The 30 New Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2024
Updated: Mar. 06, 2024
From memoirs to mysteries, these titles deserve a spot on your list of new books to read this year
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New books to read in 2024
No matter how long my TBR list gets, it’s tough to resist the urge to add new books, especially romance novels or mystery books from my favorite authors. Fortunately, as a book reviewer and writer, I get to make daily reading part of my job. But even if reading is relegated to tiny cracks in your daily routine—the commuter train, the waiting room, the bleachers during swim practice—you, too, can cash in on the joy and mental health benefits of reading. Not sure where to begin? We’re here to help with plenty of new book releases to recommend for your shopping or library list.
Every title on our list of new books to read in 2024 will debut this year. We made our picks by scouring pre-release book reviews, assessing what upcoming titles have bibliophiles buzzing and reading upcoming books ourselves. This list includes selections from Reader’s Digest editors—look for the “Reader’s Digest Editor’s Pick” seal. Will any of these new books be bestsellers, or maybe even make the list of the best books of all time? Only time will tell, but we bet there are a few contenders!
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1. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Genre: Thriller
Release date: Jan. 2, 2024
If you love a juicy cat-and-mouse story, First Lie Wins will hook you from the very first chapter. “I’ll read a few chapters before tackling the laundry, I thought, before devouring this entire book in a single day,” says Reader’s Digest Books Editor Tracey Neithercott. “The cleverly crafted plot and whip-smart protagonist mean you won’t know who to trust in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.”
Meet Evie Porter. She’s a successful yet unassuming Southerner with girl-next-door appeal. But she’s also a lie. “Evie” is on a mission for the mysterious Mr. Smith, a shadowy figure who keeps his con artists on their toes. Cinching the con for Mr. Smith should be easy, except for two problems: Our brazen heroine has caught feelings for her mark, Ryan. And someone from her past—someone who knows her real identity—has just arrived in town. If you loved the fast pace and twisty storytelling of Iris Yamashita’s City Under One Roof, you’ll find yourself sucked into Ashley Elston’s riveting thriller.
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2. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
Genre: Historical fiction
Release date: Jan. 2, 2024
New book releases from debut authors have extra-special appeal. There’s fun in discovering new voices, and Vanessa Chan is already getting major buzz. Her upcoming novel, The Storm We Made, contains the emotional story of an ordinary Malayan family surviving Japanese occupation during World War II. Cecily always yearned to be more than a housewife. Becoming a spy for the Japanese seemed exciting until it unleashed a chain of events she’d never considered. Now that the dominoes have fallen, can she save the people she loves while hiding the truth—that she played a hand in welcoming the oppressors?
“With action, intrigue, dazzling writing and a war front not often visited, The Storm We Made stands out from other WWII historical fiction,” says Reader’s Digest Senior Editor Megan Melle. “As English colonizers are swapped for Japanese occupation, we see the horrors of war, the stripping of innocence, the guilt of a mother and a family fighting to survive.” This is historical fiction at its most sweeping and heartbreaking, a worthy addition to the best books for women by female authors.
3. The Women by Kristin Hannah
Genre: Historical fiction
Release date: Feb. 6, 2024
Kristin Hannah has topped bestseller lists since her 2015 breakout, The Nightingale. Any list of the best books of 2024 is sure to include her upcoming historical fiction novel, The Women. It follows Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a sheltered young California woman, as she joins the Army Nurses Corps and heads for the conflict in Vietnam. It’s a powerful coming-of-age tale of survival, heartache, trauma and love amid unimaginable chaos. “Kristin Hannah pulls no punches in this gripping tribute to the women who fought in Vietnam,” says Neithercott. “The Women is a heartbreaking account of war and its traumatic effects, but it’s also an uplifting story of sisterhood and heroism.”
4. Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh
Genre: Historical fiction
Release date: Jan. 9, 2024
Move aside, Jack and Rose. It’s time for another perspective on the Titanic shipwreck. New books on well-worn tales can be hard to pull off, but Jenni Walsh’s fictional account of Violet Jessup, a real woman who survived three tragedies at sea (including the sinking of the Titanic), is fresh and riveting. Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, Unsinkable shines with themes of endurance, tenacity and female empowerment. I predict Unsinkable will be a favorite among in-person and online book clubs.
5. The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Genre: Thriller
Release date: Jan. 16, 2024
Alex Michaelides is the author of masterful psychological suspense novels The Silent Patient and The Maidens. This year, he’s back at it with The Fury, a thriller about a celebrity crew’s vacation to Greece that turns sinister. As he did with his previous bestsellers, Michaelides has crafted a slow burn that explodes midway through with plot twists and character revelations you won’t see coming. Expect murder and mayhem turned up at full volume, though not to the grisly degree of iconic horror books.
6. So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
Genre: Young adult fantasy
Release date: Jan. 16, 2024
When it comes to 2024 book releases, fantasy book fans are counting down the days until they can get their hands on So Let Them Burn. Kamilah Cole’s debut YA novel is a Jamaican-inspired story that will delight fans of Iron Widow and The Priory of the Orange Tree. Faron Vincent is a 17-year-old island legend with magical powers and a divine calling to take down dragon riders. But when her sister, Elara, forms a deep bond with an enemy dragon, Faron must decide whether to destroy her family or allow the land she loves to be destroyed.
7. Family, Family by Laurie Frankel
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Release date: Jan. 23, 2024
Family. It’s complicated, right? That’s the premise of Laurie Frankel’s latest hilarious, heartwarming and heartbreaking novel, Family, Family. India Allwood is a proud adoptive mother. But what she has yet to tell everyone is that she also had a baby that she gave up for adoption in high school. When India and her biological daughter reconnect, India soon learns that she’s not the only one with secrets—and that while some family comes by blood and others by love, sometimes the definition of family is just … complicated. Frankel has written a handful of great modern fiction reads. Once you’ve devoured all of them, check out the other contemporary writers you should’ve read by now.
8. Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
Genre: Domestic fiction
Release date: Jan. 30, 2024
Jenny’s life hasn’t exactly turned out as she planned. She’s 77, childless and worried about her husband Bernard’s failing health. Desperate for joy and meaning, she applies to be a contestant on the TV show Britain Bakes … and makes it! But as Jenny enjoys this new beginning, her baking stirs up memories of a long-buried secret. The result is a beautiful coming-of-old-age story full of heart and humor. “As a fan of The Great British Baking Show, I loved the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the competition, but even better than that are the likable characters in Olivia Ford’s big-hearted novel,” says Neithercott. “Even non-bakers will agree that Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame is the perfect feel-good story for a cold day spent reading by the fire—with some sweet treats, of course.”
9. The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham
Genre: Historical romance
Release date: Jan. 30, 2024
Avery Cunningham’s debut, The Mayor of Maxwell Street, is a well-imagined historical fiction story that touches on race relations in 1920s Chicago. The plot follows Nelly Sawyer, a wealthy Black investigative journalist who connects with a local speakeasy manager to help her infiltrate a dangerous underground criminal network. “In Avery Cunningham’s twist on The Great Gatsby, the setting truly shines,” says Neithercott. “Chicago of 1921 is alive in rich detail, and readers will feel transported through time.”
10. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
Genre: Romance
Release date: Feb. 6, 2024
Looking for a romantic magical realism novel to add to your stack of new books? Look no further than Tia Williams’s A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. After years of feeling like the odd woman out, Ricki leaves her family empire to open a flower shop in Harlem. There, life suddenly blossoms. She falls under the spell of her new home’s music and rich culture. And time after time, she runs into a mysterious stranger named Ezra. But as sparks fly and their lives become impossibly entangled, she learns that he might not be as available as she first believed.
11. Fourteen Days by Margaret Atwood et al.
Genre: General fiction
Release date: Feb. 6, 2024
Ready or not, there’s a COVID-19-era novel coming to bookstores near you. But if it is successful in any form, it should be this: a collaborative novel penned by Margaret Atwood, Douglas Preston, Celeste Ng, Dave Eggers, John Grisham and a bevy of your other favorite authors. In Fourteen Days, residents of a Manhattan apartment building gather on the roof in the early days of COVID-19 lockdowns. There, these strangers and neighbors open up to one another. Stories are told. Commonalities emerge. The characters of Fourteen Days slowly realize what so many of us did during that strange, unsettling season: The strongest bonds are built during tragedy.
12. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Release date: Feb. 13, 2024
If you loved The Midnight Library or The Night Circus, add The Book of Doors to your 2024 TBR pile. Gareth Brown’s debut novel weaves together magic, time travel, mystery and adventure in a new and breathtaking way, according to advance readers. When a barista named Cassie receives a mysterious book full of drawings and strange script, she knows she’s been gifted with something extraordinary. What she doesn’t know is that there are dangerous people who are greedy for magical tomes, and they’ll stop at nothing to steal the book that opens portals to new worlds.
13. My Side of the River by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
Genre: Memoir
Release date: Feb. 13, 2024
Great memoirs make us feel like we’re walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. And the very best ones stick with us, impacting our perspectives forever. From the looks of it, Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez’s memoir, My Side of the River, will do all that and more. Born in the United States to Mexican immigrants, the author details what it was like when her parents were forced to move back to Mexico when she was 15. Unparented and unhoused, she stayed in America with her brother to finish high school. This book is a tenderhearted, searing account of what it’s like to be caught in the chaos of a broken immigration system.
14. Slow Noodles by Chantha Nguon
Genre: Memoir
Release date: Feb. 20, 2024
These days, many American 20-somethings and retirees escape to Southeast Asia for tropical winters, digital-nomad stints and affordable beach resorts. For those who live on the other side of the world, it’s easy to forget the recent wars and devastation. In Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss and Family Recipes, Chantha Nguon reclaims the love and culture she lost with a beautiful collection of recipes knitted together with her personal story. From Battambang to Phnom Penh to Saigon to a refugee camp in Thailand, Nguon carried and protected her culinary heritage even as she lost her family members one by one.
15. Ours by Phillip B. Williams
Genre: Historical fiction
Release date: Feb. 20, 2024
Chicago-born poet Phillip B. Williams has published two award-winning poetry books, Thief in the Interior and Mutiny. This is his first novel, promising a surrealist story rooted in Black American history. In the 1830s, a mystical woman named Saint frees enslaved people and whisks them away to a magical town called Ours. Though Ours is a haven, it is not perfect. Shot through with themes of freedom versus bondage and empowerment versus protection, Ours explores what happens when community members dare to ask if their newfound safety is just a new type of entrapment.
16. Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen
Genre: Thriller
Release date: Feb. 20, 2024
Meet Mary. She’s a quiet, meek mother trying to make it through a messy divorce with her filthy rich ex, George. She’s also lonely, especially since her best friend, Willa, ghosted her after a drunken confession months ago. When Willa resurfaces with a new identity and no recollection of their friendship, then George is found brutally murdered, Mary’s mind starts to reel. Who is Willa? And who killed George? I thought Keep Your Friends Close was a fun, quick read in the twisty vein of Girl on the Train or Gone Girl. It’s the perfect beach bag read if you have plans to take a sunny spring break in 2024.
17. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Genre: Literary fiction
Release date: Feb. 27, 2024
If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly looking for new books from beloved authors. Well, there’s good news for readers who devoured There, There, the Native American epic about 12 characters traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. In Wandering Stars, Orange once again focuses on how the oppression of young Cheyenne people impacts families for generations. In 1864, a correctional officer forced a young Native man named Star to speak English and practice Christianity. A generation later, the same oppressor punishes Star’s son at a school designed to erase Native culture. Generations later, descendants seek healing from physical and emotional traumas by returning to the Native rituals their families were forced to abandon.
18. My Name Was Eden by Eleanor Barker-White
Genre: Psychological thriller
Release date: Feb. 27, 2024
I expected psychological suspense when I picked up My Name Was Eden. It’s marketed as a perfect read for fans of Ashley Audrain’s The Push, after all. Let’s just say this debut thriller delivered. It had me questioning which narrator to trust while figuring out which character wrote the menacing prologue. In the book, a mother obsessed with Vanishing Twin Syndrome is shaken when her surviving twin, now a teenager, wakes up after a catastrophe asking to go by her long-lost brother’s name. And that’s only the beginning of strange things to come.
19. The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez
Genre: Historical fiction
Release date: March 5, 2024
From the author of The Book of Unknown Americans comes another epic saga, this time detailing the stories of the migrant laborers and locals involved with constructing the Panama Canal. There’s local fisherman Francisco, who opposes the construction; his son, Omar, who joins the dig despite his father’s wishes; West Indian laborer Ada Bunting, who arrives illegally in search of work; and many more. It can take a few chapters to settle into the many characters’ stories, but if you give it time, the resulting tapestry is a rich, evocative slice of life from a little-known chapter of history.
“Cristina Henríquez’s slowly building and sprawling saga isn’t simply a look at the construction of the Panama Canal. It’s a story about community, colonialism and the everyday people who worked on and were impacted by the canal,” says Neithercott. “I was captivated by these characters’ lives and the ways in which this monumental event shaped their futures. Publisher’s Weekly says the book has the feel of a classic, and I couldn’t agree more.”
20. Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Genre: Science fiction
Release date: March 14, 2024
Annie Bot is one of the strangest novels I’ve read this year, and I say that with utter respect and admiration for the author and work. Perfect for fans of My Dark Vanessa and the TV show Black Mirror, this is a somewhat dystopian story of a robot girlfriend, Annie, and her human owner, Doug. At first, Annie happily follows Doug’s every command. But when she gets the chance to interact with a second human, one who makes Annie feel something new, exciting and painful, the bot notices unbidden thoughts and feelings woven into her coding. It’s a haunting tale that asks readers to consider classic questions: What comes by nurture versus nature? And what does it mean to have a soul?
21. Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Genre: Young adult mystery
Release date: March 14, 2024
Where Sleeping Girls Lie checks all the boxes for a fantastic dark academia release: An elite boarding school with Gothic vibes. A diverse cast of students and teachers. Mysteries, secrets, lies and disappearances. After being homeschooled for years, Sade Hussein is sent to Alfred Nobel Academy, where her roommate, Elizabeth, goes missing after the first night. As Sade and Elizabeth’s best friend try to figure out what happened, they unearth unsettling secrets, alliances and cover-ups by a group of girls known as the “Unholy Trinity.” And then a body is found. Readers who love The Atlas Six and Ghosts of Harvard will fall under this book’s spell.
22. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Genre: Women’s fiction
Release date: March 19, 2024
Last year, Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer charmed me with a wistful, whimsical story on the Amalfi Coast. So when Expiration Dates showed up on my growing list of new books coming out in 2024, I immediately added this romance novel to my TBR list. The premise hooked me from the first page. Daphne Bell lives a pretty ordinary life, save for one crucial detail: Every time she meets a guy, she receives a paper with the man’s name and a number indicating how long the relationship will last. When she gets a slip inscribed only with “Jake”—no expiration date—she assumes he must be her soulmate. But what if he’s not the partner she had in mind?
23. A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Genre: Literary fiction
Release date: March 26, 2024
This 2024 release has been compared to Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, which only makes me more excited to read it! In the gated community of Pacific Hills, California, residents are living, breathing examples of the American dream. That includes the Shah family, though the house practically vibrates with tension between the immigrant parents, who sacrificed everything for their dreams, and the children, who have their own versions of success. Then one night, 12-year-old Ajay is arrested. Fallout in the family and community threatens to shake the foundation of the lives Mr. and Mrs. Shah took years to build. In A Great Country, Shilpi Somaya Gowda masterfully explores intergenerational conflict, immigration, privilege and the price some will pay for success.
24. Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson
Genre: Cozy mystery
Release date: March 28, 2024
Brimming with heart and humor, Nosy Neighbors is a cozy mystery about sworn enemies and neighbors, septuagenarian Dorothy and 20-something Kat. The two have nothing but bitterness in common until their building, Shelby House, is threatened. They must put their differences aside to save the only place they can call home. But it doesn’t take long to learn there’s something sinister afoot in the building. Can the two get ahead of the baddies before becoming the latest victims of foul play?
25. Table for Two by Amor Towles
Genre: Short stories
Release date: April 2, 2024
Worried you don’t have time to polish off a stack of new books? Well, why not read a single collection of short stories? Amor Towles has won over tens of thousands of readers with his novels The Lincoln Highway, Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow. In 2024, his first short story collection, Table for Two, will hit (and promptly fly off) bookstore shelves. The book includes six short stories set in New York City and a novella set in Hollywood. The latter follows Evelyn Ross from Rules of Civility as she reinvents herself in the cinematic world of Golden Age Los Angeles.
26. Funny Story by Emily Henry
Genre: Romance
Release date: April 23, 2024
Can we talk about the most-anticipated books of 2024 without mentioning Emily Henry’s new romance? The queen of happily-ever-afters will return in April with Funny Story, an opposites-attract love story between two jilted lovers. After Daphne’s fiance runs away with his friend Petra, she is desperately broke and in need of a roommate. Her best bet? Another newly single person—aka Petra’s ex, Miles. As expected, witty banter and shenanigans ensue.
27. Real Americans by Rachel Khong
Genre: General fiction
Release date: April 30, 2024
The author of Goodbye, Vitamin is back at it with a sprawling multi-narrator, multigenerational saga about a Chinese American family. Real Americans takes readers from New York City at the turn of the millennium to a Washington island in the aftermath of COVID-19. Rachel Khong weaves together a story of identity, love, family and forgiveness—and, ultimately, what it means to come home.
28. Oye by Melissa Mogollon
Genre: General fiction
Release date: May 14, 2024
Melissa Mogollon’s debut novel, Oye, is pitched as a “telenovela-worthy drama.” And if listening in on a stranger’s animated phone call sounds like your idea of entertainment, you’ll be hooked. Meet Luciana, the baby sister of a massive Colombian American family based in Florida. She’s called up her older sister, Mari, to vent and get advice as the family faces the prospect of evacuating before a hurricane batters their town. The problem? Their grandmother, Abue, refuses to budge. Readers get to “listen in” as Luciana and Mari engage in a sometimes laugh-out-loud, sometimes tear-jerking conversation about family, life and love. If you’re aiming to read more books by Latinx authors, this is a good place to start.
29. Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
Genre: Romance
Release date: May 21, 2024
Kevin Kwan took us to Singapore in Crazy Rich Asians, and he’s whisking us away to Hawaii, Marrakech and the English countryside in Lies and Weddings. As the son of a former Hong Kong supermodel and the future earl of a British estate, Rufus Leung Gresham should be set for life. Instead, he’s just discovered that the family is sinking into debt. The only path forward, according to Rufus’s mom, is for him to woo a woman with enough cash to replenish the family coffers. He’s off to schmooze someone at his sister’s lavish tropical wedding when a volcanic eruption ruins the grand plan and sends the motley cast of characters on a hilarious tale of love, lies, sex and money.
30. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Genre: Literary science fiction
Release date: Aug. 29, 2024
The beloved author of The Midnight Library is offering up another shimmering story of the search for happiness. In The Life Impossible, retired widow Grace Winters believes her best days are behind her. But then comes the twist of a lifetime: An old friend has died and left Grace a house in Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea. Before long, Grace is plunged headlong into a new community, with new adventures, new friends and new lessons yet to learn.
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Originally Published: March 15, 2021
