Looking for the best new books? Fill up your reading list with the best books of spring 2022 so you have plenty of great books to read this spring.
Although we are finally getting our first bit of snow in over a month, it still feels like spring is in the air. Or at least just around the corner.
I’ll miss the skiing, but the warmer weather will bring bike rides, trips to the park, and gorgeous spring blooms. It also means plenty of rainy days for me to cuddle up with some amazing new spring reads.
I’ve got all the best books of Spring 2022 to keep your TBR overflowing this season. No matter your mood, I’ve gotten you covered with family dramas, thrillers, historical fiction, and more.
The Best New Thrillers Of Spring
The Younger Wife
Sally Hepworth
Tully and Rachel find themselves thrown for a loop when their father announces he is divorcing their mother with dementia and marrying a woman younger than both of them. As they dig deeper into Heather’s secrets and confront their own issues, comments from their mother make them suspect that their parents’ marriage may not have been as idyllic as they thought. Knowing the wedding will end in blood, The Younger Wife is an addictive domestic thriller that keeps you engaged as you play amateur detective, judging the reliability of the narrators and deciding who you think is guilty.
The Maid
Nita Prose
Although she struggles to interact with people, her love of order and cleanliness makes Molly Gray an excellent maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. When Molly discovers a wealthy guest dead in his hotel bed, the police peg her as the prime suspect due to her unusual behaviors. With the help of her friends, Molly must investigate the murder to prove her innocence in this locked-room mystery. If you are in the mood for a cozy mystery, The Maid delivers: the twists and turns are intriguing but not shocking and everyone gets their happily ever after.
The Book of Cold Cases
Simone St. James
In 1977, two men were murdered with the same gun but the prime suspect, the eccentric Beth Greer, was acquitted at trial. Searching for a story for her true-crime blog, Shea Collins decides to interview Beth, in a mansion that feels haunted. The deeper Shea dives into the truth, the more she worries she is being manipulated by a cold-blooded murderer.
The Golden Couple
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Rogue therapist Avery Chambers promises that she can fix any problem in 10 sessions with her unconventional methods that have stripped her of her license. After cheating on her husband, Marissa Bishop is willing to do anything to save her marriage to Matthew. As Avery looks deeper into the seemingly perfect couple, she finds that there is much more going on than any of them suspect. With a compelling story and plenty of twists to keep you guessing, fans of the thriller duo will love their new psychological thriller.
The Night Shift
Alex Finlay
On New Year’s Eve 1999, five teenagers working the night shift at a Blockbuster in New Jersey are attacked, with only one survivor. Police quickly identify a local teenage boy as a suspect, but he disappears before they can arrest him. Fifteen years later, it happens again at an ice cream store. Now FBI Agent Sarah Keller must investigate both incidents, looking for a connection, while stirring up memories for the first survivor and the brother of the accused, who has always proclaimed his brother’s innocence.
Best Books Spring 2022: Historical Fiction
I Must Betray You
Ruta Sepetys
Although communist countries are falling all over Europe, in 1989, Romania is still ruled by the cruel dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Blackmailed by the secret police, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is forced to become an informer, walking the edge between deceiving the Securitate while still protecting his family. I Must Betray You is exactly what you want from young adult historical fiction. Sepetys showcases the everyday teenage life in a unique setting with a narrative that is as compelling as it is informative.
The Christie Affair
Nina de Gramont
Nina de Gramont boldly reimagines the unsolved eleven-day disappearance of famous mystery writer Agatha Christie. In a glittery world of privilege in 1925, Nan O’Dea begins an affair with Archie Christie. Told from Nan’s perspective, The Christie Affair is a tale of a calculated plot to steal another woman’s husband, ending in betrayal and possibly murder.
Take My Hand
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Take My Hand is inspired by the true story of government overreach in the forced sterilization of poor Black girls in Alabama. In 1973, Civil Townsend is excited to use her new nursing degree to make a difference in the lives of the African-American community in Montgomery, Alabama. However, Civil is shocked to find her first patients are two young Black girls on birth control simply because they are poor and welfare is demanding it.
The Diamond Eye
Kate Quinn
Based on the true story of Mila Pavlichenko, a librarian turned sniper known as Lady Death, who became a national hero during World War II. When Hitler invades Russia, Mila must abandon her books to fight in the war, becoming an expert sniper. After her 300th kill, Mila is sent on a diplomatic mission to Washington, DC, where the shadow of an old enemy looms.
The Magnolia Palace
Fiona Davis
After her mother’s death, Lillian Carter finds herself without a purpose. Previously one of New York City’s most requested artist models, Lillian decides to take a job as a private secretary to the socialite Helen Frick. As Lillian gets caught up in the family’s drama in the 1920s, a present-day English model finds clues to the notorious murder in the former Frick mansion.
Best Books of Spring 2022 for Book Club
Black Cake
Charmaine Wilkerson
In one of the best books of spring 2022 for book clubs, estranged siblings Byron and Benny are brought back together by their mother’s death. For their inheritance, they find a traditional Caribbean black cake and a voice recording from their mother. Eleanor’s message tells the turbulent story of her life, one full of secrets and a long-lost child that will leave the siblings questioning everything they thought they knew.
The Next Thing You Know
Jessica Strawser
As an end-of-life doula, Nova’s job is to help the terminally ill cope with their impending death. Her most challenging client: Mason Shaylor, an up-and-coming indie singer-songwriter, who comes in asking for help to say goodbye after a deteriorating condition that has already caused him to lose his ability to play the guitar. Months later after Mason dies in a car crash, Mason’s mom comes in accusing Nova of assisting Mason’s suicide. Now Nova questions everything she thought she knew about a patient she had become extremely close to in this top-level tearjerker that will emotionally wrench you.
Book of Night
Holly Black
Holly Black debuts her first adult fantasy book about a world of shadow magic. For a cost, shadows can be altered for beauty or power, but the alterations take hours or days off your life. In this magical world, Charlie Hall is a bartender with a side hustle as a low-level con artist. When a figure from her past returns, Charlie is dragged into the magical underground market for shadow trading in this new modern dark fantasy series.
Sea of Tranquility
Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel (author of Station Eleven) returns with her third novel, a story about parallel worlds and alternate possibilities. In 1912, a young man hears a violin playing in the Canadian woods. Two hundred years later, a famous writer includes a similar haunting scene in one of her books. In the Night City, Detective Gaspery-Jacques Roberts is hired to investigate an anomaly in time, one that has the potential to disrupt the universe’s timeline.
The Family Chao
Lan Samantha Chang
The Chao family has been running a delicious Chinese restaurant in Haven, Wisconsin, for decades, so the townspeople have mostly ignored the whispers about their unhappy marriage. When the three grown sons reunite in Haven and their father is found dead, the ensuing trial shows that each son has his own motives for murder.
The Best Nonfiction Books of Spring 2022
White Lies
A. J. Baime
Born with mixed-race heritage to parents who were born as slaves, Walter F. White’s skin was light enough that he could easily “pass” as white. A leader of the Harlem Renaissance and an important member of the NAACP, White used his ability to lead a dual life, going undercover to investigate some of the worst racist murders in America, White used his access to shape public opinion, push forward the Civil Rights Movement, and alter the mission of the NAACP toward legal and political activism.
Unthinkable
Jamie Raskin
In a painful memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells of the 45 days at the beginning of 2021 that changed his life forever. On December 31, 2020, his only son committed suicide after a long struggle with depression. Less than a week later, Raskin found himself in the Capitol building stormed by insurrectionists. Although reeling from both events, Raskin was forced to set his feelings aside and use his experience as a constitutional law professor to lead the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
The Nineties
Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman takes you back to the decade between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the terror of 9/11. Klosterman shows the giant shifts in the decade in technology as the internet comes into full force, politics before 9/11, and the power of pop culture to shape opinions.
The Power of Regret
Daniel H. Pink
Instead of living with “no regrets,” Pink teaches that regret is a natural part of our lives. By understanding how regrets work, you can make better decisions in the future and bring greater meaning into your life. Using true stories and showcasing practical takeaways, The Power of Regret builds off of Pink’s research into transforming regret into a positive experience.
What do you think are the best books of Spring 2022?
Ann says
I just finished The Christie Affair and liked it.
I’d heard about Agatha Christie’s 11 days missing and I know it has been debated and written about ad nauseam, but this was the first time I’d read a book based on the event and it was good.
I think the surprising thing about this book is that a “side story” is taking place and is more interesting than the main story.
Well written, with unexpected twists and even a Christie-esque mystery woven in.