It is that time of the month where all of us Book of the Month subscribers start to anxiously anticipate the next month’s releases. I am here to speculate and possibly predict which books will be selected for Book of the Month (BOTM) main picks and add-ons.
For the last few months, BOTM has included an add-on that is a book in which an adaptation is being released that month. I am curious if this trend will continue. I have added a non-genre category at the end of these predictions thinking that perhaps BOTM will again select a movie tie-in, in which case I have two guesses.
Contemporary & Literary Fiction

Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus
A must-read debut novel! Meet Elizabeth Zott: a one-of-a-kind scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.
Debut

Memphis
Tara M. Stringfellow
A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.
Debut

The Wise Women
Gina Sorell
A witty and wildly enjoyable novel, set in New York City, about two adult daughters and their meddling advice columnist mother.
Debut
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Cover Story
Susan Rigetti
Netflix’s “Inventing Anna” meets Catch Me If You Can, a captivating novel about an ambitious young women who gets trapped in a charismatic con artist’s scam.

Unlikely Animals
Annie Hartnett
A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after. Set against the backdrop of a small town in the throes of a very real opioid crisis, Unlikely Animals is a tragicomic novel about familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrecting that which had been thought irrevocably lost.

Marrying the Ketchups
Jennifer Close
An irresistible comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the deep-fried, beer-battered, cream cheese-frosted love that feeds them all.

An Unlasting Home
Mai Al-Nakib
The debut novel from an award-winning short story writer: a multigenerational saga spanning Lebanon, Iraq, India, the United States, and Kuwait that brings to life the triumphs and failures of three generations of Arab women.
Debut

Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
Debut & Early Release
Historical Fiction

Four Treasures of the Sky
Jenny Tinghui Zhang
A propulsive and dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West.
Debut

Atomic Anna
Rachel Barenbaum
From the author of A Bend in the Stars, an epic adventure as three generations of women work together and travel through time to prevent the Chernobyl disaster and right the wrongs of their past.

Sister Stardust
Jane Green
In her first novel inspired by a true story, Jane Green re-imagines the life of troubled icon Talitha Getty in this transporting story from a forgotten chapter of the Swinging ’60s.

Take My Hand
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
A searing and compassionate new novel about a young Black nurse’s shocking discovery and burning quest for justice in post-segregation Alabama.

The Good Left Undone
Adriana Trigiani
A lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret.
Romance

The Sign for Home
Blair Fell
Arlo Dilly is young, handsome and eager to meet the right girl. He also happens to be DeafBlind, a Jehovah’s Witness, and under the strict guardianship of his controlling uncle. His chances of finding someone to love seem slim to none. When Arlo Dilly learns the girl he thought was lost forever might still be out there, he takes it as a sign and embarks on a life-changing journey to find his great love—and his freedom.
Debut

Fool Me Once
Ashley Winstead
Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks butt at her job as a communications director, and after work she is “Stoner,” drinking guys under the table and never letting them get too comfortable in her bed… That’s because Lee’s learned one big lesson: never trust love. Fool Me Once explores the chaos of wanting something you used to have.

Set on You
Amy Lea
Curvy fitness influencer Crystal Chen built her career shattering gym stereotypes and mostly ignoring the trolls. After her recent breakup, she has little stamina left for men, instead finding solace in the gym. Enter firefighter Scott Ritchie, the smug new gym patron who routinely steals her favorite squat rack. Sparks fly as these ultra-competitive foes battle for gym domination.
Early Release & Debut

Book Lovers
Emily Henry
Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby. Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away, where Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city
Early Release & Repeat Author
Thrillers, Mysteries, & Horror

Insomnia
Sarah Pinborough
In this twisty, mind-bending thriller from the bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, Emma Averell worries that her crippling insomnia is a sign that she’s slowly going insane—like the mother she’s worked so hard to leave in her past.
Repeat Author

Portrait of a Thief
Grace D. Li
Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums, about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity.
Debut

Blood Will Tell
Heather Chavez
A twisty novel about the bond between two sisters—and the crimes one covers up to protect the other.

Blood Sugar
Sacha Rothchild
An utterly delicious debut thriller that tells the story of the most likable murderess you will ever meet – an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice.
Debut

My Summer Darlings
May Cobb
Three lifelong friends plus a dangerous, sexy new stranger in town add up to a scorching summer of manipulation, obsession, and murder, from the acclaimed author of The Hunting Wives.
Early Release & Repeat Author
Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism

Kaikeyi
Vaishnavi Patel
Kaikeyi reimagines the life of the infamous queen from the Indian epic the Ramayana, weaving a tale of fate, family, courage, and heartbreak—and an extraordinary woman determined to leave her mark in a world where gods and men dictate the shape of things to come.
Debut

A Tiny Upward Shove
Melissa Chadburn
A Tiny Upward Shove is inspired by Melissa Chadburn’s Filipino heritage and its folklore, as it traces the too-short life of a young, cast-off woman transformed by death into an agent of justice―or mercy.
Debut

End of the World House
Adrienne Celt
Groundhog Day meets Ling Ma’s Severance in End of the World House, a thought-provoking comedic novel about two young women trying to save their friendship as the world collapses around them.

Elektra
Jennifer Saint
The House of Atreus is cursed. A bloodline tainted by a generational cycle of violence and vengeance. This is the story of three women, their fates inextricably tied to this curse, and the fickle nature of men and gods.
Early Release & Repeat Author
Young Adult

I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Casey McQuiston
From the New York Times bestselling author of One Last Stop and Red, White & Royal Blue comes a debut YA romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need…
Early Release & Repeat Author

Hotel Magnifique
Emily J. Taylor
Decadent and darkly enchanting, this lavish YA fantasy debut follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique, which appears in a different destination every morning.
Debut
Short Stories

Nobody Gets Out Alive
Leigh Newman
Set in Newman’s home state of Alaska, Nobody Gets Out Alive is a collection of dazzling, courageous stories about women struggling to survive not just grizzly bears and charging moose but the raw, exhausting legacy of their marriages and families.
Debut
Nonfiction

Easy Beauty
Chloe Cooper Jones
A groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen.

Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, & Other Explosives
Mary Laura Philpott
Philpott returns with this memoir in her distinctive voice to explore our protective instincts, the ways we continue to grow up long after we’re grown, and the limits—both tragic and hilarious—of the human body and mind.
Movie Tie-Ins

Conversations with Friends
Sally Rooney
Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick.
Repeat Author

Anatomy of a Scandal
Sarah Vaughan
Sophie Whitehouse has the “perfect” life. But everything changes the night her husband James comes home and confesses an indiscretion. Suddenly, her neat, ordered world is turned upside down. Did she ever really know the man she married? And, as it turns out, James’s revelation is just the tip of the iceberg.