Most Anticipated Books of 2023

Hi readers!

For a change, I decided to post my most anticipated books in January instead of last month because honestly, I just had so many things I wanted to talk about, that this post kept getting pushed. And literally every week I find new books to add to it, so as usual it’s just very hard to choose when to post this because I feel like this post becomes incomplete the moment I post it.

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai – January 10, 2023

OKAY LISTEN UP we’re starting with a banger. This is one of my most anticipated titles of the year and I HAVE AN ARC FOR IT, so this will definitely be on a priority on my reading list for me this year. This is a fantasy set in an Egypt-inspired world, it is about characters from different backgrounds fighting for women’s rights, and it sounds incredible. I also bought a copy! Full disclosure: I know the author, she’s a wonderful, smart, lovely person and we are in a group chat in Twitter, and so my review may be biased because I really like her, even if I try my hardest to stay neutral.

Synopsis:

As a waterweaver, Nehal can move and shape any water to her will, but she’s limited by her lack of formal education. She desires nothing more than to attend the newly opened Weaving Academy, take complete control of her powers, and pursue a glorious future on the battlefield with the first all-female military regiment. But her family cannot afford to let her go–crushed under her father’s gambling debt, Nehal is forcibly married into a wealthy merchant family. Her new spouse, Nico, is indifferent and distant and in love with another woman, a bookseller named Giorgina.

Giorgina has her own secret, however: she is an earthweaver with dangerously uncontrollable powers. She has no money and no prospects. Her only solace comes from her activities with the Daughters of Izdihar, a radical women’s rights group at the forefront of a movement with a simple goal: to attain recognition for women to have a say in their own lives. They live very different lives and come from very different means, yet Nehal and Giorgina have more in common than they think. The cause–and Nico–brings them into each other’s orbit, drawn in by the group’s enigmatic leader, Malak Mamdouh, and the urge to do what is right.

But their problems may seem small in the broader context of their world, as tensions are rising with a neighboring nation that desires an end to weaving and weavers. As Nehal and Giorgina fight for their rights, the threat of war looms in the background, and the two women find themselves struggling to earn–and keep–a lasting freedom.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo – January 10, 2023

I’m a bit on the fence for this once but I did enjoy Ninth House and I’m often in the mood for a dark academia so I think the chances I’ll pick it up are really high.

Synopsis:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of hell—even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. But Alex is playing with forces far beyond her control, and when faculty members begin to die off, she knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if Alex is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World by Lauren Fleshman – January 10, 2023

This might be the only non-fiction on my list – but mostly because I am not so excited about new non-fiction releases and tend to read more backlisted titles than new ones. But this one is about a runner talking about her experience as an athlete and how sexism affects female athletes, plus it seems very inspiring, so I’m looking SO much forward to this! I’ll probably pick up the audiobook if it is out soon.

Synopsis:

Fueled by her years as an elite runner and advocate for women in sports, Lauren Fleshman offers her inspiring personal story and a rallying cry for reform of a sports landscape that is failing young female athletes

Lauren Fleshman has grown up in the world of running. One of the most decorated collegiate athletes of all time and a national champion as a pro, she was a major face of women’s running for Nike before leaving to shake up the industry with feminist running brand Oiselle and now coaches elite young female runners. Every step of the way, she has seen the way that our sports systems–originally designed by men, for men and boys–fail young women and girls as much as empower them. Girls drop out of sports at alarming rates once they hit puberty, and female collegiate athletes routinely fall victim to injury, eating disorders, or mental health struggles as they try to force their way past a natural dip in performance for women of their age.

Part memoir, part manifesto, Good for a Girl is Fleshman’s story of falling in love with running as a girl, being pushed to her limits and succumbing to devastating injuries, and daring to fight for a better way for female athletes. Long gone are the days when women and girls felt lucky just to participate; Fleshman and women everywhere are waking up to the reality that they’re running, playing, and competing in a world that wasn’t made for them. Drawing on not only her own story but also emerging research on the physiology and psychology of young athletes, of any gender, Fleshman gives voice to the often-silent experience of the female athlete and argues that the time has come to rebuild our systems of competitive sport with women at their center.

Written with heart and verve, Good for a Girl is a joyful love letter to the running life, a raw personal narrative of growth and change, and a vital call to reimagine sports for young women.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix – January 17, 2023

Grady Hendrix’ books are such fun, I definitely want to pick this up! Also I love a good haunted house story.

[edit] I got an ARC! Yay!

Synopsis:

Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.

When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.

Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.

Good Girl by Anna Fitzpatrick – January 17, 2023

This got highly recommended as a fantastic “unhinged woman” book (I don’t remember by whom, sorry!), so I’m very excited to pick this up! I kind of love the cover, too.

Synopsis:

Secretary meets Fleabag in Anna Fitzpatrick’s hot and hilarious comic-erotic debut.

Lucy tries so hard to be good. She was always a good student, tries to be a good friend, a good citizen, a good feminist, and now she wants a lover who will give her a good beating, preferably after tying her up.

Dating swings from the sublime to the humiliating, but then Lucy hooks up with someone who challenges her to pursue the writing career she has been letting idle. When she discovers a teen magazine from the 1970s, it sparks her imagination and her life finally seems to come into focus; but as she learns more about how women were treated behind the scenes, she has to decide what to do. How to be true to herself, as chaotic as she believes herself to be; how to be good to those around her; how to survive as a young woman in the still messy media culture of 2015.

Surprising, sexy, and hilarious, Good Girl is a thoughtful and endearing portrait of a young woman unsure of what she’s supposed to want from a world where the rules keep changing.

The Drift by C.J. Tudor – January 19, 2023

I usually enjoy C. J. Tudor ‘s novels and I’m very intrigued by the synopsis of this one. It sounds like it could go in so many directions and I love stories set during snowstorms.

Synopsis:

Prepare for the big chill . . .
A crashed coach full of students . . .
A stranded cable car full of strangers . . .
An isolated chalet full of friends . . .
Outside, a snowstorm rages.
Inside one group, a killer lurks.
But which one?
The Drift. . . survival can be murder

Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos, translated by Rahul Bery – February 2, 2023

This is a Brazilian novel that’s just under 200 pages and although I don’t know the author, I’m always compelled to read something new from Brazil. I’m particularly attracted by this mystery novel because it’s about a sister trying to find the other and learning about her life and secrets, plus this seems to have hints of horror. I have an ARC for it, so I’d love to read it asap.

[edit] I read this and really enjoyed it!

Synopsis:

Lucinda has lived her whole life in the shadow of her glamorous and outgoing high-end model sister Viviana. But when Viviana suddenly goes missing on a trip to São Paulo, Lucinda drops everything to track her down. Met with indifference from the police, Lucinda starts her own investigation with the help of Viviana’s girlfriend Graziane. The deeper into Viviana’s life Lucinda goes, the more she realises that she doesn’t really know anything about her sister. When Lucinda discovers that Viviana has a thriving career as a sex worker, the list of possible outcomes widens. A cryptic text from her sister suggests she is still alive, but is being held hostage by a mysterious person. Lucinda has seen enough crime dramas to know that time is of the essence in kidnapping cases, and with the minutes ticking by, she and Graziane must track down men from Viviana’s past to figure out who might want to do her harm. An acerbic and propulsive thriller that crackles with fury at a society that treats women as property.

The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra, translated by Megan McDowell – February 7, 2023

I don’t know this author, but his last novel Chilean Poet got a lot of buzz and it got me curious. I received an eARC for this – This is less than 100 pages long and translated by the incredible Megan McDowell, so I will pick it up for sure! It seems like this was published in English already but the translation has been revisited.

Synopsis:

Veronica is late, and Julián is increasingly convinced she won’t ever come home. To pass the time, he improvises a story about trees to coax his stepdaughter, Daniela, to sleep. He has made a life as a literature professor, developing a novel about a man tending to a bonsai tree on the weekends. He is a narrator, an architect, a chronicler of other people’s stories. But as the night stretches on before him, and the hours pass with no sign of Veronica, Julián finds himself caught up in the slipstream of the story of his life – of their lives together. What combination of desire and coincidence led them here, to this very night? What will the future – and possibly motherless – Daniela think of him and his stories? Why tell stories at all?

The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell – February 9, 2023

Okay this sounds FANTASTIC. Set in a theater in London, there’s curses and strange events and maybe the Muse is a real thing? I’m sold.

Synopsis:

By the pricking of my thumbs…

At The Mercury Theatre in London’s West End, rumours are circulating of a curse.

It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in nature. On stage, it’s as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the Muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders if the rumours are true, and fears that when the Muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.

…Something Wicked this way comes

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi – February 14, 2023

I was sold when I read this was a Gothic story, plus it’s Roshani Chokshi’s adult debut. I was not a huge fan of The Gilded Wolves (it was alright!) and I’m a bit wary of the comparisons to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (which I didn’t like much) and to Mexican Gothic (whose author’s writing does not agree with me). I have an ARC for this so I’m definitely going to read it, and I’m actually excited to give this author a second chance!

Synopsis:

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after–and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai – February 21, 2023

I haven”t read The Great Believers yet, but this mystery sounds really up my alley. I’m also wondering if this has Women’s Prize potential – I really think so!

Synopsis:

A fortysomething podcaster and mother of two, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family history that marred her adolescence and the murder of one of her high school classmates, Thalia Keith. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are the subject of intense fascination online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.

But when she’s invited back to Granby, the elite New England boarding school where she spent four largely miserable years, to teach a course, Bodie finds herself inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought; if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.

One of the most acclaimed American writers working today, Makkai reinvents herself with each of her brilliant works of fiction. In I Have Some Questions for You, she has created an irresistible mash-up of a classic boarding school novel, a transfixing mystery, and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past—how our perceptions of who we were shape who we are, and how we can learn to let go. Timely, hypnotic, and populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, it is her finest achievement yet.

My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin – February 14, 2023

This sounds like an intense, difficult read and will probably break my heart. I’m in.

Synopsis:

It’s 1998 and Isabel Rosen, the only daughter of a Lower East Side appetizing store owner, has one semester left at Wilder College, a prestigious school in New Hampshire. Desperate to shed her working-class roots and still mourning the death of her mother four years earlier, Isabel has always felt like an outsider at Wilder but now, in her final semester, she believes she has found her place―until a nonconsensual sexual encounter with one of the only other Jewish students on campus leaves her reeling.

Enter R. H. Connelly, a once-famous poet and Isabel’s writing professor, a man with secrets of his own. Connelly makes Isabel feel seen, beautiful, talented: the woman she longs to become. His belief in her ignites a belief in herself, and the two begin an affair that shakes the foundation of who Isabel thinks she is, for better and worse. As the lives of the adults around her slowly come apart, Isabel discovers that the line between youth and adulthood is less defined than she thought.

A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, Daisy Alpert Florin’s My Last Innocent Year is a timely and wise portrait of a young woman learning to trust her voice and move toward independence while recognizing the beauty and grit of where she came from.

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz – February 21, 2023

Okay so I hesitate a little in picking up books about books these days because of how often they disappoint me – with one notable exception, thrillers. I love a good thriller revolving around writing, books, selling books and so on. The Writing Retreat has such a cool premise, and I love claustrophobic thrillers, so I’m definitely picking this one up.

Synopsis:

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she’s desperate to discover the truth and save herself.

A claustrophobic and propulsive thriller exploring the dark side of friendships and fame, The Writing Retreat is the unputdownable debut novel from a compelling new talent.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon – February 28, 2023

I am SO excited for this prequel of The Priory of the Orange Tree! Sounds magical and wonderful. I’ve also been lucky enough to receive an ARC so I am hoping to pick this up asap!

Synopsis:

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton – March 1, 2023

Oooh I just heard about this new release by Eleanor Catton! I loved The Lumminaries, so I’m very excited for this new literary thriller by her.

Synopsis:

Birnam Wood is on the move . . .

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice: on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker–or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?

A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its wit, drama, and immersion in character. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh – March 2, 2023

I’m very excited to give this author another chance – I didn’t love The Water Cure, but I really wanted to, and this one sounds a lot more up my alley.

Synopsis:

Still reeling in the aftermath of the deadliest war the world had ever seen, the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit collectively lost its mind. Some historians believe the mysterious illness and violent hallucinations were caused by spoiled bread; others claim it was the result of covert government testing on the local population.

In that town lived a woman named Elodie. She was the baker’s wife: a plain, unremarkable person who yearned to transcend her dull existence. So when a charismatic new couple arrived in town, the forceful ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet, Elodie was quickly drawn into their orbit. Thus began a dangerous game of cat and mouse – but who was the predator and on whom did they prey?

Audacious and mesmerising, Cursed Bread is a fevered confession, an entry into memory’s hall of mirrors, and an erotic fable of transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson – March 11, 2023

I loved The Kind Worth Killing, which is probably the only reason why I will pick this up because lately Peter Swanson’s books don’t quite do it for me.

Synopsis:

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale” sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher – March 28, 2023

Apparently haunted houses are the new hot thing in thrillers? I’m totally here for it. I haven’t read any T. Kingfisher as of the time of writing this post, but her books always sound fantastic and I want to read all of them.

Synopsis:

Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother. She seems anxious, jumpy, and she’s begun making mystifying changes to the family home on Lammergeier Lane. Sam figures it has something to do with her mother’s relationship to Sam’s late, unlamented grandmother.

She’s not wrong.

As vultures gather around the house and frightful family secrets are unearthed under the rosebushes, Sam struggles to unravel the truth about the house on Lammergeier Lane before it consumes her and everyone else who stands in its way…

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda – April 11, 2023

I really enjoyed The Last to Vanish, so I’m looking forward to this new book by Megan Miranda! I read a LOT of thrillers and mysteries so for sure I’ll pick this up soon – this also sounds right up my alley with a group of former classmates meeting years after an accident that killed someone, but maybe it wasn’t an accident. Very cool.

Synopsis:

From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and “master of suspense, Megan Miranda” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl), a thrilling mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a tragic accident—only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy.

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee – April 11, 2023

I’m not sure I’ll read this one because I am not too fond of novellas, but it’s Fonda Lee, so I’ll probably pick it up, since my life has been empty since I finished Jade Legacy.

Synopsis:

Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family.

Ester’s path leads her to the King’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire’s most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.

The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller – April 20, 2023

I wasn’t even sure which cover to put here because honestly both look amazing BUT LOOK AT THAT. I enjoyed Unsettled Ground, although I wasn’t entirely in love with it, but this sounds harrowing, haunting and with a hint of sci-fi, which has sold it to me for sure.

Synopsis:

Neffy is a young woman running away from grief and guilt and the one big mistake that has derailed her career. When she answers the call to volunteer in a controlled vaccine trial, it offers her a way to pay off her many debts and, perhaps, to make up for the past.

But when the London streets below her window fall silent, and all external communications cease, only Neffy and four other volunteers remain in the unit. With food running out, and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets, Neffy has questions that no-one can answer. Does safety lie inside or beyond the unit? And who, or what is out there?

While she weighs up her choices, she is introduced to a pioneering and controversial technology which allows her to revisit memories from her life before: a childhood divided between her enigmatic mother and her father in his small hotel in Greece. Intoxicated by the freedom of the past and the chance to reunite with those she loves, she increasingly turns away from her perilous present. But in this new world where survival rests on the bonds between strangers, is she jeopardising any chance of a future?

August Blue by Deborah Levy – May 4, 2023

I loved The Man Who Saw Everything, so I’m very excited to read this new book by Deborah Levy! This is about a living double and sounds very interesting!

Synopsis:

‘If she was my double and I was hers, was it true that she was knowing, I was unknowing, she was sane, I was crazy, she was wise, I was foolish? That summer, the air was electric between us as we transmitted our feelings to each other across three countries.’

Elsa M. Anderson is a classical piano virtuoso. In a flea market in Athens, she watches an enigmatic woman buy two mechanical dancing horses. Is it possible that the woman who is so enchanted with the horses is her living double? Is she also looking for reasons to live?

Chasing their doubles across Europe, the two women grapple with their conceptions of the world and each other, culminating in a final encounter in a fateful summer rainstorm.

A vivid portrait of a long-held identity coming apart, August Blue expands our understanding of the ways in which we seek to find ourselves in others and create ourselves anew.

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor – May 23, 2023

I haven’t yet read Real Life but for some reason I’m convinced I’m going to love it, so I ended up requesting this ARC and was very excited to receive it!

Synopsis:

In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront, and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery. At the group’s center are Ivan, a dancer turned aspiring banker who dabbles in amateur pornography; Fatima, whose independence and work ethic complicates her relationships with friends and a trusted mentor; and Noah, who “didn’t seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.” These three are buffeted by a cast of poets, artists, landlords, meat-packing workers, and mathematicians who populate the cafes, classrooms, and food-service kitchens of Iowa City, sometimes to violent and electrifying consequence. Finally, as each prepares for an uncertain future, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives—a moment of reckoning that leaves each of them irrevocably altered.

A novel of intimacy and precarity, friendship and chosen family, The Late Americans is Brandon Taylor’s richest and most involving work of fiction to date, confirming his position as one of our most perceptive chroniclers of contemporary life.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang – May 25, 2023

“Darkly, funny literary thriller” by R. F: Kuang? I’m sold immediately. This sounds like an acidic look into the publishing world and I am curious to see what her non-fantasy debut will be like.

Synopsis:

What would you steal for successes:
her face?
her name?
her skin?
Athena Liu is a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody.
Who wants stories by basic white girls anyway?
But now Athena is dead. And June has her unfinished manuscript…
A darkly funny literary thriller from the New York Times bestselling author.

The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan – May 25, 2023

Oh I loved Exciting Times, and this sounds like another wonderful story about complicated relationships, complicated people, and looking for happiness. I think I’ll love it.

Synopsis:

Meet the happy couple. Luke and Celine, are in mutual unrequited love with each other, set to marry in a year’s time.

The best man, Archie, is meant to want to move up the corporate ladder and on from his love for Luke; yet he stands where he is, admiring the view.

The bridesmaid, Phoebe, Celine’s sister, has no long-term aspirations beyond smoking her millionth cigarette and getting to the bottom of Luke’s frequent unexplained disappearances.

Then there’s the guest, Vivian, who with the benefit of some emotional distance, methodically observes her friends like ants.

As the wedding approaches and these five lives intersect, each character will find themselves looking for a path to their happily ever after – but does it lie at the end of an aisle?

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca – June 6, 2023

I really enjoyed Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, despite its goriness not being something I usually gravitate towards. This is a supernatural thriller, a genre I am always looking for more to read of.

Synopsis:

An insidious darkness threatens to devastate a rural New England village when occult forces are conjured and when bigotry is left unrestrained.

After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community—a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.

From the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of the viral sensation, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats is a haunting supernatural thriller from a new and exciting voice in genre fiction.

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Helen Barker – June 13, 2023

This is a historical comedy – not my usual pick, but it sounds so interesting! It’s about a medium trying to spice up her séances by inviting a new person into her team. This sounds fun and I was lucky enough to get an eARC!

Synpsis:

The irresistible historical comedy about two rival mediums in Victorian London

Mrs Wood is London’s premier medium. She has survived the competitive world of contacting the beyond where many others have failed, has avoided the slips that revealed others as frauds and is still hosting packed-out seances with the great and the good of Victorian society.

Yet, some of her patrons have recently cancelled their appointments. There are reports of American mediums who are materialising full spirits and audiences are no longer content with the knocking on tables and candle theatrics of years gone by. And then, at one of Mrs Wood’s routine gatherings, she hears something terrifying – faint, but unmistakable: a yawn.

Mrs Wood needs to spice up her brand. She decides to take on Emmie, a young protege, to join her show. But is Emmie the naive ingenue she seems to be? Or does she pose more of a threat to Mrs Wood’s reign as London’s most celebrated medium than Mrs Wood could ever have imagined?

Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding –  22 Jun 2023

This sounds so dark and wonderful, exploring the roles of these women in the life of a terrible man, who one of them killed. I also have an ARC for this, so I’m definitely picking it up.

Synopsis:

Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man’s severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him – has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she did not. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who is responsible, all while staying one step ahead of the police.

Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.

The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey – July 11, 2023

I love this series! It’s about a solicitor in 1920s Bombay solving mysteries, she’s such a smart but warm and kind character and this is a comfort series for me.

Synopsis:

Bombay, 1920s. At a lavish fundraiser party for the launch of a new women’s hospital, the grandson of Lord Bhatia, an influential aristocrat, is badly burned in an accident—but a young servant, Sunanda, rushes to save him. Instead of being lauded as a hero, Sunanda is dismissed from the household, and simultaneously, suspiciously charged with “child murder”—also known as abortion.

Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female solicitor, cannot stand by while this heroine is mistreated and takes her on as a client. Perveen goes as far as inviting Sunanda to live with the Mistrys, as Sunanda’s family has put her out of the house in shame at her supposed crime.

The Mistry home is full of tension, as Perveen’s sister-in-law, who has just given birth, is struggling with new motherhood, and Perveen’s father is less than happy to have a disgraced servant under his roof. Perveen herself is going through personal turmoil as she navigates a societally taboo relationship with a handsome librarian.

When the Mistrys’ servant residence is set aflame, Perveen realizes just how much is at stake in this case: has someone extremely powerful framed Sunanda to cover up another crime? Will Perveen be able to prove Sunanda’s innocence without endangering her own family? Sujata Massey has returned with another expertly researched and chillingly prescient exploration of 1920s Bombay.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle – July 18, 2023

I have not read anything by Chuck Tingle yet but this is his horror debut and sounds incredible???

Synopsis:

From beloved internet icon Chuck Tingle, Camp Damascus is a searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.

They’ll scare you straight to hell.

Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.

Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.

The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz – July 25, 2023

Fantasy inspired by Venezuelan folklore? Yes, please. I don’t know the author’s work and I’m looking forward to a potential new favorite book!

Synopsis:

Set in a lush world inspired by the history and folklore of South America, The Sun and the Void is a sweeping epic fantasy of colonialism and country, ancient magic, and a young woman’s quest for belonging.

When Reina arrives at Aguila Manor, her heart stolen from her chest, she’s on the verge of death—until her estranged grandmother, a dark sorceress in the Don’s employ, intervenes. Indebted to a woman she never knew, and smitten with the upper-caste daughter of the house, Celeste, Reina will do anything to earn–and keep–the family’s favor. Even the bidding of the ancient god who speaks to her from the Manor’s foundations. To save the woman she loves, Reina will have to defy the gods themselves, and become something she never could have imagined.

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain – July 20, 2023

This is the author from The Push and I’ll definitely read this! It sounds incredible and if it’s anywhere close to the psychological intensity from The Push, it will be a fantastic read.

Synopsis:

On Harlow Street, the well-to-do neighborhood couples and their children gather for a catered barbecue as the summer winds down; drinks continue late into the night.

Everything is fabulous until the picture-perfect hostess explodes in fury because her son disobeys her. Everyone at the party hears her exquisite veneer crack—loud and clear. Before long, that same young boy falls from his bedside window in the middle of the night. And then, his mother can only sit by her son’s hospital bed, where she refuses to speak to anyone, and his life hangs in the balance.

What happens next, over the course of a tense three days, as each of these women grapple with what led to that terrible night?

Exploring envy, women’s friendships, desire, and the intuitions that we silence, The Whispers is a chilling novel that marks Audrain as a major women’s fiction talent.

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He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan – August 22, 2023

I loved She Who Became the Sun, this epic fantasy just really worked for me, so I am really looking forward to this sequel.

Synopsis:

How much would you give to win the world?

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor.

But Zhu isn’t the only one with imperial ambitions. Her neighbor in the south, the courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband—and she’s strong enough to wipe Zhu off the map. To stay in the game, Zhu will have to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old enemy: the talented but unstable eunuch general Ouyang, who has already sacrificed everything for a chance at revenge on his father’s killer, the Great Khan.

Unbeknownst to the southerners, a new contender is even closer to the throne. The scorned scholar Wang Baoxiang has maneuvered his way into the capital, and his lethal court games threaten to bring the empire to its knees. For Baoxiang also desires revenge: to become the most degenerate Great Khan in history—and in so doing, make a mockery of every value his Mongol warrior family loved more than him.

All the contenders are determined to do whatever it takes.

Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Fall 2023

At this point this series is one of my only sources of serotonin. I LOVE THIS SERIES. I can hardly wait for this last installment.

Synopsis:

The Locked Tomb series—Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, and Alecto the Ninth—is an epic science fantasy that blends necromantic theory and thrilling swordplay with a wicked, sacrilegious sense of humor; a modern mix of Dune, Riddick, and Gormenghast.

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Causas não naturais by Ana Elisa Ribeiro – no date

Okay so I know nothing about this book, except that this author has a bunch of books published that are really well rated and that the title (“Unnatural Causes”, freely translated) really caught my eye. Of course, this is a Brazilian title.

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Novo romance de Itamar Vieira Junior – no date

Oh my god I loved Torto Arado (in English: Crooked Plow), so I am over the moon about this new release! I don’t need to know anything about it to know that I will 100% read it.

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Novo romance de Samir Machado de Machado – no date

I loved Tupinilândia, such a creative and well-written book – I look very much forward to Samir Machado de Machado’s next book!

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