I love getting the Goodreads newsletter every month! It details all the new releases in every genre, and from your previously read authors. I always spend about an hour every month reading through what’s coming out.

So from that list, I thought I’d share some of the highlights which look super delightful!

 

Fiction

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker is about college town which is impacted by a strange illness. It starts when a freshman girl stumbles out of her dorm room, falls asleep and doesn’t wake up. One by one, other girls fall asleep. And can’t be woken up. It spreads across town and frightens the population.

The world descends into chaos as people from all over the world get involved to figure out what’s going on. They discover that the sleeping girls have a higher than usual amount of brain activity: they are dreaming. But of what?

The reviews on this one are really promising, as readers describe it as “haunting” and “eerie”.

I really love the cover of this one. Elsey Come Home by Susan Conley follows Elsey and Lukas, whose marriage is on the brink. He hands her a brochure for a weeklong mountain retreat and she knows it’s an ultimatum. Go, or we’re done. 

Once there, she confronts the ghosts of her past which she realises are haunting her a little deeper than anticipated. To conquer them, she knows she must visit her childhood home where the pain roots the deepest before she can return back to her husband and their daughters.

It sounds like a dynamic, raw, emotional story of how we can ignore our trauma at the expense of creating the perfect home.

 

 

Non-Fiction

How To Date Men When You Hate Men is a comic philosophical book that discusses how to date men in our modern society.

Some of the chapter titles are: Real Interviews With Men About Whether Or Not It Was A Date; Good Flirts That Work; Bad Flirts That Do Not Work; and Definitive Proof That Tom Hanks Is The Villain Of You’ve Got Mail.

The book is described as being aimed for people who need “dating advice when you love men but you don’t like them.”

Obviously, take this book with a pinch of salt.

 

 

Young Adult

Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus is a contemporary mystery set in Echo Ridge, small-town America.

Ellery knows about all the secrets the town holds: her aunt went missing when she was seventeen, a homecoming queen was murdered 5 years ago, and now, Ellery has to live there with a grandmother she barely knows.

Someone has warned that homecoming season will be as dangerous as it was 5 years ago. Then, another girl goes missing.

The reviews for this one are pretty incredible, and the plot twist has a lot of praise!

Perfect for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Slayer by Kiersten White looks like the perfect feminist and exciting fantasy young adult read for January.

Nina grew up in the Watcher’s Academy where teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness.

Nina has never embraced this lifestyle and instead has trained to be the school medic.

Until she discovers she is not only the newest Chosen One—she’s the last Slayer, ever – thanks to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who her father died protecting. But it’s not until bodies start turning up that Nina’s new powers will truly be tested—because someone she loves might be next.

 

 

History

Being obsessed with Hamilton, I’m much more prepared to read anything about the American Revolution.

The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington is about exactly what the title says.

It was his own soldiers that plotted to kill him. This book describes the secret plot and also, how it was revealed. It highlights the challenge this was for George Washington and how America almost lost the revolution.

This book highlights a forgotten piece of American history while revealing more of Washington’s character.

 

 

 

Memoir & Autobiography

In Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, Dani Shapiro submits her DNA for analysis only to find out her father was not actually… her father.

This book is about family secrets and the desperate mission to discover your own identity. It also tackles medical ethics & grief after truth.

It sounds like a gripping and emotional tale of paternity and love.

The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After follows Julie: a miracle baby. Born blind, she is nearly euthanised before being flown to America where a surgeon is able to give her partial site.

She grows up, becomes a Harvard-educated lawyer, gets married, has two children, before she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

This “is the story of a vigorous life refracted through the prism of imminent death.” Julie began to write her way through it. In the end, she has a humorous, cleansing & angry tale of her life.

 

 

Mystery & Thriller

Seraphine and Danny knew tragedy within a few hours of being born when their mother threw herself from a cliff, the au pair ran away and the village gossiped.

Now an adult, Seraphine is grieving the death of her father. When going through his things, she finds a photo that brings up dangerous questions.

In the photograph, taken on the day the twins were born, her mother is only holding one baby.

Only one person knows the truth – the au pair – and no one can find her.

“Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.” 

Jessica signs up for a study where she thinks she’ll have to answer a few questions, get paid and then leave.

But the session gets more intense and invasive as Dr. Shields takes her on outings, telling her what to wear and how to act.

Jessica fears that he knows what she’s hiding.

The book has great reviews. It sounds dark and unique and full of deadly secrets.

 

 

Romance

Written by the best-selling author of The Hating Game, 99 Percent Mine follows Darcy who has undertaken a global survey of men. She has concluded that no guy anywhere in the world can match her brother’s best friend, Tom.

When Darcy and her brother Jamie inherit a cottage from their grandmother, Tom comes to help with the DIY. And he’s single for the first time in a long time.

She decides that enough is enough. Tom has to be hers. When sparks start to fly, she has to decide whether or not to stay for him. Especially when he’s her brother’s best friend.

Sounds like a great, easy to read, summery chick flick!

 

 

Science Fiction

Here and Now and Then is a one of a kind sci-fi time travel novel. Kin Stewart, family man, trying to keep his marriage together and connect with his teenage daughter, has been stuck in San Fransisco since the 1990’s, after his time-travel job from 2142 went wrong.

He’s been there for 18 years when the “rescue” team finally arrives. They’re going to take him home to his family. One problem, he can’t remember his family from 2142.

Torn between two lives, Kin wants to find a way to stay connected to both. But his efforts only end up putting his family in danger.

 

 

History

The Paragon Hotel opens with Alice on a cross-country train in 1921, with a bullet wound after fleeing for her life after a drug and liquor deal gone wrong.

Running from New York City to Oregon, she befriends Max, a black Pullman porter who leads her to the Paragon Hotel.

She discovers it’s an all-black hotel and the other visitors are terrified of the only white woman resident. As she talks with the other guests, she realises the reason for their fear.

The Ku Klux Klan has torn its way through Oregon, destroying the lives of so many people. Only Alice and a few friends are willing to search for a missing child that disappeared in the Oregon woods.

 

And that concludes it for my January anticipated releases! All these books sound so wonderful; I can’t wait to dive in!

I hope you discover some new reads. Remember:

Sleep less, read more xo

Beth