The other week I participated in the virtual Reading Group Guides Book Group Speed Dating event. Several different publishers presented some of the upcoming titles that they felt would be perfect for book clubs. I highlighted a lot of the books and wanted to share them with you so you could get them on your to-read list.
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| image credit: Tom Hermans |
Something I noticed this time around at the event was that there were more books by people of color, a lot of books by women or featuring strong female characters, more representation of LGBTQ characters in the stories or memoirs, and many books dealing with topical issues, such as Black Lives Matter and the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm really excited about all of this diversity and how today's authors are using stories to point out the hard truths of our society.
Let me know which books you're excited to read in the comments!
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
There's a Revolution Outside, My Love edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman (out now)
This book's collection of letters, poems, reflections, and essays tackle hard topics such as Black Lives Matter and COVID-19, reflecting on how we cope with the past year.
The Brittanys by Brittany Ackerman (6/15/21)
This novel takes place at a prep school in the '80s and follows a group of five girls who all have the same first name: Brittany. The story captures what it's like to be a not-so-popular teenager and all the awkwardness and excitement of those years. I'm excited to be reading an e-ARC of the book!
Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie (6/22/21)
Jesse Reid is going to be a star. Until his motorcycle crashes on the way to a show and Jane takes his place. This novel is inspired by the real-life relationship between James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton (8/3/21)
In this international bestseller, a single woman meets a guy on a dating app. He's a great guy until he ghosts her. This novel takes readers through the fall-out from that one event to the next.
Bloomsbury
Fight Night by Miriam Toews (10/5/21)
This novel follows three generations of women and the things they have to fight for. Tackling religion, family, and womanhood, it's a love letter to women who make a place for themselves in this world.
Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
Lone Star by Mathilde Walter Clark, translated by Martin Aitken and K.E. Semmel (6/22/21)
Originally published in Denmark, now this memoir being translated into English. When the author's stepfather dies, she wants to reconnect with her American father in St. Louis. The book gives a unique perspective of America from someone who is both part of the country and not.
Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks (9/14/21)
In this novel, set in the 1990s, a girl detective develops an eating disorder and solves mysteries in the hospital where she's being treated.
The Gods of Green County by Mary Elizabeth Pope (10/5/21)
Set in the Depression era, a girl's brother is killed by a local and powerful sheriff. Now, 20 years later, the girl starts seeing her dead brother. What does it mean and will anyone believe her?
The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon (11/2/21)
This novel takes place in the New Zealand wilderness. After five days living in New Zealand, a British family disappears. Thirty years later, the remains of one of the children is discovered. But where is the rest of the family?
Harlequin Trade Publishing
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian (9/7/21)
This book was pitched as Gone Girl meets You. The main character is a female psychopath seeking revenge on a man who wronged her. But then something happens, and the girl goes from hunter to prey. I can't wait to read my e-ARC of this book!
Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger (10/5/21)
I'm a huge Lisa Unger fan and am really looking forward to this new novel about a New York City woman who starts dating a guy she met online, and then he ghosts her. She starts to look for him and discovers secrets.
Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (10/12/21)
This is a sequel to Before the Coffee Gets Cold, which itself sounded like a whimsical novel that I need to add to my to-read list. In the follow-up, there are new customers taking advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-traveling feature.
Hachette Group Book
All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle (7/13/21)
This novel is for fans of A Man Called Ove. In it, a Jamaican immigrant has been lying to his daughter about all the great things he's been doing. Now she's coming to visit, and he's got to prove that his life really is as great as he's lead her to believe.
The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller (10/26/21)
This one stood out to me because it's about a man who banishes himself to the Arctic Circle, specifically Svelbald, which is a place I'd never heard of until my daughter pointed it out to me on her LeapFrog Magic Adventures Learning Globe. Back to the novel. The man has been living alone with just a dog for company until a new visitor sparks surprising events.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage (out now)
Really looking forward to reading my e-ARC of this gothic literary queer suspense novel! An unsuccessful playwright goes to the Hamptons with a rich older man, but there's something sinister going on, and the end of summer comes to a boil.
Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman (7/13/21)
This book sounds hilarious. Rachel's White House job is to put back together the papers the president tore up - which was a real job in the Trump White House. But Rachel gets fired and then hit by a car driven by the president's mistress. I have an e-ARC of this book, and I can't wait to read it!
The Very Nice Box by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett (7/6/21)
I also have an e-ARC of this novel. Our main character is an engineer at an IKEA-like store. Her new boss takes an interest in her, but is he who he says he is?
The Redemption of Bobby Love by Bobby and Cheryl Love, with Lori L. Tharps (10/5/21)
Can't wait to read my e-ARC of this book! If you're familiar with Humans of New York, then you might have read Bobby Love's story. He was an escaped convict who got married and started a whole other life - until 35 years later when the FBI takes him back. This explores the call for prison reform and what life is like growing up black.
Random House Publishing Group
What's Done in Darkness by Laura McHugh (6/22/21)
In this thriller, a girl is kidnapped and rescued. She still struggles with it five years later, but now she really has to relive it when an investigator needs her help.
Simon & Schuster
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (6/1/21)
This novel is like The Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out. Nella is the only black employee at her book publisher, but then another black woman starts working there. The two become friends until the new girl gets more popular and someone starts leaving threatening notes for Nella.
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (10/5/21)
Told from the perspective of a white woman and a black woman, this novel explores how two women's close bond is tested after a police killing of an unarmed black man. The novel explores how race in America impacts everyone.
Soho Press
Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (8/3/21)
This mystery takes place in 1940s Chicago. After the effects of the Japanese-American internment camps, a family resettles in Chicago. When their daughter is killed, it's ruled a suicide, but is it?
Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu (9/2/21)
In this novel, a boy with blue skin is believed to be the 10th incarnation of Vishnu. But learning family secrets prompts the boy, now grown, travels from India to New York City where he tries to discover who he really is. This book explores ethnic, gender, and sexual identities.
Sourcebooks
All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss (7/27/21)
Two best friends, Lucy and Bert, seek adventure in their small North Carolina town. When it becomes a Nazi prisoner of war camp and men start to disappear, the two girls become Nancy Drew to solve the mystery.
In Every Mirror She's Black by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom (9/7/21)
This follows the story of three black women who live in different places but are all connected by a wealthy white man in Sweden. This novel explores what it means to be black in a white-dominated society.
Dark Things I Adore by Katie Lattari (9/14/21)
Our main character here is clever like Amy from Gone Girl. She seeks revenge against her art professor who has no idea that she's engineered their whole relationship as a means to lure him into her trap.
Ingram Publishing Group
Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven (7/16/21)
I almost passed this book up, but the premise of the author befriending a wild fox intrigued me in the end, and I'm looking forward to reading my e-ARC. Written by a former park ranger, Raven changes how we see our surroundings. This memoir is extremely relevant when we've all been spending so much time in solitude.
The Secret of Rainy Days by Leslie Hooton (9/28/21)
As the author herself tells it, this Southern novel is about friendship, funerals, casseroles, and lucky dust. Bit has escaped her hometown for New York, but death brings her back to her old life and her old friends. I'm looking forward to reading my e-ARC.
William Morrow
Dream Girl by Laura Lippman (6/22/21)
In this dark tale, a novelist is incapacitated by injury and then plagued by a series of mysterious phone calls from a woman claiming to be the main character of his novel.
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley (7/6/21)
This historical novel tells the true story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas who became a powerful landowner in the colonial West Indies.
Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson (8/3/21)
This novel is for fans of Hidden Figures. It tells the story of the Six Triple Eight, the only all-black battalion of the Women's Army Corps.
The Last Checkmate by Gabriella Saab (10/19/21)
In this novel, a Polish resistance worker and political prisoner plays Chess in exchange for her life.
All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris (11/2/21)
In this novel, a black lawyer takes over after the death of her boss, but she gets a little in over her head. This is a twisty mystery that addresses racism and sexism.
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