22 Great New Books To Read in 2022

The author of the amazing award-winning collection Sabrina & Corina returns with her highly anticipated first novel. It follows five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American west, documenting family secrets, love, loss, and survival. More anticipated debut novels from authors with published story collections for your TBR: Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (July 12) and Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett (March 1)

This will prove to be one of the biggest debuts of 2022. It’s an incredible story of two siblings: Olga, a wedding planner for the filthy rich, and her congressman brother, Prieto. Their lives are about to be blown apart when their estranged mother turns up in NYC to visit as a hurricane bears down on their home country of Puerto Rico. More upcoming debut novels for your TBR: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (February 1) and Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn (January 18).

Hartnett follows up the success of Rabbit Cake with this humorous and heartrending tale of a family in a small NH town. Emma returns home to help her mother take care of her dying father and her recovering brother. Instead she gets sucked into a whirlwind tale of ghosts, nature, and a missing childhood friend. This is the new John Irving novel you have been waiting for. More exciting upcoming sophomore novels for your TBR: Clean Air by Sarah Blake (February 8) and Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo (March 8).

A young Black aspiring journalist becomes a part of the story in this sci-fi thriller. After another police killing of a young Black man, residents of the city of Baltimore lead a city-wide protest. Jamal Lawson is there to cover the story, but then the government uses a new total militarized tactic: the Dome. It covers the city, trapping people inside and keeping information from getting out. More upcoming YA sci-fi for your TBR: Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long (January 11) and The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport (April 5).

Destined to be one of the biggest memoirs of the year, this is Jones’s story of disability, motherhood, and existence. Jones was born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, which affects her posture and gait, and causes her physical pain. In Easy Beauty, she captures her feelings on being pitied and judged for her appearance. More upcoming memoirs for your TBR: Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia (March 1) and The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras (July 12).

The author of the excellent investigative true crime books Say Nothing and Empire of Pain returns! This time, he’s offering up 12 tales of true-life wrongdoing and wrongdoers, including a wine forger, a black market arms dealer, and a death penalty attorney. More upcoming true crime books for your TBR: Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of her Murder by Rachel Rear (January 25) and Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman (February 22).

Get ready for an exciting gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a young girl with a chronic illness dreams of being a fencer like her father. Tania de Batz is tired of being thought of as weak. So with her trusty sword in hand, she trains to be a Musketeer, and finds friendship and adventure. More upcoming YA retellings for your TBR: Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi (March 1) and What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix by Tasha Suri (July 5).

From the author of Furia comes a fun romantic comedy about making the best of a situation! When Nadia gives her cheating fiancé the heave-ho one month before their wedding (and her 30th birthday), she has a big dilemma. With a venue already paid for and guests arriving from all over the world, she decides to throw herself a second quinceañera! And the fact that her college fling runs the venue is icing on the cake. More upcoming romances for your TBR: Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter (July 12), Book Lovers by Emily Henry (May 3), and Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake (February 22).

Travel back to 1975 with this exciting mystery! Carmen Valdez is thrilled to be an assistant at Triumph Comics, where she hopes to make her dreams of having her own comic come true. When a coworker offers to get her comic “The Lethal Lynx” published, but then keeps her participation a secret, she’s devastated. And then he’s murdered, and she’s terrified. More upcoming mysteries for your TBR: Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett (March 8), The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (March 15), and The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (February 1).

Fans of Rebecca and Mexican Gothic, this is for you! After Beatriz’s father is executed following the Mexican War for Independence, she accepts a proposal for marriage from Don Rodolfo to save her life. But when she arrives at his estate, it’s immediately apparent that things are not right. His sister refuses to live in the main house, and there is gossip about the fate of his first wife… More upcoming horror for your TBR: Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda, Sarah Booker (translator) (February 8) and Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel (May 17).

While the world is now able to watch the adaptation of Mandel’s Station Eleven, we are also getting a new novel from her! With wonderful characters living a century in the past to a moon colony several centuries in the future, it’s a story of love and loss and a longing for home. I think it’s her best yet, and that’s saying something! More upcoming speculative fiction for your TBR: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (February 8) and A House Between Earth and the Moon by Rebecca Scherm (March 29).

And this is a remarkable debut that is sure to make a huge splash this year. It follows several generations of women from a Black family in Memphis. From the segregated south to the present day, it’s a story of heartbreak and hope as they work to change their lives for the better. More upcoming debut novels for your TBR: We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart (May 3) and The Boy with a Bird in His Chest by Emme Lund (February 15).

These are 12 incredible stories about being Penobscot in the 21st century, set in a Native community in Maine. They are haunting, insightful, and just plain excellent. More upcoming story collections for your TBR: The Last Suspicious Holdout: Stories by Ladee Hubbard (March 8) and Rainbow Rainbow: Stories by Lydia Conklin (May 31).

I have seen this mentioned on upcoming YA lists, but this marvelous debut fantasy novel is an adult title. It’s a fantastic coming of age story about Xingyin, who grew up on the moon, and is now on a dangerous quest in the Celestial Kingdom to free her mother from imprisonment. More upcoming fantasy books for your TBR: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo (May 10) and Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (April 26).

And the amazing Vuong returns with his first poetry collection since Night Sky with Exit Wounds and his first book since On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. These are deeply personal reflections on life since the passing of his mother and profound thoughts on surviving grief. More upcoming poetry collections for your TBR: Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire (March 1) and These Trees, Those Leaves, This Flower, That Fruit: Poems by Hayan Charara (April 12)