Sign in with Facebook
Readers' 15 Most Anticipated Books of February
Wolves! Corporate covens! Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes! Our most anticipated books of the month feature a particularly wide variety of topics and concerns this time around.
New in February: Journalist Erica Berry traces the legacy of lupine lore in Wolfish. Author Jojo Moyes writes of very expensive footwear in Someone Else’s Shoes. And Canadian writer Cherie Dimaline profiles a worldwide witch conglomerate, sort of, with the modern fantasy VenCo. Also new this month: Greek legends, Dakota girls, and wealthy Black families in 1950s Philly.
Each month the Goodreads editorial team takes a look at the books that are being published in the U.S., readers' early reviews, and how many readers are adding these books to their Want to Read shelves (which is how we measure anticipation). We use the information to curate this list of hottest new releases.
February's Best Books:
Canadian author Cherie Dimaline (The Marrow Thieves) introduces Lucky St. James, a Métis millennial being recruited by a modern-day, corporatized coven. VenCo’s plan, entirely sensible, is to restore women to their rightful place of power in the world. The problem, entirely predictable, is an ancient and patriarchal witch hunter named Jay Christos. Wild and witchy, VenCo is recommended for fans of The Once and Future Witches and Practical Magic.
Read our interview with Dimaline here.
Read our interview with Dimaline here.
Part mystery, part character study, and part classic boarding school novel, the new book from Rebecca Makkai is one of the new year’s most anticipated arrivals. I Have Some Questions for You follows 40-something mom Bodie Kane as she returns to teach at her childhood boarding school, the site of a terrible tragedy. Memory, she finds, is a slippery substance. Bonus trivia: Makkai’s last book was a finalist for both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award.
Until her recent divorce, Nisha Cantor had lived the life of an ultra-wealthy globe-trotter. Desperate mom Sam Kemp, meanwhile, is struggling to keep her family fed. Fate demonstrates a keen sense of humor when it brings these two women together over a pair of Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes. Author Jojo Moyes (Me Before You) returns with her signature blend of heart and humor.
Acclaimed YA author Roshani Chokshi makes her debut in the adult market with this Gothic tale of mystery and dark romance. Set in a crumbling manor known as the House of Dreams, the story features a wife with a shadowy past, a husband with a curious heart, and a ghost with a story to tell. Chokshi’s twisty tale is recommended for fans of Mexican Gothic and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Canadian author Heather Marshall delivers a timely and ambitious debut novel about three women connected by the ongoing struggle for a woman’s right to choose. When a long-lost letter is finally recovered, an incredible story is revealed. Looking for Jane explores the legacy of an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto, with three stories set in three different years: 1971, 1980, and 2017.
Set in 1950s Philadelphia, The House of Eve tells the story of Ruby Pearsall and Eleanor Quarles, two young women whose destinies intersect in a most unexpected fashion. Teenage Ruby hopes to escape crushing poverty and be the first in her family to attend college. Young bride Eleanor has just married into one of the city’s wealthy and elite Black families. Each will be faced with a decision that may change the ultimate trajectory of their lives.
Poet and novelist Tiffany McDaniel draws from actual history with her new mystery thriller, based on the unsolved murders of “the Chillicothe Six.” Twin sisters Arcade and Daffodil grew up under difficult circumstances in small-town Ohio. When a local woman is found drowned in the river, the sisters find themselves inside a nightmare that’s just beginning to unfold. McDaniel’s book documents a specific tragedy to explore larger questions about poverty and justice.
Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses) made headlines last year by surviving a vicious attack at a book festival. He makes his literary return this month with Victory City, which centers on a young girl who becomes a vessel of the goddess Parvati in 14th-century India, then spends 250 years building an empire of magic. The novel promises literary fantasy of the highest order, in a tale stylized to read like the translation of an ancient epic.
This one looks amazing: Comedian, journalist, and classicist Natalie Haynes updates the Greek legend of Medusa with a retelling that examines contemporary issues of justice and gender. When the problematic sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene’s temple, Medusa somehow gets the blame and is cursed with history’s most unfortunate hairstyle. Author Haynes (A Thousand Ships) specializes in deconstructing the stories and myths we tell ourselves over and over. In short, she gets mythological on our ass.
For students of sophisticated epic fantasy, Samantha Shannon’s 2019 novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree, is among the most beloved books of the new millennium. A Day of Fallen Night, the much anticipated prequel story to the earlier book, returns readers to Shannon’s world of waking dragons, feminist themes, and queer romance. Bonus trivia: The Roots of Chaos series is loosely based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon.
Prolific genre specialist Stephen Graham Jones returns to the rural hamlet of Proofrock in this sequel to his 2021 horror thriller, My Heart Is a Chainsaw. The Indigenous serial killer known as Dark Mill South has just escaped from prison, still seeking revenge for the hangings of 38 Dakota men in 1862. Meanwhile, our young heroine Jade Daniels is returning to Proofrock herself. Could be trouble. Well, at least it’s not Friday the 13th. Oh, wait. It is.
Finally! A book for those of us with the sneaking suspicion that our in-laws might be vampires. In the new horror novel Our Share of Night, a grieving father and his young son discover that they’ve inherited a terrible legacy when their extended family turns out to be a cult of blood-starved predators. Argentine novelist Mariana Enríquez (Things We Lost in the Fire) writes horror fiction that has been compared with that of genre godmother Shirley Jackson.
In this groundbreaking variation on the memoir format, poet and author Camonghne Felix reflects on bad breakups—romantic and familial—with an eye to mathematics. As a child, Felix was diagnosed with dyscalculia, a disorder that makes it difficult to learn and process math. Felix expands on the notion as it relates to pain, healing, intimacy, and heartbreak. Bonus trivia: Felix was listed by Black Youth Project as a “Black Girl from the Future You Should Know.”
The wolf is a recurring figure in human culture going all the way back to early cave paintings. In this unique nonfiction hybrid, author and journalist Erica Berry traces the legacy of wolves, both real and allegorical, by way of history, science, cultural criticism, ecological parable, and personal memoir. Bonus trivia: Author Berry has written for both Outside magazine and The Yale Review, which speaks to her qualifications for a book like this.
So-called geek culture has saved a lot of people over the years—quite literally, in some cases—by providing a home for the marginalized, the lonely, and the terminally weird. Author Joseph Earl Thomas makes a strong case for just how powerful this life-saving aspect can be. In his highly acclaimed memoir, which won the 2020 Chautauqua Janus Prize, Thomas tells the story of his awful childhood and his subsequent escape into the worldwide community of nerds.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Check out more February book coverage here:
Comments Showing 1-21 of 21 (21 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Felix
(new)
Jan 30, 2023 12:16AM
I will eat up any boarding school book I get my hands on.... can't wait to read I Have Some Questions For You
flag
"Hell Divers X" by Nicholas Sansbury Smith. Pure adrenaline! The way the story just keeps evolving is amazing!
“VenCo” and “Wolfish” sound interesting. “Our Share of Night” sounds creepy.
For me, one is “The Woman with the Cure” by Lynn Cullen about polio & Dorothy Horstmann.
Sink: A Memoir by Joseph Earl Thomas sounds very interesting.
The book I'm really looking forward to is a history book by a debut author -A short history of the world in 50 lies by Natasha Tidd.
I've read most of her history blog, F Yeah History and her writing is a breath of fresh air. So as soon as I found out last year that there was a book by her, available to preorder, I bought it.☺️ Now I just have to wait for the 16th Feb!
Waiting for what feels like forever for the next Tiffany McDaniel book!! Almost here!! She touches my soul…
Looking for Jane is remarkable! Easily one of my favorite books and will probably make it to my 2023 top 10.
Jessica wrote: "Looking for Jane is remarkable! Easily one of my favorite books and will probably make it to my 2023 top 10."I completely agree, it was a very good novel!
“On the Savage Side” sounds great. Added to TBR!!
Of course A Day of Fallen Night will have woke communism and feminazi agenda to it. Sadness
