Hi Readers!
We are a quarter of the way through 2024 now but oh my goodness are there still a lot of exciting book releases to look forward to this year.
April
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
April 2nd
“16 years ago Bel’s mother disappeared, and Bel has lived in the shadow of the unsolved mystery ever since. Bel’s family agree to film a true crime documentary about it, and then the impossible happens. Rachel returns, with a story that Bel doesn’t believe.“
This is already out and, listen, every part of me wants to just jump straight into this. But I have only just finished As Good As Dead and I need some time to recover from it!
I will be reading this at some point this year though because oh wow, does that premise sound intriguing.
Funny Story by Emily Henry
April 23rd
“Daphne breaks up with her fiance and now she’s stuck in a small town with a dream job as a children’s librarian that, like most dream jobs, doesn’t pay well. So she ends up rooming with her ex fiances new girlfriends ex.”
From the sounds of it, this could potentially be grumpy meets sunshine but she’s grumpy and he’s sunshine. And also possible fake dating as “after a drunken night they start posting photos online that suggest they have moved from their exes with each other. Probably to make them jealous.”
I love Emily Henry and will just read everything she publishes.
Knife by Salmon Rushdie
April 16th
“Two years ago, on a stage talking about his book, Rushdie was attacked. He suffered life threatening injuries. This book is about his physical as well as his emotional recovery.”
I have been meaning to read Rushdie’s “Midnights Children” for a while now, but I honestly might get to his memoir first. I randomly turned on BBC Breakfast one morning and he was on there giving an interview about this book, and the way he talked about it captivated me.
May
The Last Murder At The End of the World by Stuart Turton
May 21st
“Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony.
Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death.”
I read his book The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and loved it. I remember thinking the twist was incredible. I wasn’t as interested in his second book, but this one sounds promising.
June
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
June 18th
“As a child, Ethan’s best friend went missing. They were sleeping in the same tent and then in the morning Ethan woke up to find the tent had been slashed open and Billy was gone. 30 years later he returns to his childhood home and strange things start happening.”
Riley Sager has cemented himself as a go to, auto buy author for both myself and my mum. We have this little book club going and always fight over who gets to read the book first.
Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood
June 11th
“Friends with benefits (or enemies with benefits?) Rue is a biotech engineer for Kline, Eli wants to buy said company. Their relationship is absolutely forbidden, but it’s okay if it’s only no-strings attached, right?”
I’ve enjoyed Hazelwoods books before, really, I have. I have also had some quelms with them though I won’t lie.
This does sound quite good though.
Tangled In You by Christina Lauren
June 25th
“Ren was raised on a homestead, off the grid, and she wants to live in the real world. And she gets her wish when she gets into Corona College.
Fitz goes to this college as well, and his plan is to get his criminal record wiped clean, which Ren somehow puts into jeapardy.”
This is a modern tangled retelling. That’s all I need to know.
A Novel Love by Ashley Poston
June 25th
“Eileen loves to get lost in a love story and one day whilst driving gets lost and stumbles upon a town that shouldn’t be real as it’s a town from one of her favourite romance series. One person in this town, a book store owner with green eyes, catches her eyes.”
I’ve actually just started reading The Dead Romantics.
July
The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey
July 16th
“Tallulah is a broke marine biologist. Hockey veteran and newly single Dad offers her a job as his live in Nanny.”
This sounds fun, which Tessa Bailey does well. It also sounds like it’s not just a romance but also about a family healing from a divorce. He has a teenage daughter who isn’t going to make this romance easy for either of them.
August
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
August 29th
“Grace is living the dream. She is left a run-down house by a friend in Ibiza, so she books a one way ticket and discovers more about her friends life and how she died.”
The premise to this one sounds so vague and generic, but if I know Matt Haig I know this book won’t be. He’s had a run of having sci-fi/fantasy elements in his contemporary books. I don’t know if this one does but, again, he is a go to author and I will be reading it.
There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shafak
August 20th
Sweeping across centuries, and stretching from Mesopotamia to London, this enchanting new novel by a Booker Prize finalist conjures a trio of characters living in the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.“
This. Sounds. Incredible.
September
Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson
September 12th
“Whatever happened to beloved Girls series characters Ellie, Magda and Nadine? They’re all grown up now – but if they think life’s done surprising them, they’d better think again..“
This was probably the best news I will hear all year. I gasped when Jacqueline Wilson announced that she was continuing the Girls series, with a book that follows the three friends in their thirties!
A Witches Guide To Magical Innkeeping
September 12th
“Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she helps her aunt run an inn, until she discovers a spell book that might help restore her powers.“
I am a big fan of these cosy, autumnal fantasy romances.
Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio
September 24th
“Every night five night shift workers cross paths in the college’s ancient cemetery. One night, they come across an empty, freshly dug grave.“
This is the author of If We Were Villains which I have not read, but it is very very high on my tbr. This isn’t a full length novel, it’s only a novella of about 100 pages. But I love the premise.
October
This Motherless Land by Nikki May
October 29th
“Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. And she finds it… lackluster. But she befriends her cousin, and their friendship strengthens as they grow.”
What intrigued me most about this book was that it is apparently a retelling of Mansfield Park. This premise doesn’t sound in any way similar but the friendship element does intrigue me.
Heir by Sabaa Tahir
October 1st
“The lives of three young people are interweaved as they grapple with the burdens of power, the treachery of love and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed. Get ready for a dark and breathless journey that will captivate readers and that may cost these young people their lives―and their hearts. Literally.“
A spin off to the Ember in the Ashes series.
Comfort Reads & Writes 
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