Between Two Moons

Aisha Abdel Gawad

Some of my most loved BOTM books have been similar to this one. So I am hoping this will also be a selection and be as great as those. I think it may also be a pick since it is blurbed by two past BOTM authors.

Synopsis: Set in the Arab immigrant enclave of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, following three siblings coming of age over the course of one Ramadan, a moving look at family, survival, and celebration.

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The Favor

Adele Griffin

I think this may be a book that surprises many as a selection. While Griffin is not a past BOTM author, this book has themes BOTM favors along with very positive early reviews.

Synopsis: From National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin, an insightful and warmhearted story of two very different women who make an unexpected connection when one decides to carry a baby for the other.

The Five-Star Weekend

Elin Hilderbrand

BOTM insists on featuring every single Elin Hilderbrand book that is published. I assume this is because she is popular, despite her past behavior towards readers and book influencers. I am continually disappointed by BOTM’s choice to pick her books but it does not seem it will change anytime soon.

Synopsis: After tragedy strikes, Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket.

Repeat Author

Graceland

Jenny Xie

This book, published in late May, has a cover that screams BOTM to me. Add in that it is a debut about a family of women, I think it has a decent shot at showing up in some little blue boxes.

Synopsis: A sparkling, warm-hearted, witty debut about three generations of women that set out on a road trip to Memphis. Along the road to Memphis, as the women encounter former soap actors, free-range ferrets, and a trio of Elvis-impersonating frat boys, everyone’s long-held secrets begin to unravel. In order to become the family they long to be, Hope, Olivia, and Dylan must face hard truths about themselves and one another on the bumpy road to acceptance, forgiveness, and ultimately, grace.

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Holding Pattern

Jenny Xie

I think that a book about mother-daughter relationships is always a safe bet for BOTM.

Synopsis: What happens when an ambitious and successful twenty-something is forced to start over? She moves in with mom. Brilliantly observant, tender, and warm, Holding Pattern is a hopeful novel about immigration and belonging, mother-daughter relationships, and the many ways we learn to hold each other.

Little Monsters

Adrienne Brodeur

Between the fact that this is by a previous BOTM author and is comparison to a popular past selection, I think is a likely selection. The subject matter just adds to inkling.

Synopsis: From the author of the bestselling memoir Wild Game comes a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families, and long-buried secrets—for fans of the New York Times bestsellers The Paper Palace and Ask Again, Yes.

Repeat Author

Old Enough

Haley Jakobson

This debut also has some common BOTM themes. However, I do not think it is a shoe-in selection since it is both queer and new adult.

Synopsis: A debut novel about a young bisexual woman who is pulled between a new sense of community and loyalty to a friendship she’s outgrown. With a singularly funny, heartfelt voice, Old Enough explores queer love, community, and what it means to be a sexual assault survivor. Haley Jakobson has written a love letter to friendship and an honest depiction of what finding your people can feel like—for better or worse.

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The Rachel Incident

Caroline O’Donoghue

I requested an ARC of this novel a few months ago since it seems like an easy BOTM selection. This story features love, friendship, and coming of age.

Synopsis: Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.

The Wife App

Carolyn Mackler

This fun-sounding debut novel has been blurbed by a very popular past BOTM author. However, it is a late June publication by a publisher who is not a frequent BOTM collaborator.

Synopsis: Three best friends decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process.

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You Can’t Stay Here Forever

Katherine Lin

This debut novel is compared to two past repeat BOTM authors. With this being set in the French Riviera, I think it could be a good beach read.

Synopsis: Desperate to obliterate her past, a young widow flees California for the French Riviera in this compelling debut, a tale of loss, rebirth, modern friendship, and romance that blends Sally Rooney’s wryness and psychological insight with Emma Straub’s gorgeous scene-setting and rich relationships.

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Banyan Moon

Thao Thai

I would be so happy if this was a selection. This debut sounds like a few of my past BOTM favorites. It is a June 27 release, so we may see it as a July pick, if it is one at all.

Synopsis: A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family’s inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories. Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.

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The First Ladies

Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray

I loved The Personal Librarian and hope this book will be just as great. I think the fact that this book also centers on a popular historic figure adds to the likelihood it will be a selection.

Synopsis: A novel about the extraordinary partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune—an unlikely friendship that changed the world.

Repeat Author

Good Night, Irene

Luis Alberto Urrea

This late May release is compared to a very popular past BOTM pick and blurbed by several past BOTM authors. And BOTM does love its WWII historical fiction.

Synopsis: In the tradition of The Nightingale and Transcription, this is a searing epic based on the magnificent and true story of courageous Red Cross women. Taking as inspiration his mother’s own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II.

Hotel Laguna

Nicola Harrison

Personally, this would not be my historical fiction book for June. However, BOTM does love historical fiction about WWII, and the synopsis sounds like a BOTM pick.

Synopsis: Hazel Francis, a young woman from Wichita, Kansas, longing for a change in her current situation, takes a chance and sets out for California to take her place among other women working in an airplane factory during WWII. Once the men return home, and their jobs are returned to them, Hazel again sets out to find her way, with only herself to count on.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Lisa See

I could have sworn that Lisa See was a past BOTM author. However, it looks like I was mistaken. I think this book is a shoe-in selection.

Synopsis: The latest historical novel from New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China—perfect for fans of See’s classic Snowflower and the Secret Fan and The Island of Sea Women.

Loot

Tania James

I think this would be a refreshingly different historical fiction selection for BOTM… which means it is not super likely. It may be too literary for a BOTM histfic pick, but that is hard to say without having read it. I will mention that it is blurbed by past BOTM authors.

Synopsis: A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth a hero’s quest, a love story, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and fifty years. A wildly inventive, irresistible feat of storytelling from a writer at the height of her powers.

Lucky Red

Claudia Cravens

While westerns are not typical BOTM fare, selecting one would not be unprecedented. Being both a debut and blurbed by a BOTM author definitely increases its likelihood.

Synopsis: A cinematic debut set in the American West about a scrappy orphan bent on making her own luck—and finding friendship, romance, and her true calling along the way.

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The Spectacular

Fiona Davis

While Davis’s last book, The Magnolia Palace, was a BOTM selection, I am not sure if this one will be as well. I think the fact it centers on Radio City increases the likelihood.

Synopsis: A thrilling story about love, sacrifice, and the pursuit of dreams, set amidst the glamour and glitz of Radio City Music Hall in its mid-century heyday.

Repeat Author

All the Right Notes

Dominic Lim

This may just be me wishing for this unique sounding debut. But with the subject matter, I think it may show up in some blue boxes in June.

Synopsis: ​In this hilarious and joyous LGBTQ+ rom com, sparks fly when a piano genius and a Hollywood heartthrob are thrown together for a charity performance of solos, heartfelt duets, and a big, showstopping finale.

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Cassandra in Reverse

Holly Smale

This book is from a publisher BOTM does not often work with. But the fact it is a Reese’s pick gives it a chance at being a BOTM selection.

Synopsis: Cassandra Penelope Dankworth is a creature of habit. Her life runs in a pleasing, predictable order…until now. She’s just been dumped and fired. Then, something truly unexpected happens: Cassie discovers she can go back and change the past. One small rewind at a time, Cassie attempts to fix the life she accidentally obliterated, but soon she’ll discover she’s trying to fix all the wrong things.

Love, Theoretically

Ali Hazelwood

I believe Hazelwood’s last book was a BOTM selection the month after its publication. Based upon that, I think Love, Theoretically may be a July, rather than a June pick.

Synopsis: Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.

Repeat Author

Talking at Night

Claire Daverley

I am always hopeful that BOTM will showcase debut novels. For me, this seems like the most likely debut romance selection.

Synopsis: Secret walks and late-night phone calls. An undeniable chemistry. A tragedy that haunts them both. A powerful yet tender love story between two people who can’t help but be pulled back to each other. Talking at Night tells a story of sudden connections, missed opportunities, the many loves we have over a lifetime–and the one that keeps us coming back, again and again, for more.

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We Could Be So Good

Cat Sebastian

While this book is compared to previous BOTM books/authors, it does not seem like a shoe-in selection becomes it is a historical romance.

Synopsis: Casey McQuiston meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century rom-dram about a scrappy reporter, Nick, and a newspaper mogul’s son, Andy. Gay relationships being famously hard to pull off in the 1950s, Nick and Andy have some tough decisions ahead.

All the Sinners Bleed

S.A. Cosby

BOTM members seem to love S.A. Cosby (not including me). I would be very surprised if BOTM does not include this a selection.

Synopsis: After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus Crown returns home to Charon County, land of moonshine and cornbread, fist fights and honeysuckle. Seeing his hometown struggling with a bigoted police force inspires him to run for sheriff. He wins, and becomes the first Black sheriff in the history of the county. Then a year to the day after his election, a young Black man is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Titus pledges to follow the truth wherever it leads. But no one expected he would unearth a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon.

Repeat Author

Zero Days

Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is another author BOTM is in a long-term relationship with. I think this is a likely add-on.

Synopsis: Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her. Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery.

Repeat Author

The Whispers

Ashley Audrain

Personally, I am super excited for this book after loving The Push. I would be disappointed not to see it unless BOTM includes a debut novel in its place. I believe The Push was also a pretty popular past selection, increasing The Whispers‘s likelihood.

Synopsis: From the author of The Push, a page-turner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens–and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices.  Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life’s most difficult decisions.

Repeat Author

The Long Way Back

Nicole Baart

Baart’s previous novel was a BOTM selection although her other novels were not picks. As far as repeat authors go, I think this book will be less likely than others to be a selection.

Synopsis: When an Instagram-famous teenager mysteriously disappears, her mother grapples with the revelation of dark secrets in this twisty, atmospheric thriller.

Repeat Author

The Spare Room

Andrea Bartz

While I could not get through this author’s previous book, it was a somewhat popular BOTM selection. However, Bartz is another author who had her last book be a pick but none of her others. So I think this has a better chance at being a pick than The Long Way Back, but I think it is less likely than All The Sinners Bleed and Zero Days.

Synopsis: Staying with a friend and her husband is sexier—and deadlier—than anyone could have imagined, in this provocative domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here.

Repeat Author

She Started It

Sian Gilbert

This debut is suggested for fans of two popular BOTM authors. Between that and a synopsis that sounds like a fun women-behaving-badly plot, I think this is a solid contender.

Synopsis: For fans of Lucy Foley and Liane Moriarty, She Started It is a hot, twisty summer debut thriller about a group of young women whose Caribbean bachelorette party takes a sinister turn. It’s Lord of the Flies meets And Then There Were None…but with Instagram and too much prosecco.

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Don’t Forget the Girl

Rebecca McKanna

This debut is compared to a past BOTM author and blurbed by another repeat BOTM author. The fact it is about friendship makes this a contender. I have also seen very positive reviews for it.

Synopsis: Tense and introspective, for readers of Megan Goldin and Heather Gudenkauf, Don’t Forget the Girl is an astonishing debut thriller that mines the complexities of friendship and the secrets between us that we may take to the grave.

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The Girls of Summer

Kate Bishop

This debut novel is being compared to My Dark Vanessa, another previous BOTM selection. It is hard to say without having read it, but I think this book is a little less likely to be a selection.

Synopsis: Rachel and Alistair’s summer love affair on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island has consumed her since she was seventeen. But as Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of so long ago, she reconnects with the other girls who were similarly drawn to life on the island. And as she does so, dark and deeply suppressed secrets about her first love affair begin to rise to the surface.

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You Can Trust Me

Wendy Heard

This book just seems like a BOTM selection to me, but it is always hard to say for sure without having read it. It is also blurbed by several past BOTM authors.

Synopsis: A blazingly sharp, sexy, feminist thriller about two best friends grift their way through the California elite, until a scam goes awry.

The Drowning Woman

Robyn Harding

I think this is going to be a very popular book. It has been blurbed by several past and repeat BOTM authors. The only hesitation I have about it is that it seems to have a big marketing campaign.

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of The Party comes a dark and wild ride of redemption, betrayal, and friendship following a homeless woman fleeing a dangerous past—and the wealthy society wife she saves from drowning.

Maddalena and the Dark

Julia Fine

Maddelena and the Dark is compared to two past popular BOTM selections. My only hesitation in including this book in my predictions is that there are a lot of thriller options this month, and BOTM may decide that is enough books with dark themes for one month.

Synopsis: For fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Mexican Gothic, a novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous wager. Lush and heady, swirling with music and magic, Maddalena and the Dark is a Venetian fairytale about the friendship between two girls and the boundless desire that will set them free, if it doesn’t consume them first.

The Only One Left

Riley Sager

While I am long over Riley Sager, BOTM is still not. Judging by the trend with his last book and the June 20th publication date, I am guessing that this will be a July selection rather than a June one. It is being described as gothic fiction, rather than a thriller.

Synopsis: A Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.

Repeat Author

Ink Blood Sister Scribe

Emma Törzs

I featured Ink Blood Sister Scribe in my predictions last month, but it is a May 30th release. So I think it is likely to be a June pick, especially with the latest BOTM app hint.

Synopsis: In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family’s library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection—a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power. In the great tradition of Ninth House, The Magicians, and Practical Magic, this is a suspenseful and richly atmospheric novel that draws readers into a vast world filled with mystery and magic, romance, and intrigue—and marks the debut of an extraordinary new voice in speculative fiction.

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The Wishing Game

Meg Shaffer

This is a May 30 release so it still has a chance at being a BOTM selection.

Synopsis: Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.

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How to Be Remembered

Michael Thompson

This late June release is compared to a very popular past BOTM. While it is a debut, the fact it has a male protagonist makes me hesitant to say it is a likely pick.

Synopsis: For fans of Matt Haig and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue comes a big-hearted novel following a man who can never be remembered and his journey to become unforgettable… How to Be Remembered is a life-affirming novel about discovering how to leave your mark on the places and people you love most.

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On Earth As It Is on Television

Emily Jane

While this cover screams BOTM to me, I think there is only have a tiny chance of it being a pick. Between the publisher and the likelihood it includes aliens, it does not seem like a BOTM pick.

Synopsis: In Emily Jane’s rollicking debut, when spaceships arrive and then depart suddenly without a word, the certainty that we are not alone in the universe turns to intense uncertainty as to our place within it.

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The Other Side of Mrs. Wood

Lucy Barker

This late June release is compared to two previous BOTM selections. If it is not a June selection, it may still have a chance to be a July selection.

Synopsis: For fans of The Lost Apothecary or the Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, a deliciously atmospheric historical novel about the rivalry between two female mediums during Victorian London’s obsession with Spiritualism.

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My Murder

Katie Williams

Initially, I thought this book would definitely be a BOTM selection. However, the more I learned about it the less I thought so. I think there is a small chance it will be a pick, but I think it may also be too weird for BOTM.

Synopsis: Lou is a happily married mother of an adorable toddler. She’s also the victim of a local serial killer. Recently brought back to life and returned to her grieving family by a government project, she is grateful for this second chance. But as the new Lou re-adapts to her old routines, and as she bonds with other female victims, she realizes that disturbing questions remain about what exactly preceded her death and how much she can really trust those around her.

The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia

Samantha Leach

Synopsis: Three suburban girls meet at a boarding school for troubled teens. Eight years later, they were dead. In The Elissas, Bustle editor Samantha Leach endeavors to understand why they ultimately met a shared, tragic fate that she was spared, in turn, offering a chilling account of the secret lives of young suburban women.

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Young and Restless: The Girls Who Sparked America’s Revolutions

Mattie Kahn

Synopsis: The untold story of the people who have helped spark America’s most transformative social movements throughout history: teenage girls.

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