21 Most Anticipated Book Releases of Spring 2021
Spring 2021 has sprung, so it's time to get excited for all
of the book releases the new season is set to bring with it. Below is a list of
21 of the most anticipated book releases of Spring 2021 - from dark and twisty
thrillers to light and fluffy romances, there's a book for every reader on this
list.
Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid
"Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate
the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives
will change forever.
Malibu: August 1983. It's the day of Nina Riva's annual
end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be
around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay
and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and
their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of
fascination in Malibu and the world over--especially as the offspring of the
legendary singer Mick Riva.
The only person not looking forward to the party of the year
is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has
also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh,
and maybe Hud--because it is long past time for him to confess something to the
brother from whom he's been inseparable since birth.
Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall,
when the girl he can't stop thinking about promised she'll be there.
And Kit has a couple secrets of her own--including a guest
she invited without consulting anyone.
By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By
morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first
spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will
play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family's generations will all
come bubbling to the surface."
This hugely anticipated new book from the bestselling author of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is set to release in May. I'm lucky enough to have been able to read a pre-release copy and can guarantee you it will not disappoint.
Yolk - Mary H.K. Choi
"Jayne Baek is barely getting by. She shuffles through
fashion school, saddled with a deadbeat boyfriend, clout-chasing friends, and a
wretched eating disorder that she’s not fully ready to confront. But that’s New
York City, right? At least she isn’t in Texas anymore, and is finally living in
a city that feels right for her.
On the other hand, her sister June is dazzlingly rich with a
high-flying finance job and a massive apartment. Unlike Jayne, June has never
struggled a day in her life. Until she’s diagnosed with uterine cancer.
Suddenly, these estranged sisters who have nothing in common
are living together. Because sisterly obligations are kind of important when
one of you is dying."
A new release from the bestselling author of Emergency
Contact.
Of Women and Salt - Gabriela Garcia
"In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction.
Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about
her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take
in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the
trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own
mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for
understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with
secrets from the past destined to erupt.
From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention
centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia's Of Women and Salt is a
kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals--personal and political, self-inflicted and
those done by others--that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women.
A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories
they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite
those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story; it is a
story of America's most tangled, honest, human roots."
A sprawling historical fiction following five generations of
women across multiple cultures and countries, this book is set to stick with
you long after you finish it.
The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner
"A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to
liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across
centuries on a dangerous collision course
Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another
woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be
recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark
London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer.
Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker
purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be
free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a
precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets
in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to
expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell
spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her
husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river
Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to
the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago.
As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in
a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive."
If you enjoy dual narratives spanning both past and present,
this sounds like a book for you.
The Rose Code - Kate Quinn
"1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three
very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley
Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.
Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the
dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove
herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a
translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end
London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old
wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are
quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness
conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as
one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible
pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. 1947. As the royal wedding of
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three
friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter--the key
to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship
and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged
from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must
resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal
they remove from the rose code brings danger--and their true
enemy--closer..."
This sounds like a wonderful historical fiction, and a novel
highlighting the work of the women in Bletchley Park during WWII is also well
needed.
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
"Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara,
an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her
place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to
browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a
customer will soon choose her.
Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at
our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that
explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?"
If you've read any of Ishiguro's other books, then no doubt
you are excited for his new book set to release on March 2nd.
Chain of Iron - Cassandra Clare
"Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever
wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since
childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale
and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited
with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s
blade.
But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage
is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the
mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible
accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father
has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the
Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing
without a trace.
Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie
must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most
dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie,
that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a
dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being
drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon
Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek."
The much anticipated sequel to last year's Chain of Gold is
set to release on March 2nd. I haven't got round to reading this lastest
instalment in the Shadowhunters universe but I am very excited to after reading
and loving The Infernal Devices back in 2019.
People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry
"Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in
common. She's a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he
prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share
home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most
of the year they live far apart--she's in New York City, and he's in their
small hometown--but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious
week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They
haven't spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she's stuck in a
rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a
doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to
convince her best friend to take one more vacation together--lay everything on
the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get
around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their
seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong? "
From the bestselling author of Beach Read comes another book
which sounds perfect for getting in the summer spirit!
Cheat Day - Liv Stratman
"Kit and David were college sweethearts. Now married
and twelve years older, they live in Kit’s childhood home in Bay Ridge,
Brooklyn. While David has a successful career, jetting off on work trips to
exotic destinations, Kit is stuck in a loop. She keeps quitting her job
managing her sister’s bakery to seek a more ambitious profession, but fear of
failure always brings her right back to Sweet Cheeks. Kit finds a fraught
solace in cycling through fad diets, which David, in his efforts to be supportive,
follows along with her. Their latest program is the Radiant Regimen, an intense
seventy-five-day cleanse, and Kit is optimistic about embarking on a new
chapter of clean eating and self-control.
But hungry in more ways than one, she soon falls into a flirtation
with a carpenter named Matt who is building new shelves for the bakery kitchen.
Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Kit and Matt fall into a passionate
affair. Kit suppresses the guilt of her betrayal by adhering more and more
strictly to the Radiant Regimen, pushing the diet, and her infidelity, to
greater extremes.
Told in precise, intimate detail, Cheat Day is a sharply
comic novel that explores family, loyalty, monogamy versus monotony,
deprivation versus indulgence, and the limitations of modern wellness. "
Rule of Wolves - Leigh Bardugo
"The Demon King. As Fjerda's massive army prepares to
invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm—and
even the monster within—to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot
be defeated by a young king's gift for the impossible.
The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war.
She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury
another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon
her country needs. No matter the cost.
The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks
discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her
desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the
chance to heal her grieving heart.
King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a
future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall."
At last, the conclusion to the King of Scars duology is set
to release on March 30th this year. If you haven't yet read any Leigh Bardugo,
I would highly recommend her books - I'm not usually a fan of fantasy but I
love them.
Witches Steeped in Gold - Ciannon Smart
"Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day
brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance.
Jazmyne is the queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister
before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.
Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance
to take down a mutual threat. But revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is
certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.
Deadly, fierce, magnetically addictive: this
Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut is a thrilling journey where dangerous magic
reigns supreme and betrayal lurks beneath every word."
If you're a fantasy fan this is one to add to your list -
set to release on April 20th.
The Road Trip - Beth O'Leary
"Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic
road trip to a friend's wedding in the north of Scotland. The playlist is all
planned and the snacks are packed.
But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back
of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie's ex, Dylan, who she's avoided
since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.
Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and
they've totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride.
The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with three hundred
miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy
history of their relationship...
Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more
importantly... is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?"
This new book from the bestselling author of The Flatshare
and The Switch is set to release on April 29th.
The Dating Plan - Sara Desai
"Daisy Patel is a software engineer who understands
lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. With her life all planned
out, and no interest in love, the one thing she can't give her family is the
marriage they expect. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush to be
her decoy fiance.
Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist with something to prove.
When he learns that his inheritance is contingent on being married, he realizes
his best friend's little sister has the perfect solution to his problem. A
marriage of convenience will get Daisy's matchmaking relatives off her back and
fulfill the terms of his late grandfather's will. If only he hadn't broken her
tender teenage heart nine years ago...
Sparks fly when Daisy and Liam go on a series of dates to
legitimize their fake relationship. Too late, they realize that very little is
convenient about their arrangement. History and chemistry aren't about to
follow the rules of this engagement."
As the weather gets a little brighter, I always find myself
want to read lighter books - this new romance sounds ideal.
One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston
"For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to
New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and
cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life
is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and
moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s
certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily
trudge through boredom and electrical failures.
But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.
Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane
with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather
jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush
becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one
big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s
literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use
everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to
start believing in some things, after all."
If you're in the mood for a romance novel, this is one to
keep your eye out for.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown - Talia Hibbert
"Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard
she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up
trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding
(someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It's
time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she's not entirely sure
how…
Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast
owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects
nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns
up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the
brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly
by accident. Yeah, right.
Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the
dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before
long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob
hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his
natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters,
the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between
them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior."
Another cute romance to add to your list! This is the third
and final instalment in the Brown Sisters trilogy, so if you're a fan of these
kind of books and haven't yet got round to this series, 2021 might be the year
for you to do so.
Second First Impressions - Sally Thorne
"Distraction (n): an extreme agitation of the mind or
emotions.
Ruthie Midona has worked the front desk at the Providence
Luxury Retirement Villa for six years, dedicating her entire adult life to
caring for the Villa’s residents, maintaining the property (with an assist from
DIY YouTube tutorials), and guarding the endangered tortoises that live in the
Villa’s gardens. Somewhere along the way, she’s forgotten that she’s young and
beautiful, and that there’s a world outside of work—until she meets the son of
the property developer who just acquired the retirement center.
Teddy Prescott has spent the last few years partying,
sleeping in late, tattooing himself when bored, and generally not taking life
too seriously—something his father, who dreams of grooming Teddy into his
successor, can’t understand. When Teddy needs a place to crash, his father
seizes the chance to get him to grow up. He’ll let Teddy stay in one of the
on-site cottages at the retirement home, but only if he works to earn his keep.
Teddy agrees—he can change a few lightbulbs and clip some hedges, no sweat. But
Ruthie has plans for Teddy too.
Her two wealthiest and most eccentric residents have just
placed an ad (yet another!) seeking a new personal assistant to torment. The
women are ninety-year-old, four-foot-tall menaces, and not one of their
assistants has lasted a full week. Offering up Teddy seems like a surefire way
to get rid of the tall, handsome, unnerving man who won’t stop getting under
her skin.
Ruthie doesn’t count on the fact that in Teddy Prescott, the
Biddies may have finally met their match. He’ll pick up Chanel gowns from the
dry cleaner and cut Big Macs into bite-sized bits. He’ll do repairs around the
property, make the residents laugh, and charm the entire villa. He might even
remind Ruthie what it’s like to be young and fun again. But when she finds out
Teddy’s father’s only fixing up the retirement home to sell it, putting
everything she cares about in jeopardy, she’s left wondering if Teddy’s magic
was all just a façade."
From the bestselling author of The Hating Game comes another
quirky romance.
Tokyo Ever After - Emiko Jean
"Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it
isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern
California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because
“It’s easier this way”—and her mom against the world. But then Izzy discovers a
clue to her previously unknown father’s identity…and he’s none other than the
Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a
princess.
In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet the father she
never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of. But being a princess
isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a
scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands
of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.
Izzy soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between
versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan,
she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of
the crown, or will she live out her fairytale, happily ever after?"
I've seen this described as Crazy Rich Asians meets The
Princess Diaries which sounds...amazing.
Every Vow You Break - Peter Swanson
"Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a
millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. He’s a good guy, stable, level-headed,
kind—a refreshing twist from her previous relationships.
But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken
one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy
guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she
wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.
Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s
future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their
passionate night was the beginning of something much, much more. Something
special. Something real—and he’s tracked her down to prove it.
Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and
possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her
own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a
terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe
anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband."
If you're a fan of darker books, this new psychological
thriller sounds perfect for fans of Lucy Foley.
Every Last Fear - Alex Finlay
"“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this
twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a
thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to
tears.
After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine
returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family—his mom,
his dad, his little brother and sister—have been found dead from an apparent
gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an
accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain—and they won’t
tell Matt why.
The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t
the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s
older brother, Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his
teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a viral true crime documentary
suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied
behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told
anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him
believe his brother is guilty of the crime.
When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents
and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the
documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever.
Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to
Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother
to prison—putting his own life in peril—and forcing him to confront his every
last fear.
Told through multiple points-of-view and alternating between
past and present, Alex Finlay's Every Last Fear is not only a page-turning
thriller, it’s also a poignant story about a family managing heartbreak and
tragedy, and living through a fame they never wanted."
Another one for thriller fans.
The Good Sister - Sally Hepworth
"From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose
are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one and Fern is
the quirky one. But the sisters are devoted to one another and Rose has always
been Fern's protector from the time they were small.
Fern needed protecting because their mother was a true
sociopath who hid her true nature from the world, and only Rose could see it.
Fern always saw the good in everyone. Years ago, Fern did something very, very
bad. And Rose has never told a soul. When Fern decides to help her sister
achieve her heart's desire of having a baby, Rose realizes with growing horror
that Fern might make choices that can only have a terrible outcome. What Rose
doesn't realize is that Fern is growing more and more aware of the secrets
Rose, herself, is keeping. And that their mother might have the last word after
all. "
When the Stars Go Dark - Paula McLain
"Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in
San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature.
When overwhelming tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb,
flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived
there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might
be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns a local
teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the
most crucial time in Anna's childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl
touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present
collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult
lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact
with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with the missing girl, she
must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to
let others in.
Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma
theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting
novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the
worst happens, to reclaim our lives--and our faith in one another."
From the bestselling author of The Paris Wife comes another new thriller.
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