New Releases I’m Excited About: Early 2020 Speculative & Youth

Hi friends! It’s time for a new season of new books! At the start of each new publishing season, I find myself buried a little deeper beneath my TBR pile (the term ‘pile’ is misleadingly small), and the early 2020 crop of new releases is positively magnificent. So long, all my hopes of ever catching up! lol. Today we’re looking at Early 2020 Speculative & Youth New Releases.

Here is the schedule of posts for the week so you can zero in on your fave genre!

Monday: Contemporary Fiction (non-Amish & non-suspense)
Tuesday: Historical Fiction (non-Amish & non-suspense)
Wednesday: Amish Fiction
TODAY: Speculative & Youth
Friday: Mystery/Suspense
Saturday: Non-Fiction

In my continued quest to streamline these posts and make them less overwhelming for me and for you too (because, sweet mercy, that’s a lot of covers and links in one place lol), I’m only selecting a few I’m most giddy about to spotlight here and then I’ll also include a link to my Goodreads shelf with ALL the books I’m excited about for early 2020. The shelves will stay up until next year.

spotlight on titles i’m most giddy about

HOW TO SPEAK BOY
Tiana Smith
Swoon Reads / January 7, 2020

Quinn and Grayson have been fierce speech and debate rivals for years. They can’t stand one another, either in competition or in real life. But when their AP Government teacher returns their school assignments to the wrong cubbies, they begin exchanging anonymous notes without knowing who the other is. Despite their differences, the two come together through their letters and find themselves unknowingly falling for the competition.

TWEET CUTE
Emma Lord
Wednesday Books / January 21, 2020

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account. Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

FROM SKY TO SKY
(No Less Days #2)
Amanda G. Stevens
Shiloh Run / February 1, 2020

Zac Wilson can’t die. Daredevil Zac Wilson isn’t the first celebrity to keep a secret from the world, but his might be the most marvelous in history: Zac doesn’t age and injuries can’t kill him. What’s more, he’s part of a close-knit group of others just like him. Holed up in Harbor Vale, Michigan, Zac meets two more of his kind who claim others in their circle have died. Are their lifetimes finally ending naturally, or is someone targeting them—a predator who knows what they are?

CRY OF THE RAVEN
(The Ravenwood Saga #3)
Morgan L. Busse
Bethany House / February 14, 2020

Lady Selene Ravenwood has come into her full power as a dreamwalker just as the war with the Dominia Empire begins. Working with the other Great Houses, Selene and Damien use their gifts to secure the borders and save those devastated by the war. But conflict, betrayal, and hatred begin to spread between the Great Houses, destroying their unity as the empire burns a path across their lands. The only one who can unite the houses and restore her husband’s power is Selene Ravenwood. But it will require that she open her heart to those who have hurt her and let go of her past, despite the one who hunts her and will do anything to stop her power.

HUNGER WINTER
Rob Currie
Tyndale / March 3, 2020

Thirteen-year-old Dirk has been the man of the house since his papa disappeared while fighting against the Nazis with the Dutch Resistance. When the Gestapo arrests Dirk’s older sister, who is also a Resistance fighter, Dirk fears that he and his little sister, Anna, might be next. With only pockets full of food and his sister asleep in his arms, Dirk runs away to find his father. As Dirk leads Anna across the war-torn Netherlands, from farmyards to work camps, he must rely on his wits and his father’s teaching to find his way.

MOMENT OF TRUTH
Kasie West
HarperTeen / March 3, 2020

At sixteen, Hadley Moore knows exactly who she is—a swimmer who will earn a scholarship to college. Totally worth all the hard work, even if her aching shoulders don’t agree. So when a guy dressed as Hollywood’s latest action hero, Heath Hall, crashes her swim meet, she isn’t amused. Instead, she’s determined to make sure he doesn’t bother her again. Only she’s not sure exactly who he is.

SALTY BITTER SWEET
Mayra Cuevas
Blink / March 3, 2020

Seventeen-year-old aspiring chef Isabella Fields’ family life has fallen apart after the death of her Cuban abuela and the divorce of her parents. She moves in with her dad and his new wife in France, where Isabella feels like an outsider in her father’s new life. The upside of Isabella’s world being turned upside down? Her father’s house is located only 30 minutes away from the restaurant of world-famous Chef Pascal Grattard, who runs a prestigious and competitive international kitchen apprenticeship. But how can Isabella expect to hold it together when she’s at the bottom of her class at the apprenticeship, her new stepmom is pregnant, she misses her abuela dearly, and a mysterious new guy and his albino dog fall into her life?

HOW TO BE A PRAYING GIRL OF GOD
Barbour Staff
Shiloh Kidz / April 1, 2020

Featuring brief stories of dozens of women–from the Bible, history, and today–your young readers, ages 8 and up, will be inspired to become praying girls, too, as they journal alongside examples of strong women of faith–including Amy Carmichael, Jochebed, Pandita Ramabai, Corrie ten Boom, Harriet Tubman, the Woman at the Well, and dozens more! Each section prompts girls to read the short story, draw a related picture, journal their thoughts about praying women, and think about how they can be a praying girl of God too!

100 ADVENTUROUS STORIES FOR BRAVE BOYS
Glenn Hascall
Shiloh Kidz / April 1, 2020

Boys are history-makers! And this deeply compelling storybook proves it! Just for boys in your life, this collection of 100 adventurous stories of Christian men–from the Bible, history, and today–will empower them to know and understand how men of great character have made an impact in the world and how much smaller our faith (and the biblical record) would be without them. Featuring full-page, colorful illustrations alongside the true stories of fascinating men like Daniel, Paul, John the Baptist, Billy Graham, Jim Elliot, James W. C. Pennington, Tony Dungy, Louis Zamperini, Sam Bradford, and dozens more, the stories of these 100 men will encourage and challenge boys to become the history-makers God created them to be!

my goodreads shelf (2020 speculative & youth releases)

Books not on Goodreads yet

Barefoot Memories by Taylor Bennett – March

my fave covers?

What about you? Which Early 2020 Speculative & Youth New Releases did you add from my Goodreads shelf to yours? Which covers are your favorites?

If you don’t see your book mentioned here or in my goodreads list, I apologize! It’s impossible to keep up with all the books LOL! Please feel free to leave your release info for Christian / clean fiction in the comments ?