10 Fantastic Novels You Should Read This Year

In today's post: I'm reviewing 10 novels I think you should read this twelvemonth. Some of them are brand new, some of them came out in the past few years, and one won the GoodReads Choice award in 2020. I'm also including my new favorite volume that had my laughing and crying all at the same time. Get fix for some dandy reads!

Please note that the championship of each book is linked to the kindle version on Amazon. These are affiliate links. You can find all of my book review posts by clicking here. If you have a favorite book y'all think I should read, please let me know in the comments – cheers!

10 Great Novels to Read This Year

The Kitchen Front past Jennifer Ryan (New!!)

It'south midway through WWII in England, and iv dissimilar women in a rural town outside of London are dealing with the challenges of the home front. Their circumstances vary – from kitchen maid to lady of the manor – but they are brought together by a contest to co-host a BBC radio prove. "The Kitchen Front end" encourages it's listeners to encompass the creativity needed to figure out how to cook filling, nutritious meals inside the constraints of rationing, which had become quite stringent past this point (for example, fresh eggs were limited to ane per person per calendar week). Every bit you can probably imagine, the competitors finish upwards condign friends in this novel that fits squarely into the "cozy read" category. I've read plenty of WWII fiction, just I haven't read another novel that gives this much insight into the challenges of "making exercise" with wartime provisions. Sure, this book might be a wee bit anticipated, simply it's entertaining enough to brand it a great weekend escape or fun vacation read.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (New!!)

I remember learning the story of the Trojan war (briefly) in unproblematic schoolhouse. As with virtually history (both real and mythical), the story focused on the heroes: the men. A couple women were mentioned – after all, Penelope gets some good book time from Homer for her long, constant wait for her errant married man – but for the most office, the women were footnotes. A Thousand Ships changes all that, placing women back into the centre of the story of Troy and making them come alive. This novel reads more like a collection of short stories, each chapter chronicling the experience of a different woman from Homer's Illiad, with narrative from faithful Penelope weaving throughout the book. And information technology'southward Amazing! Correct from the start you are hit with the true human cost of war – this is no epic tale glorifying the honor of dying in battle. Instead you see what happens to those who are left behind to suffer the consequences later the "heroes" take spilt each other'south claret. In places, this volume is centre wrenching. Just in other places, it's hilarious – I especially beloved when a wry Penelope lets out a piddling more than snark as she waits, year after year, for the married man she doesn't fifty-fifty know any more to return. This book feels fierce and poignant and whole, showing both the incredible strength of the women involved and the petty weaknesses that put the whole story into movement (cheers a lot, Aphrodite). I loved it!

Miss Benson'due south Protrude by Rachel Joyce (new!!)

It's 1950, and Miss Margery Benson is living a tiny life. She's a spinster who teaches school because she doesn't have a improve way of supporting herself, with no family and no existent friendships. Information technology'south a far weep from the life she expected to take – that of a naturalist and explorer who would make her father proud with her discoveries of new species. Later on 1 particularly bad day, she decides to chuck it all in and have a chance on an expedition to New Caledonia to look for the fabled Golden Beetle. Of class, she'll need an assistant, and of course (because this is a quirky British book) she ends upwards with the near unsuitable person possible: Enid Petty, an obviously faux blond who totters around on loftier heels, leaves a string of admirers in her wake, and possessively guards a suspicious red suitcase. That's the set for an expedition that's sure to exist total of disaster, but this volume offers so much more: friendship and warmth and the strength of being willing to have a risk for the life you wish you were living.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Goodreads Choice Winner 2020)

Within the first couple pages of this volume, nosotros acquire that Nora, the primary character, has decided to die. Nothing in her life has worked out the way she expected, and non ane soul on earth needs her. And and so she decides to die. But even that doesn't piece of work out equally planned, and instead of the subsequently life, Nora ends upward in the Midnight Library, a place between life and death that holds all the possible lives Nora could have lived. All she has to do is choose a volume from the library'due south shelves and she can step into a life where different choices led to a different outcome. Sounds a little gimmicky, right? But somehow, information technology's non. This book was a universal favorite in 2022 and I call up one of the reasons why is because information technology'south written with and so much empathy for the way all of us get incorrect and fall curt, and it encourages us to find the energy to try again. I institute this book extremely well written and (eventually) heart warming, without being sentimental.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (my favorite book of 2020)

I have loved Fredrik Backman's books for years, since I first read A Man Called Ove. But this book is for sure the best 1 he'south written. If all you want is an entertaining story, skip this volume. I will warm you that you cannot read this book without your heart being involved. But if you desire an entertaining story that will brand you express joy out loud as well as weep existent tears, check this 1 out ASAP. It'south the story of a banking concern robbery gone wrong turned hostage situation that brings together eight strangers, all of whom are in need of rescue in different means. This volume will make your encephalon work: there are various back stories that are a bit difficult to sort out at first. But that's ok because the stark beauty of the prose and the manner Backman perfectly demonstrates human nature over and over again won't permit yous stop reading until you make it to the cease. This one is a true precious stone that I wanted to read over the minute I finished.

The Book of Longings past Sue Monk Kidd (2020)

Ana is a young woman growing upwardly in a privileged household in Galilee. Thanks to a permissive father, Ana learns to read and write and secretly records stories of women from Jewish history even though such activities are considered unlawful for a woman. Ana knows she longs for more in her life than an appropriate marriage, but the constraints of her earth seem unavoidable. And so she meets Jesus, and we realize that this is the story of Jesus Christ's young wife. Regardless of your religious tradition, I think in that location are lots of interesting ideas to consider in this novel: the place of women in history, the place of women in Christianity, the longing many of united states have for something more, the humanity of Jesus, etc. I found this book to exist very reverent in it'southward handling of Jesus and I loved the historical context that was shared and the fleshing out of what may take happened beyond the fairly limited story we become from the New Testament. But Jesus isn't the chief character of this book; Ana is, and her story is likewise very interesting. This isn't a page-turner of a volume with a fast moving plot, and I did find the story slowed down in some sections. But in general it was such a fascinated exploration of what may have been that I didn't really mind.

Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause (2019)

Valencia is agape of well-nigh everything, including airplanes and the fact that she'll exist turning 35 before long. Her OCD makes having anything resembling a "normal life" well-nigh incommunicable. Mrs. Valentine is an old woman who is desperate for someone to talk to, someone who will listen to her stories about the beloved of her life (whom she misses dearly). Information technology isn't until near the end of this book that we sympathize how these two women are connected, and some of the content feels disruptive until we get that understanding. Simply it's worth the confusion. This volume is also quite deplorable in parts, just it's worth the sadness too. I found it a very tender and sometimes raw depiction of mental health struggles that increases my empathy for people who experience life in this way. Plus it'south an engaging story that kept my interest the whole way through.

Note: I was surprised in looking at reviews of this book how many people called it "weird", referred to the chief grapheme as "disturbed", or said information technology was unrealistic. I found a note from the writer addressing some of these reviews, and I love her response, and so I'k including a snippet here: "If at whatever point you think her [the main character'south] thought processes or reactions or interactions are far-fetched or overwrought, I'd encourage you to stretch your empathy muscles—I honey that fiction, by nature, forces y'all to practice this—and consider that this is how some brains work." – Suzy Krause

The 7 i/ii Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (2018)

When I read a synopsis for this book that called it "a mix betwixt Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey" I assumed I was going to like it. I also assumed it would be a quick, like shooting fish in a barrel read that I could basically turn my encephalon off for. Well, I was right on the first count but incorrect on the 2nd! This book is tons of fun, with a British manor house party setting and lots of likeable (and rather unlikeable) characters, merely information technology's also quite circuitous. You find out within the first few pages that the main grapheme's job is to solve (and prevent) a murder earlier it happens. Pretty standard stuff. But and so you find out that the main graphic symbol happens to exist in someone else'south torso, and is going to be reliving the same day in the bodies of other characters until he solves the murder or has his retentiveness wiped and starts all over again. This is not your ordinary British mystery – information technology's an Agatha Christie/Downton Abbey/Groundhog Day mashup, and information technology works surprisingly well. It's super entertaining and super engaging. Just brand sure you pay attention – this one will requite your brain a workout.

Where the Crawdads Sing past Delia Owens (2018)

I know, I'g a piffling late on reviewing this book. It was THE NOVEL of 2022 and judging by the 125k five star reviews on Amazon, it seems like near people take read and loved this volume already. But I didn't read this one right away, because the synopsis put me off a bit. A story nearly a girl plant living alone in the marshland who perchance gets attacked by the young men from town? I guess it sounded also bleak for me. But I finally gave it a take chances and I was hooked just about immediately. Yes, there is some bleakness hither, but besides then much bravery and kindness and love. And it's non just a coming of age novel, it's a (really interesting) murder mystery all wrapped in one. Be brash in that location is some developed content.

Marilla of Greenish Gables by Sarah McCoy (2018)

If you've ever loved Anne of Light-green Gables, you ought to read this book! It'southward an imagining of Marilla's story, starting when she'southward thirteen and first meets John Blythe. (That'due south Gilbert's dad, if you don't remember – Marilla tells Anne that at i point he used to exist her beau.) This is an unusual volume in that we know how it ends, only the story is engaging enough that y'all desire to continue reading to effigy out how and why it ends the way it does. Marilla'due south backstory feels very conceivable, and this book does a good job enriching and fleshing out the somewhat prickly woman we abound to beloved in Anne of Green Gables – every bit well as her brother Matthew. The writing fashion is very similar to that of Lucy Maud Montgomery, and I particularly liked the style this book is grounded in the events of the time – we hear about the push for Canadian independence and the American Civil War and how both of those events affect Marilla and Matthew. Plus it's pretty fun to run into a young Rachel Lynde!

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