24 Best New Books of January 2022 To Read

2022 is sure to bless our shelf with some of the best books in every genre, with every story being one to look forward to. And January is going to head the year with these anticipated, highly impressive titles. Authors like June Hur and Rachel Lynn Solomon, who have already given gems like The Silence of Bones and Today Tonight Tomorrow respectively, are returning with shiny new novels. Debut authors like Akshaya Raman and Sue Lynn Tan are stepping in with an Indian-inspired fantasy and Chinese mythology-inspired fantasy respectively; and some books like Ashes of Gold and Beyond the End of the World are sequels to two very well received fantasy books. ✨

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The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman

Magic is a precious resource that has kept the country safe from conflict, but when magic runs out, Vira knows she must protect her citizens from the looming threat of war. Her only hope is to find a mysterious object of legend: the Ivory Key. But in order to infiltrate enemy territory and retrieve it, she must reunite with her siblings and each of them has something to gain from finding it —and even more to lose if they fail. The four estranged siblings must survive the treacherous journey in this Indian-inspired YA fantasy.

Out Jan 04.

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Vinyl Moon by Mahogany L Browne

A young woman whose past was shaped by domestic violence, Angel finds herself in Brooklyn, far from her family, Darius, and the California life she has known. She feels out of sync with her new neighbourhood and the only place that makes sense is Ms. G’s class. There, Angel’s classmates share their own stories of pain, joy, and fortitude, and as she becomes immersed in her revolutionary literature course, she finds home and healing in the words of strong Black writers in this YA contemporary that weaves together prose, poems, and vignettes.

Out Jan 11.

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Beyond the End of the World by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

Nimh still holds on to her divinity and in her final confrontation with Inshara, the woman determined to take her place and rule her kingdom, both Nimh and her enemy were sent to the world above, in the cloudlands. Now North looks to the sky, left behind on the surface world; desperate to join the girl he loves, North has to find a way back to his home in the sky-city of Ciel in this sequel to the genre-bending fantasy The Other Side of the Sky.

Out Jan 18.  

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The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka

Dylan has always wanted a boyfriend, but the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia do not have a lot in the way of options. Jordan is a completely normal boy, and undeniably cute, who also happens to run at a cool 110 degrees Fahrenheit. When the boys start spending time together, Dylan gets a fever for two weeks and is suddenly coughing flames, but Jordan tells him to keep the symptoms a secret. As the pressure mounts in this queer YA romance, Dylan begins realizing how much first love is truly out of this world.

Out Jan 25.  

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Love Somebody by Rachel Roasek

Sam is a charismatic actress and is ambitious for her future. Ros is one of the smartest people in school but a loner, and prefers to keep it that way. Then there’s Christian, the darling of the high school soccer team. In this YA debut romantic comedy, the popular girl, her ex-boyfriend-turned-best friend, and the girl they both fall for are part of a heartfelt story about how maybe, th bravest thing to do in the face of change is just love somebody.

Out Jan 11.

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The Kindred by Alechia Dow

Joy is a commoner from a lowly planet and a Kindred to the nobility’s most infamous playboy brings. To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to keep an eye on everyone. Duke Felix is determined to choose his own future. Then the royal family is assassinated with him next in line for the throne, and now someone will stop at nothing until he’s dead. Meeting in person for the first time, Joy and Felix steal a spacecraft to flee and end up landing on the strange backward planet called Earth in this YA science fiction.

Out Jan 04.

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Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel

Akash is filled with shame for liking men, for wanting to be songwriter, and for what happened with the first boy he ever loved. His mother, Renu, had it all: doting husband, beautiful house, healthy sons. But she can’t stop wondering if she chose the wrong life years ago and should have stayed in London with her first love. Together, Renu and Akash pack up their house in Los Angeles to return to Illinois, retreating further into the secrets in this queer adult contemporary that is filled with beats of ‘90s R&B and unforgettable agonies.

Out Jan 20.

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Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Xingyin has grown up on the moon, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. When Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home alone. She makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom and disguises her identity to learn alongside the emperor’s son. To save her mother, Xingyin must embark on a perilous quest but when treachery looms, she must strike a dangerous bargain in this YA fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology.

Out Jan 11.

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Ashes of Gold by J. Elle

Rue has no memory of how she ended up locked in a basement prison without her magic or her allies. When she finds her friends again, Rue makes a vow: she will find a way to return the magic that the Chancellor has stolen from her father’s people. But Rue is a misfit —with half a foot back in Houston and half a heart that is human as well as god, she’s not sure she’s the right person to lead the fight to reclaim a glorious past. In this conclusion to the Wings of Ebony YA fantasy duology, Rue makes her final stand to be the leader that her people deserve.

Out Jan 11.

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The Red Palace by June Hur

Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse through hard work and study in Joseon (Korea), 1758 where few options are available to illegitimate daughters. But she is suddenly thrust into court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the suspect is Hyeon’s closest friend and mentor. Launching her own secret investigation, she encounters Eojin, a young police inspector. When evidence begins to point to the Crown Prince himself as the murderer, they must work to search the darkest corners in this YA historical mystery.

Out Jan 25.

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Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

Dahlia is ready to reinvent herself after a recent divorce and almost bankruptcy, on the popular reality competition show Chef’s Special, focused on winning the prize money. After announcing their pronouns on national television, London is there to prove the trolls —including a fellow contestant and their dad. When the two get closer, reality starts to fall away, from guilt about divorce to stress from transphobia. As the show’s finale draws closer in this queer adult romance, they must figure out if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.

Out Jan 18.

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Light Years from Home by Mike Chen

Evie and her sister, Kass, aren’t on speaking terms. Their father, who had vanished years ago on a family camping trip, turned up days later, convinced he’s been abducted by aliens. Their brother, who had vanished too, remained missing. When Evie’s UFO network uncovers a new event, she goes to investigate and discovers her brother, Jakob, is back. But different: older, stranger, and talking of an intergalactic war. The sisters must fix their issues to help Jakob while the FBI —and possibly an entire space armada— is after him in this science fiction.

Out Jan 25.

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Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Hazel is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry. Jack is a resurrection man who digs up corpses for a living. When the two have a chance encounter and Hazel is kicked out of a renowned doctor’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realises Jack might be helpful. Without official lessons, she needs more than books: she needs bodies to study, corpses to dissect. But strange men are skulking around cemeteries and the two must work together to uncover the secrets buried in the very heart of Edinburgh society of 1817.

Out Jan 18.

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Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long

After angering a local gangster, Sena must flee with her prize fighting wolf, Iska, in tow. A team of scientists offer to pay her way off her frozen planet on one condition: she gets them to the finish line of the planet’s infamous sled race. Though Sena always swore she’d never race after it claimed both her mothers’ lives, it’s now her only option. But the tundra is a treacherous place and she must discover whether she’s strong enough to survive the wild in this YA science fiction reimagining of the Iditarod sled dog race meets Mad Max.

Out Jan 11.

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Loveboat Reunion by Abigail Hing Wen

Sophie and Xavier have a tumultuous past. At least they’re friends now. Sophie is determined to be the best student Dartmouth’s ever had and Xavier just wants to stay under his overbearing father’s radar. But Sophie’s professor thinks her project is too feminine and Xavier’s father gives him an ultimatum to finish high school or be cut off from inheritance. Both find themselves on a wild Loveboat reunion, on an unforgettable journey of self-discovery in this companion novel to the YA contemporary romance, Loveboat, Taipei.

Out Jan 25.     

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When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

Millie wants to become a Broadway star, but her lovable single dad doesn’t want to watch her leave home to pursue her dream. Her ongoing drama club rival, Ollie, adds romantic tension to her life and the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm her at inconvenient times are yet another obstacle. So Millie needs an ally. And when a left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s moody LiveJournal from 2003, she knows what to do: find her mom. Now she hopes the new part of her life can fit into her old one in this YA contemporary.

Out Jan 04.

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Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei

Mickey is a college freshman, a brother to five sisters, and a hockey legacy. With a father and a grandfather who have gone down in NHL history, Mickey is almost guaranteed the league’s top draft spot. The only person standing in his way is Jaysen, an infuriatingly attractive contender for the #1 spot. When rivalry turns into something more, Mickey will have to decide what he really wants and what he’s willing to risk for it in this queer YA romance.

Out Jan 18.

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Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker

It’s year 2083, the end of the world. Time travel is possible, but only forwards, and only a handful of families choose to remain in the ‘now’, living off the scraps that were left behind. Among these are Jules and her love, Romeo. But Romeo is in a coma and she’s estranged from her friends and family. Then a handsome time traveller, Ellis, arrives with an important mission that makes Jules question everything she knows about life and love in this YA dystopian, cosmic reimagining of two classics: Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights.

Out Jan 04.  

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Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna returns to the town where all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild as everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her is Ledger, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. The two form a connection but the risk grows in this adult contemporary romance.

Out Jan 18.

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Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Abi loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss is too distracted by her relationship with the station’s news director to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine, is at her wits’ end and the only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell. In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, the two decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues but it all backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell in this adult romantic comedy.

Out Jan 11.

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To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

In an alternate version of 1893 New York, a fragile young scion resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his older, wealthier partner and hides his troubled childhood. In 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter navigates life without him. What unites these versions in this literary fiction by the author of A Little Life are lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.

Out Jan 11.

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Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades

Girls like Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and may others, attempt to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with the American culture they come of age in. Growing up in Queens, New York City’s most vibrant and eclectic borough where streets echo with languages from all over the globe and subways rumble above dollar stores, these girls become friends for life —or so they vow. As they age, however, their paths diverge as some choose to remain on familiar streets while others ascend in the world, drawn to the allure of skylines in this poetic story of brown girls.

Out Jan 04.

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The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Frida is struggling; she doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She also can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with her angelic daughter does Frida finally feel she’s attained the perfection expected of her. Until Frida has a horrible day and the state has their eye on mothers like Frida —on mothers who only have one lapse of judgment. Faced with the possibility of losing her daughter, she must prove that she can learn to be good in this dystopian fiction.

Out Jan 04.

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Yinka, Where Is Your Husband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional because she’s saving herself for marriage, her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already. But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right. Still, when her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences an operation to find a date for Rachel’s wedding. Aided by a spreadsheet and her best friend, she is determined to succeed in this adult contemporary romance that subverts the traditional with an unconventional heroine.

Out Jan 18.

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what book are you most excited to read from these? 💛