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Readers' Most Anticipated New Spring Books
Spring is finally springing! And just in time, frankly. The past winter was a rough one. For book people, there’s no better way to celebrate the season of renewal than to grab a new book, find a warm spot, and sit for a while. We admit that we’re biased in this particular matter—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
We’ve gathered below the 35 most anticipated books of spring, as determined by early reader reviews and what Goodreads regulars are adding to their Want to Read shelves. Each of these books has a U.S. release date between early March and the middle of June.
There’s plenty to like, and quite a bit to love: New fiction from Hernan Diaz, Jennifer Egan and Kate Quinn. New mysteries from Lisa Scottoline, Alex Segura, and debut author Grace D. Li. New speculative fiction from Holly Black, John Scalzi, and the inimitable Emily St. John Mandel. Plus the most anticipated spring titles in nonfiction, young adult, and romance. We’ve even added a new horror category in response to reader requests. Well, more like demands. But still.
Get outside! Get warm! Happy reading!
Devotees of historical fiction and World War II narratives will want to check out this one. Based on a true story (which is kind of amazing when you hear the story), Kate Quinn’s latest novel profiles Mila Pavlichenko, a quiet history student from Kiev who gets recruited to fight the Nazis—and becomes the Allies’ deadliest female sniper. You know what they say about truth, fiction, and strangeness.
Release date: March 29
Release date: March 29
Debut author Tara M. Stringfellow’s highly anticipated novel unfolds over the course of 70 years, tracing one matrilineal line through the Memphis neighborhood of Douglass. Told through multiple voices—and inspired by the author’s own family—the book thinks out loud about the values we pass to future generations, in our families and in our country.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
From the Booker Prize–winning author of Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart’s sophomore novel, Young Mungo, chronicles the forbidden and dangerous love of two working-class men in Glasgow. Mungo comes from a Protestant family; James, from a Catholic one. Their bond is immediate, deep, and seemingly impossible to sustain under the present circumstances. Stuart’s lyrical novel is a sustained meditation on masculinity, sectarianism, and violence.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
In this debut novel set during the years of the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act, a Chinese girl fights to claim her place in the 1880s American West. Named after a tragic heroine, Daiyu is kidnapped from her home and smuggled across the ocean to America. We follow her journey as she reinvents herself in order to survive.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
This thinky sci-fi puzzler from Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jennifer Egan explores an intriguing idea: What if our memories could be extracted and externalized—bought, borrowed, traded, and sold? Told via multiple characters, The Candy House is a fiercely intellectual investigation of our current moment in time, in which the nature of reality itself seems up for grabs.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Let us be frank: Rich people are weird. Acclaimed author Hernan Diaz (In the Distance) brings readers back to the Roaring Twenties in this story of a flashy New York City couple with an immense fortune of suspect provenance. Diaz’s layered novel deploys multiple revelations to explore America’s foundational inequalities and how power and money dictate what we come to think of as history.
Release date: May 3
Release date: May 3
A stepdaughter's announcement that she's engaged to her pandemic boyfriend throws a woman's life into chaos. Weiner might just become the queen of the beach read, following up her recent books Big Summer and That Summer with...The Summer Place. Of course, you may also know Weiner from her long list of other novels, including Good in Bed and In Her Shoes.
Release date: May 10
Release date: May 10
Straub, author of All Adults Here and The Vacationers as well as owner of the beloved Books are Magic bookstore in New York, returns this spring with an intriguing premise: What if you could vacation in your past? On the eve of her 40th birthday, a woman gets a chance to travel back to her life as a 16 year old, and is reunited with her vibrant and charming father.
Release date: May 17
Release date: May 17
Kali Fajardo-Anstine, the author of the National Book Award finalist Sabrina & Corina, returns with this multigenerational western saga about a sprawling Indigenous Chicano family in Colorado. Luz "Little Light" Lopez must fend for herself after her brother is run off by a white mob. When Luz starts experiencing intense visions of her homeland and genetic history, she realizes that someone has to keep these family stories alive.
Release date: June 7
Release date: June 7
Shea Collins, the author of the true-crime website the Book of Cold Cases, has caught a break. She’s been offered a chance to interview the prime suspect from the infamous 1977 Lady Killer murders. The tricky part: It will require spending time in a mysterious mansion where stuff moves around and a spooky little girl keeps looking in the window. Expect twisted, twisty fun from the author of The Sun Down Motel.
Release date: March 15
Release date: March 15
Recommended for those who like their fiction pulpy and their crime stories hard-boiled, Secret Identity is an old-school noir thriller set in the 1970s comic book industry. Rookie writer Carmen Valdez gets tangled in a murder mystery when her pioneering female superhero, the Lethal Lynx, turns out to attract the wrong kind of admirers. Bonus trivia: Author Alex Segura is an old industry veteran himself.
Release date: March 15
Release date: March 15
Legal thriller veteran Lisa Scottoline is back with another professional-grade page-turner concerning the dark side of the criminal justice system. This time around, a suburban family is forced into a witness-protection program—a program built to protect criminal informants, not families in crisis. Bonus trivia: Author Scottoline hosts an annual Big Book Club Party for more than 1,000 readers at her Pennsylvania farm.
Release date: March 29
Release date: March 29
Heist stories are always fun, and this one looks like a doozy: Harvard art history student Will Chen makes a highly dubious decision when he agrees to steal back a batch of priceless artifacts looted from China centuries ago. Grace D. Li’s buzzy debut novel threads real-world issues of art theft and colonialism into a thrilling story of righting a historical wrong the most dangerous way possible.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Those who suffer from it can tell you: Insomnia is the worst. For attorney Emma Averall, it’s even scarier: Emma’s mother suffered from severe mental problems that manifested at age 40—the same age Emma is now. Is this worsening insomnia the first sign of trouble? And why can’t she remember yesterday morning? Twisty and complex, Insomnia is the latest state-of-the-art thriller from the author of Behind Her Eyes.
Release date: April 12
Release date: April 12
The latest exercise in lateral thinking from John Scalzi (The Interdependency series), The Kaiju Preservation Society imagines an alternate dimension ecosystem where dinosaur-size creatures roam free. It’s a wild new riff on the kaiju concept—and a sideways commentary on animal-rights issues—aimed at those of us who love all species, colossal nightmare monsters included.
Release date: March 15
Release date: March 15
An intriguing dark fantasy crossed with gothic-style mystery elements, Sara A. Mueller’s The Bone Orchard tells the story of the imprisoned witch Charm and her five children—Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. When Charm is tasked with solving the murder of the dying Emperor, she finally sees her chance at sweet, sweet revenge. As a bonus, the book’s cover art is seven kinds of awesome.
Release date: March 22
Release date: March 22
The author of Station Eleven—recently adapted into a hugely popular HBO Plus series—delivers another startling vision of the future. With Sea of Tranquility, the formidable Emily St. John Mandel brings her sophisticated conjecture to a kind of time-travel story with stops in 1912 Vancouver, the free city of Los Angeles circa 2203, and a lunar space station about 400 years from now. Pretty good, right?
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Accomplished YA author Holly Black makes her first foray into adult dark fantasy with Book of Night, in which bartender/con artist Charlie gets into the treacherous world of shadow trading. Among the book’s many spooky delights: doppelgangers, sinister millionaires, and the very concept of shadow magic, in which mistakes can cost you hours or days of your life. It’s a tricky line of work.
Release date: May 3
Release date: May 3
Some horrors are fictional and some horrors are real. And some horrors are both. Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger and The Deep, specializes in just this kind of scary story. Her new book is set among the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, where the real-world horrors of xenophobia and violence are further darkened with concepts straight out of Japanese mythology—the jorogumo spider demon, say.
Release date: April 26
Release date: April 26
What is the malevolent presence haunting Hacienda San Isidro? That’s the central question in this supernatural thriller from author Isabel Cañas, which is being described as a cross between Mexican Gothic and Daphne du Maurier’s classic suspense novel Rebecca. New bride Beatriz Solórzano has just moved into her new home, a remote countryside estate with a sinister past. It’s not quite what she was hoping for.
Release date: May 10
Release date: May 10
Maeve hasn’t seen her cousin Andrea in years, not since that night when they escaped the cult in which they were raised. When Andrea shows up again, Maeve is happy to have an old friend in New York City. But the cousins’ shared history begins to dredge up memories of childhood terror. Anne Heltzel (Charlie, Presumed Dead) returns with a fresh new nightmare.
Release date: May 17
Release date: May 17
As horror story premises go, it’s clearly a winner. A young woman called Mack is one of 14 contestants in a bizarre contest: Spend a week in a derelict amusement park without getting caught. When her fellow contestants start disappearing, one by one, Mack realizes that the childhood game of hide-and-seek is actually quite terrifying. Bonus trivia: Kiersten White is also the author of the excellently named Paranormalcy series.
Release date: May 24
Release date: May 24
This in-depth study of the American bald eagle—Haliaeetus leucocephalus to friends—features stories from Native American mythology, through colonial times, and all the way to contemporary conservation concerns. Author and historian Jack Emerson Davis (The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea) sifts the myths from the facts but writes about both anyway.
Release date: March 1
Release date: March 1
For her debut book, author Maud Newton digs into her own family history via DNA labs, genealogical software, and old-fashioned census-data sleuthing. The revelations are wild. It seems that Grandpa was married 13 times (and was shot by at least one of his wives). Another ancestor was an accused witch. Newton’s quixotic quest opens new ways of seeing ourselves, our families, and our psychological heritage.
Release date: March 29
Release date: March 29
Expanding on her viral New Yorker essay published in the summer of 2020, Elizabeth Alexander examines the various ways in which art and culture intersect with America’s deep racial dilemmas. Poet, essayist, playwright, and professor, Alexander considers the experiences and cultural expressions of what she refers to as the Trayvon Generation—and how young people and their art can move us forward.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Pulitzer Prize finalist and philosophy professor Chloé Cooper Jones’ memoir is a long and thoughtful reflection on her experiences living with the painful congenital condition known as sacral agenesis. Looking back, Jones examines issues surrounding access, standards of beauty, motherhood, disability, and desirability—all while globetrotting from Rome to California, Milan to Cambodia.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Criminal profiler and detective Paul Holes was in the headlines a few years back when he cracked the decades-old cold case of the Golden State Killer. In this tough and deeply personal memoir, Holes examines his own compulsion to chase monsters and provide closure for victims’ families. He also walks us through a lifetime of brutal investigations and the toll they’ve taken.
Release date: April 26
Release date: April 26
Recommended for fans of Caraval and The Night Circus, Emily J. Taylor’s Hotel Magnifique has an inarguably cool premise: The legendary Hotel Magnifique exists in the Elsewhere and appears in a different destination each morning. The inn offers all sorts of magical diversions for guests who can afford it. It also has a terrible and deadly secret, one that threatens all who encounter the place. And teenage Jani just got hired.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Five Feet Apart coauthor Rachael Lippincott and debut writer Alyson Derrick team up for this lesbian romantic comedy from the Opposites Attract shelf. Alex Blackwood is headstrong and flirty. Molly Parker is awkward and shy. A kind of mentorship bargain is struck, in which each young woman will help the other target their respective objects of attraction. Wouldn’t it be crazy if they fell for each other instead?
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
Inspired by both Shakespeare and Chinese mythology, this star-crossed fantasy romance takes its shape from the immortal story of Romeo and Juliet. But author Emily X.R. Pan likes to scribble outside the lines. For instance, our young lovers Hunter Yee and Luna Chang are being helped along by a supernatural wind. And there’s an impossible giant chasm forming under the town of Fairbridge. And a storm of fireflies has just descended.
Release date: April 12
Release date: April 12
From the author of Red, White & Royal Blue, this new YA romance follows aspiring valedictorian Chloe Green and her senior year adventures at the puritanical Willowgrove Christian Academy. Chloe’s plans go haywire when she kisses the principal’s daughter, prom queen Shara Wheeler. But things get really weird when Shara suddenly vanishes.
Release date: May 3
Release date: May 3
Mia Sosa, author of The Worst Best Man, returns with another offbeat romantic comedy featuring good people improvising madly. Solange is just helping out her wedding-planner cousin when she makes a startling discovery. Now her mission in life is to derail the ceremony at hand. The funny part? She’s absolutely doing the right thing. Bonus trivia: Author Sosa is a former First Amendment attorney.
Release date: April 5
Release date: April 5
What do ER doctors, grilled-cheese sandwiches, and baby goats have in common? They’re all part of the curious love affair documented in this latest contemporary romance from Abby Jimenez, author of The Friend Zone series. Featuring a sophisticated city girl and a hot country boy, Part of Your World is recommended for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.
Release date: April 19
Release date: April 19
Speaking of the estimable Ms. Henry, the longtime romance author herself is back with this story of smoldering love between a cutthroat literary agent and a brooding book editor. Doesn’t seem promising, does it? But the vibe changes when the lovers ditch the big city for the rolling meadows of North Carolina. Location, location, location!
Release date: May 3
Release date: May 3
National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi (The Death of Vivek Oji) shifts gears a bit with this literary romance set in the world of high-end art exhibits and world-famous chefs. Feyi Adekola lost the love of her life five years ago. Now she’s met someone who understands her pain—someone who would be most definitely off-limits in normal circumstances. But life’s circumstances are so seldom normal.
Release date: May 24
Release date: May 24
Which books are you most excited to read this season? Let us know in the comments!
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Check out more recent articles, including:
Explore 48 Fascinating Lives in These New and Upcoming Memoirs
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45 New Books About Books for Bibliophiles Everywhere
Comments Showing 51-95 of 95 (95 new)
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message 51:
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Mar 20, 2022 09:02AM
I need Book of Night so bad
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Helena wrote: "I didn't and don't anticipate any of the books listed."Yup, I'm with you on that. Nothing interests me there.
Wonder who pays Goodreads to promote these? :)
Isn't anybody worried abut disproportion between male and female authors? What world do we live in that has gender equality on it's lips but does this?
Um "Chain of Iron" by Cassandra Clare, please? Its been a year, i want to know what happened to James and Cordelia!!
Thanks for finally including a Horror section!!
Kamil Kozlowski wrote: "Isn't anybody worried abut disproportion between male and female authors? What world do we live in that has gender equality on it's lips but does this?"The proportion of female to male authors on this list is thirty to six; were you talking about inequality towards men or women?
Missing from Fantasy are Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse (April 19) and All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay (May 17). They are the books I can't wait for.
Sue wrote: "I'm looking forward to Anne Tylers new book, French Braid, out next week."Me too! It's one of my most anticipated for the year!
The next in the Chronicles of St Mary's, A Catalogue of Catastrophe by Jodi Taylor
Helena wrote: "Kamil Kozlowski wrote: "Isn't anybody worried abut disproportion between male and female authors? What world do we live in that has gender equality on it's lips but does this?"The proportion of f..."
29/35 is female authors making for 83% and unfortunately it's a worrying constant on Goodreads and elswere. I don't see any palusible explanaition fot it. Where's gender equality in that? Well maybe it's some kind of brutal execution of a privilage that all those "woke" and "just" people have.
It's imperative to equally promote male and female authors all kinds of inbalance as we have here should be thoroughly expplained as there are too many authorts that are shamed for the "crime" of being male author.
What about the decent romance books, the likes of Dilly Court, Katie Flynn, Rosie Goodwin e.t.c. Real romance not the stuff of Mills and Bion and the like.
Kamil Kozlowski wrote: "It's imperative to equally promote male and female authors all kinds of inbalance as we have here should be thoroughly expplained as there are too many authorts that are shamed for the "crime" of b..."Kamil Kozlowski wrote: "Helena wrote: "Kamil Kozlowski wrote: "Isn't anybody worried abut disproportion between male and female authors? What world do we live in that has gender equality on it's lips but does this?"
The ..."
I see what you mean!
To be honest over the years i haven't found any good books from Goodreads listing and use the site just to track my own read and to be read books... also this constant promotion of woke books "helps" the cause... from somewhere large droves of female authors have popped up who write low quality boring sci-fi and fantasy and at the same time are in all the top lists... So if you want good books look them from the rest of internet ;)
I recently added For Eden's Sake to my WTR list and I am so, so, so, so impatient to read it! I hope I can get my hands on it.
I need the book of Holly black!!!!
Rain wrote: "To be honest over the years i haven't found any good books from Goodreads listing and use the site just to track my own read and to be read books... also this constant promotion of woke books "help..."There are also a lot of dirty books that they list; at least give some decent reads. I once checked out a novel they listed, and the preview started out strong with bad language. And that was the only book I've ever looked at on their list. The youngest members on here are thirteen, and even though they can find dirty books on this site if they look, at least Goodreads could promote clean literature on their lists.
KPS was fantastic!
Super excited for:
&
Some from not on this list:
Sue wrote: "I'm looking forward to Anne Tylers new book, French Braid, out next week."Me too!!!
Kathryn wrote: "Looking forward to Mary Kay Andrews' Homewreckers. I'm sure I'm not the only one!"Yes I completely agree!!
I am always anticipating the next Akwaeke Emezi book. Their writing is my absolute favorite. Cannot wait for this romance novel in May!!!!
42piratas wrote: "What about the graphic novels?!" YES!!
I’m wondering when Rebecca Deel will come out with a new book? It’s been 6 months since the last one.
Elise (Taylor’s version) wrote: "I need to read I kissed Shara Wheeler right now omg but sadly I have to wait"Literally same! I have been waiting for so long.
I'm looking forward to Nicole Fanning's Book #3, Flash Point, after Catalyst and Ignite.
need i kissed shara wheeler more than i need air to breathe
im really looking forward for book of night, arrow to the moon, she gets the girl and, the bone orchard
Personally my most anticipated books releases of spring are the Fly with the Arrow series newest book witch came out yesterday!And Secrets of Camp Whatever Vol. 2: The Doors to Nowhere a great middle grade graphic novel for any one who loves high fantasy and summer camp, which comes out this May 😄
So, many books I’m looking forward to reading in the next couple of months. A terrific collection.
and
and
I am starting this week.
Going through this list, I was amazed at how many I had already marked as I WANT TO READ. Now, when will I find time. I feel like Henry Bemis.
IM SO EXCITED TO READ JUST LIKE MOTHER... Also a little terrifed
Elise (Taylor’s version) wrote: "I need to read I kissed Shara Wheeler right now omg but sadly I have to wait" Sameeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I'm excited for Young Mungo and Four Treasures of the Sky !
So excited for these!!! Four Treasures of the Sky looks amazing!
No matter how hard the metal, it yields to human strength. All you have to do is devise the right weapon. I was a weapon”. - Kate Quinn, The Diamond Eye*Disclaimer: It’s amazing and in many ways unlucky that the timing of this novel, which centers around Ukrainian born Lyudmila Pavlichenko who was a Russian female sniper during WWII, has coincided so closely with the events currently unfolding in Ukraine. I have felt much less compelled to pick this story up and think if I’d read it a year ago my review might be much different. I’m going to try to be completely unbiased and review strictly on the story’s merit.
Quinn is one of my favorite writers and her writing here did not disappoint. While Mila was very well developed, I didn’t feel like the second half of the novel was as strong as the first half. The historical portion was fascinating, but the fictionalized parts felt too contrived. I wish the story had stayed focused on the history rather than veering into the fictionalized parts. The story was interesting enough without this addition. I loved the relationship that developed between Mila & Eleanor Roosevelt, with Eleanor’s ‘notes’ being a really nice touch.
Regards
Javad Moradi
Loved Shuggie Bain so looking forward to Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart Also like the look of The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
Who makes these lists?only heard of one of those books get in the real world
I'm preordering Book Lovers. She Gets The Girl looks really cute, too.
So many books that are heading straight to my list! The summer place, Part of your world, and books lovers are topping that list!
Thanks to NetGalley I have a HUGE TBR list of books that need to be read, soon! A dauntingly immense list of over forty novels that I chose myself (idiot) thinking that COVID would provide ample opportunity to read - not taking into consideration the initiative and determination also needed.... Onward and upward: a number of the books on this list also appeared on mine. Happy coincidence? Perhaps.😊
