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2023’s Best Books to Look Forward To
I have some good news to share with Goodreaders: 2023 is going to be a very busy year for readers. The Goodreads editorial team looks at upcoming books in the U.S. at the end of each calendar year.
This information fuels our curated list of the most anticipated new releases of the coming year. We track early reviews as well as crunch numbers to see how many people are adding these books to their Want to Read shelves.
This year’s highlights include, among many others: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah may turn out to have written the year’s most buzzed-about book with Chain Gang All Stars, a dystopian thriller that attacks America’s privatized prison system.
Additionally, we’re tracking the most anticipated horror, romance, mystery, and thrillers. You can add anything you’re interested in into your Want to Read shelf, and let us know what you’re reading and recommending in the comments. Oh, and a long-awaited memoir by a certain Duke of Sussex.
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Science Fiction Mystery & Thriller Horror Romance Discounted Books
Science Fiction Books
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Chain Gang All Stars is a fierce attack on America’s for-profit prison systems. Female prisoners fight in mandatory death matches for a chance at freedom in a dystopian future of gladiatorial spectator sports. While an imminent revolution simmers outside the prison arena gates, Thurwar and Staxxx, teammates and lovers, struggle against the system from within.
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
The rules are the rules on the utopian island of Prospera. It’s paradise until the health sensors embedded in the flesh drop below 10 percent. Then you’re off to the nursery, which promises renewal and rejuvenation. One particular ferryman discovers some unpleasant things in Justin Cronin’s (The Passage) novel.
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
With a lethal explosion on a deep space mission, the survivors begin to question the crew’s loyalty in this sci-fi thriller debut. There is only one hope for humanity on the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse: 80 graduates of an elite program are aboard a single ship. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a bomb detonates, and suspicions spiral out of control.
Mystery & Thriller
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
Having suffered from mysterious blackouts and severe insomnia since her toddler was stolen from his crib in the middle of the night, Isabelle Drake hasn’t slept in a year. This tense thriller by Stacy Willingham (A Flicker in the Dark) begins when Isabelle turns to a shady true-crime podcaster for help as the case turns cold.
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
Featuring a 40-something mother returning to teach at her childhood boarding school, the site of a terrible tragedy, I Have Some Questions for You is the latest book from the author of The Great Believers, a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. It’s a part murder mystery, part character study, and one of the most anticipated books of the season from Makkai.
The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner
With a tale of Victorian spiritualism, Parisian alleyways, and murder most foul, Sarah Penner finds the sweet spot in historical mystery. It’s said that world-famous spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire can summon ghosts. Can she help a Londoner looking for her sister’s killer, Lenna Wickes? This is good occult fun from the author of The Lost Apothecary.
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
Featured in the domestic suspense bureau is The Soulmate, about Gabe and Pippa Gerard, the couple who just bought their dream house, a cottage outside Melbourne. There is a nearby cliffside location known as the Spot where people commit suicide. Gabe spends a lot of time there. He does not jump, but others do.
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Titus Crowne is a former FBI agent recently elected sheriff of a small town, and is now back with his distinctive brand of high-octane crime fiction from Southern noir specialist S.A. Cosby (Razorblade Tears). His trials as a Black man in a police uniform are tested in the American South when a school shooting shatters the community.
Horror
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
Argentine novelist Mariana Enríquez (Things We Lost in the Fire) writes horror fiction that has been compared to that of genre godmother Shirley Jackson. It’s never the same when a grieving father and his son find out their extended family is actually a cult of brutal vampires. In-laws. It’s always something.
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
Known for his horror novels The Ballad of Black Tom and The Changeling, this double Goodreads Choice Award winner takes his brand of terror to 1914, when a woman tries to make her way as a homesteader despite the hindrance of something very terrible traveling in her steamer trunk.
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Known for her genre-shifting work Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silva Moreno-Garcia melds together elements of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism in her latest novel. The story tells of a curse haunting a legendary lost film…and the awakening of a woman’s hidden powers through a curse.
Romance
Final Offer by Lauren Asher
Lana Castillo’s heart was broken six years ago by handsome Callahan Kane. He vowed to never return to Lake Wisteria with regret. When an inheritance situation changes everything, the lovers must face each other once more. Asher’s Dreamland Billionaires series is all about second chances—and partly about the cool name Callahan Kane.
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
With her annoyingly hot colleague Jacob Maddox about to lose a promotion, Dr. Briana Ortiz is about to lose a promotion to this new romance novel from Abby Jimenez, a Food Network star. A kidney donation, a “sob closet,” and freakishly tiny horses are also in play. A series of letters between them completely changes the dynamic.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
This story tells the story of a recently split couple who are obligated to attend the annual gathering of their old friends by Emily Henry (People We Meet on Vacation). It is decided by Harriet and Wyn that they do not want to ruin the atmosphere by pretending to still be together. Oh, and look! They have the biggest bedroom at the cottage!
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