17 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Year
Q: What are two things it’s never too early for?
A: Champagne and putting together your summer reading list.
That’s why our list of Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2020 includes some late spring and early summer releases. No, we’re not trying to torture you, we just know the early bird gets the library’s first copy! But because we also know one of the best ways to survive isolation is to curl up with a good book and a blanket, we’ve included some hot-off-the-press new releases as well. So curl up and dig in!
The Marriage Break, by Claudia Carroll
If you could take a year off from your marriage, no strings attached, would you? Should you? When the spark goes out of Dan and Annie’s marriage and Annie gets the chance to move from her small Irish village to New York City only time (apart) will tell if it’s a break or a breakup.
Available here | January 7, 2020
F*ck Your Diet: and Other Things My Thighs Tell Me, by Chloé Hilliard
Comedian Chloé Hilliard takes a battering ram to modern beauty standards while discussing some of the ridiculous and insane routes millions of us have taken in an attempt to look good and feel better about ourselves. Hilliard’s essay collection also tackles race, self-image, pop culture, and feminism with humour and smarts, making this the “diet” book many of us have been for.
Available here | January 7, 2020
We Wish You Luck, by Caroline Zancan
When a visiting professor destroys one of their own, a brilliant, tight-knit trio of graduate students, Hannah, Leslie and Jimmy, fall down a rabbit hole of love, envy, competition, creativity and revenge. Told in the third person as the students’ collective perspective of events, this sharp critique of academia is addictive and smart.
Available here | January 14, 2020
The Majesties, by Tiffany Tsao
The uncovering of dark family secrets, especially those of filthy rich families, often makes for a riveting read and The Majesties is no exception. Gwendolyn and Estella are as close as sisters can be, but when Estella poisons the entire family killing everyone and sending Gwendolyn into a coma, the survivor tries to piece together the why behind her sister’s horrific crime.
Available here | January 21, 2020
Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters, by Anita Kushwaha
Three women, all of them mothers, bound together by love, deceit and a young woman on the brink of adulthood. The women, Nadini, Veena and Mala will each, in turn, learn that even secrets kept out of love come with a cost in this complex, beautifully written tale of love, grief, familial duty and the Indian-American experience.
Available here | January 28, 2020
Pretty As A Picture, by Elizabeth Little
If your podcast playlist and Netflix “recently watched” are of full of murder and mayhem, don’t miss this darkly funny behind-the-scenes whodunit about a film editor who’s dragged into a real-life murder mystery on (naturally) an isolated island. A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Book of 2020.
Available here | February 25, 2020
How A Woman Becomes A Lake, by Marjorie Celona
When Vera disappears after a New Year’s Day walk with her dog along the lake of Whale Bay, a small fishing town, it sets off a chain of reverberating events that include her husband’s death, a police investigation and questions about why two small boys are so afraid of their father.
Available here | March 3, 2020
My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell
When 15-year old Vanessa Wye becomes romantically involved with her 42-year old English teacher, Jacob Strane, she never imagines that seventeen years later the #METOO era will be in full force and that Jacob will be facing allegations of sexual abuse. When his accuser reaches out to her, Vanessa must make a choice. It’s no wonder The New York Times, Marie Claire, Real Simple and many more have named My Dark Vanessa a most anticipated book of 2020.
Available here | March 10, 2020
Darling Rose Gold, by Stephanie Wrobel
Until she was 18 years old, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. Although she rarely left the hospital, no amount of tests could determine what was really wrong with her. Turns out the only thing wrong with Rose Gold was her mother, Patty, and after Patty serves five-years in prison for what she did to her daughter, the two are reunited and living under the same roof. What could possibly go wrong?
Available here | March 17, 2020
The Honey Don’t List, by Christina Lauren
Do Chip and Joanna Gaines really hate each other? Is this book ghost-written by their assistants? It isn’t but it could be because when the remodelling empire built by America’s sweethearts threatens to come crashing down, only a lowly assistant and an apprentice can save the couple from themselves. And let’s just say the sparks from the power tools aren’t the only ones flying.
Available here | March 24, 2020
Something She’s Not Telling Us, by Darcey Bell
When her daughter Daisy is kidnapped Charlotte is convinced her brother’s oddly obsessive new girlfriend Ruth must be behind the crime. But is Ruth a criminal or is she just desperate to uncover the truth about her new family, for everyone’s sake? Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2020 by Cosmopolitan magazine.
Available here | April 7, 2020
Perfect Tunes, by Emily Gould
For anyone who’s ever wondered who their mother was and what she may have given up to have them, (and if you haven’t, you should!) this book explores the chaotic beauty – and messiness – of families, mothers, daughters and ambition, all with a side of rock and roll and the hypnotic backdrop of New York City.
Available here | April 14, 2020
The Book of Longings, by Sue Monk Kidd
An ambitious leap into historical fiction, The Book of Longings tells the story of Ana who marries Jesus (yes, that Jesus) before his public ministry begins. As Ana’s story unfolds, it reveals the plight of a courageous and intelligent woman living in a world that needs her voice but is determined to silence it. Fans of historical fiction will devour this one.
Available here | April 21, 2020
Mother, Daughter, Widow, Wife, by Robin Wasserman
“Wendy Doe” is found on a bus to Philadelphia with no money, identification or memory. As her doctor, his student and the daughter Wendy left behind each try to unravel the mysterious woman’s story, the reader is asked to confront a tantalizing question: who is a woman allowed to become when she’s untethered from her life and obligations?
Available here | May 19, 2020
The End of the Day, by Bill Clegg
On the heels of his riveting, emotional bestseller Did You Ever Have a Family? comes Bill Clegg’s latest novel about what happens when three seemingly disconnected lives come together. As secrets surface and choices must be made, the bonds of friendship and family are tested and the reader may be forced to ponder the choices she’s made that will determine her own legacy.
Available here | June 2, 2020
Big Summer, by Jennifer Weiner
New York Times #1 Bestselling author Jennifer Weiner’s new novel of friendship and forgiveness takes place during an old friend’s disastrous wedding on Cape Cod. And that, quite frankly, is all the information we need to send us running to the bookstore this June. If Big Summer is half as readable as Weiner’s others, including Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, we’re in for a treat.
Available here | June 20, 2020
The Girl from Widow Hills, by Megan Miranda
From the #1 bestselling author comes a new novel about a girl everyone remembers: the girl who was swept away by fierce rainstorms and found alive days later clinging to a storm drain. Fast-forward twenty years to the anniversary of Arden Maynor’s rescue and Arden begins sleepwalking again. Only this time she wakes up in her backyard with a body at her feet. What will happen as she’s thrust into the spotlight once again?
Available here | June 23, 2020
