The 100 Best Books Of 2022

Jan. 4

After her husband abandons her and their young daughter to live with his mistress, Frida finds herself in a dystopian re-education program for unfit mothers, in Jessamine Chan’s insightful debut.

Jan. 4

Luckenbooth begins in 1910, when the childless Minister of Culture and his fiancée hire a new maid, with the understanding that she’ll bear the Minister’s child. Unfortunately, this maid just so happens to be the daughter of the Devil himself, and her entrance into this unholy pact will have downstream effects for the residents of their Edinburgh tenement.

Jan. 4

From the author of Tweet Cute and You Have a Match comes When You Get the Chance, a coming-of-age story with a musical theater bent. It centers on Millie, a girl raised by a single dad who spends her days dreaming of Broadway. When she finds her dad’s old blog, Millie goes looking for her estranged mother. But will she get the answers she’s looking for? And, perhaps more importantly, how will what she finds change her plans for the future?

Jan. 4

The seventh installment in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, Where the Drowned Girls Go, follows Cora. She used to be a mermaid; now, knowing she’ll never go back to the Trenches, she’s determined to forget everything that happened to her in her previous life. But forgetting requires Cora to enroll at the Whitehorn Institute — another school for children who survived their magical adventures and returned to the “real world,” one that wants the children to forget instead of cope.

Jan. 11

As Hurricane Maria devastates Puerto Rico, a pair of adult Nuyorican siblings — one a lawmaker, the other a high-profile wedding planner — reunite with their estranged, activist mother and wrestle with her complicated legacy, in this raw debut from Xóchitl González.

Jan. 11

In Nikki May’s debut, a tight-knit trio of Anglo-Nigerian friends find themselves increasingly at odds after a fourth woman infiltrates their friend group.

Jan. 11

When the Celestial Emperor sent Chang’e to live in exile, he forbade her from receiving visitors. Her daughter, Xingyin, is living proof that the Moon Goddess broke this rule, and Chang’e has done her best to hide her. After Xingyin’s magic attracts unwanted attention, however, she must venture into the Celestial Kingdom and hide in plain sight.

Jan. 11

From A Little Life author Hanya Yanagihara comes In Paradise, a novel that gingerly connects the stories of three very different Americans living in an alternate version of the United States. Set in the Gilded Age, the early ’90s, and the dystopic near-future, In Paradise is just as tender and shocking as its predecessor.

Jan. 18

In Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s debut novel, a British Nigerian woman straddles her friends’ and her family’s conflicting cultural expectations. Yinka, an Oxford grad, is focused on things other than love. But when her cousin’s wedding catches her without a prospective date, she finds herself actively looking for a partner for the first time.

Jan. 18

As an admissions officer, Kendra James encouraged students from marginalized backgrounds to apply to the nation’s most elite boarding schools. As The Taft School’s first Black legacy student, she had much insight to offer them. Now, in Admissions, James tells her story in its entirety, for the first time.

Jan. 18

Although she’s best known for novels like Their Eyes Were Watching God and Dust Tracks on a Road, Zora Neale Hurston was also one of her generation’s premier essayists. You Don’t Know Us Negroes, the first comprehensive collection of her nonfiction work, spans 35 years of essays, criticism, articles, and more.

Jan. 18

In this follow-up to Neon Gods, Katee Robert reimagines another Greek myth as a steamy romance. After Eros and Psyche attract paparazzi attention, Aphrodite demands that Eros assassinate the woman he was seen with. Instead, Eros marries her. It’s the first time he’s ever defied one of Aphrodite’s orders, and things don’t go as smoothly as he expects.

Jan. 18

After an Arctic expedition unleashes a deadly, long-dormant virus on the world in 2030, generations of humans find their lives irrevocably altered. Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark follows humanity as it crashes, adapts, survives, and rebuilds over the course of centuries.

Jan. 25

Isabel Allende’s newest novel centers on the eponymous Violeta, a 100-year-old woman who writes her life story in a series of four letters. She begins on the night she was born 1920s-era Chile, and moves forward, capturing the 20th century just as it was in her brilliant little corner of the world — even as war, death, and devastation crept closer and closer to home.

Jan. 25

From author and The Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle comes this Satanic Panic-infused novel. Here, a true-crime writer is presented with a lucrative proposition: move into an infamous murder house where two grisly killings took place in the ‘80s, and write the story of what really happened within its walls. As he digs further into the mystery of the titular Devil House, though, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary case.

Jan. 25

Set in 18th-century Seoul, June Hur’s The Red Palace centers on Hyeon, a lord’s daughter born out of wedlock. She takes a prestigious job working in the palace as a nurse, which she hopes will make her father proud. But when four women are found dead, the suspected killer — Hyeon’s mentor, Jeongsu — is thrust into the ignoble spotlight. It’s up to Hyeon and Eojin, a young policeman, to prove that Jeongsu is innocent, but as they close in on finding the real killer, the magnitude of their situation is made all too clear. After all, how can two commoners accuse the Crown Price of murder?

Jan. 25

The Resisters author Gish Jen returns this year with Thank You, Mr. Nixon — a short story collection that explores China, the United States, and how they’ve evolved over the past 50 years. From one girl’s letter to the late Richard Nixon, to a story about a pair of Hong Kong parents desperate to reconnect with their estranged, American daughter, Thank You, Mr. Nixon is as wry and sharply observed as Jen’s 2020 novel.

Jan. 25

Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka — a married writing duo known for their YA rom-coms — make their adult romance debut this year with The Roughest Draft. The novel centers on Katrina and Nathan, co-authors who haven’t written a book together since their falling out three years ago. When they fall on hard times, however, Katrina and Nathan are forced to join forces once again for an all-new book. But will they be able to put the past aside?

Feb. 1

In her first novel since 2010’s All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost, Iowa Writers’ Workshop Director Lan Samantha Chang introduces readers to Big Leo Chao — the proprietor of Haven, Wisconsin’s beloved Chinese restaurant, Fine Chao — his wife, Winnie, and their three sons: Dagou, Ming, and James. Haven’s residents have always looked favorably upon Fine Chao and the family that runs it — but when Leo is murdered, and it becomes clear that all three of his sons had a motive, the community quickly turns on the boys.

Feb. 1

Elle Cosimano returns to bookstores with the sequel to Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. In Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead, forever-struggling writer Finlay faces another assassination plot. This time, it’s her ex-husband’s life that’s on the line, and only she can save him.

Feb. 1

As she weathers a slew of accusations against her husband, an English professor finds herself falling for a young visiting professor in Julia May Jonas’ debut. As slim as it is taut, Vladimir is perfect for fans of My Dark Vanessa and Adèle.

Feb. 1

Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake tells the story of two grieving, estranged siblings who must join forces to solve a mystery: Their recently deceased mother left them a black cake, the recipe, and a recording of her most tender secrets — revelations that might seal the siblings’ rift. Before publication, the novel was optioned by Hulu under Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films production company — as strong an endorsement as any.

Feb. 8

Nina LaCour’s enthralling Yerba Buena centers on Sara and Emilie, a bartender and a florist who find themselves drawn to one other. But both young women have unprocessed trauma to reckon with, and that may be enough to sink their burgeoning relationship.

Feb. 8

In her follow-up to Arsenic and Adobo, Mia P. Manansala picks up with Lila right where she left off: at Tita Rosie’s Kitchen in Shady Palms. A teen beauty pageant has just come back to town, and Lila, a former pageant queen, isn’t feeling great about it. But when the event is rocked by a murder — a crime that’s pinned on Lila’s cousin and pageantry rival, Bernadette — Lila has no choice but to roll up her sleeves and solve another mystery.

Feb. 8

Bethany C. Morrow’s new thriller centers on Farrah and Cherish, teen best friends whose parents both belong to the same country club. Being the only two Black girls in the neighborhood is tough, but Farrah knows Cherish has it easy — her parents are white, after all. The two girls are pushed even closer together when financial hardship forces Farrah’s family to move, and she decides to live with Cherish. As Farrah becomes closer with Cherish’s parents, though, she begins to notice strange things happening around their home.

Feb. 8

Teenage BFFs Annelise and Fernanda are inseparable — so what has Fernanda done to fall so far from Annelise’s good graces that, when she’s kidnapped and held hostage by their teacher, Annelise doesn’t come rushing to her side? Their conflict stems from the cult Annelise leads, which has Fernanda and their Catholic school classmates engaging in ever more dangerous rituals, all in the name of Annelise’s invented drag-queen god. Grim and twisted, Jawbone is one of the year’s most gripping must-reads.

Feb. 15

Edited by The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina author Zoraida Córdova, Reclaim the Stars is a must-read new collection of speculative fiction, comprised of 17 sci-fi and fantasy stories from Latin American diaspora writers.

Feb. 15

From the author of Motherhood and How Should a Person Be? comes this highly anticipated new novel about a “first draft of the world” — a mysterious, magical place where people can become leaves, and spirits can travel through portals.

Feb. 15

The second installment in Marlon James’ Dark Star trilogy centers on Sogolon the Moon Witch, a 177-year-old sorceress locked in a long-running battle with Aesi, the chancellor to the king. She was a villain in Black Leopard, Red Wolf, but in Moon Witch, Spider King, Sogolon gets the chance to share her side of the story.

Feb. 22

Quan Barry’s new novel, When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East, takes readers on a journey across Vietnam and Mongolia. There, a pair of identical twin brothers who know each other’s thoughts — one a monk, the other a reincarnated soul — search for the reincarnation of a great Tibetan Buddhist leader.

Feb. 22

Delilah has never gotten along with her stepsister, Astrid, nor has she ever felt any fondness toward Astrid’s friends. When Astrid lays the guilt on thick, however, Delilah reluctantly agrees to photograph Astrid’s wedding, which will be held in their hometown. There, Delilah reunites with Claire — a member of Astrid’s old clique, who’s now a bookstore owner and single mom to an 11-year-old daughter. When sparks fly between the two of them, Delilah begins to wonder if her hometown isn’t so bad after all.

Feb. 22

If you have too much testosterone, you might as well be an animal. That’s a fact of life in Gretchen Felker-Martin’s social-horror novel, Manhunt, which takes place in a world where a disease is turning cis men feral. The story follows two trans women forced to hunt down infected people in the hopes that they’ll learn something that’ll save them from the same fate — a fate faced not just by their cis male targets, but by unlucky trans women, some trans men, and some people with PCOS. Together with a fertility doctor and a young trans man, these intrepid heroines face down a brutal landscape where far too many people — feral and not — would be happy to see them dead.

Feb. 22

From the author of The Guest List and The Hunting Party comes The Paris Apartment. The story here centers on Jess, a down-on-her-luck woman who calls in a favor with her half-brother to get a fresh start. Ben didn’t seem too enthused about sharing his swanky Parisian digs with his half-sister, and he isn’t at home when Jess arrives. As Jess is about to realize, Ben may not be coming home at all.

Feb. 22

When the Queen of Scorpica — an all-female society of Amazon-esque fighters — gives birth to a daughter, the line of succession is thrown into chaos. One of her best fighters, the previous heir presumptive, challenges her and dies in the process, leaving behind a daughter of her own to one day challenge the queen. But Scorpica may have far bigger problems, as the young princess turns out to be one of the last girls born — not just in Scorpica, but in the world.

Feb. 22

Julie Otsuka’s latest novel is The Swimmers. Here, Otsuka introduces readers to an eclectic cast of characters, all connected by their penchant for swimming at the local recreational facility. Thanks to her dementia, one of these swimmers frequently finds herself flung backward into her past, reliving her wartime childhood spent in an internment camp — leaving her daughter to witness her steady decline.

March 1

Pond author Claire-Louise Bennett returns to store shelves in 2022 with Checkout 19, a coming-of-age story about a young, hyper-observant British writer.

March 1

From the authors of Tiny Pretty Things comes The Rumor Game, a YA thriller about three teen girls who must solve a mystery in order to protect their reputations. At their tony prep school, image is everything. But ex-It Girl Bryn, cheer captain Cora, and newly popular Georgie are beginning to realize that their social lives are mere houses of cards. Someone’s spreading rumors through the school’s social networks, but who? And, perhaps more importantly, why?

March 1

Fans of This Is How We Fly and Spoiler Alert would do well to check out Remi K. England’s The One True Me and You, a delicious queer rom-com. Kay, a burgeoning fanfic writer figuring out their gender identity, crosses paths with Teagan, a secretly nerdy — and secretly gay — pageant queen, when a hotel hosts a fandom convention and beauty pageant on the same weekend. There’s an instant connection between them, but will what happens at GreatCon stay at GreatCon?

March 1

A new standalone from V.E. Schwab? Yes, please! In this dark and magical YA novel, an orphaned teen receives a summons to her family’s ancestral home: the titular Gallant, haunted by ghouls. As Olivia works to unravel Gallant’s mysteries, she accidentally crosses a threshold into a dark-side-of-the-moon version of the stately manor, one in which the ghouls are real and Gallant is on its last legs.

March 1

Warsan Shire’s first new book since 2015’s Her Blue Body is also her first full-length collection. Drawing on Shire’s experience as the Kenyan-born British daughter of Somali British parents, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head tackles many of the same themes as her previous work, with the same striking verse we’ve come to expect from her.

March 1

When the foundation of their friendship is shaken by a dramatic fight, two teens living in a small California town are forced to pick up the pieces of their lives — pieces their families cannot or will not reclaim. As Sal takes control of his family’s motel, Noor struggles to keep her college plans a secret from her abusive uncle, who expects her to spend the rest of her life working for him. They think their friendship is over, but when tragedy strikes, each will only have the other’s shoulder to cry on.

March 1

Missouri Williams’ postapocalyptic novel centers on one incestuous family cult, led by an enigmatic Matriarch. After a vision indicates there are other human survivors of the eco-catastrophe that led to society’s downfall, the Matriarch sends her daughter, Dolores, into the woods. Dolores is supposed to be an offering — a wife to another survivor, a bridge between the two groups — but she crawls back home, unmarried. Soon, the Matriarch’s grip on her children begins to weaken, and her carefully laid plans begin to crumble.

March 8

An allegory in the vein of Animal Farm, NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory tells the story of a nation populated by animals whose world is rocked by the loss of their longtime leader, Old Horse. Taking inspiration from the coup that ended Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s 30-year-long reign, Glory is a timely examination of what happens when generations of people must navigate a world in which major cultural touchstones have been lost.

March 8

Laura, the new girl at St. Dunstan’s Academy, thinks she knows just what to expect. St. Dunstan’s is the school her favorite novelist, Sebastian Webster, attended, and Laura expects it to mirror his writing perfectly. She quickly falls in with a clique of Webster fans, led by fellow student Virginia Strauss — a girl who’s every bit as devoted to her schoolwork and physical fitness as she is to Christ. But when Virginia’s clique begins to look suspiciously cult-like, the school’s chaplain steps in, and Laura is forced to make a series of difficult, if not impossible, choices.

March 8

The ever-hilarious and insightful Jill Gutowitz hits bookshelves this Spring with Girls Can Kiss Now, her debut essay collection. Using anecdotes from her own personal history and pop culture relics, Gutowitz explores how lesbianism went mainstream.

March 8

In this sequel to The Library of the Dead, Ropa, a Scottish ghostalker of Zimbabwean heritage, attempts to crack the case of Max Wu — a student attending a magical school for boys. Max is currently in a coma, and neither magic nor modern medicine has a cure for what ails him. As she investigates Max’s school, Ropa soon stumbles on a ghostly entity that may be the cause of the boy’s illness.

March 15

Substance use disorder, sex work, violence, and recovery each play a large role in this new memoir from the author of Whip Smart and Girlhood. Dubbed a “must read” by no less than Mary Karr, Body Work examines the ways in which our bodies are linked to our labor and production — philosophically, physically, and psychically.

March 15

From the beloved, pseudonymous author of My Brilliant Friend comes In the Margins, a new collection containing Ferrante’s own reflections on her literary life.

March 15

For Nell Young, there’s no one who can outshine dear old dad, Daniel Young. Sure, Daniel fired Nell, scuttled her burgeoning cartography career, and stopped speaking to her, but that doesn’t mean she can’t still love him. When Daniel dies in his office, however, Nell finds herself in possession of a rare map — the one that led to their cataclysmic falling out. Not only is it rare, but it’s also highly sought after… by someone who wants to destroy both the map and its owners.

March 15

Forty years after she was acquitted of two murder charges, Beth sits down with Shea — a former abductee-turned-crime blogger — to tell her side of the story. As Shea conducts interview after interview with Beth, she becomes increasingly unsettled. Something in Beth’s palatial house is even more fearsome than her reputation.

March 22

Ingrid Yang has a problem. The 29-year-old, Taiwanese American PhD candidate has spent the last four years working on her dissertation about one Chinese poet’s body of work — but she’s still not sure what part of it, exactly, to write about. When she makes a chance discovery in the poet’s archive, Ingrid thinks she’s found the answer to her problems. But finishing this PhD will take more than mere chance, and it might just change Ingrid’s perspective forever.

March 22

Sara A. Mueller’s The Bone Orchard centers on Charm: a witch, a war bride, and the last of her people. Held in sexual bondage by the Emperor, Charm has made the best of a bad situation — but freedom may be just around the corner. When her captor dies, he leaves Charm with one final task, after which her servitude will be ended: identifying which one of the Emperor’s own sons murdered him, and declaring the other heir to his throne.

March 29

Jesse Q. Sutanto’s follow-up to Dial A for Aunties is Four Aunties and a Wedding. Meddy’s getting married, and she’s hired another Chinese-Indonesian family’s business to take care of the catering and photography, all so her own aunties can enjoy the big day without having to work. Everything seems great... until Meddy finds out what the contractors’ real family business is. Looks like the aunties will have to work on this wedding, one way or another.

March 29

Eleanor once looked into the eyes of her grandmother’s killer and lived, but her prosopagnosia guarantees that she’ll never be able to identify the perpetrator — not if they’re caught, and not if they come back looking for her. Now, Eleanor has inherited her grandmother’s home: a place full of family secrets, some of them deadly. After moving in, Eleanor quickly becomes convinced that the killer has come to finish the job. But which one of her new neighbors could it be?

March 29

Jessica just wanted to know where her mysterious bruises were coming from. Now, she’s uncovered a deeply rooted government conspiracy: a Project MKUltra-adjacent endeavor, called MONARCH, which turned child beauty queens into sleeper agents. As one of MONARCH’s own agents, Jessica realizes her whole life has been a lie. Now, she has a new mission in life: figuring out if her childhood love, Veronica, was part of MONARCH.

April 5

Faraz Ali has lived his life according to his father’s whims. His father is the reason why Faraz was removed from his mother’s home in Lahore’s red-light district, and he’s the reason why Faraz is going back to the Mohalla now. Acting as the new police chief, Faraz is living a new, very different life in the Mohalla. But when he’s instructed to cover up the murder of a young sex worker, something about the case is rubs him the wrong way. He’s going to defy his father’s wishes for the first time... even if he’s worried about the consequences.

April 5

Viola Davis, the Academy Award-winning star of Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, tells her life story for the first time in her new memoir.

April 5

The companion to A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Candy House centers on Bix — the 40-year-old CEO of a company that lets people own, control, and share their memories.

April 5

Girl at War author Sara Nović returns to store shelves this year with True Biz. Set in the halls of the River Valley School for the Deaf, this insightful novel follows two students, Charlie and Austin, who, along with their headmistress, February, find themselves embroiled in a desperate bid to protect River Valley and its way of life. This is an immersive look at the too-rarely explored world of Deaf culture.

April 5

Six years after he published his T.S. Eliot Prize-winning collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Ocean Vuong is back on the scene with an all new set of short stories. Time Is a Mother explores many of the same themes as On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong’s recent, acclaimed novel, including the poet’s identity as a Vietnamese American.

April 12

Following the loss of her sister and husband to cancer, You’ve Got Mail screenwriter Delia Ephron wrote an op-ed that caught the attention of an old beau — a man she couldn’t remember dating, but fell in love with, nonetheless. Four months into their relationship, Ephron discovered that she, herself, had cancer. In Left on Tenth, the Siracusa author ruminates on this new phase of her life.

April 12

From the author of Let’s Talk About Love comes this adult rom-com about two people — an asexual woman harboring a secret crush and a jilted ex-boyfriend with a chip on his shoulder — who team up to sink another couple’s ship. Naturally, they choose to do so by pretending to fall for one another, thinking it’ll make the couple jealous… and, as all romance readers well know, fake-dating hijinks will soon ensue.

April 19

One woman’s attempts to keep her best friend from moving hours away leave them both trapped in the Louvre, forced to live the same day over and over again, in this novel from The Daughters author Adrienne Celt.

April 19

Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel author Emily St. John Mandel is back next year with Sea of Tranquility, a novel that traces three very different lives — those of an early-20th century aristocrat shunned by his peers, a lunar colonist conducting a book tour on Earth, and a detective who tracks his childhood friend to the least likely place imaginable — over the course of three eventful centuries.

April 19

Set in the world of superstar Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer, The Memory Librarian collects Afrofuturist short stories written by Monáe and others, including acclaimed writers like Eve L. Ewing and Sheree Renée Thomas.

April 19

Rebecca Roanhorse returns in 2022 with Fevered Star, the highly anticipated follow-up to Black Sun. As a sea change brings a new force in to rule over Tova, new alliances will be forged, tested, and broken.

April 26

Historical horror master Alma Katsu’s next book looks deep into the dark heart of World War II-era America. Set in 1944, The Fervor follows Meiko and Aiko from their home in Seattle to an isolated Japanese internment camp in Idaho. There, the mother and daughter find themselves threatened, not only by racism and war, but also by a seemingly innocuous virus that swiftly turns deadly. With a potentially supernatural disease ravaging the camp, Meiko and Aiko team up with two allies to fight back. But can they put a stop to the epidemic before it’s too late?

April 26

In this slim volume, Teen Vogue journalist Kim Kelly recounts the history of Americans’ ongoing fight for unionization. Spanning more than 150 years of American history, Fight Like Hell is a must-read for any U.S. worker.

May 3

Holly Black’s adult debut is Book of Night, an urban fantasy set in an alternate reality where shadows can be magically manipulated to affect others’ memories and emotions. For con artist Charlie, shadow trading is a part of her past she’d just as soon forget. Fortunately, she’s beginning to make a life for herself outside of it — until a figure from her past comes back to haunt her, and her whole life is thrown into chaos.

May 3

Emily Henry’s new romance novel is an enemies-to-lovers story you won’t want to miss. Libby knows what her older sister, Nora, needs to get her groove back: a girls’ trip to a sleepy North Carolina town. Away from the big city, the last person literary agent Nora expects to run into is Charlie, an editor she’s never gotten along with. Yet here Charlie is. And there. And there. And there. As the two keep running into each other over the course of their vacations, they begin to realize kismet may want a word with them.

May 3

Chloe didn’t want to uproot her Southern California life to spend her high school years among the holier-than-thou students at Willowgrove Christian Academy in Alabama — that was her moms’ decision. Still, she’s determined to win valedictorian, and there’s just one person standing in her way: the principal’s very popular daughter, Shara. But when Shara disappears after kissing Chloe and two of the boys in their class, Chloe finds herself racing against the clock to solve a mystery before graduation.

May 3

Ariadne author Jennifer Saint returns to store shelves in 2022 with Elektra. Set in the midst of the Trojan War, this Greek myth re-telling centers on three women. First, there’s Clytemnestra, whose husband, King Agamemnon, goes to war with Troy when Helen — Clytemnestra’s sister and the wife of Agamemnon’s brother, Menelaus — is kidnapped by Paris. Then, there’s Paris’ sister, Cassandra, whose visions of Troy’s coming reckoning are ignored by all, thanks to Apollo’s curse. Finally, there’s Elektra herself: Clytemnestra’s youngest daughter, who is fated to witness her people’s undoing in the aftermath of the war.

May 10

Selma Blair has written a haunting memoir about alcohol use disorder, attention-seeking behaviors, and life in Hollywood.

May 10

Set in an alternate version of Old Hollywood, in which studio executives and aspiring stars make magical pacts and sign them in blood, Nghi Vo’s Siren Queen centers on Luli Wei — a Chinese American actress whose refuses to portray stereotypical characters on-screen, and winds up exclusively playing monstrous villains.

May 17

When Alice goes to bed on the night before she turns 40, she’s struck by the absence of her father: the man who raised her himself, who’s now living alone in poor health. When she wakes up, she’s 16 again. Her 49-year-old father is full of vim and vigor. But given a second chance, can Alice save their relationship?

May 24

Taking its name from a Kierkegaard work, Either/Or picks up with Selin — the protagonist of Elif Batuman’s celebrated 2017 novel, The Idiot — during her sophomore year at Harvard. She’s just returned from her trip to the Hungarian countryside, which was arranged by her crush, Ivan. Now, she’s looking for answers to the big questions, like what to do when your crush’s ex keeps trying to contact you.

May 24

From the author of Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji comes You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. In their stunning romance debut, Akwaeke Emezi introduces readers to Feyi Adekola, a young woman who lost her partner five years ago. Now, with her career about to take off, Feyi’s finally ready to give in to her friend’s demands that she re-enter the dating pool. But something’s about to change in Feyi’s life, something that may make her pump the brakes on her new relationship... or give up love for good.

May 31

A bookish maid who dreams of becoming an author scores her dream job when she’s hired to clean the home of her favorite writer, Essie Starling. Everyone knows Essie is antisocial, so color Liv surprised when the two begin to build a friendship. Color Liv even more surprised when Essie dies… and tasks her with finishing her novel-in-progress. Now working in Essie’s stead, Liv begins to uncover secrets about the late author’s life, including a connection she didn’t know they shared.

June 7

One of 2022’s most anticipated sequels is Tracy Flick Can’t Win, the long-awaited follow-up to 1998’s Election — the source material for Reese Witherspoon’s classic film. Plucky go-getter Tracy may not be a student anymore, but that doesn’t mean she’s left high school behind. Now working as an assistant principal, Tracy gets sees an opportunity to get the promotion she deserves when the school’s principal retires. But will anyone see how perfect Tracy is for the job?

June 7

As the Second Daughter of the queen, Red was born to be sacrificed to the Wolf who controls the Wilderwood. In For the Wolf, Red was shocked to learn the Wolf was a man, not an animal, and was even more surprised when she found herself falling for and marrying him. Now, Red’s story continues in For the Throne, which finds her older sister, the First Daughter, lost in the magical territory belonging to their greatest enemies. She’ll have to play nicely with an unlikely ally — and face a new destiny — if she wants to save her world.

June 21

Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest follows Marek, a shepherd’s son who’s been born into an uncaring, unjust world. He lives in Lapvona: a small village lorded over by the cruel and excessive Villiam, whose wickedness is only magnified when famine spreads across his fiefdom. Villiam’s preparing to attack his own people, and Marek, his pagan wet nurse, and the village priest are about to find themselves inextricably linked to one another.

June 21

A fantasy romance set in an Ottoman Empire-inspired world where myths come to life, A Taste of Gold and Iron is one of the year’s most exciting new books. The novel follows the shy, anxious Prince Kadou, who agrees to investigate crimes against a local guild after he publicly embarrasses his sister, the queen, by fighting with her child’s father. Accompanied by his handsome new bodyguard, the stoic Evemer, Kadou stumbles upon a counterfeiting scandal that will rock all of Arasht, where such a crime is both felony and heresy.

June 28

Dana and Ivy have a lot in common, and not just because Dana is Ivy’s mom. Years ago, over the course of one unspeakable summer in the city, a teenaged Dana was forced to reckon with powers she didn’t not truly understand. Now, a series of strange events is about to bring 17-year-old Ivy’s suburban adolescence to a shocking end, and her mom may be the only one who truly understands what she’s up against.

June 28

In this sequel to Gearbreakers, Eris and Sona find themselves on opposing sides of the war between Godolia and the occupied territory known as the Badlands. Now, Sona is convinced she’s always been loyal to Godolia — thanks to some brainwashing from the colonizers’ leadership — and Eris must decide how far she’ll go to save the girl she loves.

July 5

If there’s one thing Kiki knows, it’s how to avoid being tied down. There are too few men out there worthy of wasting time on, at least in her opinion — which she shares with anyone who’ll listen on the Whitewell University campus. Soon, though, circumstances forced Kiki to fake-date Malakai, a guy who embodies everything wrong with the men she’s told young women to stay away from. Her reputation is at stake, but Kiki’s got another, bigger problem — she’s falling for Malakai, and hard.

July 5

Back in high school, Art was the very antithesis of cool. I mean, a metalhead who volunteered as a pallbearer and wore a brace to correct his scoliosis is... not exactly someone others aspire to be. Art’s only friend, Mercy, was just as much of an outcast as Art, but she was cool. Sure, she took pictures of corpses and talked a lot about digging up graves, but who really cared at the end of the day? She was his friend, and Art could use as many of those as he could get. Except now that he’s writing his memoir, Mercy’s blown back into his life, and she doesn’t remember things the way he’s written them.

July 12

Becky Chambers’ sequel to A Psalm for the Wild-Built follows Sibling Dex and Mosscap — a Tea Monk and a robot sent to commune with human society — as they visit the more urban areas of their home moon, searching for answers to the robots’ questions about humanity’s intrinsic needs.

July 12

Fruit of the Drunken Tree author Ingrid Rojas Contreras returns to stores this summer with a memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds. When she was 8 years old, Rojas Contreras’ mother awoke from a coma with the ability to commune with spirits. Decades later, Rojas Contreras herself sustained a head injury that led to amnesia, which blurred parts of her Colombian childhood with her fortune-telling mother and curandero grandfather. As her memories returned, Rojas Contreras was left not with supernatural talents, but with the desire to know more about her family’s legacy.

July 12

T. Kingfisher’s new novel is an Edgar Allan Poe retelling that shouldn’t be missed. What Moves the Dead follows Alex as they rush to be by the side of their childhood friend, Madeline, who lies on her deathbed at her family’s estate. But the Usher estate is strange, and its inhabitants — which include Madeline’s brother, Roderick — are even stranger. With few allies to aid them, Alex plunges into the mystery of the House of Usher.

Aug. 2

Anna Meriano’s It Sounds Like This centers on Yasmín, a high-school flutist whose dream of making first chair is dashed when she accidentally gets the entire low brass section in trouble. A band without a low brass section isn’t a band at all, but Yasmín has a plan to achieve her dreams. All she has to do is learn to play the tuba and whip some freshmen brass players into shape. Easy peasy, right?

Aug. 9

Fans of Liselle Sambury’s Blood Like Magic pick up with Voya at her lowest point yet. She’s lost everything, including the boy she refused to kill. To make matters worse, she may have to end his life anyway. With the fate of the world at stake, Voya faces even bigger challenges in this highly anticipated sequel.

Aug. 23

This debut novel from The Chi producer Rasheed Newson follows one young, gay Black man as he forsakes the Midwest to join ACT UP in 1980s New York City.

Aug. 30

The sequel to Elizabeth Lim’s Six Crimson Cranes is out in Fall 2022. Although not much is known yet about this sure-to-be-a-bestseller, Lim’s 2020 novel — a retelling of “The Six Swans” fairytale — has readers excited for what’s to come.

Sept. 6

Anna-Marie McLemore’s Great Gatsby retelling casts Nick as a young, Latino trans man who discovers that his cousin, Daisy, is now passing for white in the big city. As he’s swept up into the glitz and glamor of Daisy’s new life, Nick discovers that his mysterious and fabulously wealthy new neighbor, Jay, is also trans — and he’s carrying a torch for Daisy.

Sept. 6

The Sunbearer Trials is the first book in a planned duology from Cemetery Boys author Aiden Thomas. The novel follows Teo — the 17-year-old trans son of the bird goddess, Quetzal — as he unexpectedly finds himself forced to compete in a deadly challenge with nine other teenage semidioses. It’s a game where the loser is sacrificed to fuel the sun, and Teo’s up against stiff competition.

Sept. 13

The third novel in Tamsyn Muir Locked Tomb quartet — formerly a trilogy — Nona the Ninth is currently slated for release next fall. Not much is known about the third Locked Tomb book at the time of this writing, and after the murder mystery of Gideon and the court intrigue of Harrow, what comes next is anyone’s guess.

Sept. 27

Kacen Callender’s new YA novel centers on Lark, a 17-year-old writer who decides that they need to amass 50,000 Twitter followers in order to land a book deal. When their ex-best friend, Kasim, tweets out a missive on unrequited love from Lark’s account, Lark covers for him and takes responsibility for writing the post. Now, everyone thinks Lark was tweeting about their own crush, Eli. Everyone, that is, except those who know the truth: Kasim wrote the tweets… and he was writing about Lark.

Oct. 4

Mallory has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You see, people die around her constantly. And the minute someone finds out this isn’t your first time being at a murder scene? Well, you become Suspect No. 1. To get away from the carnage that inexplicably follows her, Mallory moves as far away from human society as she can get: outer space. Living on a sentient space station turns out to be just what she needed… until the other humans begin to arrive.

Nov. 8

Another retelling, Joan He’s 2022 novel Strike the Zither takes on the legendary Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Here, two women — a warlordess and her chief strategist — face insurmountable odds to win a war on two fronts and do battle against the powers of Fate itself.

Nov. 15

The Fallen — descendants of the angels who fought God and paid the price — would have been wiped out long ago, were it not for their unique ability to find a resource necessary to live life as they know it. Even still, the Fallen remain at the tail end of the pecking order — though some, like Celeste, manage to live a comfortable life. When her estranged sister Mariel is accused of murdering an Archangel, however, Celeste will risk everything to save her, even if it means becoming embroiled in the trial of the century.