Alice Sadie Celine

Sarah Blakely-Cartwright

Synopsis: A hypnotic, sexy, and incisive debut adult novel following one woman’s affair with her daughter’s best friend that tests the limits of love and ambition from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Riding Hood. When Sadie cannot attend her best friend Alice’s play, she send her mother, Celine, in her stead only for her to become entranced with Alice. Set over the course of decades—from Alice and Sadie’s early friendship days and Celine’s decision to leave her husband to the radical movements of 1990s Berkeley and navigating contemporary Hollywood—Alice and Celine’s affair will test the limits of their love for Sadie and their own beliefs of power, agency, and feminism. 

The Berry Pickers

Amanda Peters

This debut novel is suggested for readers of two past BOTM picks. While The Berry Pickers is not published by a publisher BOTM frequently works with, I am crossing my fingers this will be a pick.

Synopsis: A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family, and remain unsolved for nearly fifty years. For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.

Debut

A Nearby Country Called Love

Salar Abdoh

While this book has common BOTM themes, I am not positive it will be a selection as it has a male protagonist.

Synopsis: A sweeping, propulsive novel about the families we are born into and the families we make for ourselves, in which a man struggles to find his place in an Iran on the brink of combusting. Vibrant and evocative, intimate and intelligent, A Nearby Country Called Love is both a captivating window into contemporary Iran and a portrait of the parallel fates of a man and his country—a man who acknowledges the sullen and rumbling baggage of history but then chooses to step past its violent inheritance.

Same Bed Different Dreams

Ed Park

Synopsis: A wild, sweeping novel that imagines an alternate secret history of Korea and the traces it leaves on the present—loaded with assassins and mad poets, RPGs and slasher films, pop bands and the perils of social media. From the acclaimed author of Personal Days, Same Bed Different Dreams is a raucously funny feat of imagination and a thrilling meld of history and fiction that pulls readers into another dimension—one in which utopia is possible.

The Sun Sets in Singapore

Kehinde Fadipe

This novel has been blurbed by several past BOTM authors. I could see BOTM labeling it as contemporary fiction or romance. I included this one in my October predictions, but I think it has just as strong a possibility for November.

Synopsis: Basking in Singapore’s nonstop sunshine, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian are living the glamorous expat dream–until a mysterious (not to mention handsome) new arrival infiltrates their tight-knit community and ruins everything. In The Sun Sets in Singapore, Kehinde Fadipe captures the richness of this metropolis through the eyes of three tenacious women, who are about to learn that unfinished history can follow you anywhere, no matter how far you run from home.

The Vulnerables

Sigrid Nunez

Synopsis: The New York Times–bestselling, National Book Award–winning author of The Friend and What Are You Going Through brings her singular voice to a story about modern life and connection. The Vulnerables offers a meditation on our contemporary era, as a solitary female narrator asks what it means to be alive at this complex moment in history and considers how our present reality affects the way a person looks back on her past.

Above the Salt

Katherine Vaz

Synopsis: An irresistible and sweeping love story that follows two Portuguese refugees who flee religious violence and reignite their budding romance in Civil-War America. In poignant and lyrical prose, Katherine Vaz’s Above the Salt is a captivating and beautiful tribute to the power of true love and the sacrifices we make to harness it.

Good Taste

Caroline Scott

Synopsis: With delectable prose, a sharp heroine ahead of her time, and an adventure across the English countryside in search of great food, Good Taste is the perfect historical novel for fans of Dear Mrs. Bird and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Full of wit, life, and—against all odds—delicious food, Good Taste is a story of discovery and one woman’s desire to make her own way as a modern woman.

Debut

Let Us Descend

Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward is an author I may not have otherwise found, if not for BOTM. She also happens to be one of my favorite authors. So I am hoping BOTM will continue selecting her novels.

Synopsis: From Jesmyn Ward comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War. Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

Repeat Author

The Madstone

Elizabeth Crook

Synopsis: With echoes of Lonesome Dove and News of the World, the riveting story of a pregnant young mother, her child, and the frontier tradesman who helps them flee vengeful outlaws, even as an unlikely love blossoms, in “a brilliant, beautiful page-turner”. With its vivid characters and expansive canvas, The Madstone calls to mind Lonesome Dove, yet Elizabeth Crook’s new novel is a singular achievement. Told in Benjamin’s resolute and unforgettable voice, it is full of eccentric action, unrelenting peril, and droll humor—a thrilling and beautifully rendered story of three people sharing a hazardous and defining journey that will forever bind them together.

The Porcelain Maker

Sarah Freethy

Blurbed by a few past BOTM authors. Is a WWII novel

Synopsis: An epic story of love, betrayal, and art that spans decades, through the horrors of World War II to 21st century America, inspired by an actual porcelain factory in Dachau. The Porcelain Maker is a powerful novel of enduring love and courage in the face of appalling brutality as a daughter seeks to unlock the mystery of her past.

Debut

Search History

Amy Taylor

Based upon the November app hint, I think this book is a guarantee.

Synopsis: Perceptive and original, full of both pathos and humor, Search History explores the contradictions and uncertainties of twenty-first-century romance. Ana’s journey down the internet rabbit hole of modern dating asks the question: Which is our “true” self—the one we show to the world online, or the one we keep to ourselves?

Courting Samira

Amal Awad

Despite being released by a publisher BOTM does not frequently work with, I think Courting Samira has a shot at being a pick. And technically, it could also fit the app hint for November.

Synopsis: Set in Sydney, Australia, Courting Samira is a charming, big-hearted rom-com about a twenty-seven-year-old Palestinian woman who finds herself in an unexpected love triangle—a sparkling ode to meddling best friends, traditional courtship, The Princess Bride, and, of course, the possibility of love.

The Last Love Note

Emma Grey

This book is being published by Zibby Books, a new publisher that BOTM has not worked with previously. So why am I including it? It seems to fit the November app clues.

Synopsis: Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she’s grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the ball―and yet clinging to her sense of humor. When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what’s right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time? When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The Last Love Note will make readers laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart―and in love itself.

Next-Door Nemesis

Alexa Martin

Because Alexa Martin is already a popular author, I think this novel is less likely than others to be a pick. However, there is still a possibility.

Synopsis: Two rival candidates for a homeowner’s association presidency are about to find out how dirty suburbanites fight in this steamy new romantic comedy from Alexa Martin. From secret board meetings to vicious smear campaigns whispered over backyard fences, Collins and Nate sink to levels their sleepy suburb has never seen before. But as hate turns into lust, these two enemies are forced to reckon with the feelings they’ve ignored for years. If only there were bylaws for real life.

The Beautiful and the Wild

Peggy Townsend

This book promises to be one of the best mystery/thriller books of the month. It is also blurbed by a few past BOTM authors.

Synopsis: It’s summer in Alaska and the light surrounding the shipping-container-turned-storage shed where Liv Russo is being held prisoner is fuzzy and gray. Around her is thick forest and jagged mountains. In front of her, across a clearing, is a low-slung cabin with a single window that spills a wash of yellow light onto bare ground. Illuminated in that light is the father of her child, a man she once loved. A man who is now her jailor. Liv vows to do anything to escape.  

The Helsinki Affair

Anna Pitoniak

The November hint alludes to this novel being a selection. I am personally looking forward to adding this to my box.

Synopsis: Spying is the family business. Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA officer following in the footsteps of her father, who was a spy during the Cold War. It takes grit to succeed in this male-dominated world—but one hot summer day, when a Russian defector walks into her post, Amanda is given the ultimate chance to prove herself. The defector warns of the imminent assassination of a US senator. Though Amanda takes the warning seriously, her superiors don’t. Twenty-four hours later, the senator is dead. And the assassination is just the beginning. 

The Mystery Guest (The Maid #2)

Nita Prose

The first book with Molly Gray, The Maid, was a BOTM selection last year. Based upon its popularity, I would be surprised if its sequel is also not a pick.

Synopsis: Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tearoom floor. A new mess. A new mystery. It’s up to Molly the maid to uncover the truth, no matter how dirty, in this standalone novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid.

Repeat Author

The Other Half

Charlotte Vassell

For some reason, this title screams BOTM for me. I wish I had concrete reasons to articulate why, but you will just have to trust me instead.

Synopsis: Rupert’s 30th birthday party is a black-tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald’s—catered with cocaine and expensive champagne. The morning after, his girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath, a single stiletto heel jutting from under a bush. Bitingly funny, full of shocking twists, and all too familiar, The Other Half is a truly stunning debut.

Debut

The Professor

Lauren Nossett

Lauren Nossett’s debut novel was not a BOTM selection. But her sophomore novel is getting a lot more attention. Consequently, I think it has a shot at being a November pick.

Synopsis: For fans of Tana French, The Professor investigates the darkest corners of academic life: ambition, lies, and obsession. On a spring afternoon in Athens, Georgia, Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His fatality immediately garners media attention: not because his death reflects the troubling increase of depression and mental health issues among college students, but because the media has caught the whiff of a scandal. 

The Future

Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman’s previous book, The Power, was a popular past BOTM selection. I would be really surprised if

Synopsis: The bestselling, award-winning author of The Power delivers a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it. By turns thrilling, hilarious, tender, and always piercingly brilliant, The Future unfolds at a breakneck speed, highlighting how power corrupts the few who have it and what it means to stand up to them. The future is coming. The Future is here.

Repeat Author

Good Girls Don’t Die

Christina Henry

This title promises to be popular this month. It is a combination of thriller, horror, and fantasy.

Synopsis: A sharp-edged, supremely twisty thriller about three women who find themselves trapped inside stories they know aren’t their own, from the author of Alice and Near the Bone. Three women. Three stories. Only one way out. This captivating novel will keep readers guessing until the very end.

The Kingdom of Sweets

Erika Johansen

I think this book has an interest premise as a retelling of The Nutcracker. Because it includes Christmas and is a November 28 release, I think we could see it in December if it is not a November selection.

Synopsis: Light and dark—this is the cursed birthright placed upon Clara and Natasha by their godfather, Drosselmeyer, whose power and greed hold an entire city in his sway. Charming Clara, the favorite, grows into a life of beauty and ease, while Natasha is relegated to her sister’s shadow, ignored and unloved. But Natasha seizes the opportunity for revenge one Christmas Eve, when Drosselmeyer arrives at the family gala with the Nutcracker, an enchanted gift that offers entry into an alternate world: the Kingdom of Sweets. This gloriously transportive reimagining of The Nutcracker tells the tale of twin sisters, divided by envy and magic, set against each another one fateful Christmas Eve.

The Princess of Thornwood Drive

Khalia Moreau

I think this debut novel sounds fascinating. Because I do not read many fantasy novels, including those that are BOTM selections, I cannot say for sure how much of a chance this has at being a pick.

Synopsis: Two sisters are trapped on opposite sides of reality in this entrancing and deeply moving debut novel that weaves together a contemporary narrative with a parallel fantasy world. 

Debut

What the River Knows

Isabel Ibañez

With the end of one duology comes the opportunity for another. Due to all the big title potential for this month. Because it is a late October release, I think it has a shot at being a November selection.

Synopsis: The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in What the River Knows, Isabel Ibañez’s lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt and filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race. What the River Knows is the first book in the thrilling Secrets of the Nile duology.

Check & Mate

Ali Hazelwood

BOTM has selected Ali Hazelwood’s previous books as they have proved wildly popular. With her venturing into the YA genre, it will be interesting to see if BOTM continues selecting her novels.

Synopsis: In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Repeat Author

Something About Her

Clementine Taylor

Synopsis: A heartfelt and delicately crafted debut novel about two young women who become entangled in one another and embark on a surprising journey of self-discovery and modern love. Moving between Ireland, Scotland, and London, Something About Her is a story about the fragility and transformative power of first love. With vivid insight and tenderness, it exposes the fear, hope, and longing that can consume us, particularly when there’s so much you still don’t know about love, about life, and about yourself.

Debut

Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, & Higher Education

Stephanie Land

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a struggling mother barely making ends meet as a housecleaner—a gripping memoir about college, motherhood, poverty, and life after Maid. Class paints an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition. Who has the right to create art? Who has the right to go to college? And what kind of work is valued in our culture? In clear, candid, and moving prose, Class grapples with these questions, offering a searing indictment of America’s educational system and an inspiring testimony of a mother’s triumph against all odds.

Repeat Author

Call You When I Land

Nikki Vargas

Synopsis: A soul-stirring memoir from Colombian immigrant and travel journalist Nikki Vargas, whisking us through the countries that brought her new love, self-discovery, and the inspiration to launch the first international feminist travel magazine, Unearth Women. Told in transporting detail and candid reflections, Call You When I Land takes the familiar story of a woman going abroad to find herself and turns it on its head, as the act of traveling becomes, for Nikki, an exhilarating career path  – and ultimately a tool to champion women’s voices across the world.