17 Books We're Adding to Our Must-Read Lists in February
The start of the new year is always rife with reading challenges, and I sincerely hope you've been able to keep up with yours (POPSUGAR has quite a few, in case you need to get motivated). But even if you're still working your way through January's incredible titles, I've rounded up a few more books to get you excited for the coming weeks. From chilling thrillers to fluffy romances to a fantasy epic that's already being hailed as the next Game of Thrones, take a look at the best picks for February, ahead.
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Australian author Jane Harper made a splash with her 2017 hit The Dry, and in 2019, the bestselling writer returns with The Lost Man. Nathan and Xander live in the sprawling outback with no neighbors but each other, and even then their homes are three hours apart. But when their middle brother is found dead, alone and in the middle of nowhere, they begin to dig into who could've forced him to his untimely death, and if that person wants to take out the rest of the family.
Out Feb. 5
Christina McDonald's The Night Olivia Fell presents every parent's worst nightmare: mom Abi Knight gets a call in the middle of the night from the police saying that her daughter, Olivia, has fallen off a bridge and is now brain-dead. On top of that, Olivia is revealed to be pregnant, and in order to successfully deliver the baby, doctors need to keep her on life support. With Olivia's body clinging to life in the hospital, her mother begins an investigation all on her own to prove that there's no way her daughter merely fell — she was pushed.
Out Feb. 5
On the Come Up is Angie Thomas's follow-up to her massively successful The Hate U Give, and we have a feeling she's struck lightning once again. The novel is about 16-year-old Bri, the daughter of an underground hip-hop legend who has aspirations of becoming a great rapper herself (or, you know, to win at least one battle). But when things in life take a turn — her mom loses her job, the people at school label her a hoodlum — Bri decides to write her first song, which ends up going viral in the worst way. Now at the center of a controversy, she has to figure out how to spin her newfound fame (or infamy, rather) so that her family can survive.
Out Feb. 5
Skipping Black Leopard Red Wolf would be a monumental mistake, since it's already being hailed as an African Game of Thrones, and "a fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made," according to Neil Gaiman. The epic novel, which comes from Man Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James and is slated to be the first in a trilogy, weaves together myth and history as it tells the story of a skilled mercenary named Tracker, hired to find a mysterious missing boy who's been gone for three years. Journeying across the country with a hodgepodge group of fellow hunters (including a shape-shifting man known as Leopard), Tracker starts to realize that many people (and creatures) will go to great lengths to keep the group from finding the boy, resulting in a twisty, ambitious saga.
Out Feb. 5
The main character at the heart of The Silent Patient, Alicia, seems to have the perfect life: she lives in a grand home in London, is a successful painter, and is married to an in-demand fashion photographer. But things change when her husband, Gabriel, comes home one night and Alicia shoots him five times in the face. Making matters more interesting? She now refuses to say a single word. With her life now in chaos, criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is brought on board to coax something, anything, out of her that might explain why she killed her husband.
Out Feb. 5
New York Times bestselling author Sophie Kinsella is back with another sparkly, heartfelt novel with an important lesson at its core. In I Owe You One, Fixie Farr (yes, that's the character's real name) has spent her life fixing everyone else's problems. But when she meets a handsome stranger in a coffee shop and saves his laptop from certain disaster, he offers to help her out with something for a change.
Out Feb. 5
Celebrated novelist and essayist Zadie Smith returns with Feel Free, a collection of essays broken into five parts: In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free. The stories included offer a sharp look at not only Smith's personal life, but also recent events in pop culture and politics.
Out Feb. 6
Fans of women's fiction should keep an eye out for The Psychology of Time Travel. Kate Mascarenhas's novel imagines a world where time travel was invented in the 1960s by four female scientists. Unfortunately, right on the cusp of their invention's success, one of them suffers a breakdown and is subsequently exiled from the group. Flash forward years, and the 20-something granddaughter of the exiled scientist begins a search for the dangerous truth about her grandmother's part in it all.
Out Feb. 12
Fans of Ruth Ware will likely rip through The Hunting Party at warp speed, as a group of 30-something friends from Oxford unravel a murder mystery while being snowed in at a hunting lodge. Despite knowing each other for decades, the group realizes that a murderer is among them at the idyllic Scottish Highlands estate, and that some resentments are too strong to stay buried.
Out Feb. 12
Warning: fans of Isabel Allende will likely soar through Yangsze Choo's The Night Tiger at a breakneck pace, so you might want to clear your schedule before sitting down to read it. The novel transports us to 1930s colonial Malaysia, enmeshing readers in a world of "servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry, and forbidden love." Young and ambitious Ji Lin is our heroine, struggling to pay off her mother's debts by being an apprentice dressmaker and dancer, who stumbles upon an adventure. We also meet 11-year-old Ren, who must complete a very, very odd task for his dying master: find the man's finger, which was lost years ago in an accident. Intrigued yet?
Out Feb. 12
Fan favorites D.D. Warren and Flora Dane return in Lisa Gardner's Never Tell. The two of them get caught up in the murder of a man who was shot multiple times, and his pregnant wife was the one found holding the gun. Of course, the truth of the matter will prove to be far more slippery than anyone anticipated.
Out Feb. 19
Reminiscent of An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and The Mothers by Brit Bennett, Anissa Gray's new page-turner, The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, introduces us to sisters Althea, Viola, and Lillian, who are about to endure a criminal trial that will upend life as they know it, and push their family to its breaking point.
Out Feb. 19
Immigration has become a hot-button issue in America for all the wrong reasons (see: racists), and The Good Immigrant is the perfect antidote to all the hate. Through essays from first- and second-generation immigrants like Jenny Zhang, Chigozie Obioma, Fatimah Asghar, and more, you'll get a whole new perspective on everything from '90s fashion to Uber drivers.
Out Feb. 19
Admit it: you've been curious about the crystal trend, but you've been too intimidated (or skeptical!) to dive into what it's all about. Fortunately, Crystals is the ultimate primer for someone looking to reclaim their "power" by using crystals for healing, well-being, and creating harmony.
Out Feb. 19
This quickly paced debut from Andrea Bartz has one eerie question at its center: what really happened the night Edie died? Her best friend, Lindsay, is haunted by the possible answers, and decides to seek out the truth of what happened to Edie, a shining star in NYC's social scene who shocked her friends and family by committing suicide. But did she actually kill herself, or was she murdered?
Out Feb. 26
Calling all history buffs and Killing Eve fans! In The Huntress, the fearless Nina Markova joins the Soviet Union's legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment, to wreak havoc on invading Nazis. But when she gets herself stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal female killer, known as the Huntress. Only Nina's bravery and smarts will keep her alive.
Out Feb. 26
In the mood for an eye-opening biography? Look no further than Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War. Samantha Seiple examines her incredible life, from becoming the now-iconic author of Little Women, to spending time as a Civil War nurse.
Out Feb. 26