What the Book Hero team is excited for

Lizzy asked us for five of our top picks, and I immediately decided I had to do ranges, not just specific products! I am so, sooooo excited for the Fourth Wing Graphic Novel. Fourth Wing is my go-to book for getting out of a reading slump or just a cosy comfort read when I need an escape, so having it in graphic novel form is an immediate yes. Then we have the epic Threshing Day release! I’m obsessed with the Wing and Claw edition to go with the others in the series, and I can’t wait to see which stories we get. In the world of board games, I’m most excited about Wondrous Creatures and Coffee Rush Winter. Wondrous Creatures is absolutely beautiful, with three add-ons to explore, while Coffee Rush Winter was an instant addition to my wishlist. We love Coffee Rush, and now there are orange slices, cookies, gingerbread men and little snowman-shaped ice tokens. I’m obsessed!

Then we have puzzles, and the new ACOTAR puzzles coming at the end of the year are right at the top of my birthday wishlist. They’re beautiful, packed with Easter eggs for ACOTAR fans to find, and are definitely not a want, but a need. The same can be said for the Reverie Puzzles we have coming soon. I love this brand so much! They’re gorgeous, romantasy-inspired, and perfect for fantasy lovers or even those teens you’re never quite sure what to buy for.

Tasked with showcasing our fantastic upcoming preorders, the teenage gamer in me couldn't help but be excited about the treasure trove of computer games reimagined in a tabletop format. Short on time these days, I can't quite match the hours I dedicated to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or Eve Online in my youth. The idea of jumping back into Azeroth and New Eden has a subtle pull I can't quite shake. When I saw the Kickstarter for Terraria, I immediately sent the link to Amelia, curious to see how they've brought the game's mechanics to life. Finally, as a big fan of the Pop Culture parenting show. I couldn't look past Dr Billy Garvey's new book: "Ten things I wish you knew about raising boys". Parenting is tough and stressful, but it is made easier with the support of others. Billy provides incredible evidence-based tips on how best to navigate bringing up your little ones. Need more? Check out Billy and Nick's Podcast!

When Lizzy asked the team for a handful of pre-orders we were excited for, it was actually so difficult for me to narrow this down, there are so many releases that I’m looking forward to! I’ve covered some throughout the year over on Shirl’s Corner but here are a few more I’ll be adding to my wishlist. Public Access Afterworld sounds like it will be a fun sci-fi read, what a great title as well as an awesome cover. It involves mysterious time travel, the darker side of the digital world and possibly a little romance in there? I’m not sure what to expect but it sounds so intriguing! To get a further idea of what you’re in for, the author is the writer and director of the A24 film I Saw the TV Glow and also Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma which is out in cinemas currently starring Gillian Anderson. Stations by Louise Kennedy sold me on being set in the 80s and also in Ireland, I feel like Irish stories are having a moment this year for me. It follows Róisín and Red who meet as teenagers and follows their love story which I’m hoping won’t break my heart at the end. Ordinary People Like Us is a novel by Aotearoa author Kelly Ana Morey who sadly passed away last year. I love the cover of this one and the setting in the Far North where I personally spend a lot of time. The book follows five generations of Māori women and sounds like it will be a powerful epic read. 

Completely switching it up, I can’t wait for the next cookbook from the Two Raw Sisters duo, How We Cook, I have their More Salad book and use it regularly. Their recipes aren’t overly complicated and always so fresh and delicious. 

Lastly, the super cute kids book Matihe! Achoo! coming from Qiane Matata-Sipu looks so cool! Kids can follow grumpy sneezy tupua while learning about Tāmaki Makaurau volcanoes plus it comes with an action song for young ones to learn!

I’m really looking forward to the CrunchLabs range of products scheduled to come in at the end of October - very exciting…

If you don’t know about CrunchLabs, it's a STEM focused Toy company founded by the ex NASA Engineer & now ‘internet sensation’ YouTuber Mark Rober. We watched a lot of his videos during the Covid ‘lock-downs’ & were jealous of the US being able to get the subscription kits in the mail. So finally it's our turn to get our hands on them!! 

Starting with a small range of four products, these Toys promise to be awesome as they get kids to build the Toy themselves & learn in the process 🙂 The CrunchLabs tag line being ‘Turning Engineering Into Play’. My personal favorite out of the four products up for pre-order is the ‘Egg Drop Challenge’ as I think it will be really fun to build & rebuild the structure to try & protect the egg as you drop it from great heights…. 

Going to make a great gift for Xmas or something to get the kids excited & learning some cool science concepts without even knowing it…got to be a good thing 🙂 

Book wise I can’t wait for a new Taylor Jenkins Reid to be in my hands after the emotional whiplash I got reading Atmosphere. The Last Days of Vic & Coco sounds atmospheric, set in the 70s where two friends are hustling their way around a Summer soaked America. I already have my eyes set on a copy of the absolutely beautiful journal by psychologist Jessica Gerbic, Mauritau, after following her for a while on social media. I love her approach to combining Western psychology with Mātauranga Māori, and the journal is a beautiful approach to finding a tiny bit more balance by becoming more aware of and honouring the 12 different states of Mauri. Because I’m a mum who reads many a picture book and has a huge place in my heart for anything the Queen Julia Donaldson writes and has illustrated by the genius that is Axel Scheffler I will be first in line to buy my copy of Gruffalo Granny. A brand new story set in the deep dark woods? Sold.

Lastly, I have a couple of board games on my wishlist that look too good to be true and are releasing later this year. A Place For All My Books is a book organizing game where you find zen and gain dopamine by sorting books in different rooms and then admire your beautiful projects. Delightful. The other boardgame that I think would be therapeutic for me is Verdant - a stunning houseplant game where the aim is to create the coziest space with plants. Take my money.

Here are my three picks!

1. Protocol by Dr Andrew Huberman
People these days are very into health, fitness and stress management. As friends keep sharing with me his reels and posts, I now subscribe his podcasts. But this is the very first time you don’t have to browse through hundreds of episodes to find the topic you want answer for, a handy guidebook that you can seek out for practical ways to change your brain function, energy, mood moderation, and even simply  to sleep better. This is the definite human body operational manual you need!

2. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera 
I first got to know about this story through the movie as I watch tons of films each week. The story, the mythology and culture and literary depth combined, the tale sings Maori literature and values. I’m so thrilled to see it finally become part of the Penguin Modern Aotearoa Classics series, especially in such a beautiful clothbound hardback with stunning foiled-stamped cover. Definitely a gem of a story deserves a clothbound edition to match!

3. Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs Deluxe Gift Edition

I’ve always loved Pop-up books, I like how each picture jumps out into my face when I turn a new page. And when you talk about Pop-up books, you can’t skip Robert Sabuda, the master of 3D Complicated paper engineering! Everyone loves dinosaurs, but studying how he turns simple papers into a 3D ones, is like enjoying an exhibition of paper craft!

This new deluxe gift edition is definitely worth getting for collector not simply because there is gold-filled dinosaur cover, but it's an experience for readers of all ages to pull, touch, flip, open, and study those giant animals that once rambled around the Earth.

After reading The Book of Guilt earlier this year and being absolutely shook by the plot twists (I had to keep reading as I walked from the carpark into work I was that hooked) I am so excited to see Catherine Chidgey is coming out with another book! The Starving Bride looks absolutely riveting. A post break up crash out that leads to Hazel joining a sideshow act, (basically running away to join the circus): sign me up. It looks tense and creepy and concerned with fame and mortality and I already love it. 

Speaking of escapism, I am absolutely someone who would plan a trip around going to one specific thing so A World of Bookish Places looks like the ideal place to start planning my next adventure. It's a beautiful hardback that takes you on a tour of bookish places around the globe, and comes complete with country specific book recommendations! It looks like such a good coffee table book for a book lover. 

A little closer to home, The Fridge Game caught my eye as a way my flatmates and I could add some whimsy and competition to our kitchen as we often find it hard to find a time to all sit down for a game together! A turn taking word game that attaches to your fridge, The Fridge Game would allow us to play games together without having to find a time when we're all free. 

Finally, as a big fan of Freakonomics, the updated edition of The Winner's Curse caught my eye (mainly for the title, I was intrigued). Looking into it further I love that it analyses the questions of human economics that defy purely cost benefit calculations. I can't wait to find out more! 

There are some pre-orders I am particularly excited for currently making their way to our new Book Hero warehouse. The Pokémon Deluxe Character Guide is a huge 336-page hardback covering all 1,025 Pokémon (way more than the ones that I grew up with). I’ve recently been playing Daggerheart with friends for our D&D nights and the Hope & Fear expansion nearly doubles the options in the game, adding four new classes! I also think the new Love Letter Deluxe Edition looks particularly cool, a must have for people like me that love this game! The D&D World of Warcraft Map Pack brings Icecrown to the tabletop with ten encounter maps and a complete high-level adventure ending at the Frozen Throne! - looking very fun for lovers of D&D and WoW like me!

On the book side, Ed Conway’s Trade World explores how global trade shaped the world through three everyday things… bread, cloth and cars. I enjoyed his Material World book so looking forward to picking this up. There and Back Again is also near the top of my list: a history of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, assembled from interviews with almost 100 members of the cast and crew 25 years after the first film arrived.

Obviously, ‘A Court of Splintered Harmony’ and ‘A Court of Forgotten Melody’ are right at the top of my list. I’m halfway through my full ACOTAR re-read at the moment, so I am getting VERY ready to head back to Prythian. We finally have titles, covers and actual details about what’s coming, with Koschei the Deathless moving to the centre of the story, the Night Court dealing with some pretty major fractures and old alliances starting to fall apart. After spending far too much time theorising about where Sarah J. Maas is taking us next, I genuinely cannot wait to see which theories are right, which are wildly wrong and, most importantly, whose story we’re actually getting!

I also really love John Green, so ‘Hollywood, Ending’ was an immediate addition to my list. His books have always been such easy, satisfying reads for me, and I’m really intrigued to see him return to fiction with an adult story. It follows rising actors Kai and Juniper after they’re cast in a buzzy Andy Warhol biopic and suddenly find themselves dealing with fame, falling in love and the very strange line between having a public and private life. It sounds like classic John Green, just grown up, and I’m here for it.

Then there’s ‘Life of M’, which I am SO intrigued by. Rachel Cusk’s novel centres on an incredibly famous actress known only as M, whose image has been everywhere since she was a child, while a writer attempts to get close enough to understand who she really is beneath all that fame. There have been so many rumours and theories that M is based on Natalie Portman, and whether that turns out to be true or not, I am fascinated to read it. At only 192 pages, I can already see myself absolutely devouring this one.

And finally, I’m a sucker (pun absolutely intended) for a beautiful book. The ‘Twilight Deluxe Collector’s Edition’ was genuinely one of the most beautiful books I’d seen in real life, so there was never any question about whether I’d be adding the matching ‘New Moon Deluxe Collector’s Edition’ to my collection. It has a foil-stamped slipcase, new cover and interior artwork, illustrated endpapers, a ribbon marker and that incredible interactive gilded-edge design. I fear I’m going to need the entire series if they keep making them this pretty.AE