Deciding what books to read in 2024? Explore my most anticipated books of 2024 and start filling your to-read list with exciting upcoming releases.
2024, could you come a little faster?
I know I’m supposed to want time to slow down and not want my children to grow up so fast. Yet, the upcoming releases of 2024 look so promising that I’m willing to rush things a bit.
If you are looking for the best books to read in 2024, I’ve got you covered. If you don’t want to scroll through my full list of upcoming releases, here are my most-anticipated books to read in 2024.
I’m starting with my 11 most anticipated books of 2024 because I couldn’t settle on just 10. I might update my list as more new releases are announced in the upcoming months.
As always, be sure to let me know in the comments what 2024 new releases you are most excited for!
The Most Anticipated Books to Read in 2023
House of Flame and Shadow
Sarah J. Maas
In the third Crescent City book, Bryce Quinlan struggles to find her way back to Midgard. Stranded in a new world, she must decide who she can trust. Meanwhile, Hunt Athalar is in the Asteri’s dungeons, again, with no clue what happened to Bryce. If he wants to find her, he must first escape the Asteri’s leash. Probably the most-anticipated book to read in 2024, House of Flame and Shadow is sure to top the bestseller list when it comes out.
The Women
Kristin Hannah
When her brother ships off to Vietnam, nursing student Frankie McGrath impulsively decides to leave her sheltered life on Coronado Island and join the Army Nurse Corps. In Vietnam, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos of war. Yet, even more unsettling, is the shock of coming home to a country that has been divided by war and disillusioned by politics. Kristin Hannah is one of my auto-buy authors so of course she belongs on my list of top books to read in 2024.
End of Story
A. J. Finn
From the author of The Woman in the Window comes one of the most anticipated thriller books to read in 2024. Nicky Hunter has corresponded with reclusive mystery writer Sebastian Trapp for years but is shocked when he invites her to his mansion to help him write his life story. Twenty years earlier on New Year’s Eve, Sebastian’s first wife and son disappeared from different locations. Did Sebastian commit the perfect crime? Why is he willing to start talking about it now?
Expiration Dates
Rebecca Serle
For over twenty years, every time she dates a new man Daphne receives a piece of paper telling her exactly how long the relationship will last. Then after a blind date at her favorite LA restaurant, Daphne’s paper just says “Jake” with no end date. As Daphne and Jake date, she begins to question whether this relationship really doesn’t have an expiration date. For Daphne knows something that, if she told Jake, it would break his heart. Serle has been a hit-or-miss author for me, but I’m putting her on my list of books to read in 2024, hoping she can recreate some of the nuanced magic of In Five Years.
Wandering Stars
Tommy Orange
In 1864, Star survives the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado only to be taken to Fort Marion Prison Castle where he is forced to learn English and become a Christian under the cruel prison guard Richard Henry Pratt. Years later, Star’s son Charles is sent to Pratt’s Indian Industrial School where Pratt tries to strip Charles and Charles’s friend Opal Viola of their Native identity. In 2018, Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield struggles to hold her family together as the various members turn to drugs and ceremony after a shooting at her nephew’s school.
The Fox Wife
Yangsze Choo
In 1908 Manchuria, Bao investigates the death of an unknown courtesan found frozen in the snow. Her death is surrounded by rumors of foxes that lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful humans. Meanwhile, a Chinese family that owns a medicine shop finds they are cursed and that all their sons will die before they turn 24. When Snow, a new servant, enters the house, they find their luck has suddenly changed. But Snow is really seeking vengeance for her lost child, a trail that will lead her and Bao from China to Japan as they meet friends and foes and navigate the truths and myths about fox spirits.
The Hunter
Tana French
In a sequel to The Searcher, retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper is comfortable in Ireland, having built a new life with Lena. Even Trey seems to be thriving, as she’s turned from a half-feral teenager into a decent person going places. When Trey’s long-absent father suddenly reappears, he brings along an English millionaire searching for gold. Cal does his best to protect Trey and the life they’ve built, but Trey only seems to want revenge.
Daughter of Mine
Megan Miranda
After her father, Mirror Lake’s longtime detective, dies, Hazel Sharp unexpectedly inherits her childhood home. Returning to Mirror Lake, Hazel feels wary of the town she fled over a decade ago. When a drought causes the lake to dry up, hidden clues emerge that might help Hazel finally solve her mother’s disappearance.
Funny Story
Emily Henry
Emily Henry is a perennial beach read favorite so it’s no surprise she’s got one of the most-anticipated romance books to read in 2024. Daphne and her fiancé Peter have the perfect cute “how we met” story, up until Peter leaves her for his childhood best friend Petra. Stranded in Peter’s lakeside Michigan hometown with a job as a children’s librarian she loves, Daphne needs a roommate to help pay the bills. Who better than Petra’s ex, Miles, who is completely Daphne’s opposite? And no big deal if they happen to post misleading photos to make their exes jealous. For there’s no way they would ever actually fall in love.
Darling Girls
Sally Hepworth
Claudia, Margo, and Jackie are the luckiest girls, or so they are told. After family tragedies, each was given a second chance at a happy family, living on a peaceful farm with a loving foster mom. Yet, the foster sisters’ childhood was far from idyllic. When a body is found buried on the farm, they soon find themselves prime witnesses and possibly prime suspects.
The Demon of Unrest
Erik Larson
Erik Larson delves into the five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the first shots fired on Fort Sumter that started the Civil War. In a period of betrayal, error, and miscommunication, Larson focuses on the stories of four individuals: Sumter’s commander caught between sympathy to the South and loyalty to the Union; a bloodthirsty radical promoting secession at every turn; the wife of a local planter who is conflicted about marriage and slavery; and in the thick of it all, is Abraham Lincoln, desperately trying to avert a war.
What are Your Most Anticipated Books to Read in 2024?
What books are you most excited for next year? Any guesses what the best books of 2024 are going to be? As always, let me know in the comments!
More New Book Releases & Best of Lists:
Kathleen M Zaffore says
Hi – I think this is Year Four for me. Thru the challenge I have widened my reading. It has been so fun searching out books that meet the criteria one way or another :). Like “A Western” — Cadillac Desert which recounts the building of the west one dam at a time — and that dams shaped our civilization in both profound and sometimes unintended ways. Great read. I would never have attempted this tome were it not for the prompt “A Western” — ok, I know you were thinking Zane Gray etc, but Cadillac Desert changed me. I will never see dams the same way again. Or the west, where I have lived my 7 decades. I am now into the terrifying saga of The Chicago World Fair PLUS the serial killer Holmes for Dewey Decimal 300: The Devil in the White City. Another book I would never have read, but an amazing history of the fair and Chicago — turn of the century America in its height of pre-wars arrogance. Thanks for getting me out of my mystery rut :). Onward. New year new reads.
Kelly says
There are so many great titles coming out in 2024. Here are a few I am excited about:
– The Secret Keepers by Genevieve Graham (Historical Fiction)
– The Women by Kristin Hannah (Historical Fiction)
– The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Gravis Graves (Contemporary)
– How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly (Romance)
– Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle (Romance)
– Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (Romance)
– Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun (Romance)
– Family Family by Laurie Frankel (Contemporary)
– The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon (Historical Fiction)
– The Inheritance by Joanna Goodman (Historical/Contemporary)
– The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (Contemporary)
– Here After by Amy Lin (Memoir)
– A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams (Romance)
– Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (Fantasy)
– After Annie by Anna Quindlen (Literary)
– This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune (Romance)
– This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan (Romance)
– Daydream by Hannah Grace (New Adult/Romance
– Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate (Historical Fiction)
Among many others…