Who says you can’t choose a book by its cover? Curate your TBR with these upcoming YA fantasy releases that remind us of BTS album covers!
The early part of 2020 is jam packed with a wide array of upcoming YA fantasy releases. There’s no wrong way to make a TBR list, so I decided to have some fun and go with an aesthetic list. Eclectic and refreshing, I came across upcoming releases I had no idea were on the horizon!
There’s nothing wrong with picking a book based on it’s cover. Books are eye catching for a reason, hooking the reader before it’s even opened. When scanning a book shelf in a store, I’m one of those people who stops at uniquely beautiful covers.
Sure, we shouldn’t judge books solely by their covers, but there’s no harm in curating some of your TBR around stunning covers.
Why a BTS color scheme inspired TBR list? With their groundbreaking Connect BTS, a world wide modern art project with five cultivated exhibits that include 22 artists, along with the art film for their new single “Black Swan” by the Slovinian MN Dance Company, BTS are spreading various types of art (music, dance, fine art) that’s catching the eye of the general public.
In the last few years, BTS’ album covers have been bright, pastel, with a softer tone while their older album covers were darker with an edgier feel to them. YA fantasy lately, as a whole, has been grimmer, tenser, and rather bleak, so finding upcoming releases with the feel of the Love Yourself albums, along with Map of the Soul: Persona were rather difficult.
With such an eclectic range in YA fantasy from revolution to the supernatural, or fabulism to rich fantastical world building, there is something for everyone in these upcoming YA fantasy releases side by side with BTS album covers that evoke the same aesthetics.
Upcoming YA fantasy releases as BTS album covers
‘Map of the Soul: Persona’ |’Belle Révolte’ by Linsey Miller
Release date: February 4, 2020
A life swap, where two young women want to live differently than they do, leads to romance as one becomes a physician and another goes to finishing school to learn divination in Linsey Miller’s debut Belle Révolte.
Add Belle Révolte on Goodreads!
‘Love Yourself 結 ‘Answer”| ‘W‘Wicked as You Wish’ by Rin Chupeco
Release date: March 3, 2020
Rich with Filipina influences, Wicked as You Wish looks to be an amazing mix of high fantasy, portal fantasy, and fabulism with countries cut off from the rest of the world, a family curse that despells magic, and the emergence of the Snow Queen, who was thought to be long since dead.
Add Wicked as You Wish on Goodreads!
‘Love Yourself 轉 ‘Tear”| ‘The Damned’ by Renée Ahdieh
Release date: June 9, 2020
The sequel to The Beautiful, The Damned was on our list of the 15 most anticipated YA fantasy books of 2020, and for good reason! We can’t wait to read what’s in store for Celine Rousseau and Sébastien Saint Germain after the surprisingly captivating end to The Beautiful.
Add The Damned on Goodreads!
‘Face Yourself’|’The Sound of Stars’ by Alechia Dow
Release date: February 25, 2020
Another fabulist YA fantasy, The Sound of Stars takes place in NYC after a third of the world population dies due to invasion and all art forms and creative outlets are illegal. Secret libraries and a forbidden love of music bring Ellie and M0Rr1S together as they journey thousands of miles with their contraband in hopes of saving humanity.
Add The Sound of Stars on Goodreads!
‘Love Yourself 承 ‘Her” | ‘Girl, Serpent, Thorn’ by Melissa Bashardoust
Release date: May 12, 2020
Girl, Serpent, Thorn gives us a princess with a curse, where her touch is poisonous, and on her journey to learn more about her curse, she meets a demon with answers, and she has to decide what side of good or evil she falls on, or if there is such thing as being somewhere in the middle when you’re cursed.
Add Girl, Serpent, Thorn on Goodreads!
‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ | ‘In the Shadow of the Sun’ by EM Castellan
Release date: Februrary 11, 2020
With a mix of forbidden and unique magic, arranged marriage, and court intrigue, In the Shadow of the Sun looks to be an amazing fabulism YA fantasy book that’s based in 17th century Paris.
Add In the Shadow of the Sun on Goodreads!
‘Wings’ | ‘The Queen’s Assassin’ by Melissa de la Cruz
Release date: February 4, 2020
We’re big fans of assassin storylines, so Melissa de la Cruz’s latest, The Queen’s Assassin, looks promising with the two main characters both being part of an assassin’s guild. A master assassin and an apprentice, Cal and Shadow uncover a web of lies as their country is on the brink of war.
Add The Queen’s Assassin on Goodreads!
‘Youth’ | ‘Chain of Gold’ by Cassandra Clare
Release date: March 3, 2020
The first novel in a new trilogy that takes place in the Shadowhunters universe, the highly anticipated Chain of Gold surely won’t disappoint fans of Cassandra Clare as it follows the children of Will and Tessa.
Add Chain of Gold on Goodreads!
‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever’ | ‘Heart of Flames’ by Nicki Pau Preto
Release date: February 11, 2020
The sequel to last year’s Crown of Feathers, Heart of Flames, war is on the horizon and Veronyka, Tristan, Sev, and Val have to decide what they’re willing to do as tensions rise and the future of the empire is at stake.
Add Heart of the Flames on Goodreads!
‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2’ | ‘Night Spinner’ by Addie Thorley
Release date: February 11, 2020
Night Spinner is a genderbent, tundra– inspired reimagining of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with dangerous magicks and war on the horizon where Enebish has to decide what side she’s really on when she’s sent across the tundra after a notorious criminal in order for her own crimes to be pardoned.
Add Night Spinner on Goodreads!
‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life’| ‘Rogue Princess’ by B.R. Meyers
Release date: January 21, 2020
Rogue Princess is a genderbent, sci-fi fantasy reimagining of Cinderella about a princess fleeing an arranged marriage and a thief who just so happens to be a stowaway on the royal ship she is escaping on. Add in a rebel conspiracy, and we’re there!
Add Rogue Princess on Goodreads!
‘Dark & Wild’ | ‘The Shadows Between Us’ by Tricia Levenseller
Release date: February 25, 2020
The Shadows Between Us has our favorite enemies-to-lovers trope and brings us the point of view of a villainess, a girl hellbent on assassinating the Shadow King and becoming the queen herself, but as attempts on his life keep happening, she finds herself trying to keep him alive.
Add The Shadows Between Us on Goodreads!
‘Skool Luv Affair (Special Addition)’ | ‘All the Stars and Teeth’ by Adalyn Grace
Release date: February 4, 2020
With a fleeing princess whose powers go awry, a pirate whose magic was stolen, various legendary monsters, and vengeful mermaids All the Stars and Teeth is a high stakes adventure we don’t want to miss.
Add All the Stars and Teeth on Goodreads!
‘O!RUL8,2?’ | ‘Ruthless Gods’ by Emily A. Duncan
Release date: April 7, 2020
Ruthless Gods will surely be as cut-throat to its readers as Wicked Saints was to its characters, what with them being at war with not only themselves, but those who seek to kill Nadya, Serefin, and Malachiasz.
Add Ruthless Gods on Goodreads!
‘2 Cool 4 Skool’| ‘The King of Crows’ by Libba Bray
Release date: February 4, 2020
After the heavy cliffhanger Libba Bray left us with at the end of Before the Devil Breaks You, the final chapter of The Diviners will surely be both stunning and gut wrenching as we see what happens to Evie, Sam, Jericho, Memphis, Theta, Ling, and Henry.
Add The King of Crows on Goodreads!
Related: BTS ‘Map of the Soul: 7′ comeback guide: All the trailers, music videos, photos, and more!’