Best New Book Releases for the New Year

Full of romance, intrigue, and secrets, The Villa is a fast-paced and absorbing read that keeps you hooked until the end.

This stunning novel tells the story of a group of friends who spend a summer together in a villa in the south of France.

Hawkins has written a captivating novel that explores the complexities of friendship, love, and betrayal.

The Bandit Queens is an account of the rise and fall of the Phoolan Devi gang. The book chronicles the lives of the gang members, their crimes, and the eventual capture and trial of Phoolan Devi.

The book is a fascinating read and gives insight into the world of crime and punishment in India. It’s also a reminder of the brutal reality of India’s caste system and discrimination.

Age of Vice explores the seedy underbelly of Delhi.

Kapoor takes readers on a tour of Delhi’s red-light district, where young girls are forced into prostitution. She also delves into the city’s drug underworld and introduces readers to the city’s most notorious gangsters.

Kapoor’s book is a gritty and often disturbing look at Delhi’s dark side. But it is also a fascinating and eye-opening read.

The House in the Pines is a touching story about a young girl’s experience living in a foster home.

The book follows Ana as she moves from one foster home to another, eventually finding a permanent home with a loving family. Throughout her journey, Ana faces many challenges and learns to overcome them with the help of her new family.

The House in the Pines is a heartwarming story that will resonate with readers of all ages.

Small World explores the idea of six degrees of separation or the idea that everyone on the planet is connected to everyone else by a maximum of six people.

The book follows the lives of three women who are connected by one man. Their lives become intertwined as they all deal with heartbreak, betrayal, and the challenges of modern life.

Zigman’s novel is a thoughtful exploration of how we are all connected to one another.

In The Survivalists, a group of friends are out hiking when they witness a large explosion in the distance. They soon realize that a nuclear bomb caused the explosion and are now in the middle of a nuclear winter.

With no way of knowing how long the winter will last, the group must find a way to survive.

The Survivalists is a fast-paced and suspenseful novel that will keep readers hooked from beginning to end.

All the Dangerous Things tells the story of thirteen-year-old girls who attempt to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a classmate.

Set in a small town in Texas and told from the girls’ perspective, the girls encounter the town’s hostility towards them as they try to uncover the truth.

All the Dangerous Things is a fast-paced novel that keeps readers guessing until the end.

The Mitford Affair is a novel by Marie Benedict that tells the story of the real-life love affair between Diana Mitford and Oswald Mosley.

Based on letters and diaries that were found after the couple’s death, the book has been praised for its historical accuracy and its portrayal of the couple’s love affair.

Maame tells the story of a young Ghanaian woman named Maame, who is forced to leave her home and family in Ghana to live with her aunt in the United States.

Maame is a powerful and moving novel about the African diaspora, family, and the importance of home.

George’s writing is beautiful and lyrical, and her characters are rich and full of life. The novel is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary African literature.

In this highly anticipated book, Prince Harry offers a searingly honest account of his life as a royal, from the moments that defined him – from his mother’s death to his wedding day – to his search for a meaningful role within the monarchy.

With unflinching candor, he describes the challenges he has faced, from his battle with mental health after his mother’s death to the paparazzi attention that has pursued him throughout his adult life. He also opens up about his work to support the Armed Forces and his commitment to using his platform to tackle the stigma around mental health.

Have a towel ready as you read to mop up all the spilled tea!

Fleshman, a well-known figure in the running world, offers an inside look at the sport from a woman’s perspective.

She explores what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated sport and discusses the challenges she’s faced as a female runner, the sexism she’s encountered, and how she’s learned to navigate the world of running as a woman.

If you’re a woman interested in running or are simply looking for an inside look at the sport from a woman’s perspective, Good for a Girl is a book worth checking out.

Listed as the number one new release in Teen & Young Adult European Historical Fiction, Anatomy: A Love Story earns this placement with its intriguing premise. Set in early-1800s Edinburgh, this novel tells the story of Hazel Sinnett, who dreams of becoming a surgeon instead of getting married. To achieve her dream, she needs to pass the medical exam. And to do that, she needs to study bodies. Fortunately, she has befriended gravedigger Jack Currer. However, these two friends dig up more than expected – the dark secrets behind disappearing residents and Edinburgh society.

This dystopian drama is about a young Chinese mother, Frida Liu. Her difficult life is about to get worse. She doesn’t have her parents’ approval. Her husband openly has a mistress. And now, she risks losing her beloved daughter Harriet after making a poor decision. When Frida finds herself in a government reform program, she must prove her worth as a mother. Jenna Bush Hager describes this novel as “so captivating, thought-provoking and beautifully written, everything I tried to pick up next paled in comparison.”

This 2021 bestseller had Stephen King calling it “insanely readable.” Once a young novelist with a promising career ahead of him, Jacob Finch Bonner never achieved his dreams. Now, as a struggling professor teaching an MFA program, Jacob encounters a student, Evan Parker, with a plot idea for a book that’s sure to be an enormous success. When the book never gets published, Jacob discovers his student has died without completing the book. When Jacob steals his plot idea resulting in his own wealth and fame, he soon learns that there’s more to Evan Parker’s story than he realized.

If you like a memoir that reads like a story, consider picking up Lost & Found. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kathryn Schulz recounts love and loss in this moving memoir. Eighteen months before she lost her father, Kathryn fell in love. This memoir weaves the stories of three American families, her father’s Jewish refugee roots, her partner’s devout Christian family, and the family she makes for herself within her new marriage. This memoir will inspire both laughter and tears.

Publications from Vogue to Oprah Daily to Buzzfeed and more have endorsed Fiona and Jane as a must-read book for 2022. Listed as Asian American Literature, this novel is about friendship, identity, and heartbreak over a two-decade period. Fiona and Jane’s friendship began in second grade, continued through their tumultuous teens, and persevered into their twenties when they led separate lives. Told in alternating voices, this is a story of a deep heartfelt friendship that overcomes their painful family histories, betrayals, and current adult struggles.

The Maid is a page-turner that’ll remind you of playing the board game, Clue. Molly Gray takes her work as a hotel maid to the next level with an obsession for cleaning and proper etiquette. But when she discovers a room in total disarray and the dead body of Charles Black, a wealthy and infamous man, her unique personality quirks causes her to be the prime suspect in his death. Now, with the help of friends she never realized she had, she needs to discover what happened to clear her name. The Maid is a Good Morning America book club pick and a New York Times Editor’s Choice.

I read The Maid and enjoyed it. Molly is a quirky character worth rooting for!

Sometimes you need to laugh at your situation. Jen Mann doesn’t hold back her keen wit and humor about midlife struggles in this book. She recounts how having what seemed like a perfect life still resulted in her succumbing to a mid-life crisis. This collection of essays shares Jen’s wisdom from her experience, insights, and advice from the online community she built. Zibby Owens, host of the award-winning podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, calls it “a must-read for anyone over forty.”

Get comfortable before opening the first page because you won’t want to put this book down until the end. The Good Son tells the story of Thea Demetriou, who feels compelled to help her son, Stefan, after he’s been convicted of a devasting crime. Stefan was seventeen when he was sent to prison for the drug-fueled murder of his girlfriend, Belinda. Complicating the situation, Belinda’s mother and Thea had once been close friends. In the aftermath, Thea struggles to understand her son and discover what happened the night Belinda died.

If the price of a new release means breaking your New Year’s resolution to save money, never fear – you can still find a fantastic read at a super-low price. Released in 2017, Never Coming Back tells the story of Clara Winter, who left her rural Adirondack hometown for college and vowed, at her mother’s insistence, never to return. Ten years later, Clara’s mother, suffering from the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s, can longer live on her own. As Clara spends time with her mother, she begins questioning why her mother wanted her to leave her hometown so badly and never return.