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Readers' Most Anticipated Books of February
At the beginning of each calendar month, Goodreads’ crack editorial squad assembles a list of the hottest and most popular new books hitting shelves, actual and virtual. The list is generated by evaluating readers’ early reviews and tracking which titles are being added to Want to Read shelves by Goodreads regulars.
Each month’s curated preview features new books from across the genre spectrum: contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, nonfiction, and more. Think of it as a literary smorgasbord. Check out whatever looks delicious.
New in February: Native American author Tommy Orange documents generational trauma with his ambitious new novel, Wandering Stars. Kate Quinn and Janie Chang team up for historical fiction in San Francisco with The Phoenix Crown. And romance specialist Ali Hazelwood profiles a vampire in love with Bride.
Also on tap this month: an urban fantasy heist story, a World War I ghost story, and a temporal twist on the Harlem Renaissance.
Add the books that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments section.
The Best Books of February:
Historical fiction readers will want to mark the return of author Kristin Hannah, a reader favorite whom you may remember for beloved titles including The Nightingale and The Great Alone. Hannah’s new book follows the fate of Frances “Frankie” McGrath, an idealistic young woman whose life is forever changed when she volunteers as an army nurse during the Vietnam War. Hannah explores the legacy of the 1960s through the story of one woman, gone to war.
Read our interview with Hannah here.
Read our interview with Hannah here.
Native American author Tommy Orange won a shelf full of awards for his startling 2018 debut, There There, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Orange’s highly anticipated follow-up expands his already vast canvas of story and character. The interconnected narratives begin with the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, then fractal out through multiple generations and timelines to Oakland, California, circa 2018. Wandering Stars documents one family’s Cheyenne bloodline and “America’s war on its own people."
Brooklyn author Tia Williams (Seven Days in June) is back on shelves this month with an epic love story featuring a timely twist. Ricki Wilde, bohemian daughter of a wealthy Atlanta family, decides to take her chances in New York City and open her dream business: a flower shop. When a handsome stranger sweeps her off her feet, Ricki discovers that time can be an elastic substance and the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance still burns brightly.
Read our interview with Williams here.
Read our interview with Williams here.
In 1906 San Francisco, an apocalyptic earthquake brings together a group of very different women, including a curious botanist, a celebrity opera singer, and a Chinatown embroideress hoping to dodge an arranged marriage. Six years later, a quest for justice leads to a costume ball in Paris and a priceless relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace. Early readers are extolling the multiple POVs and thoughtful exploration of female friendships. And the embroidery.
Set in the 1950s, this buzzy debut novel from historian Elba Iris Pérez tells the story of one girl’s childhood that starts in a tiny Massachusetts factory town. Andrea Rodríguez is only nine years old when she’s sent to live with relatives in a Puerto Rican mountain village. As it happens, author Pérez was also raised in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. Fiction and memoir get pleasantly blurred in this heartfelt coming-of-age story.
Acclaimed New Orleans author Maurice Carlos Ruffin (The Ones Who Say They Don't Love You) returns with the story of an enslaved mother-and-daughter duo in Louisiana circa 1850. When young Ady is cruelly separated from her mother, she befriends a free Black woman involved with a necessarily secret organization. Drawing strength from her mother’s stories, Ady joins the Daughters—a sisterhood of spies waging their own quiet war against the Confederacy.
Sometimes the very title of a novel can snag your brain stem. Such is the case with London author Jenny Hollander’s debut thriller, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead, which suggests there’s a complicated story to tell. Charlie Colbert is a successful magazine editor with a secret concerning a bloody incident that the tabloids call the Scarlet Christmas. What happened nine years ago? What’s up with this movie adaptation? And why is Charlie freaking out?
Spanning four generations, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson starts with an orphanage in Chicago. Seven-year-old Cecily has been sold to a traveling circus where she’s apprenticed to star-of-the-show Isabelle DuMonde, world-famous bareback rider. Flash forward to 2015: Cecily is 94, and her grandkids just bought her one of those at-home DNA tests. Uh-oh. What follows brings to light several family secrets and an epic love story that’s being called Orphan Train meets Water for Elephants.
There’s a rich tradition in fantasy literature around the concept of magical books: eldritch tomes and grimoires that unlock ancient secrets. Aficionados of said tradition will want to check out this debut novel concerning New York City bookseller Cassie Andrews and her latest acquisition, The Book of Doors, a hardcover beauty that opens up limitless travel opportunities. Alas for young Cassie, several other collectors are interested in this magical book. And they play rough.
One of the new year’s most anticipated books for fans of sophisticated speculative fiction, The Tainted Cup is the first in a new series from genre ace Robert Jackson Bennett, author of the excellent Founders Trilogy series. A classically structured murder mystery, the story introduces genius detective Ana Dolabra and her assistant Dinios Kol as they investigate an impossible crime—Holmes-and-Watson style—in an ecologically evolved future-world setting.
Another promising title from the spec-fic shelves, this evocatively titled historical fantasy transports readers to northern Belgium in the year 1918. Investigating the mysterious death of her brother, field nurse Laura Iven chases down rumors of missing soldiers, haunted battlefield trenches, and a ghostly hotelier with an infernal offer. Katherine Arden (The Bear and the Nightingale) reminds us that when certain stars align, ghosts can be both figurative and literal.
And now for something completely different: Superstar author Ali Hazelwood (The Love Hypothesis) turns her attention from STEMinist rom-coms to paranormal romance with this highly anticipated curveball maneuver. The quick gist: To uphold a historic peacekeeping pact, vampyre outcast Misery Lark forges a volatile alliance with alpha werewolf Lowe Moreland. Things get complicated. Then hot. Then really and truly weird. Recommended for fans of conflicted immortals and horny lycanthropes.
Romance author Amy Lea continues her popular Influencer series with this odd-couple pairing north of the border. Online fashion guru Melanie Karlsen finds herself in treacherous waters when she agrees to a fake romance with manly lobster fisherman Evan Whaler. Long sweaty hikes! Cozy campfire flirting! Free lobster! Bonus trivia: Author Lea is a proud resident of Ottawa and, according to her Goodreads bio, has two goldendoodles. Bonus points, right there.
Streetwise orphan and criminal mastermind Arthie Casimir has many diverse and interesting problems. But when sinister forces threaten her near-and-dears, Arthie must take action. Like, for instance, assembling a crew of misfit rogues to take down a nest of aristocratic vampires. As always, the trick is knowing whom to trust. YA historical fantasy meets the classic heist story in A Tempest of Tea, the first in a new duology from acclaimed author Hafsah Faizal (We Hunt the Flame).
Stranded in Arizona when her parents’ visas expired, teenage Elizabeth Gutierrez became what the authorities call an unaccompanied homeless youth—one of literally thousands in the American Southwest. Incredibly, Gutierrez finished school as a homeless student in Tucson all while caring for her younger brother. Frontline evidence of a broken immigration system, this debut memoir is already making waves and is recommended for readers of Educated and The Distance Between Us.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 60 (60 new)
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Jan 29, 2024 12:39AM
I'm excited for Bride.
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Really excited for the tainted cup and a tempest of tea :)
Read an ARC of The Tainted Cup, which was fantastic!!! The rest look ehhhh. Might add one or two of the other fantasy ones (not romance).
Don't forget I Hope This Doesn't Find You!
i'm really excited for i hope this doesnt find you by ann liang! you should definitely add it here
I’m looking forward to The Women and Wandering Stars.
Buying the tainted cup the second it comes out :D
I'm looking forward to Gareth Brown, The Book pf Doors.
I'm interested in Tommy Orange and what he is writing.
Looking forward to Kristin Hannah's new book, The Women.😊
What about If Only I Had Told Her? (can’t wait to have my heart broken again😜)
I am really looking forward to ‘Just Stab Me Now’ by Jill Bearup!
I just finish Seven Days in June I’m excited to read more from aria Williams
I’m looking forward to A Love Song for Ricki Wilde and The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest
So excited to get the new novel by Kristen Hannah the woman so excited for her to come out. I’m a big fan of work.
Wandering stars looks fantastic. Can’t wait. Preordered.
Got an eARC of Tainted Cup and as always, absolutely incredible. RBJ is one of my instantly preorder authors, everything he’s ever done has been amazing. Cannot wait for the next one!
Excited for Bride but Lowe’s name makes me giggle because it translates to “little wolf”.
I had to add The Women, The American Daughters, and The Book of Doors.
I don’t know how the teacher by Freida McFadden isn’t on here but I can’t wait to read it!
Things we didn’t know sounds like a fun read! I might check out My side of the River too!
Omg All This Twisted Glory by Tahereh Mafi!!! Idek why it's not on this list....
The Women and My Side of the River are at the top of my list — so far!
Tia has another one out! Flower shop is an interesting dream job… I immediately thought of Colleen Hoover! I know this one will be diff
These are looking like a good read this month. I’m excited
Looking forward to Kristen Hannah’s new book, the Women
I can't wait to read The Women. Love Kristin Hannah!
It's nice to see a book I'm extremely excited about on this list - The Tainted Cup! I preordered a signed copy and I can't wait to dive into it.My other anticipated releases are: An Education in Malice, Projections, The Bad Ones, and A Fate Inked in Blood.
I can't wait for A tempest of tea. Oh it sounds SO GOOD AAAAAA
I love Kristin Hannah, the Nightingale is one of my favorite books of all time. Louise Penny and Jodi Picoult are must reads for me but good grief the people who pick the books for these lists sure do seem to hate anyone with a Y chromosome. These lists tilt ridiculously feminine, either by author or main character.
The Tainted Cup is probably what I will be trying to read next. I have only heard good things.
I have the woman by Kristen Hannah can’t wait to read it. Super excited.
I just read Bride! Now Tempest of Tea is calling my name
Would preffer more books from outside the anglo-saxon realm
I am looking forward to devour The women. I just got the book. I love Kristin Hannah's writing!
