Reviews+

This month features a lesbian vampire tale from bestselling V.E. Schwab, a historical portal fantasy from LJ Best Book author H.G. Parry, and two fairy-tale retellings.

Rival thieves, court intrigue, and monsters appear amid the romance in these anticipated romantasy reads.

A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, the members of ABBA, and the outlaw Belle Starr are among the subjects of this month's key life stories.

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers makes her nonfiction debut, Sara Kehaulani Goo describes her family’s journey to keep their ancestral Hawaiian lands, and Brando Simeo Starkey writes a history of the Supreme Court’s role in sustaining white supremacy.

Parmy Olson’s Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World is named Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year. Yan F Zhang’s short story “Fleeting Marrow” wins the 4thWrite Prize. The 2024 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipients are announced. Best-of-2024 lists arrive from NPR’s Maureen Corrigan, Time, Reactor, CBC, Seattle Times, BookRiot, and CrimeReads. LitHub shares the best-reviewed books of the year. Phaidon Press appoints Bob Miller as new CEO. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane. Sarah J. Maas teases a new ACOTAR book, along with new audiobook recordings for spring. Plus, Clare Mulley’s The Woman Who Saved the Children will be adapted for film.

Poet Nikki Giovanni, a star of the Black Arts Movement, has died at the age of 81. Ariel Lawhon wins the Nero award for The Frozen River. Best-of-2024 lists arrive from CrimeReads, LA Times, and Slate, while The Atlantic’s “Books Briefing” writes in defense of best-of-the-year lists. The Booker Prize judges are announced, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Roddy Doyle. The Goodreads account of the suspect in the United Healthcare CEO shooting is under scrutiny for a review of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's manifesto. The Golden Globes nominations features several adaptations. Actor Jeremy Renner is finishing up a memoir about his snow-plow accident and recovery. New Jersey becomes the latest state to prohibit bans on books in school and public libraries.

What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane leads holds this week. January’s Indie Next Preview is out, featuring #1 pick Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix. Best of 2024 lists arrive from People, Time, ElectricLit, and Vox. USA Today covers librarians’ efforts to stand up for freedom to read in a number of states, while librarian and author Amanda Jones files a new defamation suit. Caleb Azumah Nelson will adapt his novel Open Water for television. Plus, “romantasy” loses out to “brat” as Collins Dictionary’s word of the year.

Taylor Jenkins Reid returns with a 1980s set love story amid NASA's Space Shuttle program while YA author Renée Ahdieh makes her adult debut with a novel about young lawyer Jia Song and the wealthy Park family.

Award-winning Susan Choi and Joyce Carol Oates offer new novels, and Ho-Yeon Kim's international bestseller is released in the U.S.