There's nothing quite like the exhilarating experience of ringing in the new year with a fresh selection of new book releases that promise to captivate readers' imaginations and transport them to different worlds. As we step into January 2025, the literary landscape is brimming with exciting titles that cater to a wide array of tastes and preferences. I have dedicated considerable time and effort to scouring the internet to curate a list of books that are not only anticipated but are also sure to entertain and engage readers across genres. The beginning of a new year often brings with it a sense of renewal and hope, and what better way to embrace that spirit than by diving into compelling stories and thought-provoking narratives? From gripping thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat to heartwarming romances that tug at your heartstrings, January 2025 is set to deliver an impressive lineup of releases.
In my search, I have identified several noteworthy titles that stand out for their unique storytelling, diverse perspectives, and innovative approaches to both fiction and non-fiction. Each book has been meticulously selected based on its potential to resonate with readers, offering a chance to explore new ideas, cultures, and experiences. Whether you're a fan of literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, or non-fiction, there is something for everyone in this upcoming month's offerings. As we eagerly await these releases, I encourage readers to mark their calendars and clear some space on their TBR list. The excitement of discovering new authors and or stumbling onto an unexpected 5-star book is part of the joy that comes with new book releases. So, without further ado, let’s delve into the remarkable titles that will soon grace our bookshelves, each promising to deliver unforgettable journeys and enriching experiences as we embark on another year of literary exploration. Cheers!
-YA Romance-
Royal Heirs Academy by Lindsey Duga
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
Description
In this story filled with “romantic tension, royal drama, and family secrets” (Kristy Boyce), four teens living in a glamorous boarding school must compete in order to inherit a European kingdom. Perfect for fans of Elite and Maxton Hall—The World Between Us.
For fifty years, King Leander Eldana has ruled Ashland without naming an heir to the crown. After sending away his grandchildren to be raised out of the public eye, it’s finally time to secure his nation’s future by appointing one definitive heir. The best way to appraise his successor? In the halls of Almus Terra Academy, a boarding school infamous for breeding the world’s next generation of leaders—and liars.
Titus Eldana has always known he’d inherit Ashland’s future. Now he must prove he has what it takes. Alaric Eldana was not raised with a silver spoon. His secondhand clothes might not be fit for a king, but he knows how to rule: with his fist. Emmeline Eldana only wants to please her neglectful parents. If that means securing the crown, she won’t hesitate to destroy anyone in her way. Sadie Aurelia has no idea why she’s been given a chance to bring new blood to the throne. With nothing left to lose back home, she’s ready to take it.
Filled with competition, secret alliances, enemies-to-lovers romance, and cunning revenge, Royal Heirs Academy is a breathless, entertaining read set in modern-day. This gossip-filled school for the global elite is inspired by UWC of the Atlantic, which Vanity Fair has described as “Hippie Hogwarts. ”For fans of the breakout television hits Elite and Maxton Hall—The World Between Us.
Source Citation:
Hachette Book Group 2024, Royal Heirs Academy, Hachette Book Group website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/lindsey-duga/royal-heirs-academy/9780316578691/>.
-Horror-
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
ABOUT WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS
There’s power in a book…
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened. Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who. Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood. In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a "horror master" (NPR)
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/716337/witchcraft-for-wayward-girls-by-grady-hendrix/>.
-Mystery-
A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT A SEA OF UNSPOKEN THINGS
In this captivating atmospheric novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Unmaking of June Farrow, a woman investigates her twin brother’s mysterious death while confronting the ghosts of her own haunted past.
James and Johnny Golden were once inseparable. For as long as she can remember, James shared an almost supernatural connection with her twin brother, Johnny, that went beyond intuition—she could feel what he was feeling. So, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she’s alone—truly alone—for the first time in her life. When James arrives in the secluded town of Six Rivers, California, to settle her brother’s affairs, she’s forced to revisit the ominous events of their shared past and finally face Micah, the only other person who knows their secrets—and the only man she has ever loved. But as James delves deeper into Johnny’s world, she realizes that their unique connection hasn’t completely vanished. The more she immerses herself in his life, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew. Johnny was hiding something, and he’s not the only one. The deeper she digs, the more she is compelled to unravel the truth behind the days leading up to Johnny’s death. Ultimately, James must decide which truths should come to light, and which are better left buried forever.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, A Sea of Unspoken Things, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/716337/witchcraft-for-wayward-girls-by-grady-hendrix/>.
-Thriller-
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
Book Details
“Her best book yet.” —Harlan CobenThe million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . . . . . and revenge.
Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life. Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared. A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t. Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do. “Magnetic and jaw-dropping.” —Mary Kubica, bestselling author "Unforgettable." —Chris Whitaker, bestselling author
Source Citation:
Macmillan Publishers 2024, Beautiful Ugly, Macmillan Publishers website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250337788/beautifulugly/>.
-YA Contemporary Romance-
First Love Language by Stefany Valentine
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
ABOUT FIRST LOVE LANGUAGE
For fans of Frankly in Love and Tokyo Ever After comes a romantic dramedy about finding love and reconnecting with your culture in the most surprising ways.
Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother. So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it. With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought. Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, First Love Languages, Penguin Random House website, Accessed on 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737285/first-love-language-by-stefany-valentine/>.
-Mystery-
Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT MYSTERY ROYALE
THE INHERITANCE GAMES meets HOTEL MAGNIFIQUE in this genre splicing YA fantastical mystery.
The only thing sixteen-year-old Mullory Prudence has left of her mom is a warning: “Run if the strange finds you.” But mysterious warnings don’t pay the bills or help take care of her sick Gran. And they certainly don’t make her miserable after-school job any more bearable. When unexpected letters start appearing in peculiar places––sealed in bags of dog food and hidden in the refrigerator––Mullory knows she should avoid them to heed her mother’s warning, but her curiosity thinks otherwise. She uncovers an invitation from Stoutmire Estate to compete in a game of Mystery Royale for the chance at a sizable inheritance. Dizzy with the prospect of billions, Mullory enters the game only to unearth the true prize––the illusionary magical properties of Xavier Stoutmire, a recluse without an heir. A recluse who was expected to keep his magic in the family, especially when there isn’t enough for each member. With a prize worth killing for, the game is simple: be the first to solve the mystery––who killed Xavier Stoutmire? One week full of lavish parties dripping with enchantments, in a mansion brimming with clues of the past, and everyone’s a suspect. To win, Mullory will need to untangle a twisted family web and decide who she can trust…Whitaker Stoutmire, the golden boy who’s harboring deadly secrets? Ellison Stoutmire, his closed off twin, who saw something she shouldn’t have? Lyric Stoutmire the youngest sibling, exiled by the family and burning with resentment? Or Mateo Maldonado, the only other outsider whose reserved manner allows him to hide in the shadows… At least at first. But most of all, Mullory must ask herself, why? Why her? A question most strange, indeed.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Mystery Royale, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/764004/mystery-royale-by-kaitlyn-cavalancia/>.
-Romantasy-
Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros
Expectected Release: January 21, 2025
THE STORM IS COMING . . .
Get ready to fly or die in the breathtaking follow-up to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros. After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.
Because the battle has truly begun; and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves - her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.
They need an army.
They need power.
They need magic.
And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.
But a storm is coming... and not everyone can survive its wrath
Source Citation:
Goodreads 2024, The Empyrean #3 Onyx Storm, Goodreads website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209439446-onyx-storm>.
-Science Fiction LGBTQ+-
The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT THE LAST BOOKSTORE ON EARTH
Two teen girls fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world in this unforgettable YA debut.
Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us.“A thoroughly original, intimate, and sometimes harrowing meditation on survival, forgiveness, and learning how to love again at the almost end of the world.”—Nicola Yoon #1 New York Times bestselling author.
The world is about to end. Again. Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her. Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes. Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay. As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.
“A hauntingly beautiful story of love, loss, and the raw fight for survival.” —Jarrod Shusterman, New York Times bestselling author of Dry“Hopeful, thrilling, and twisty…the snarky sapphic dystopian of our dreams."-Jennifer Dugan, author of Some Girls Do
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, The Last Bookstore on Earth, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/760650/the-last-bookstore-on-earth-by-lily-braun-arnold/>.
-Romantasy-
The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
About
“My newest obsession! A breathtaking, sexy romantasy full of twists and adventure.” –REBECCA YARROS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fourth Wing
“Be ready for a deadly contest for a bride, mistaken identities, hidden magic, and secrets that will keep you guessing until the end.” –NISHA J. TULI, internationally bestselling author of Trial of the Sun Queen
A bladesmith blessed by the stars. A prince with a dangerous secret. A god bound in shadows. From USA Today bestselling author Amalie Howard comes a scorching new romantasy that will leave you spellbound.
“His Imperial Majesty, King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed guest.”
When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved. But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who captures her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the Starkeeper—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia. When the rebels attack, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the Starkeeper. But Roshan is guarding secrets of his own. And with no control over the power stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of a dark god, an immortal whose interest might be the biggest threat of all.
“Consumes all your attention and leaves you longing for more!” —Jennifer L. Armentrout, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Stunning .” —Brigid Kemmerer, New York Times bestselling author
“Pure addictive delight." —Thea Guanzon, New York Times bestselling author
“Amalie Howard at her finest!” —Danielle L. Jensen, New York Times bestselling author
Source Citation:
HarperCollinsPublishers 2024, The Starlight Heir, HarperCollinsPublishers website, Accessed on 09 December 2024, <https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-starlight-heir-amalie-howard?variant=42431729106978>.
-Contemporary Romance-
Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3) by Sarah Adams
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL
Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this new rivals-to-lovers romance set in Rome, Kentucky—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rule Book and Practice Makes Perfect.
“Sarah Adams writes books with heart and soul. They speak to the people finding their way and being unapologetically themselves in the process. I love her style.”—Hannah Grace, author of Icebreaker
Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor. Jack is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited about—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return. With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, he agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?
Look for all of Sarah Adams’s When in Rome books: WHEN IN ROME • PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT • BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL (Coming Soon!)
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Beg, Borrow, or Steal, Penguin Random House website, Accessed on 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735443/beg-borrow-or-steal-by-sarah-adams/>.
-Contemporary Romance-
Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young
Expected Release: January 28, 2025
ABOUT OUT OF THE WOODS
“Absolute, utter perfection.” ―Chloe Liese, USA Today bestselling author of Only and Forever.
A married couple joins a week-long wilderness expedition to help them reconnect in this heartfelt companion novel to the viral TikTok sensation Out on a Limb.
High school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood have always been a sure thing. For the past seventeen years, they have had each other’s backs through all of life’s ups and downs. But Sarah has begun to wonder . . . who is she without her other half? When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memory of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter after all, independent and capable. That is, until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day. The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances and doubts. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be? In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to get out of their comfort zones and join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches. What follows is a life-affirming comedy of errors as two nature-averse people fight their way out of the woods in order to find their way back to their roots.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Out of the Woods, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/750133/out-of-the-woods-by-hannah-bonam-young/>.
Suspenful Romance-
All the Missing Pieces (Shady Cove, #1) by Catherine Cowles
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
Description
Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need, the final missing piece. And sometimes it comes in the form of a towering, broody sheriff, determined to get in your way at every step.
Ridley Sawyer knows what it’s like to miss someone, to feel like a piece of her vanished—because it happened to her the night her twin sister disappeared. Now, Ridley channels that loss into hope, traveling the country covering cold cases for her true crime podcast. She might not have found justice for her sister but that doesn’t stop her from finding it for others. Until Sheriff Colter Brooks gets in her way. Colt knows what it’s like to have reporters descend on his town in the wake of a tragedy, and he’s not about to let a fiery podcaster stir up trouble. It doesn’t matter that her haunting blue eyes tell him there’s more to Ridley’s story or that he can’t stop imagining what it would be like to touch her. But when Ridley’s cold case turns hot and she’s thrust into the crosshairs, Colt has no choice but to step in. Suddenly, Ridley’s living at his house, drinking his whiskey, and stealing his dog’s affections. But she’s also proving that she’s so much more than his first impression.
And as they get closer to the truth, the game they’ve been playing might just turn deadly…
Source Citation:
Goodreads 2024, All the Missing Pieces (Shady Cove, #1), Goodreads website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/216284514-all-the-missing-pieces>.
-Romantasy-
Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
About
"Treacherously beautiful and dazzlingly romantic. This book will steal your breath and your heart!" – Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon A Broken Heart.
A young ruler must forge a delicate alliance with the untrustworthy yet magnetic God of War to protect her kingdom in this stunning romantic fantasy filled with dangerous secrets, forbidden magic, and passion, from Sue Lynn Tan, bestselling author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.
The young heir to a mortal crown, Liyen ascends a precarious throne when her grandfather dies, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals and take vengeance against those she feels responsible for his death. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.
But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.
Source Citation:
HarperCollinsPublishers 2024, Immortal, HarperCollinsPublishers website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.harpercollins.com/products/immortal-sue-lynn-tan?variant=42307563421730>.
-Historical Fantasy-
A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
About
In an alternate London in 1923, one girl accidentally breaks the tenuous truce between dragons and humans in this sweeping debut and epic retelling of Bletchley Park steeped in language, class, and forbidden romance. Perfect for teen fans of Fourth Wing and Babel.
Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get a summer internship studying dragon languages, be smart, be sweet, and make sure her little sister never, ever has to risk growing up Third Class. She just has to free one dragon. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war. With her parents and cousin arrested and her sister missing, Viv is brought to Bletchley Park as a codebreaker—if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die. As Viv begins to discover the secrets of a hidden dragon language, she realizes that the fragile peace treaty that holds human and dragon societies together is corrupt, and the dangerous work Viv is doing could be the thread that unravels it.
Source Citation:
HarperCollinsPublishers 2024, A Language of Dragons, HarperCollinsPublishers website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.harpercollins.com/products/a-language-of-dragons-s-f-williamson?variant=42181531172898>.
-Romance-
Once Smitten, Twice Shy (The Wilmot Sisters, #3) by Chloe Liese
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
ABOUT ONCE SMITTEN, TWICE SHY
Star-crossed lovers learn that practicing romance leads to the perfect happy ending in this steamy reimagining of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Since heartbreak entered the scene, Juliet Wilmot, once a hopeless romantic, has sworn off love. But when she’s presented with the chance to revisit romance—purely for practice—with the gorgeous, off-limits guy she keeps serendipitously running into, it feels like a sign from the universe. Quiet, shy Will Orsino knows happily-ever-after isn’t on his horizon. Problem is, for the sake of the family business, marriage is. Resigned to the inevitable, but with no confidence he can woo a wife, he can hardly say no when fate hands him the alluring, unattainable woman he keeps crossing paths with, offering to help him learn the ropes of romance. Neither of them looking for love, Jules and Will agree they’re the perfect pair to practice romance. Except that practicing to perfection leads to an irresistible attraction. Their once smitten hearts, though still twice shy, might have happily-ever-after written in the stars for them, after all.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Once Smitten, Twice Shy, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/705213/once-smitten-twice-shy-by-chloe-liese/>.
-YA Fantasy-
Breath of the Dragon (Breathmarked, #1) by Shannon Lee
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
Book Details
Featuring beautiful sprayed edges! A young warrior dreams of proving his worth in the elite Guardian Tournament, fighting not only for himself but the fate of everything he loves.
Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s pride—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place. As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about.
Source Citation:
Macmillan Publishers 2024, Breath of the Dragon, Macmillan Publishers website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250902672/breathofthedragon/>.
-YA Fantasy-
Carving Shadows into Gold (Forging Silver into Stars, #2) by Brigid Kemmerer
Expected Release: January 28, 2025
Description
Dangerous magic. Fateful choices. Broken promises. The spellbinding series by New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer continues.
The King's Courier Tycho has made a treacherous bargain. Now beholden to the magical scraver who saved King Gray's life, one false move could end everything.Jax escaped his life in Briarlock and traveled with Tycho to Emberfall. But life outside his small village brings unexpected challenges--and unlikely adversaries. After years of hating the royal family and their magic, Callyn never expected to be at the Queen's side, with magic on her fingertips. But at the royal court, she can't trust anyone--including the man she thought she loved. Cast apart, Tycho, Jax, and Callyn must learn to wield the magic that is dividing their kingdom. As the magical scravers attack from the north and the king's rivals gain strength, time is running out. War is looming. Love is tested. And magic could be the only answer. . .
Source Citation:
Bloomsbury 2024, Carving Shadows into Gold: Forging Silver into Stars Brigid Kemmerer Bloomsbury YA, Bloomsbury website, Accessed 09 December 2024, <https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/carving-shadows-into-gold-9781547610112/>.
-Romantasy-
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
ABOUT WATER MOON
A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike fantasy novel. FEATURES A UNIQUE ORIGAMI JACKET that folds into a boat, joining the characters in an enchanting way. The jacket artwork is also printed directly onto the hardcover case underneath.
“Race through a lush world of pure wonder and romance—kites made of wishes that become stars, origami that holds time in its folds, and a night market in the clouds—in this lovely, cozy fantasy reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea.”—Booklist (starred review)
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets. Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it. Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds. But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Water Moon, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 09 Decemeber 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738846/water-moon-by-samantha-sotto-yambao/>.
-LGBTQ+ Fiction-
The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
About The Book
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.
Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.
Source Citation:
Simon & Schuster 2024, The Three Lives of Cate Kay, Simon & Schuster website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Three-Lives-of-Cate-Kay/Kate-Fagan/9781668076217>.
-Literary Fiction-
What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
Book Details
From New York Times bestselling author Tracey Lange, a poignant story about the resilience of family, the importance of community, and the magic of middle school hockey.
When Kyle McCray gets word his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York, where he doesn’t expect a warm welcome. Kyle left suddenly two and a half years ago, abandoning people who depended on him: his father, his employees, his friends—not to mention Casey, his wife of sixteen years and a beloved teacher in town. He plans to lie low and help his dad recuperate until he can leave again, especially after Casey makes it clear she wants him gone.The longer he’s home, the more Kyle understands the impact his departure has had on the people he left behind. When he’s presented with an opportunity for redemption as the coach of the floundering middle school hockey team, he begins to find compassion in unexpected places. Kyle even considers staying in Potsdam, but that’s only possible if he and Casey can come to some kind of peace with each other. Full of love and hope, What Happened to the McCrays? takes an intimate look at both sides of a failed marriage and two people who must finally confront the awful pain of their past or risk being consumed by it.
Source Citation:
Macmillan Publishers 2024, What Happened to the McCrays?, Macmillan Publishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250328434/whathappenedtothemccrays/>.
-Sports Romance-
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice.
She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship. Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end. As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.
Source Citation:
Layne Fargo 2024, The Favorites, Layne Fargo website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.laynefargo.com/books/thefavorites>.
-LGBTQ+ Contemporary-
Good Girl by Aria Aber
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
An electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery—a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history.
A girl can get in almost anywhere, even if she can’t get out.
“A no-bullsh*t must-read debut.”—Kaveh Akbar
“Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul.”—Raven Leilani
“Radiant with longing and beauty.”—Sarah Thankham Matthews
In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist. Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of personal and artistic freedom. But as Nila finds herself pulled further into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, ugly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany—and Nila’s family and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the most important question: Who does she want to be? A story of love and family, raves and Kafka, staying up all night and surviving the mistakes of youth, Good Girl is the virtuosic debut novel by a celebrated young poet and, now, a major new voice in fiction.
Source Citation:
Aria Aber 2024, Good Girl, Aria Aber website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.ariaaber.com/new-page-2>.
-Literary Fiction-
Rosarita by Anita Desai
Expected Release: January , 2025
About The Book
From “world-class writer” (The Washington Post) and three-time Booker finalist Anita Desai, an exquisitely written stunning exploration of love, place, memory, history, and the secrets between a mother and her daughter.
Away from her home in India to study Spanish, Bonita sits on a bench in El Jardin de San Miguel, Mexico, basking in the park’s lush beauty, when she slowly becomes aware that she is being watched. An elderly woman approaches her, claiming that she knew Bonita’s mother—that they had been friends when Bonita’s mother had lived in Mexico as a talented young artist. Bonita tells the stranger that she must be mistaken; her mother was not a painter and had never travelled to Mexico. Though the stranger leaves, Bonita cannot shake the feeling that she is being followed. Days later, haunted by the encounter, Bonita seeks out the woman, whom she calls The Trickster, and follows her on a tour of what may, or may not, have been her mother’s past. As a series of mysterious events brilliantly unfold, Bonita is unable to escape The Trickster’s presence, as she is forced to confront questions of truth and identity, and specters of familial and national violence. A masterpiece of storytelling from a gifted writer, Rosarita is a profound mediation on mothers and marriage, art and self-expression, and how the traumas from the past can impact future generations.
Source Citation:
Simon & Schuster 2024, Rosarita, Simon & Schuster website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Rosarita/Anita-Desai/9781668082430>.
-Mental Health Contemporary-
More of Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
About The Book
A breathless, riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy.
Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough. With her signature “deep empathy and insight” (Booklist), Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova has crafted another profoundly moving novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. More or Less Maddy is destined to become another classic like Still Alice.
Source Citation:
SImon & Schuster 2024, More or Less Maddy, Simon & Schuster website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/More-or-Less-Maddy/Lisa-Genova/9781668026168>.
-Fiction-
I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
BOOK DESCRIPTION
“Rebecca Kauffman writes like a sunbeam, strong and warm on whatever lands in her path. This book only looks short—in reality, it reveals a family so richly drawn, so deep and complex, that it contains the whole world.” —Emma Straub
A modern and classic story of family, I’ll Come to You chronicles intersecting lives over the course of one year—1995—anchored by the anticipation and arrival of a child. With empathy, insight, and humor, Rebecca Kauffman explores overlapping narratives involving a couple whose struggle to become pregnant has both softened and hardened them, a woman whose husband of forty years has left her for reasons he’s unwilling to share and the man who is now disastrously attempting to woo her, a couple in denial about a looming health crisis, and their son who is fumbling toward middle age and can’t stop lying. Ultimately, these storylines crescendo and converge into a dramatic and harrowing turn of events. With heart, wit, and courage, and through pain, these characters traverse territory that both challenges and defines the bonds of family. Sweeping yet compact, I’ll Come to You investigates themes of intimacy, memory, loss, grief, and reconciliation, and the wonder, terror, frustration, fear, and magic of brushing up against the unknowable—both around us and within us.
Source Citation:
CounterpointPress 2024, I'll Come to You, CounterpointPress website, Access 10 December 2024, <https://www.counterpointpress.com/books/ill-come-to-you/>.
-Mystery Thriller-
Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
Fates and Furies meets The Silent Patient when movie star Lila Crayne and her film director fiancé embark on a feminist adaptation of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night, prompting Lila to enter therapy in preparation for her leading role—but in doing so, she finds herself the victim in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone, on screen and off, is playing a part.
Lila Crayne is America’s sweetheart: she’s generous and kind, gorgeous and magnetic. She and her fiancé, visionary filmmaker Kurt Royall, have settled into a stunning new West Village apartment and are set to begin filming their feminist adaptation of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night. To prepare for the leading role, Lila begins working with charming and accomplished therapist Jonah Gabriel to dig into the trauma of her past. Soon, Lila’s impeccably manicured life begins to unravel on the therapy couch—and Jonah is just the man to pick up the pieces. But everyone has a secret, and no one is quite who they seem. A twisty, thought-provoking novel of construction and deconstruction in conversation with the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and told through the lens of the film industry, Sweet Fury is an incisive and bold critique of America’s deep-rooted misogyny. With this novel, Bischoff examines the narratives we tell ourselves, and what happens when we co-opt others into those stories; and she probes the blurred lines between victim and perpetrator and the true meaning of justice.
Source Citation:
Sash Bischoff 2024, Sweet Fury, Sash Bischoff website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <http://www.sashbischoff.com/new-page-1>.
-Mystery-
Death in the Downline by Maria Abrams
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
ABOUT DEATH IN THE DOWNLINE
It’s multi-level murder in this darkly funny mystery novel about the glamorous world of MLM “huns”—and the dangerous secrets at the top of the pyramid.
Drew thought she was destined to become a star journalist in New York City. But now she’s back in New Jersey, pushing thirty, newly single, and living with her father. After a chance encounter, she reconnects with her former best friend, Steph, who married young and never left their hometown. But Steph looks . . . good. She’s tanned, glowing, and only wears designer labels. Her secret? A skincare sales opportunity called LuminUS. With nothing left to lose, Drew gets sucked into this glamorous world of downlines, sales parties, and girls’ trips.But when a LuminUS distributor is found dead Drew must uncover the dark secret at the heart of the organization—and save her best friend—before it’s too late. Gripping, wickedly funny, and a pitch-perfect skewering of pyramid schemes, Death in the Downline is a page-turner that will have readers cheering for Drew until the cathartic conclusion.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Death in the Downline, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/756650/death-in-the-downline-by-maria-abrams/>.
-Historical Fiction Mystery-
The Naming of the Birds by Paraic O'Donnell
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
The next installment of the “thrilling gothic mystery” (TIME) series, following the acclaimed bestseller The House on Vesper Sands, arrives in full force as Inspector Cutter and Sergeant Bliss solve their strangest and most personal case yet.
Something is troubling Inspector Henry Cutter. Sergeant Gideon Bliss is accustomed to his ill-tempered outbursts, but lately the inspector has grown silent and withdrawn. Then, the murders begin. The first to die is the elderly Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but obscure civil servant who long ago retired to tend his orchids. If the motive for his killing is a mystery, the manner of his death is more bewildering still. The victims that follow suffer similar fates, their deaths gruesome but immaculately orchestrated. The murderer comes and goes like a ghost, leaving only carefully considered traces. As the hunt for this implacable adversary mounts, the inspector’s gloom deepens, and to Sergeant Bliss, his methods seem as mystifying as the crimes themselves. Why is he digging through dusty archives while the murderer stalks further victims? And as hints of past wrongdoing emerge―and with them the faint promise of a motive―why does Cutter seem haunted by some long-ago failing of his own? To find the answers, the meek and hapless sergeant must step out of the inspector’s shadow. Aided by Octavia Hillingdon, a steely and resourceful journalist, Bliss will uncover truths that test his deepest beliefs. Hypnotic and twisty, Paraic O’Donnell’s The Naming of the Birds will ensnare you until the final pages and leave you questioning what matters most―solving a case or serving justice.
Source Citation:
Amazon 2024, The Naming of the Birds, Amazon website, Accessed 10 Decemeber 2024, <https://www.amazon.com/Naming-Birds-Paraic-ODonnell/dp/1963108035>.
-Literary Fiction Romance-
The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT THE HEART OF WINTER
The extraordinary new novel by Jonathan Evison, about a married couple in their golden years, from when they met across big ups, deep downs, and survive-it-all, opposites-attract love.
Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke were never meant to be together—at least if you ask Ruth. Yet their catastrophic blind date in college evolved into a seventy-year marriage and a life on a farm on Bainbridge Island with their hens and beloved Labrador, Megs. Through the years, the Winters have fallen in and out of lockstep, and from their haunting losses and guarded secrets, a dependable partnership has been forged. But when Ruth’s loose tooth turns out to be something much more malicious, the beautiful, reliable life they’ve created together comes to a crisis. As Ruth struggles with her crumbling independence, Abe must learn how to take care of her while their three living children question his ability to look after his wife. And once again, the couple has to reconfigure how to be there for each other. In this bighearted and profound portrait of a marriage, Jonathan Evison explores seventy years of big moments in subtle ways, elegantly braiding the Winters’ turbulent history with their present-day battles, showing us how the oddly paired college kids became parents, fell apart and back together, and grew into the Abe and Ruth of today. Endlessly heartwarming and moving, The Heart of Winter is a reminder that true love lives in small, everyday moments.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, The Heart of Winter, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/723805/the-heart-of-winter-by-jonathan-evison/>.
-Thriller-
The Note by Alafair Burke
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
THE NOTE
It was meant to be a harmless prank. Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing. But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she’s had her fair share of both. Their bond—forged when May was just twelve years old—has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends. What had they gone and done? The Note is a page-turner of the highest order from one of our greatest contemporary suspense writers.
Source Citation:
Alafair Burke 2024, The Note, Alafair Burke website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.alafairburke.com/the-note>.
-Historical Fiction-
Playworld by Adam Ross
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT PLAYWORLD
A big and big-hearted novel—one enthralling, transformative year in the life of a child actor coming of age in a bygone Manhattan, from the critically acclaimed author of Mr. Peanut (“A brilliant, powerful, and memorable book” —The New York Times).
“In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me. She was thirty-six, a mother of two, and married to a wealthy man. Like so many things that happened to me that year, it didn’t seem strange at the time.” Griffin Hurt is in over his head. Between his role as Peter Proton on the hit TV show The Nuclear Family and the pressure of high school at New York’s elite Boyd Prep—along with the increasingly compromising demands of his wrestling coach—he’s teetering on the edge of collapse. Then comes Naomi Shah, twenty-two years Griffin’s senior. Unwilling to lay his burdens on his shrink—whom he shares with his father, mother, and younger brother, Oren—Griffin soon finds himself in the back of Naomi’s Mercedes sedan, again and again, confessing all to the one person who might do him the most harm. Less a bildungsroman than a story of miseducation, Playworld is a novel of epic proportions, bursting with laughter and heartache. Adam Ross immerses us in the life of Griffin and his loving (yet disintegrating) family while seeming to evoke the entirety of Manhattan and the ethos of an era—with Jimmy Carter on his way out and a B-list celebrity named Ronald Reagan on his way in. Surrounded by adults who embody the age’s excesses—and who seem to care little about what their children are up to—Griffin is left to himself to find the line between youth and maturity, dependence and love, acting and truly grappling with life.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Playworld, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/231601/playworld-by-adam-ross/>.
-Mystery Thriller-
The Perfect Home by Daniel Kenitz
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
About The Book
Fixer Upper meets Gone Girl in this suspenseful and witty domestic thriller set in the world of home renovation TV—featuring a woman who becomes public enemy #1 after a horrifying discovery prompts her to flee her celebrity husband with their twin babies.
Dawn Decker is an American everywoman and the salt to her husband Wyatt’s sweet, media-friendly charm on their Tennessee-based home renovation reality TV show, The Perfect Home. While Dawn bristles at the trappings of their D-list celebrity status, Wyatt hungers for greater fame. The couple also faces infertility issues stemming from Wyatt’s low sperm count. He secretly orders experimental fertility drugs, and they conceive, but his personality takes a dark turn—he becomes moody, withdrawn, and even cruel. When Dawn discovers his horrifying plot to manufacture a tragedy in order to skyrocket their celebrity status, she takes their infant twins and goes on the run. Wyatt appears on national television to turn the public against her, painting Dawn as an unstable kidnapper suffering from postpartum psychosis. His charm is so compelling that even Dawn’s closest friends doubt her. She will have to dig deep into the past—both hers and Wyatt’s—to find allies, protect her children, and beat this beloved all-American celebrity at his own game. Told in dual perspectives from both husband and wife, this smart, captivating, and twisty thriller is a fun, addictive read from the very first page.
Source Citation:
Simon & Schuster 2024, The Perfect Home, Simon & Schuster website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Perfect-Home/Daniel-Kenitz/9781668063873>.
-Science Fiction-
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
Book Details
In the tradition of Station Eleven, a literary thriller set partly on the roof of New York’s Museum of Natural History in a flooded future.
"Captivating...The setting, the detailed emotive descriptions, and nail-biting adventure are incandescent." —Library Journal (starred).
All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they've saved.Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story—with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. In the spirit of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most – love and work, community and knowledge – will survive.
Source Citation:
Macmillan Publisehrs 2024, All the Water in the World, Macmillan Publishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250353528/allthewaterintheworld/>.
-Thriller-
The Lost House by Melissa Larsen
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
Book Details
In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.
Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt. Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter. Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp mystery packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.
Source Citation:
Macmillan Publishers 2024, The Lost House, Macmillan Publishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250332875/thelosthouse/>.
-Thriller-
The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
Book Details
"A stunning and accomplished debut, with hugely relatable characters and an addictive storyline that kept me turning the pages well into the night. Bravo!" --BA Paris, New York Times bestselling author.
"Wow, The Business Trip was nonstop twists and turns. I loved the unusual way that the story was told, and I kept reading all day long because I couldn't wait to see how it ended!" -- Freida McFadden, New York Times bestselling author.
THE BUSINESS TRIP is the gripping, page-turning debut from author Jessie Garcia. Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man—the messages becoming stranger and more erratic.And then the two women vanish. The texts go silent, the red flags go up, and the panic sets in. When Stephanie and Jasmine are each declared missing and in danger, it begs the questions: Who is Trent McCarthy? What did he do to these women— or what did they do to him? Twist upon twist, layer upon layer, where nothing is as it seems, The Business Trip takes you on a descent into the depths of a mastermind manipulator. But who is playing who?
Source Citation:
Macmillan Publishers 2024, The Business Trip, Macmillan Publishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250364418/thebusinesstrip/>.
-Historical Fiction, Asian Literature-
The Lotus Shoes by Jane Yang
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
"Brilliantly written, masterful storytelling, and hard to put down. This story will stay with me for a very, very long time." —Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
An empowering, uplifting tale of two women from opposite sides of society, and their extraordinary journey of sisterhood, betrayal, love and triumph.
1800s China. Tightly bound feet, or "golden lilies," are the mark of an honorable woman, eclipsing beauty, a rich dowry and even bloodline in the marriage stakes. When Little Flower is sold as a maidservant—a muizai—to Linjing, a daughter of the prominent Fong family, she clings to the hope that one day her golden lilies will lead her out of slavery. Not only does Little Flower have bound feet, uncommon for a muizai, but she is extraordinarily gifted at embroidery, a skill associated with the highest class of a lady. Resentful of her talents, Linjing does everything in her power to thwart Little Flower's escape. But when scandal strikes the Fongs, both women are cast out to the Celibate Sisterhood, where Little Flower’s artistic prowess catches the eye of a nobleman. His attention threatens not only her improved status, but her life—the Sisterhood punishes disobedience with death. And if Linjing finds out, will she sabotage Little Flower to reclaim her power, or will she protect her?
Source Citation:
HarperCollinsPublishers 2024, The Lotus Shoes, HarperCollinsPublishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-lotus-shoes-jane-yang?variant=42182206455842>.
-LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction-
Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
Description
A mother and son, estranged for years, must grapple with the shared secret that drove their lives apart in this enthralling story about family, forgiveness, and how a fleeting act of violence can change a life forever, by “one of the country’s most talented writers” (Wall Street Journal).
At forty, Peter, an asylum lawyer in New York City, is overworked and isolated. He spends his days immersed in the struggles of immigrants only to return to an empty apartment and occasional hook-ups with a man who wants more than Peter can give. But when the asylum case of a young gay man pierces Peter’s numbness, the event that he has avoided for twenty years returns to haunt him. Ann, his mother, who runs a women’s retreat center she founded after leaving his father, is hurt by the estrangement from Peter but cherishes the world she has built. She long ago put behind her the decision that divided her from her son. But as Peter’s case plunges him further into the fraught memory of his first love and the night of violence that changed his life, he and his mother must confront the secret that tore them apart. With unsurpassed emotional depth, Mothers and Sons reveals all that is lost by looking away from the past and the love that might be restored by facing it. In his spellbinding new novel, Adam Haslett demonstrates yet again his mastery of “a rich assortment of literary gifts” (New York Times).
Source Citation:
Hatchette Book Group 2024, Mothers and Sons, Hatchette Book Group Website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/adam-haslett/mothers-and-sons/9780316574716/?lens=little-brown>.
-LGBTQ+ Nonfiction-
Hello Stranger by Manuel Betancourt
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
ABOUT HELLO STRANGER
Witty and winkingly playful, Manuel Betancourt’s Hello Stranger explores modern queer romance and the expansive possibilities of ephemeral intimacies.
“Hello stranger.” As an opening line, you really can’t ask for better. Hello Stranger is a book about chance encounters—at a bar, through social media, in a bathhouse—and what a stranger can reveal about who we are and who we could still yet be. A stranger, after all, is a site of endless possibilities. As Manuel Betancourt looks back on his past relationships, he turns to characters and narratives that helped him question notions of what monogamy and coupledom (and relationships and marriage) can and should look like. From films like Before Sunrise and Cruising to the poetry of Frank O’Hara and the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, Betancourt uses pop culture to make sense of the alluring prospect of forging intimacies with strangers—even, or especially, the strangers within ourselves. At once a personal excavation and a broad cultural critique, Betancourt grapples with everything from online sexting and real-life cruising to divorces and throuples. Hello Stranger examines the intimacies we crave, value, and oftentimes destroy with rote familiarity.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Hello Stranger, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757080/hello-stranger-by-manuel-betancourt/>.
-Horror-
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
Expected Release: January 7, 2025
ABOUT WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES
“Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror storytellers working today.”—Jordan Peele
“Surreal, hypnotic, unrelenting, profoundly claustrophobic, and an absolutely scathing send-up of the pitfalls of American divisiveness.”—Keith Rosson, author of Fever House
From master of horror Clay McLeod Chapman, a relentless social horror novel about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media.
Noah has been losing his polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of her many conspiracy theories. But when his phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles and his parents locked in a terrifying trancelike state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it. Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him. But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart—literally—as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend glued to a screen. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn—but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes? This ambitious, searing novel from one of horror’s modern masters holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/756648/wake-up-and-open-your-eyes-by-clay-mcleod-chapman/>.
-Nonfiction Memoir-
I Am Nobody's Slave by Lee Hawkins
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
About
A 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer exhaustively examines his family’s legacy of post-enslavement trauma and resilience, in this riveting memoir—a soulful, shocking, and spellbinding read that blends the raw power of Natasha Tretheway’s Memorial Drive and the insights of Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed.
I Am Nobody’s Slave tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. This book examines how trauma from enslavement and Jim Crow shaped their outlook on thriving in America, influenced each generation, and how they succeeded despite these challenges. To their suburban Minnesotan neighbors, the Hawkinses were an ideal American family, embodying strength and success. However, behind closed doors, they faced the legacy of enslavement and apartheid. Lee Hawkins, Sr. often exhibited rage, leaving his children anxious and curious about his protective view of the world. Thirty years later, his son uncovered the reasons for his father’s anxiety and occasional violence. Through research, he discovered violent deaths in his family for every generation since slavery, mostly due to white-on-Black murders, and how white enslavers impacted the family’s customs. Hawkins explores the role of racism-triggered childhood trauma and chronic stress in shortening his ancestors' lives, using genetic testing, reporting, and historical data to craft a moving family portrait. This book shows how genealogical research can educate and heal Americans of all races, revealing through their story the story of America—a journey of struggle, resilience, and the heavy cost of ultimate success.
HarperCollinsPublishers 2024, I Am Nobody's Slave, HarperCollinsPublishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.harpercollins.com/products/i-am-nobodys-slave-lee-hawkins?variant=42417685856290>.
-Nonfiction Memoir Food-
How to Share an Egg by Bonny Reichert
Expected Release: January 21, 2025
ABOUT HOW TO SHARE AN EGG
A moving culinary memoir about the relationship between food and family—sustenance and survival—from a chef, award-winning journalist, and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
“Beautifully written, heartbreaking and hopeful.”—Ruth Reichl, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Novel
When you’re raised by someone who once survived on potato peels and coffee grounds, you develop a pretty healthy respect for food. Bonny Reichert avoided everything to do with the Holocaust until she found herself, in midlife, suddenly typing those words into an article she was writing. The journalist had grown up hearing stories about her father’s near-starvation and ultimate survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau, but she never imagined she would be able to face this epic legacy head-on. Then a chance encounter with a perfect bowl of borscht in Warsaw set Bonny on a journey to unearth her culinary lineage, and she began to dig for the roots of her food obsession, dish by dish. Stepping into the kitchen to connect her past with her future, the author recounts the defining moments of her life in a poignant tale of scarcity and plenty: her colorful childhood in the restaurant business, the crumbling of her first marriage and the intensity of young motherhood, her decision to become a chef, and that life-altering visit to Poland. Whether it’s the flaky potato knishes and molasses porridge bread she learned to bake at her baba Sarah’s elbow, the creamy vichyssoise she taught herself to cook in her tiny student apartment, or the brown butter eggs her father, now 93, still scrambles for her whenever she needs comfort, cuisine is both an anchor and an identity; a source of joy and a signifier of survival. How to Share an Egg is a journey of deep flavors and surprising contrasts. By turns sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, this is one woman’s search to find her voice as a writer, chef, mother, and daughter. Do the tiny dramas of her own life matter in comparison to everything her father has seen and done? This moving exploration of heritage, inheritance, and self-discovery sets out to find the answers.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, How to Share an Egg, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717585/how-to-share-an-egg-by-bonny-reichert/>.
-Science Fiction Horror-
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Expected Release: January 14, 2025
About
"Her best work yet... about fame and family, culture and change, the power of story, the writer’s life... and robots. This one has it all.” — George R.R. Martin
In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative—a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you’ve read before.
The future of storytelling is here.
Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots. When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next. A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.
Source Citation:
HarperCollinsPublishers 2024, Those Who Survive, HarperCollinsPublishers website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.harpercollins.com/products/death-of-the-author-nnedi-okorafor?variant=42657372766242>.
-Nonficton Memoir Food-
Between Two Waters: Heritage, landscape and the modern cook by Pam Brunton
Expected Release: January 21, 2024
An insider critique of the food business by award-winning chef Pam Brunton, interrogating sustainability in food culture and documenting the early days of her Green Michelin Star restaurant Inver.
When world-class chef Pam first opened Inver, her restaurant on the shores of Loch Fyne, she set out to discover what makes 'modern Scottish food' - or if it even existed. This book traces Pam's journey to answer that question and in doing so reveals what we can all gather from our culinary heritage. Part memoir, part manifesto on the future of feeding the world and a feminist critique of the food business, it documents the difficult early days of her now multiple award-winning restaurant, reflecting on how the immersive experience of 'destination restaurants' can both help and hinder our understanding of wider land and food culture. From the soil to the kitchen, Between Two Waters interrogates the influences on what we eat: capitalism, colonialism and gender, as well as our own personal and cultural histories. Yet it also captures with real heart all that the dinner table has to offer us: sustenance, both physical and imaginative, challenges and adventure and, most importantly, communion with others. More than anything, it is a blisteringly original work from one of the world's most innovative thinkers about food, sustainability and landscape.
Source Citation:
Amazon 2024, Between Two Waters: Heritage, landscape and the modern cook, Amazon website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Waters-Heritage-landscape/dp/1805301772>.
-Science Fiction Horror-
The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks
Expected Release: January 14, 2024
ABOUT THE WAY UP IS DEATH
A SFF thriller where a mysterious, otherworldly tower appears in the sky above the UK with a single word emblazoned above its doorway… ascend. A great read for fans of Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart. When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND.
As a grieving teacher, a reclusive artist, and a narcissistic celebrity children’s author lead the others in trying to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone… is up. And so begins a race to the top, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares, as the group fights to hold onto its humanity, while the twisted horror of why they’re here grows ever more apparent – and death stalks their every move.
Source Citation:
Penguin Random House 2024, The Way Up is Death, Penguin Random House website, Accessed 10 December 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/761939/the-way-up-is-death-by-dan-hanks/>.
Are you eagerly anticipating any of these upcoming releases? The excitement surrounding new books can be palpable, especially when they promise to deliver fresh narratives, intriguing characters, and immersive worlds that captivate our imaginations. Perhaps you’ve been fortunate enough to receive an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) or an Electronic Advanced Reader Copy (E-ARC) of one of these highly anticipated titles? Receiving an ARC can be a thrilling experience, as it allows readers to dive into the story before it hits the shelves and offers a unique opportunity to engage with the author’s work ahead of the general public.
I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions! What aspects of these releases are you most looking forward to? Are there particular genres or themes that have caught your eye? Do you have any predictions about the plots or character developments based on the teasers or summaries that have been shared? Your insights could spark interesting discussions and provide valuable perspectives for fellow readers who are also excited about these forthcoming books. Please share your thoughts in the comments below, as we look forward to a spirited exchange of ideas and anticipation surrounding these literary gems!
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