Let’s wreak havoc on your 2022 TBR pile and add a few more titles into the mix with the latest #BookTok trending must-haves!
From the tear-jerker of the moment, You’ve Reached Sam, to recent and soon-to-be book to TV adaptations like One Of Us Is Lying and The Wrath and the Dawn, there’s never been a better time to jump on the book hype train than now. And don’t even get me started on S. by Doug Durst and J. J. Abrams – I will rave on about it below, but I bought it, haven’t read it but already think we are in a serious relationship.
So, let’s pretend you didn’t promise to go on a book buying ban for the rest of the year and get ready for your last book haul of 2021!
by Doug Durst and J.J. Abrams
You didn’t think I was going to let it go that easily, did you? First and foremost, this book is insanely gorgeous, and the time and effort that went into its production demands our love and adoration! Just picture this – you walk into a library and think ‘hey, that’s a cool book’. You pick said book up and notice that the previous reader has left interesting notes in the margins about the even more interesting (and elusive) author. You think ‘well, this is good for my introverted soul’ and put your own notes in the margin, and so begins an unlikely conversation told between the pages of a book.
This is what S. is all about! Now, come back to reality and imagine buying this book – you’re getting two stories in one! Plus, slip notes, newspaper clippings, annotations, even a compass, all tucked into the pages of the book! A word of advice – don’t get too excited and shake this book upon opening it, a friend of mine did this and highly regrets it … (I lied, it was me).
Buy it here
The Vanishing Half
by Brit Bennett
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2021, there’s a reason why this book is at the top of every historical fiction list! A generational story of race, colourism, identity and family, this book will take you through several lifetimes, examining the lasting influence of the past on an individual’s present, with an emotional storyline and an incredible exploration of American history tied in too. It’s really the perfect book to start the new year off with – powerful and thought-provoking, it will challenge you to examine the lasting impacts of racism on the communities around you.
Buy it here
The Love Hypothesis
by Ali Hazelwood
So, apparently this is the #Reylo fanfiction we’ve all been waiting for. I will hold judgement until I’ve read it but anything with the word ‘Jedi’ in the blurb has automatically got my interest! This is for fake dating fans, but make it nerdy. We follow two scientists – Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. candidate who doesn’t really believe in love unless it’s formulated in a test tube, and Adam Carlsen, a young professor who thinks he is God’s gift to women and that everyone is blessed to be in his presence (ok, maybe I’m overkilling it but you get my point). All this to say, Olive is floored when, after kissing Adam for scientific proof that maybe love does exist, Adam agrees to enter a charade of fake dating with her. But it’s not that simple; there’s a science fair, their little experiment might lead to molecular combustion (did I say that right? Biology isn’t really my thing) and Olive soon discovers that love is WAY more complicated than science … but perhaps worth the game of chance.
Buy it here
A Touch of Darkness
by Scarlett St. Clair
Well, I had to slot some spicy romance in here somewhere. Anybody up for a Hades and Persephone retelling? A dark forbidden romance unfolds in an urban fantasy setting … what more can you ask for? I would say that this is for fans of From Blood and Ash – easy to get swept up in, probably won’t sleep until 3 am reading it in one sitting, will potentially go on a romance reading binge shortly after. You know, that sort of thing.
Buy it here
One Of Us Is Lying
by Karen M. McManus
Give me all the teen murder mysteries!!! On the off-chance that you are yet to read a Karen M. McManus whodunnit thriller, you must start here (and you must do it before you watch the newly released show on Stan, just trust me, it will add to the experience). Here’s how this one goes – five students walk into detention but only four ever leave, because by the end of it one of them is dead. According to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident and now all four of his remaining detention buddies are suspects in his murder. But who did it and how far would they go to keep this a secret? Oof, I’m getting chills just thinking about it!
Buy it here
The Wrath and the Dawn
by Renée Ahdieh
Hello and welcome to what is probably one of my favourite YA duologies of all time. Middle-eastern inspired fantasy based off of the One Thousand and One Nights tale that is a fairytale, a mystery, a story of searing romance, political intrigue and a hint of magic, all wrapped up into the one book?! And, it’s going to be adapted into a TV show?! I need WATER! Renée Ahdieh’s writing is always a sumptuous feast, and this is me pulling out a chair for you at the table. Follow Shazi as she follows her revenge unto death, wedding Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, who takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. Plot twist: She makes it through to the next dawn, but at what cost?
Buy it here
You’ve Reached Sam
by Dustin Thao
This is one I’m keeping for when I need a really good cry. The talk of the town in BookTok land, this is Dustin Thao’s spectacular debut and one sure to send your emotions flying everywhere. Julie and Sam mapped out their whole future together – college in the city, a summer in Japan – and everything is going perfectly until Sam dies (I’m already tearing up, ew). Julie is heartbroken, skips his funeral and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died, but she just wants to hear his voice one more time. So she calls his phone to listen to his voicemail AND HE PICKS UP THE PHONE! *Mic drop*
Buy it here
The Inheritance Games
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
And let’s end this list off with something fun! This is a twisty, tightly-plotted, high-stakes thriller full of family secrets and illicit romance. Perfect for fans of (you guessed it) One Of Us Is Lying and We Were Liars, we follow Avery who has a plan to keep her head down and work hard for a better future. Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaves her his entire fortune, and she literally has no clue why. What’s more, his relatives are furious, feel like they’ve been robbed and are murderously hell-bent on figuring out why Avery got the money. Thus begins a deadly game of ‘How Far Will These People Go to Keep Their Fortune?’, with lots of fun (and terror).
Buy it here
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