The Hottest New Books for Jan. 30, 2024

This week's most buzzed-about new books, writer birthdays, and more.

Author

Nicholas Barron
January 30, 2024

Welcome to Literairyland, your list of the week's hottest đŸ”„ new books. Subscribe today and get Literairyland in your inbox every Tuesday!

This week’s email includes 27 hot new books. 👇

Hi Reader,

Sometimes, a book gets so much buzz that, by the time it comes out, it feels like you've been hearing about the book for months.

This week, two books fit this description: Kiley Reid's literary novel, Come and Get It (Amazon | Bookshop), and Sarah J. Maas's fantasy story, House of Flame and Shadow (Amazon | Bookshop).

Critics have been going gaga over Come and Get It. Meanwhile, House of Flame and Shadow has been lighting up Booktok and Bookstagram.

You'll find loglines and links to reviews for these and 25 other hot new books below.

Or, if you're feeling the Oscars season, Town & Country has seven not new books related to this year's Best Picture nominees. The catch is you have to read them in a tux or gown. 😉

Enjoy, and happy reading,
Nicholas Barron

Table of Contents

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❀ books? Get the story behind your favorite stories with the Writer's Routine podcast. In every episode, we chat with some of the world's most successful authors to discover how they create the books we know and love. Listen to Writer's Routine wherever you get your podcasts.

Twentieth-Century Europe: 1900 to the Present is a student-friendly textbook that provides a concise and accessible review of the significant themes and major events that shaped European history from the beginning of the twentieth century. Order it today.

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Hottest đŸ”„ New Fiction

Mystery

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Logline: For fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz, a fiendishly fun locked room murder mystery from the author of the indie darling Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone --this time set on a train full of mystery writers, agents, editors, and fans.

Publisher: Mariner Books

Thriller

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate

Logline: In this stunning and propulsive debut, a town grieves the loss of a young girl--but some fight to keep the truth about her death a secret. For fans of Jane Harper, Ashley Flowers, and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Horror

Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona

Logline: A suspenseful and entertaining debut thriller--and love letter to vintage horror movies--in which a teenager must overcome her own anxiety to protect the two children she's babysitting when strangers come knocking at the door.

Publisher: Harper Perennial

The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden

Logline: The next high concept horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Fantasy

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

Logline: The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Reviews:
Medium

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers

Logline: Slip into a lush world of magic, stardust, and monsters in this spellbinding contemporary fantasy from debut author Georgia Summers.

Publisher: Redhook

Romance

The Takeover by Cara Tanamachi

Logline: Sometimes, when you ask the universe for your soulmate, you wind up with your hate mate instead.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Historical

The American Queen by Vanessa Miller

Logline: In 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen.

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham

Logline: "A debut novel everyone will be talking about," Avery Cunningham's epic love story is "a triumph" and "a tale of intrigue, racial tension, and class warfare, set against the glamorous and gritty backdrop of early 20th century Chicago."

Publisher: Hyperion Avenue

The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate

Logline: Bestselling author ReShonda Tate presents a fascinating fictional portrait of Hattie McDaniel, one of Hollywood's most prolific but woefully underappreciated stars--and the first Black person ever to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy in the critically acclaimed film classic Gone With the Wind.

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Literary

Good Material: A Novel by Dolly Alderton

Logline: From the New York Times best-selling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a story of heartbreak and friendship and how to survive both.

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group

Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili

Logline: Amid rubble and rebuilding in a former Soviet land, one family must rescue one another and put the past to rest: a stirring novel about what happens after the fighting is over.

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

Logline: From the celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age comes a fresh and provocative story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students.

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Ordorica

Logline: Set between the United States and MĂ©xico, AndrĂ©s N. Ordorica’s debut novel is a tender and lyrical exploration of belonging, grief, and first love―a love story for those so often written off the page.

Publisher: Tin House Books

Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford

Logline: A huge-hearted, redemptive coming-of-old-age tale, a love story, and an ode to good food.

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

The House of Plain Truth by Donna Hemans

Logline: A lyrical, lush, evocative story about a fractured Jamaican family and a daughter determined to reclaim her home.

Publisher: Zibby Books

Clover Hendry’s Day Off by Beth Morrey

Logline: A hilarious and empowering perimenopausal Ferris Bueller's Day Off, about Clover Hendry, 46, and the day she decides to stop keeping the plates spinning, say F@#! it all, and finally get hers.

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Young Adult

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

Logline: From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books

Hottest đŸ”„ New Nonfiction

Memoir

Dear Sister: A Memoir of Secrets, Survival, and Unbreakable Bonds by Michelle Horton

Logline: A breathtaking memoir about two sisters and a high-profile case: Nikki Addimando, incarcerated for killing her longtime abuser; and the author, Michelle Horton, left in the devastating fall-out to raise Nikki's young children and to battle the criminal justice system.

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes by Moshe Kasher

Logline: A "hilarious" (Dax Shepard), "surprisingly emotional trip" (The Chainsmokers) through deep American subcultures ranging from Burning Man to Alcoholics Anonymous, by the writer and comedian Moshe Kasher.

Publisher: Random House

Civil Rights

Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World--And How You Can, Too by Ijeoma Oluo

Logline: From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre, an eye-opening and galvanizing look at the current state of anti-racist activism across America.

Publisher: HarperOne

Politics

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer

Logline: An epic, heartbreaking, and deeply reported history of the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the southern border told through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate, by New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer.

Publisher: Penguin Press

History

The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade by Hannah Durkin

Logline: Joining the ranks of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Zora Neale Hurston's rediscovered classic Barracoon, an immersive and revelatory history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on US soil, told through the stories of its survivors--the last documented survivors of any slave ship--whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.

Publisher: Amistad Press

Technology

Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet by Chris Dixon

Logline: A potent exploration of the power of blockchains to reshape the future of the internet--and how that affects us all--from influential technology entrepreneur and startup investor Chris Dixon.

Publisher: Random House

Self-Help

I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free by Tabitha Brown

Logline: The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feeding the Soul (Because It's My Business) presents an inspirational guide for encouraging positive changes in your life--one day and one challenge at a time.

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Reviews:
Book Referees

Hottest đŸ”„ New Poetry

This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets, edited by Kwame Alexander

Logline: A breathtaking poetry collection on hope, heart, and heritage from the most prominent and promising Black poets and writers of our time, edited by Why Fathers Cry at Night author and #1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander.

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Reviews:
No available reviews

Spectral Evidence: Poems by Gregory Pardlo

Amazon | Bookshop

Logline: A powerful meditation on Blackness, beauty, faith, and the force of law, from the beloved award-winning author of Digest and Air Traffic.

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group

Bookish Trivia đŸ€”

This Week’s Literary Birthdays & Events

January 30

  • U.S. Congress approves of acquiring Thomas Jefferson's library to restore the Library of Congress (1815)

  • AndrĂ© Bjerke

  • Richard Brautigan

  • Gelett Burgess

  • Eva Dobell

  • Michael Dorris

  • Allan W. Eckert

  • Hans Erich Nossack

  • Andrew Salkey

  • Jack Spicer

  • Judith Tarr

  • Barbara W. Tuchman

January 31

  • Gene DeWeese

  • Zane Grey

  • Norman Mailer

  • Kenzaburƍ ƌe

  • John O'Hara

  • Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

  • Daniel Tammet

February 1

  • 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary is published (1884)

  • Nicolae Breban

  • Meg Cabot

  • Langston Hughes

  • Galway Kinnell

  • Charles Nordhoff

  • Petru Popescu

  • Denise Robins

  • Patricia Robins

  • Elkanah Settle

  • Muriel Spark

  • Jerry Spinelli

  • Yevgeny Zamyatin

February 2

  • Alexander Selkirk is rescued from an island in the Pacific Ocean (1709), inspiring Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe

  • William Rose BenĂ©t

  • Philippe Claudel

  • James Dickey

  • XuĂąn Diệu

  • Thomas M. Disch

  • Hella Haasse

  • Pavol OrszĂĄgh Hviezdoslav

  • James Joyce

  • Johnston McCulley

  • Aldo Palazzeschi

  • Ayn Rand

  • Khushwant Singh

  • Judith Viorst

February 3

  • Paul Auster

  • Horace Greeley

  • Victor LaValle

  • Henning Mankell

  • James A. Michener

  • Clarence E. Mulford

  • Joan Lowery Nixon

  • Lao She

  • Gertrude Stein

  • George Trakl

  • Caroline von Wolzogen

February 4

  • James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans is published (1826)

  • Jean Aicard

  • William Harrison Ainsworth

  • LuĂ­s de CamĂ”es

  • Robert Coover

  • Siobhan Dowd

  • Édouard EstauniĂ©

  • Friedrich Glauser

  • Keigo Higashino

  • Russell Hoban

  • Pierre de Marivaux

  • Stewart O'Nan

  • E.J. Pratt

  • Jacques PrĂ©vert

February 5

  • K.S. Nissar Ahmed

  • William S. Burroughs

  • Jovan Dučić

  • Andrew Greeley

  • Susan Hill

  • Joris-Karl Huysmans

  • Johan Ludvig Runeberg

  • Elizabeth Swados

See you next week!

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