Each year brings exciting new books in fiction and non-fiction alike. When you’re making your TBR (to be read) list for 2021, don’t forget these 12 highly-anticipated reads in contemporary fiction, thriller, non-fiction, and more.
- The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins ($21.99, click here)
In this imaginative retelling of Jane Eyre, Hawkins adds a feminist twist to a classic gothic tale. Jane is an outsider in Birmingham, Alabama and finds security with the widower Eddie Rochester. But what happens when Rochester’s ex-wife Bea won’t stay dead? This page-turner explores the implications that both characters’ pasts have on their present relationship.
Release date: January 5th, 2021
- A Pho Love Story by Loan Le ($18.99, click here)
For fans of YA fiction, this romantic comedy will melt your heart into a bowl of pho. Romeo and Juliet takes on modern sensibilities when two Vietnamese teens fall in love, forcing their families to reconcile a years-old feud over their competing restaurants. Can Bao and Linh overcome the warring forces set on keeping them apart?
Release date: February 9th, 2021
- The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (click here)
Inspired by West African folklore and reminiscent of Black Panther, The Gilded Ones is the start of a vibrant, feminist fantasy series set in a dystopia where those with gold blood are shunned from society. On the day of her ceremony, Deka’s blood runs gold, forcing her to become an outcast—and thrusting her into a new existence as a warrior.
Release date: March 2nd, 2021
- How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates ($21.95, click here)
How can we avoid an irreversible climate disaster? The answer isn’t easy, but Bill Gates sets out to answer this question in his new non-fiction release. He does so by putting forth a detailed plan for achieving zero net carbon emissions—one that our politicians and lawmakers, in theory, need only adopt to save the planet.
Release date: February 16, 2021
- The Dating Plan by Sara Desai ($14.72, click here)
Fans of contemporary romance will gobble up this novel by Sara Desai, which tells the story of two friends named Daisy and Liam. Liam, Daisy’s childhood crush, must be married to accept his inheritance. Daisy, a software engineer, asks him to pose as her fake fiancé to get her family off her back about not wanting to get married—but real sparks soon fly.
Release date: March 16, 2021
- Nick by Michael Farris Smith ($23.19, click here)
In the unofficial prequel to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, critically acclaimed novelist Michael Farris Smith explores what happened before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg. The book follows Carraway as he, hoping to escape the horrors of war, embarks on a quest of self-redemption—and a whirlwind Parisian romance.
Release date: January 5, 2021
- One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston ($10.99, click here)
The beloved author of Red, White, and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston is back at it again in her latest contemporary LGBTQ+ novel. The book bends the rules of time and space as the main character, August, develops a crush on a girl who happens to live in the 1970s.
Release date: June 1, 2021
- Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly ($19.69, click here)
This historical fiction novel transports readers back to the Civil War era, where Georgeanna Woolsley decides to become a nurse on the battlefield. As she ventures to Gettysburg with her sister, her fate is entwined with Jemma, a slave girl who is conscripted into the Union army, and Anne-May Wilson, a Southern plantation mistress who becomes involved with a network of spies.
Release date: March 30th, 2021
- The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin ($26.99, click here)
Despite being in the terminal ward at a Glasgow hospital, 17-year-old Lenni still has plenty of living left to do. At the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets Margot, an 83-year-old woman who feels the same way. Together, these unlikely friends devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the realities of the combined century they have lived.
Release date: July 13th, 2021
- Hype by Gabrielle Bluestone ($28.99, click here)
A former journalist for Vice, Bluestone explores why the digital age has given rise to so many scammers, con artists, and snake-oil sellers. Drawing from exclusive interviews, marketing campaigns, and scientific research, this non-fiction book delves into the irresistible hype that has so many of us falling for social media and its schemes.
Release date: February 2nd, 2021
- Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia ($23.99, click here)
Jeanette is battling addiction in modern-day Miami when she decides to learn more about her mother’s family, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba. In the process, she impulsively takes in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. The tale weaves together past and present to depict the trauma and triumphs of immigration.
Release date: March 30th, 2021
- The Rose Code by Kate Quinn ($16.19, click here)
The year is 1940. Three female code-breakers at Bletchley Park, a British training camp in the war against the Germans, are torn apart. The group is reunited seven years later by a mysterious encrypted letter. Thanks to the letter, the three women gather once again to root out a previously unknown traitor from their past, discovering true danger in the process.
Release date: March 3rd, 2021
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