At the dawn of a new month, a new year, and a brand-new decade, we are most excited about one thing: new books! Our minds are clear and we’re eager to start working on our 2020 reading goals. From thrillers to historical fiction to empowering self-help novels, these are a few of the reads set to hit bookshelves in January. We have a feeling you’re going to want to squeeze these titles into your To Be Read list….
This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.
Heather’s Pick #1:
Ever since seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at a tiny art house theater in 2009, I’ve had an appetite for a good Scandinavian crime story, which is why I leapt at the chance to read an advanced copy of The Tenant a few months ago. Katrine Engberg’s debut novel, translated from her native Danish, is not only a gripping read, but one that I can already picture on-screen as a movie or TV series as well. Veteran Copenhagen police partners Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner (yep, Korner and Werner) catch a doozy of a case together: the vicious slaying of a young woman in her first-floor apartment. The twist? Her landlady and upstairs neighbor, aspiring author Esther de Laurenti, has somehow predicted details of the case in her manuscript....
#1 international bestseller
An Indie Next Pick
An O, The Oprah Magazine Titles to Pick Up Now
A People Book Pick
A New York Post Best Book of the Week
A theSkimm Best Book to Read This Winter
A BookPage Top Ten Books for February
A Parade Most Anticipated Books of Early 2020
A Bustle Most Anticipated Books of January 2020
A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020
A She Reads Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2020
An electrifying work of literary suspense from international bestselling author Katrine Engberg, this stunning debut introduces two police detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge.
When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.
But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller.
Hailed as “inconceivably thrilling” (Fyens Stiftstidende, Denmark), The Tenant is a work of stunning originality that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
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Heather’s Pick #2:
I’m fascinated by alternate history, the exploration of how one historical event going a different way would mean we’d be living in a whole different world. Comparing what would and wouldn’t have turned out the same way is half the fun. That’s why I’m looking forward to reading A Longer Fall. The second adventure in Charlaine Harris’s Gunnie Rose series is set in just such a hard-boiled alternate universe, in which FDR has been assassinated before implementing his New Deal and ending the
Great Depression—and, as a result, the United States fractured into different territories. It is in this milieu that hired gun Lizbeth Rose signs on for what she expects will be an in-and-out job. Of course, it doesn’t actually go according to plan, because life rarely does. Instead, the crate Lizbeth is supposed to deliver gets stolen in a bloody holdup. To get it back, she must team up with an old friend and go undercover….
#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with the second of the Gunnie Rose series, in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it.
In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straight-forward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.
Heather’s Pick #3: Deep State by Chris Hauty
I’m a news junkie with strong political opinions, so I’m curious to read Deep State, a thriller clearly inspired by our modern-day national issues and partisan divide. Chris Hauty’s debut novel introduces White House intern Hayley Chill, an Army veteran who’s working for the newly inaugurated populist president’s chief of staff. Unfortunately, her boss is soon found dead at home, and Hayley finds evidence to suggest he may have been murdered. What’s more, she begins to suspect there may be a bigger conspiracy at play.
“Deep State is a propulsive, page-turning, compelling, fragmentation grenade of a debut thriller.” —C.J. Box, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wolf Pack and The Bitterroots
“The plot...rings eerily true...will keep you turning the pages well into the night.” —Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL and acclaimed author of The Terminal List and True Believer
In this white-knuckled, timely, and whip-smart debut thriller, a deadly plot against the president’s life emerges from the shadows of the Deep State.
Recently elected President Richard Monroe—populist, controversial, and divisive—is at the center of an increasingly polarized Washington, DC. Never has the partisan drama been so tense or the paranoia so rampant. In the midst of contentious political turf wars, the White House chief of staff is found dead in his house. A tenacious intern discovers a single, ominous clue that suggests he died from something other than natural causes, and that a wide-ranging conspiracy is running beneath the surface of everyday events: powerful government figures are scheming to undermine the rule of law—and democracy itself. Allies are exposed as enemies, once-dependable authorities fall under suspicion, and no one seems to be who they say they are. The unthinkable is happening. The Deep State is real. Who will die to keep its secrets and who will kill to uncover the truth?
Molly’s Pick:
Julia Kelly’s The Whispers of War follows three young women living in London at the cusp of World War II. Best friends since boarding school, Nora, Hazel, and Marie have always declared, “We’ll always be just us three.” They’re fiercely loyal to each other and fiercely independent: Nora as an employee of the Home Office’s Air Raid Precautions Department; Hazel as a top-level matchmaker (defying her husband and mother-in-law’s wish for her to be a homemaker); and Marie as a German ex-pat working at the Royal Imperial University. As the threat of internment camps becomes more of a reality, Marie begins to fear for her safety and freedom. Nora and Hazel do everything in their power to protect her. The Whispers of War is a story about friendship, resilience, and standing up for what’s right in a time when it’s most needed—an ever-relevant lesson.
The start of World War II looms over three friends who struggle to remain loyal as one of them is threatened with internment by the British government, from the author of the “sweeping, stirring” (Kristin Harmel, internationally bestselling author of The Room on Rue Amélie) The Light Over London.
In August of 1939, as Britain watches the headlines in fear of another devastating war with Germany, three childhood friends must choose between friendship or country. Erstwhile socialite Nora is determined to find her place in the Home Office’s Air Raid Precautions Department, matchmaker Hazel tries to mask two closely guarded secrets with irrepressible optimism, and German expat Marie worries that she and her family might face imprisonment in an internment camp if war is declared. When Germany invades Poland and tensions on the home front rise, Marie is labeled an enemy alien, and the three friends find themselves fighting together to keep her free at any cost.
Featuring Julia Kelly’s signature “intricate, tender, and convincing” (Publishers Weekly) prose, The Whispers of War is a moving and unforgettable tale of the power of friendship and womanhood in the midst of conflict.
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Sara’s Pick:
Ah yes, the holiday season is over and now it is time again for spooky reads! Or, if you're like me, just continuing the all-year-round thriller-fest. And who better to kick off with than master of the spine-tingling page-turner C. J. Tudor? In her new book The Other People, we meet Gabe, who has spent three long years traveling up and down the motorway. He is searching for his daughter, who was taken from him on that same road—or so he believes. While everyone else is convinced she is dead, killed in a home invasion while Gabe was away, he can't stop looking for the girl he saw in a car window that same night. But out on the road there are a lot of lost souls, including a mother on the run who knows what really happened that night. Lives crash into each other, and the damage might be more than any of them could have dreamed. If you're looking for a read that will have you glued to every word
Sara’s Pick: Ah yes, the holiday season is over and now it is time again for spooky reads! Or, if you're like me, just continuing the all-year-round thriller-fest. And who better to kick off with than master of the spine-tingling page-turner C. J. Tudor? In her new book The Other People, we meet Gabe, who has spent three long years traveling up and down the motorway. He is searching for his daughter, who was taken from him on that same road—or so he believes. While everyone else is convinced she is dead, killed in a home invasion while Gabe was away, he can't stop looking for the girl he saw in a car window that same night. But out on the road there are a lot of lost souls, including a mother on the run who knows what really happened that night. Lives crash into each other, and the damage might be more than any of them could have dreamed. If you're looking for a read that will have you glued to every word
Courtney’s Pick #1:
True crime has taken over our lives from books to movies to brunch discussions. Often, the tales involve middle-aged white men who went off the rails and caused a bunch of pain and suffering, yet we can’t look away. But then there comes a time when things are changed up a bit, which is why I’m eager to read Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol. This book contains the true story of M19, the first and only domestic terrorist group founded and led by women. That’s right, women. This fact alone has me itching to get my hands on a copy and delve into the minds of these unique, but still scary, individuals. These women planned and executed operations ranging from prison breakouts and armed robberies to a bombing campaign at the U.S. Capitol from 1978 through 1985. William Rosenau is sure to deliver an epic story with the help of original photos, declassified FBI documents, and his background as an intelligence and counterterrorism expert.
In a shocking, never-before-told story from the vaults of American history, Tonight We Bombed the US Capitol takes a close look at the explosive hidden history of M19—the first and only domestic terrorist group founded and led by women—and their violent fight against racism, sexism, and what they viewed as Ronald Reagan’s imperialistic vision for America.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced that it was “morning in America.” He declared that the American dream wasn’t over, but the United States needed to lower taxes, shrink government control, and flex its military muscles abroad to herald what some called “the Reagan Revolution.” At the same time, a tiny band of American-born, well-educated extremists were working for a very different kind of revolution.
By the end of the 1970s, many radicals had called it quits, but six veteran women extremists came together to finish the fight. These women had spent their entire adult lives embroiled in political struggles: protesting the Vietnam War, fighting for black and Native American liberation, and confronting US imperialism. They created a new organization to wage their war: The May 19th Communist Organization, or “M19,” a name derived from the birthday shared by Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh, two of their revolutionary idols. Together, these six women carried out some of the most daring operations in the history of domestic terrorism—from prison breakouts and murderous armed robberies, to a bombing campaign that wreaked havoc on the nation’s capital. Three decades later, M19’s actions and shocking tactics still reverberate for many reasons, but one truly sets them apart: unlike any other American terrorist group before or since, M19 was created and led by women.
Tonight We Bombed the US Capitol tells the full story of M19 for the first time, alongside original photos and declassified FBI documents. Through the group’s history, intelligence and counterterrorism expert William Rosenau helps us understand how homegrown extremism—a threat that still looms over us today—is born.
Courtney’s Pick #2:
With the new year comes new resolutions. With new resolutions comes unrealistic expectations and inevitable guilt when you don’t live up to the ideal in your head. That’s why I find F*ck Your Diet: And Other Things My Thighs Tell Me so refreshing. Comedian Chloé Hilliard tells her story of growing up bigger and taller than her peers, and all the ways she tried to shrink herself, before realizing she was amazing just the way she is. A funny and inspirational story perfect for the new year, because by the time you finish the last page, you’re filled with a determination to be yourself, say no to self-harmful advertising, and change your resolution from “lose weight” to “treat my body with love and care.” A must-read for everyone trying to start the new year by loving themselves.
Fans of Issa Rae and Phoebe Robinson will love this collection of laugh-out-loud funny and insightful essays that explore race, feminism, pop culture, and how society reinforces the message that we are nothing without the perfect body.
By the time Chloé Hilliard was 12, she wore a size 12—both shoe and dress—and stood over six feet tall. Fitting in was never an option. That didn’t stop her from trying. Cursed with a “slow metabolism,” “baby weight,” and “big bones,”—the fat trilogy—Chloe turned to fad diets, starvation, pills, and workouts, all of which failed.
Realizing that everything—from government policies to corporate capitalism—directly impacts our relationship with food and our waistlines, Chloé changed her outlook on herself and hopes others will do the same for themselves.
The perfect mix of cultural commentary, conspiracies, and confessions, F*ck Your Diet pokes fun at the all too familiar, misguided quest for better health, permanent weight loss, and a sense of self-worth.
Erin’s Pick:
I first read this book in manuscript form almost a year ago, and I still remember exactly where I was when I finished it. I was on the train. I was rushing to get to the end of the book before my stop, and when I turned that last page, I couldn’t help but say softly to myself (as to not get too many weird looks), “Wow.” This book is extraordinary or, some might even say, legendary. The main character, Zelda, is a twenty-one-year-old Viking legends enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert. When Gert makes some questionable and possibly dangerous choices—getting caught up with drug dealers— Zelda, who lives with fetal alcohol syndrome, decides to launch her own quest to save her family. With an incredibly distinct voice, lovable yet flawed characters, and so many scenes that will make you laugh and cry, When We Were Vikings needs to be one of your first reads of 2020.
Indie Next Pick for February 2020
Book of the Month January 2020
LibraryReads January 2020 Pick
Bookreporter New Release Spotlight
New York Post “Best Books of the Week”
Goodreads “January’s Most Anticipated New Books”
The Saturday Evening Post “10 Books for the New Year”
PopSugar “The 18 Best New Books Coming Out in January 2020”
Book Riot Best Winter New Releases
A heart-swelling debut for fans of The Silver Linings Playbook and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Sometimes life isn’t as simple as heroes and villains.
For Zelda, a twenty-one-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules:
1. A smile means “thank you for doing something small that I liked.”
2. Fist bumps and dabs = respect.
3. Strange people are not appreciated in her home.
4. Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet.
5. Sometimes the most important things don’t fit on lists.
But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable—and dangerous—methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. It isn’t long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength.
When We Were Vikings is an uplifting debut about an unlikely heroine whose journey will leave you wanting to embark on a quest of your own, because after all...
We are all legends of our own making.
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Ariele’s Pick:
In The Majesties, Tiffany Tsao explores the lives of two Chinese Indonesian sisters, Gwendolyn and Estella, going deep into the dark nitty-gritty of wealth and privilege in Jakarta. Think Crazy Rich Asians minus the love story, plus one sister’s poisoning of her 300-person family. As Gwendolyn lies in a coma, a side effect of her sister’s brutal act, the reader inhabits the dark tunnels and complicated tales of her past, struggling to understand how the power, secrets, and struggles of her family lead to Estella’s shocking decision to burn their empire to the ground. Compelling, thoughtful, and delicately handled, this is a story that will have you racing through the pages until you come to its startling and jaw-dropping conclusion.
In this riveting tale about the secrets and betrayals that can accompany exorbitant wealth, two sisters from a Chinese-Indonesian family grapple with the past after one of them poisons their entire family.
Gwendolyn and Estella have always been as close as sisters can be. Growing up in a wealthy, eminent, and sometimes deceitful family, they’ve relied on each other for support and confidence. But now Gwendolyn is lying in a coma, the sole survivor of Estella’s poisoning of their whole clan.
As Gwendolyn struggles to regain consciousness, she desperately retraces her memories, trying to uncover the moment that led to this shocking and brutal act. Was it their aunt’s mysterious death at sea? Estella’s unhappy marriage to a dangerously brutish man? Or were the shifting loyalties and unspoken resentments at the heart of their opulent world too much to bear? Can Gwendolyn, at last, confront the carefully buried mysteries in their family’s past and the truth about who she and her sister really are?
Traveling from the luxurious world of the rich and powerful in Indonesia to the most spectacular shows at Paris Fashion Week, from the sunny coasts of California to the melting pot of Melbourne’s university scene, The Majesties is a haunting and deeply evocative novel about the dark secrets that can build a family empire—and also bring it crashing down.
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Holly’s Pick #1:
I have recently grown a new affinity for suspense novels (a shocking turn of events for someone who has never watched a horror movie). With that said, I can’t wait to read Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford. The story is as much a haunted magical surrealist novel as a thriller—which sounds right up my alley. It follows Ada and her father, who each have a rare power to heal illnesses. They’re able to crack open sick people’s damaged bodies or temporarily bury them in dangerous Ground nearby. When Ada falls in love with one of the ill locals, she must come to terms with a decision that will forever change her life. This spellbinding book touches on conventional ideas of womanhood, one starring a bewitching, powerful female heroine. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.
Palm Beach Post, BuzzFeed, and LitHub’s Most Anticipated of 2020
A haunted, surreal debut novel about an otherworldly young woman, her father, and her lover that culminates in a shocking moment of betrayal—one that upends our understanding of power, predation, and agency.
Ada and her father, touched by the power to heal illness, live on the edge of a village where they help sick locals—or “Cures”—by cracking open their damaged bodies or temporarily burying them in the reviving, dangerous Ground nearby. Ada, a being both more and less than human, is mostly uninterested in the Cures, until she meets a man named Samson. When they strike up an affair, to the displeasure of her father and Samson’s widowed, pregnant sister, Ada is torn between her old way of life and new possibilities with her lover—and eventually comes to a decision that will forever change Samson, the town, and the Ground itself.
Follow Me to Ground is fascinating and frightening, urgent and propulsive. In Ada, award-winning author Sue Rainsford has created an utterly bewitching heroine, one who challenges conventional ideas of womanhood and the secrets of the body. Slim but authoritative, Follow Me to Ground lingers long after its final page, pulling the reader into a dream between fairy tale and nightmare, desire and delusion, folktale and warning.
Holly’s Pick #2:
A story about powerful and determined female journalists is exactly what I’ve been missing from my life. In New York, in 1910, when most women reporters were still subjected to the fashion and lifestyle pages, Vera Garland is intent on making her mark. In Cartier’s Hope, she dives into hard-hitting journalism as she investigates the rumors surrounding the world-famous Hope Diamond’s new owner, Pierre Cartier. Determined to find the truth behind the diamond’s curses, Vera ultimately meets the magazine publisher whose blackmailing led to her father’s death (Vera herself is an heiress working in disguise). Cartier’s Hope looks to be an enthralling historical mystery that sophisticatedly explores both ambition and betrayal.
From M.J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of Tiffany Blues, “a lush, romantic historical mystery” (Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale), comes a gorgeously wrought novel of ambition and betrayal set in the Gilded Age.
New York, 1910: A city of extravagant balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and poor immigrants crammed into crumbling Lower East Side tenements. A city where the suffrage movement is growing stronger every day, but most women reporters are still delegated to the fashion and lifestyle pages. But Vera Garland is set on making her mark in a man’s world of serious journalism.
Shortly after the world-famous Hope Diamond is acquired for a record sum, Vera begins investigating rumors about schemes by its new owner, jeweler Pierre Cartier, to manipulate its value. Vera is determined to find the truth behind the notorious diamond and its legendary curses—even better when the expose puts her in the same orbit as a magazine publisher whose blackmailing schemes led to the death of her beloved father.
Appealing to a young Russian jeweler for help, Vera is unprepared when she begins falling in love with him…and even more unprepared when she gets caught up in his deceptions and finds herself at risk of losing all she has worked so hard to achieve.
Set against the backdrop of New York’s glitter and grit, of ruthless men and the atrocities they commit in the pursuit of power, this enthralling historical novel explores our very human needs for love, retribution—and to pursue one’s destiny, regardless of the cost.
Saimah’s Pick #1:
Last summer I started reading Lauren Layne’s Central Park Pact series and fell in love with the characters. Marriage on Madison Avenue is the third book in the series and can be read as a stand-alone. (The central characters are first introduced in Passion on Park Avenue and the second book
in the series, Love on Lexington Avenue.)
Audrey Tate and Clarke West have been best friends since they were kids. They’ve attended many events and weddings together as each other’s plus-ones. Audrey has made a career of being an influencer as a Manhattan socialite. One night, Clarke’s family invites an ex-girlfriend (the-one-who-got-away) to dinner and tries to push them back together, but he lies and announces that he is engaged to Audrey.
Audrey plays along with Clarke’s lie, which benefits her as well since some internet trolls have been harassing her. Their fake engagement brings the pair closer together and leads them to share some intimate embraces that are all for the camera and Audrey’s followers. But as they start planning the wedding, Audrey realizes that her feelings may actually be real, and she starts to wonder if the engagement is really a fake….
“The word charm is pretty much synonymous with Lauren Layne.” —Hypable
From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne, the “queen of witty dialogue” (Rachel Van Dyken, New York Times bestselling author), comes the final installment of the Central Park Pact series, a heartfelt and laugh-out-loud romantic comedy that’s perfect for fans of Sally Thorne and Christina Lauren.
Can guys and girls ever be just friends? According to Audrey Tate and Clarke West, absolutely. After all, they’ve been best friends since childhood without a single romantic entanglement. Clarke is the charming playboy Audrey can always count on, and he knows that the ever-loyal Audrey will never not play along with his strategy for dodging his matchmaking mother—announcing he’s already engaged…to Audrey.
But what starts out as a playful game between two best friends turns into something infinitely more complicated, as just-for-show kisses begin to stir up forbidden feelings. As the faux wedding date looms closer, Audrey and Clarke realize that they can never go back to the way things were, but deep down, do they really want to?
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Saimah’s Pick #2:
Officially, this book pubbed on December 31, but that’s pretty much January, so let’s call it one of the first books of the year. Such a Fun Age is also Reese Witherspoon’s January Book Club pick. The story follows a young black woman, named Emira Tucker, who works as a babysitter for the Chamberlains—a privileged white family with two young girls.
One night, while shopping at a high-end supermarket she is accused by a security guard of kidnapping one of the Chamberlain girls, two-year-old Briar, who is in her charge. A small crowd gathers and a bystander begins filming the altercation. Emira is embarrassed and furious, but she doesn’t want the situation to escalate. Alix Chamberlain, the mother of the girls, is determined to make the situation right, but Emira is wary of her desire to help.
The story explores the dynamics of race and privilege in a setting that crosses both professional and personal lines. I can’t help but now picture Reese Witherspoon cast as the mother...maybe Reese will adapt and star in this story next.
Saimah’s Pick #2: Officially, this book pubbed on December 31, but that’s pretty much January, so let’s call it one of the first books of the year. Such a Fun Age is also Reese Witherspoon’s January Book Club pick. The story follows a young black woman, named Emira Tucker, who works as a babysitter for the Chamberlains—a privileged white family with two young girls. One night, while shopping at a high-end supermarket she is accused by a security guard of kidnapping one of the Chamberlain girls, two-year-old Briar, who is in her charge. A small crowd gathers and a bystander begins filming the altercation. Emira is embarrassed and furious, but she doesn’t want the situation to escalate. Alix Chamberlain, the mother of the girls, is determined to make the situation right, but Emira is wary of her desire to help. The story explores the dynamics of race and privilege in a setting that crosses both professional and personal lines. I can’t help but now picture Reese Witherspoon cast as the mother...maybe Reese will adapt and star in this story next.
