It’s our favorite time of the year, book nerds. The top of the year is a look forward to all the truly amazing books set to publish this year, books we’ve been waiting patiently (or not) to release for a minute now because we need to devour those much-anticipated next books in a beloved series. Or, maybe one of our fave authors is beginning an all-new series we seriously need to dive into ASAP.
The books on this list were selected based on their popularity on Goodreads, early praise from reviewers, and high numbers of pre-orders from Amazon and Bookshop. You can pre-order any of these titles to get them delivered to your door or on your e-reader once the title is officially published later this year.
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to everyone. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with Javier’s father as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
A dysfunctional family meets Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None with a truly gasp-inducing twist. This is the book you’ve been looking for. —Catherine Ryan Howard, bestselling author of 56 Days
Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart. Now after years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in her crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. When the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
But at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darker must reckon with their present mystery and past secrets, before the tide goes out and all is revealed. As seen on the TODAY show and picked by Book of the Month, Daisy Darker’s family secrets and Alice Feeney’s trademark shocking twists will keep readers riveted.
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Down a narrow alley in the small coastal town of Mallow Island, South Carolina, lies a stunning cobblestone building comprised of five apartments. It’s called The Dellawisp and it is named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.
When Zoey Hennessey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at The Dellawisp, she meets her quirky, enigmatic neighbors including a girl on the run, a grieving chef whose comfort food does not comfort him, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and three ghosts. Each with its own story. Each with its own longings. Each whose ending isn’t yet written.
When one of her new neighbors dies under odd circumstances the night Zoey arrives, she is thrust into the mystery of The Dellawisp, which involves missing pages from a legendary writer whose work might be hidden there. She soon discovers that many unfinished stories permeate the place, and the people around her are in as much need of healing from the wrongs of the past as she is. To find their way they have to learn how to trust each other, confront their deepest fears, and let go of what haunts them.
Delightful and atmospheric, Other Birds is filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go. Sarah Addison Allen shows us that between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace. But that god cannot be contained forever.
With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.
Both a sweeping adventure story and intimate exploration of identity, legacy, and belonging, The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ambitious and profound saga that will transport and transform you—and is like nothing you’ve ever read before.
Murder in Westminster by Vanessa Riley
Set in Regency England, this lively series launch from romance author Riley (A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie) stars Abigail Carrington, the daughter of a Jamaican mother and a Scottish father. After Abigail, who has married a much older lord who spends most of his time at sea, and her cantankerous London neighbor, Stapleton Henderson, encounter each other outdoors one evening, they discover the strangled corpse of Henderson’s estranged wife slumped against the fence dividing their properties. Abigail fears her race will make her a suspect, despite her slight acquaintance with the victim, and she can’t reveal that she was on her way to a meeting of antislavery crusaders without compromising the group’s secrecy. Instead, she resolves to solve the crime. The victim’s many lovers are obvious suspects, but Abigail sees Henderson as a likely murderer, despite his attempts to persuade her otherwise. While the backstory introducing series characters sometimes feel clumsy and the modern language can be distracting, Riley offers a vibrant picture of the roles Black and mixed-race people played in Regency life. Fans of Bridgerton will enjoy this one. Agent: Sarah Elizabeth Younger, Nancy Yost Literary.
