by Marian Keyes

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with a surprise review- from a book I finished a month ago, no less. 

Don't worry, it's still fresh in my mind, and I have a lot of thoughts on it! 

So much so, that I had to share them with you! 

So without further ado, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Watermelon, by Marian Keyes! 

Title: Watermelon 

Author: Marian Keyes

Genre: Contemporary 

Status: Book 1 in a 7 book series

Release date: 01/09/1995

Pages: 520

Blurb: "Meet Claire Walsh. 

On the day she gives birth to her first child, 

Claire's husband James tells her he's been having an 

affair, and that now's the right time to leave her. 

Right for who exactly?

Exhausted, tearful and a little bit furious, Claire

doesn't know what to do. So she decides to go back to 

basics... and runs home to Mum and Dad. 

But it's not the sanctuary she'd been hoping for. 

Juggling her sister's drama, her parents' pity and the 

demands of a baby, Claire desperately misses the way 

things were. So when James gets back in touch, eager 

to put things right, Claire faces a choice. 

Will she forgive and forget? Or can she find the courage 

to take a chance on herself, and start a life of her own?"

My Thoughts

Even if I hadn't read Rachel's Holiday before this, I still think I would have fallen in love with this series from this. 

There are a number of reasons why I loved this book as much as I did. 

1. Marian Keyes knows how to write a story that is engaging, realistic, empowering, gripping and overall, emotional. 

I laughed, I cried, I blushed,  I clenched my teeth in frustration at some points in this story- sometimes in the same chapter. 

2. Watermelon is a situation that could happen to anyone- which made it easier to relate to Claire. 

3. The story is spun together perfectly. There was always something going on, something that made it hard to put the book down. 

The whole dynamic of Watermelon, truly, is amazing. The series is called Walsh Family, and that's exactly what you get with this. Her whole world turned upside down, Claire escapes her desperate situation, returning home- to Dublin. Once there, she realises that her family home isn't the secluded place she thought it would be. She has to deal with crazy sister energy, pitying parents, whilst figuring out her next move. You get an insight into the younger Walsh sisters' characters, Helen and Anna, at this point in the series. 

Honestly, I quite liked getting to meet some other characters. In Rachel's Holiday, it's just her, the odd friend at the start, and then everyone else in the rehab centre. There wasn't a huge cast of characters in Watermelon, but everyone played their part, and I knew the majority of them I'd be meeting again at some other point in the series. 

The best part by far was Claire's character arc. Desperate, alone, and completely heartbroken, she has no clue what to do at the start of the book. I mean, what are you meant to do, when the love of your life, husband, and father of newborn daughter, up and walks out, saying he has been having an affair, and no longer loves you? Get through it in any way you can. 

I'll tell you, my heart really wept for Claire at that point, about 100 pages in, when she's at her family home in Dublin, and she's completely lost. She's drinking more and more, missing James, despite his betrayal, and she doesn't know what way's up. 

But somehow, little by little, she picks herself up, she begins to meet more people (hint hint), she begins to see that there's more to live for than her crappy ex, and looks towards the future. Then what happens? Her stupid ex-husband shows up! 

I don't want to spoil what happens next, because I want you all to read the book yourself, honestly, the range of emotions I felt from that point onwards was so varied, from one chapter to the next, it's a wonder I didn't pass out exhausted. 

Now, what would you do if the love of your life comes back, tries to cancel divorse, tells you about the problems they had, were mostly because of you, but wants to try again? If you truly loved them before all of this happened? If it was for the sake of the daughter you shared? Would it still be easy to stick to your morals? 

Anyway, you can understand why I was clenching my teeth in frustration at some points in this book. 

But anyway, after that, you can't help but feel genuine pride for the character that had her head lower than her heels, but in the end, picked herself up, and took her life in her own hands. Truly empowering. 

Just read the book, then you'll know what I'm talking about, if you haven't figured it out already. 

Overall, an absolute gem. I know I'm not alone in loving this series, because they recently released a tv series based off of these books. (I really want to read them, but I think I'm going to read the books first- best get a move on.) But honestly, Watermelon is a serious contendor for my Favourite Books of 2026 at the moment. 

The third book, Angels, gives us a new protagonist- Margaret, or 'Maggie'. I haven't met her yet, but I know that she leaves everything behind for sunny LA, so I'm intrigued to see what she's like. I'm thinking I'll look for a second-hand copy on Ebay at some point- don't want to wait for too long before continuing on with this series. 

Okay! Those are all of my thoughts on Watermelon! I know it's a lot, but please comment down below if you've read the book, enjoyed it, hated it, and why! 

Also, should I watch the show now, instead of reading the books first? Let me know in the comments! 

I hope you have a wonderful afternoon, or morning, wherever you are, and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx