The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale

Virginia Kantra

This retelling of The Wizard of Oz sounds like a fun book that BOTM subscribers would love. However, that may also make it less likely to be a selection.

Synopsis: A woman learns to follow her own road in this heartwarming novel inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy “Dee” Gale is searching for a place to belong. When Dee’s relationship with a faculty member, a bestselling novelist, ends in heartbreak and humiliation, she’s caught in a tornado of negative publicity. Unable to face her colleagues—or her former lover—Dee applies to the writing program at Trinity College Dublin. In a year of opportunities and changes, love and loss, Dee is mentored by powerful women in the writing program, challenging her to see herself and her work with new eyes. 

Familia

Virginia Kantra

In recent years, BOTM has only worked once with Familia‘s publisher. However, I think this is the type of book that screams BOTM.

Synopsis: Against the bold beauty of San Juan, a baffling genealogy test connects two twenty-something women across cultures and class in this emotional yet refreshing story about sisterhood and self-discovery for fans of Nina LaCour, Xochitl Gonzalez, Elizabeth Acevedo, Annette Chavez Macias, and Julia Alvarez. 

Flores & Miss Paula

Melissa Rivero

Synopsis: A wry, tender novel about a Peruvian immigrant mother and a millennial daughter who have one final chance to find common ground. Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It’s been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín, who had always been the bridge between them. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother’s handwriting: “Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.” But what would Paula need forgiveness for?

Rebecca, Not Becky

Christine Platt & Catherine Wigginton Greene

This sophomore novel is a bit of a stretch for a prediction. But the synopsis sounds like a BOTM selection.

Synopsis: In the vein of Such a Fun Age, a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothers—one white, one Black—living in a “perfect” suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of America’s all-too-familiar racial reckoning.

Mercury

Amy Jo Burns

BOTM started working with Celadon books again. If this book is any good, I think we may see it as a selection. Celadon has also been amenable in the past to early releases.

Synopsis: It’s 1990 and seventeen-year-old Marley West is blazing into the river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania. A perpetual loner, she seeks a place at someone’s table and a family of her own. The first thing she sees when she arrives in town is three men standing on a rooftop. Their silhouettes blot out the sun. The Joseph brothers become Marley’s whole world before she can blink. Soon, she is young wife to one, The One Who Got Away to another, and adopted mother to them all. As their own mother fades away and their roofing business crumbles under the weight of their unwieldy father’s inflated ego, Marley steps in to shepherd these unruly men. 

Early Release

River East, River West

Aub Rey Lescure

This book is compared to several past BOTM selections and is an early January release.

Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of developing modern China, this mesmerizing literary debut is part coming-of-age tale, part family and social drama, as it follows two generations searching for belonging and opportunity in a rapidly changing world—perfect for readers of Behold the Dreamers, White Ivy, and The Leavers.

Debut | Early Release

The Frozen River

Ariel Lawhon

Ariel Lawhon is a pretty well established author. However, I think this book will appeal to BOTM subscribers and is one of the good December releases.

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

The Storm We Made

Roberta Rich

This is my most anticipated January release. With the lack of December options, I think we may see an early release this month, and this is a January 2nd release.

Synopsis: A spellbinding, sweeping novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.

Debut | Early Release

Queen of Clubs

Beezy Marsh

This novel is the follow up to Queen of Thieves, a January 2023 selection. Queen of Clubs is the second in Beezy Marsh’s thrilling UK historical series about a ring of all-female gangsters in 1950s London.

Synopsis: London, 1957: After rising up against gangland’s queen, Alice Diamond, formerly downtrodden Nell is living the perfect life of crime. Far from the East End slums where she was raised, she’s now an accomplished professional thief by day—lifting luxury goods from high-end department stores—and a glamorous nightclub owner after dark. Dressed in stolen silks and furs, Nell cuts a dazzling figure in the dimly lit clubs where she calls the shots. But a betrayal and botched robbery suddenly reverse Nell’s fortunes…and her old rival Alice is hell-bent on taking her down.

Repeat Author | Early Release

The Gentleman’s Gambit

Evie Dunmore

BOTM has carried every other book in Evie Dunmore’s League of Extraordinary Women series. It would be super disappointing if BOTM stops with the fourth book. Also, this month’s app hint points seems to point to this book.

Synopsis: Bookish suffragist Catriona Campbell is busy: An ailing estate, academic writer’s block, a tense time for England’s women’s rights campaign—the last thing she needs is to be stuck playing host to her father’s distractingly attractive young colleague.

Repeat Author

The Second Chance Year

Melissa Wiesner

My only qualm about this book being a selection is that it is similar to past BOTM selections. However, that also makes me think it is a shoe-in selection. It is also suggested for readers of past BOTM authors.

Synopsis: In this unforgettable story full of charm, wit—and just a bit of magic—a woman down on her luck is given a second chance at fixing her life and trying one year all over again. Perfect for readers of Josie Silver and Rebecca Serle. 

On the Plus Side

Jenny L. Howe

Correct me if I am incorrect, but it seems that BOTM has not had a “plus-sized” romance since The One to Watch. I would love to see them select another. This is actually Jenny Howe’s sophomore novel.

Synopsis: What Not to Wear and Queer Eye meet All the Feels in this sparkling romantic comedy by Jenny L. Howe, in which the new guest on a popular plus-size makeover show has her style―and her love life―transformed.

A Winter in New York

Josie Silver

Since Josie Silver is a past BOTM author, I think this is the most likely holiday romance selection. It is also the most highly rated holiday romance release.

Synopsis: A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel from the New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December.

Repeat Author

The Christmas Wager

Holly Cassidy

I think this is the second most likely holiday romance selection. It is technically a debut by an author that typically rights under another name.

Synopsis: A delightful enemies-to-lovers holiday rom com set in the quaint mountain town of Maple Falls, Colorado, about a city girl and a small-town boy who compete in the town’s annual holiday games in order to win the right price for a charming, local Christmas shop, perfect for fans of The Hating Game and The Twelve Dates of Christmas.

Debut

Faking Christmas

Kerry Winfrey

This is probably the least likely selection for holiday romance, but only included two predictions for the genre felt weird to me.

Synopsis: A misunderstanding with her boss leads Laurel Grant to play house for the holidays—complete with a fake husband and kids—in this delightful, charming rom-com by Kerry Winfrey. After Laurel mistakenly leads her boss to believe she owns a Christmas tree farm, Laurel and Holly come up with the perfect plan—all Laurel has to do is pretend to own the farm for one dinner. But Laurel shows up at the farm to find an unwelcome guest is waiting: Max Beckett, her nemesis since Holly’s wedding. The annoyingly attractive man she hates will be posing as Laurel’s husband just for the evening, but when a snowstorm traps them all for the entire weekend, Laurel is going to have to figure out how to survive with her job and dignity intact. Whatever the case, this promises to be the most eventful Christmas in ages. . . .

The Couple in the Photo

Kate Alice Marshall

BOTM does love domestic thrillers. And this is one of the best thrillers among the measly December publications.

Synopsis: Lucy and her husband, Adam, have been best friends with another couple, Cora and Scott, for years. The four are practically family—they vacation together, co-own a beach cottage, and their children are inseparable. So Lucy is devastated when, while looking at a colleague’s photos of a trip to the Maldives, she spots a picture of Scott, apparently on vacation with another woman. Then she learns that the woman in the photo has gone missing. Lucy can’t help but fear that Scott was involved. But searching for answers might uncover secrets about Scott, Cora, and even her own husband that could destroy the picture-perfect lives they have built together.

The Other Mothers

Katherine Faulkner

This is Katherine Faulker’s sophomore novel. Her debut was highly anticipated but received mixed reviews. This is one of the few solid releases in December.

Synopsis: The author of the Greenwich Park returns with a fresh and deftly paced thriller about murder, class, and motherhood in an exclusive London community.

No One Can Know

Kate Alice Marshall

Kate Alice Marshall’s debut novel What Lies in the Woods was a popular BOTM selection in January. With an early January release date, I think this is the best bet for an early release this month.

Synopsis: A dark and stylish novel of psychological suspense about a young theater critic drawn into a dangerous game that blurs the lines between reality and performance. Emma hasn’t told her husband much about her past. He knows her parents are dead and she hasn’t spoken to her sisters in years. Then they lose their apartment, her husband gets laid off, and Emma discovers she’s pregnant—right as the bank account slips into the red. That’s when Emma confesses that she has one more asset: her parents’ house, which she owns jointly with her estranged sisters. They can’t sell it, but they can live in it. But returning home means that Emma is forced to reveal her secrets to her husband: that the house is not a run-down farmhouse but a stately mansion, and that her parents died there. Were murdered. And that some people say Emma did it.

Repeat Author | Early Release

Only If You’re Lucky

Stacy Willingham

Stacy Willingham’s previous two books have been super popular BOTM selections. The past two years, her books were early releases in December. It will be interesting to see if that trend will continue.

Synopsis: A sharp and twisty exploration of female friendship from the New York Times bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things. Shy, careful Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, the larger-than-life Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined. It’s a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she’s been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered… and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.

Repeat Author | Early Release

The Heiress

Rachel Hawkins

It is no secret that Rachel Hawkins is seemingly an author that BOTM cannot get enough of, including under her pen name. At some point, it is possible BOTM will stop featuring her. When that will happen is a mystery to me. I do think this is more likely to be a January selection simply because of her following.

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins returns with a twisted new gothic suspense about an infamous heiress and the complicated inheritance she left behind.

Repeat Author | Early Release

The Kingdom of Sweets

Erika Johansen

I think this book has an interest premise as a retelling of The Nutcracker. I included this book on my November predictions, but I think it will definitely show up this month (as the app hint indicates).

Synopsis: Bestselling author of the Queen of the Tearling series, Erika Johansen, journeys to a new kingdom in this brilliant stand-alone novel—a darkly magical take on The Nutcracker where two sisters, cursed from birth, are forever changed one memorable Christmas. . . .

Repeat Author

Medusa

Jessie Burton

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: Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: she is Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown open, unleashing desire, love–and betrayal. For readers of Circe and Ariadne, Medusa is an astonishing reinvention that brings to vivid life a heroine history has set in stone.

Ruthless Vows

Rebecca Ross

This is the second book in the duology that started Divine Rivals. I expect to see it among this month’s add-ons. Because it is a late December pub, we may see it as a mid-month add-on or a January selection.

Synopsis: Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

Repeat Author

All the Sinners Bleed

S.A. Cosby

S.A. Cosby’s previous two books have been very popular BOTM selections, so I was a little surprised back in June when his newest book was not a BOTM selection. I think there is a possibility we may see it in December.

Synopsis: Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, quiet Charon has had only two murders. But after years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface. Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon.

Repeat Author

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Story

James McBride

The book has graced the top of several lists as the best book of the year. However, BOTM has worked with its publisher a lot less this year, and James McBride is a big author.

Synopsis: From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them. In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe. As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. 

Crook Manifesto

Colston Whitehead

This is the follow up to Harlem Shuffle and return of Ray Carney. Because Harlem Shuffle was a BOTM selection, I thought there was a good chance this will be a BOTM selection for July. Perhaps we will see it as the yearly look back instead.

Synopsis: The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Harlem Shuffle continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory. Crook Manifesto is a darkly funny tale of a city under siege, but also a sneakily searching portrait of the meaning of family. 

Repeat Author