Book Preview: Winter 2021 — She's Full of Lit

Jan 18

Jan 18 Book Preview: Winter 2021

2021 New Releases, Book Preview

One of my favorite posts to write are these book previews - it makes me excited about what’s to come, and honestly, it gives me to the opportunity to pre-treat myself as I frequently preorder several books while writing the round up.

I know that winter technically begins in December, but it feels like it doesn’t really begin (at least to me) until the holiday season ends. So this round up covers books that will come out between January and March, and it will hopefully provide some bright spots for a the darkest part of the year.

“The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah (Bookshop | Kindle) - Admittedly, I’m a little ambivalent by Kristin Hannah’s works - I love the scope and creativity, but I sometimes feel like the ending doesn’t live up to the early narrative (looking at you, “The Great Alone”…). That said, I am incredibly interested to see what she does with The Great Depression, particularly in this current historical moment we are all suffering through. - out February 2 , St. Martin’s Press

“The Gilded Ones” by Namina Forna (Bookshop | Kindle) - Of the three of us, I’m probably the most likely to pick up a fantasy epic, and Namina Forna’s upcoming debut looks absolutely incredible. A world ruled by women warriors that may be immortal in a quasi-familiar setting that looks almost like Black Panther? I. Cannot. Wait. - out February 9, Delacorte Press

“Concrete Rose” by Angie Thomas (Bookshop | Kindle) - You have to be living under a rock if you don’t know about Angie Thomas’ newest release - I am admittedly incredibly jealous of every one I’ve seen that received an ARC! - but that doesn’t mean I’m not incredibly enthused about this book coming out. “The Hate U Give” absolutely wrecked me (in the best way), and I am excited the story she chooses to tell in this prequel. - out January 12, Balzer & Bray/Harper Teen

“The Echo Wife” by Sarah Gailey (Bookshop | Kindle) - Is it really cheating if your husband is cheating on you with…your genetically-identical clone? That’s the question at the center of this domestic thriller, where we see scientist Evelyn, her clone Martine, and her (their?) husband figure out what to do with this ultimate betrayal. -out February 16, Tor Books

“Honey Girl” by Morgan Rogers (Bookshop | Kindle) - Sometimes, I feel like “irrational and impetuous marriage in Las Vegas” is an overdone literary trope, then I read the description of a book like “Honey Girl” and I want to take it all back. Grace Porter, a recently-minted Ph.D. and military brat - goes to Vegas for a weekend with some friends, and ends up married to a creative woman named Yuki. Grace has to find herself and what makes her happy — even if it’s not what she expected. - out February 23, Park Row

“The Kindest Lie” by Nancy Johnson (Bookshop | Kindle) - I know it’s factually true, but seeing books written about t the start of the Obama era tagged as historically fiction makes me feel both old and strange. “The Kindest Lie” is the story of Ruth, a young woman who can’t move forward with her life until she reconciles the truth of her past — namely, the baby she left behind when she was a teenager. From the blurb, it sounds like this one is going to be an incredible examination of race, class, and motherhood in contemporary America, and I couldn’t be more eager to see this take. - out February 2, William Morrow

“The Committed” by Viet Thahn Nguyen (Bookshop | Kindle) - I enjoy a good spy novel every now and then, and Nguyen’s Sympathizer is one of the most richly drawn protagonists I can remember in this genre. This follow up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning first novel follows the Sympathizer to Paris in the early 1980s, where he tries to assimilate into capitalist culture by becoming a…drug dealer? Not the path I would have imagined for him, but I can’t wait to see where Nguyen takes us. - out March 2, Grove Press

“Band of Sisters” by Lauren Willig (Bookshop | Kindle) - My love for Lauren Willig’s books is so well-documented around here that I’m sometimes afraid she’s going to block me on Instagram for being a stalker. Not afraid enough - obviously, her newest book is going on my list for this winter. This story — based on real life! — about 18 Smith College graduates who go to the front lines of World War I as Relief volunteers is the intersection of so many of my interests. The only issue I see is whether or not I should savor it or read it in one sitting. - out March 2, William Morrow

“Black Buck” by Mateo Askaripour (Bookshop | Kindle) - Sometimes, I am immediately drawn in by a book cover , and I’m brave enough to admit that’s what happened with the striking cover of this debut novel. Then I read the description: a darkly funny satire about being the only black employee at a cultlike start up? Absolutely count me in. (This one is actually already on my bookshelf, and I can’t wait to read it). - out January 5, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

“What Could be Saved” by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz (Bookshop | Kindle) - I know publisher’s blurbs are inherently positive and may not be the best descriptor of a book, but how could I resist a new work described as a hybrid of mystery, drama, and elegance? The answer is, no, I couldn’t. This is the story of a family who lived through a terrible abduction in the 1970s, and what happens when that missing family comes back 47 years later. - out January 12, Atria

“The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn (Bookshop | Kindle) - Like Lauren Willig, Kate Quinn is an author that I always enjoy reading — her books are brilliantly plotted and impeccably researched, and I always love hearing stories of brave women throughout history. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I was a British history major who wrote their thesis on World War II, so give me a story promising the hidden history of Bletchley Park any day. Add in three strong women, hidden spies, and a royal wedding? You know I’m totally in. - out March 9, William Morrow

“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro (Bookshop | Kindle) - I cannot be the only one who had to read “Remains of the Day” in a high school English class, but I hope I am not the only one who ended up with a lifelong love of Ishiguro’s work from it. When I saw he was releasing a new book this spring - this one tackling artificial intelligence, technology, and the real meaning of what it means to love - I knew that it would be one that would sit with me another twenty years. - out March 2, Knopf

“How Beautiful We Were” by Imbolo Mbue (Bookshop | Kindle) - One absolute truth of mine is that I adore works by women authors that come out of the African diaspora. Their stories, rooted in a history of colonialism but speaking of a new Africa, never fail to make me think. Mbue, whose “Behold the Dreamers” is one of the first I read in this genre, wrecked me, and I cannot wait to read this one — about a fictional African village caught up in the greed and destruction of an American oil company. - out March 9, Random House

“Love, at First” by Kate Clayborn (Bookshop | Kindle) - “Love Lettering,” also by the author, was a romance that totally took me by surprise — it was heartfelt, but it was also really, really clever, in both plot and pacing. “Love, at First” looks like — at first glance! — it will be a worthy successor. it’s the story of Will and Nora, a star-crossed pair that meet on a balcony, and their second (and maybe third?) chance at finding each other. - out February 23, Kensington

“Act Your Age, Eve Brown” by Talia Hibbert (Bookshop | Kindle)- You can’t be surprised to see this one on my list - I’ve read (and loved!) both of HIbbert’s works about Eve’s big sisters, Chloe and Dani. So, when I saw baby sister Eve was getting a happy ending of her own, I was thrilled. Eve has been a side character — the flighty, funny one — in the earlier books, and the description of her love story looks fabulous. That, combined with Hibbert’s trademark wit and steamy love scenes, sounds like a real winner. BRB, stocking up on wine and bubble bath for this inevitable tub read. - out March 9, Avon Books

“If I Disappear” by Eliza Jane Brazier (Bookshop | Kindle) - Y’all know that I don’t love to scare myself generally, but there is one weird deviation from that - I love a good true crime podcast. There’s no rational reason that I have to explain this. This book, about a true crime podcast host that goes missing and the woman that obsessively tries to find here, is something I can’t wait to read — but only in daylight hours. - out January 26, Berkley

“Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York” by Elon Green (Bookshop | Kindle) - Okay, so I just mentioned one true-crime-adjacent novel, so it’s only right that I follow it up with some nonfiction about an actual series of crimes that took place. In the early 1980s, there was a series of baffling and brutal crimes against gay men in New York City, a story that has remained largely untold until now. - out March 9, Celadon Books

“A History of What Comes Next” by Sylvain Neuvel (Bookshop | Kindle) - Given my normal reading habits, I’ma as surprised as anyone that I genuinely enjoy the works of authors like Blake Crouch and Andy Weir. So when Anne Bogel, the blogger that first put Blake on my radar, says that this new release by Neuvel falls in that category, it immediately went on my TBR. That the main character’s mission is to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazis and into the American rocket program is just plot icing on the cake. - out February 2, Tor Books

THE ONES I ACCIDENTALLY LEFT OFF BECAUSE I LOST MY HANDWRITTEN LIST…

SO CLOSE…

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