Q3 2023 Most Anticipated Reads
Fifteen books that should be on your radar
Hello,
Trying something new today. This year, I’ve been sharing my most anticipated reads on Instagram every quarter, but I thought it might be nice to share a little more info here, too. Let me know what you think of this format in the comments. Should it be IG only? You like the newsletter, too? I’m trying to figure out how best to use this space. But… forgive the vague teaser, but WATCH THIS SPACE because there is some very exciting The Christmas Orphans Club updates coming next week.
So without further ado, the books:
+ = Debut
** = I’ve read and can recommend
GOODBYE EARL by Leesa Cross-Smith (7/3): The amazing title and cover drew me in! This one is about four friends in a southern town taking revenge for something that happened to one of them in high school. Friendship, strong women, a revenge plot: I’m sold!
BUSINESS OR PLEASURE by Rachel Lynn Solomon (7/4) **: Get some water because this one is STEAMY! An author has the worst sex of her life only to find out that her one night stand is the famous actor who’s book she is supposed to ghostwrite. Sex lessons ensue.
SUNSHINE NAILS by Mai Nguyen (7/4) +**: A multi-POV family dramedy about a Vietnamese family that own a nail salon in Toronto, who are rocked when a chic new startup salon opens across the street. Part revenge story, part family saga about intergenerational relations.
HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center (7/11): I am in my Katherine Center era, so all I need to know to buy this book is that she wrote it. She hasn’t let me down yet. A portrait artist is diagnosed with face-blindness and falls in love with two men. I’m not sold based on description, but the early reviews are phenomenal and in K.Center I trust!
A LIKABLE WOMAN by May Cobb (7/11): A woman returns to her wealthy Texas hometown determined to unravel the secrets her newly-dead mother left behind with the help of her unpublished memoir. This sounds juicy as hell and demands to be read with a margarita (or two!).
LOVE ME DO by Lindsey Kelk (7/20): I fell in love with Kelk’s romcom writing with ONE IN A MILLION, and I’m ready to follow her anywhere. Which this time is to… Hollywood where a greeting card writer plays matchmaker for her handsome neighbor.
THE LEGACIES by Jessica Goodman (7/25): Rich unsupervised teens is my favorite non-genre of book! This sounds like a dash of Gossip Girl with a spoonful of Euphoria as teens at an elite Manhattan prep school vie for entry into a secret society… or die trying.
THE ART OF SCANDAL by Regina Black (8/1) +: No promises here, but I’m getting very strong THE IDEA OF YOU VIBES. The perfect-seeming mayor’s wife catches him cheating an embarks on an affair of her own with a younger artist.
THE BLONDE IDENTITY by Ally Carter (8/8): A woman wakes up in Paris with no memories only to figure out she’s the identical twin sister to a super spy. This adult novel, by a beloved YA author, sounds like an absolute ROMP.
FAMILY LORE by Elizabeth Acevedo (8/29): A woman with a gift for predicting the exact day someone will die calls together her extended Dominican-American family for a living wake, but won’t tell them what she’s foreseen. I am a HUGE fan of Acevedo’s YA and cannot wait to see what she does in the adult space!
WHERE THERE WAS FIRE by John Manuel Arias (8/29) +: Heavily influenced by Xochitl Gonzalez’s rec of this book on BOP. Set in Costa Rica against the backdrop of the fruit wars, this recent historical fiction is described as a sexy corporate intrigue. Sign me up!!
REIGN (American Royals #4) by Katharine McGee (8/29): If you’re not already reading this series about an ALT America where George Washington was our first king and his descendants are kings and queens of America, what are you doing. After the major cliffhanger in the last installment, I cannot wait to see how the final book in the series wraps things up.
AMAZING GRACE ADAMS by Fran Littlewood (9/5) +: This book is comped to WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE, which is one of my all-time faves. So that’s pretty much all I need to know. Told over the course of a single day, a mom brings a birthday cake to her estranged daughter for her sixteenth birthday.
YOU, AGAIN by Kate Goldbeck (9/12) +: A friends WITHOUT benefits, rivals to lovers romcom. I heard a great early review about this book and it’s sharp humor in the BOP Facebook group, and I am ready for it! I love anything that pushes against the conventions of the romcom genre!
THE CHRISTMAS ORPHANS CLUB by Becca Freeman (9/26) +**: If I’m not going to hype my own book who will. I’ve heard this is fantastic, amazing, incredible, a triumph. Four friends, each alone on Christmas for different reasons, have built a tradition of spending the holiday together. When one of them announces a move to LA, this may be their last, and the group needs to reckon with growing up without growing apart. I poured my heart and soul into this and would love for you to give it a shot!
Your turn! Tell me what you think about this format? Want this once a quarter moving forward? Or the graphic on IG is enough? Also what did I miss? What other Q3 releases are you excited about!
Happy reading, and until next week!
Becca
Loved this format as well. Also if you ever think an book is especially great on an audiobook, I'd appreciate your recommendation! I preordered 2 books on audible from your last e-mail blast to get me out of a reading funk.
I immediately placed a hold on some of these books through Libby. Thanks for the recs!