Anita De Monte Laughs Last

Xochitl Gonzalez

This is Gonzalez’s sophomore novel that follows Olga Dies Dreaming, a BOTM pick. This book has been all over 2024 Most Anticipated Books lists. I think between these facts and the synopsis, it is a highly likely March selection. (It looks like this will definitely be a pick based upon the hint.)

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death. Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of two women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.

Repeat Author

Memory Piece

Lisa Ko

Lisa Ko’s debut novel, The Leavers, was a BOTM selection. Her newest novel is about friendship, art, and ambition. While I think this novel could be a selection, it is always hard to guess whether BOTM will carry an author’s sophomore novel or not.

Synopsis: In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves. Moving from the predigital 1980s to the art and tech subcultures of the 1990s to a strikingly imagined portrait of the 2040s, Memory Piece is an innovative and audacious story of three lifelong friends as they strive to build satisfying lives in a world that turns out to be radically different from the one they were promised.

Repeat Author

After Annie

Anna Quindlen

Last month, I waffled whether to include this book. I think I am willing to bet on this late February release this month. It is blurbed by several past BOTM authors and fits the recent sad girl litfic trend BOTM has been partaking in.

Synopsis: When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her children, and her closest friend are left to find a way forward without the woman who has been the lynchpin of all their lives. Written in Quindlen’s emotionally resonant voice and with her deep and generous understanding of people, After Annie is about hope, and about the unexpected power of adversity to change us in profound and indelible ways.

Headshot

Rita Bullwinkel

I am not feeling very confident about this book being a selection. While it is blurbed by past BOTM authors, the book’s topic is not a typical one explored by BOTM picks. But there is a first time for everything.

Synopsis: Each of the eight teenage girl boxers in this blistering debut novel has her own reasons for the sacrifices she has made to come to Reno, Nevada, to compete to be named the best in the country. Through a series of face-offs that are raw, ecstatic, and punctuated by flashes of humor and tenderness, prizewinning writer Rita Bullwinkelanimates the competitors’ pasts and futures as they summon the emotion, imagination, and force of will required to win. Frenetic, surprising, and strikingly original, Headshot is a portrait of the desire, envy, perfectionism, madness, and sheer physical pleasure that motivates young women to fight—even, and perhaps especially, when no one else is watching.

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Like Happiness

Ursula Villarreal-Moura

This late March release is blurbed by a few past BOTM authors. Like Happiness will also be released by a publisher BOTM is working with frequently.

Synopsis: It’s 2015, and Tatum Vega feels that her life is finally falling into place. Living in sunny Chile with her partner, Vera, she spends her days surrounded by art at the museum where she works. More than anything else, she loves this new life for helping her forget the decade she spent in New York City orbiting the brilliant and famous author M. Domínguez. When a reporter calls from the US asking for an interview, the careful separation Tatum has constructed between her past and present begins to crumble. As Tatum is forced to reexamine the all-consuming but undefinable relationship that dominated so much of her early adulthood, long-buried questions surface. What did happen between them? And why is she still struggling with the mark the relationship left on her life? Like Happiness explores the nuances of a complicated and imbalanced relationship, catalyzing a reckoning with gender, celebrity, memory, Latinx identity, and power dynamics.

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A Great Country

Shilpi Somaya Gowda

A Great Country is a late March Release, so it may be a March or April pick. It is compared to a few past BOTM selections and sounds like others.

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police. For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, A Great Country explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.

The Great Divide

Cristina Henríquez 

This novel has been on a slew of most anticipated books of 2024 lists. It sounds like an interesting story and is NOT set during WWII. I am crossing my fingers that this is a selection.

Synopsis: A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there. Searing and empathetic, The Great Divide explores the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, neighbors, doctors, and soothsayers—those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course.

Pelican Girls

Julia Malye

Pelican Girls is Julia Malye’s English language debut. This debut novel is compared to a previous BOTM selection and has a fascinating premise. I am hoping to see this book as a selection.

Synopsis: A sweeping epic in the vein of Philipp Meyer’s The Son and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and inspired by a true story, this stunning US literary debut captures the never-before-told journey of the Baleine Brides: a ship full of young women plucked from a Paris asylum and sent to marry settlers in North America’s rough Louisiana Territory. At once a gorgeously written work of startling depth and emotion and a gripping drama marrying high-seas adventure with pioneer grit, Pelican Girls is a powerful, thought-provoking novel about female friendship and desire and the daunting compromises women are forced to make to survive.

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The Divorcées

Rowan Beaird

This debut novel is also garnering quite a bit of attention and has been blurbed by several past BOTM authors. Again, it is a refreshingly different premise from the usual WWI and WWII historical fiction; however, early reviews are mixed. I initially thought this would be a shoe-in pick, but the reviews lead me to believe that is not the case.

Synopsis: A “delicious” (Rebecca Makkai) and “deeply compelling” (Lauren Groff) debut novel set at a 1950s Reno “divorce ranch,” about the complex friendship between two women who dare to imagine a different future. In 1951, though, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce—except in Reno, Nevada. At the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable of Reno’s famous “divorce ranches,” Lois Saunders finds herself living with half a dozen other would-be divorcees, all in Reno for the 6 weeks’ residency that is the state’s only divorce requirement. The Divorcees is a riveting page-turner and a dazzling exploration of female friendship, desire, and freedom.

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The American Daughters

Maurice Carlos Ruffin

This novel is a late February release. Despite being written by a man, I think it has a chance at being a BOTM selection.

Synopsis: A gripping historical novel about a spirited girl who joins a sisterhood working to undermine the Confederates. Ady, a curious, sharp-witted girl, and her fierce mother, Sanite, are inseparable. Enslaved to a businessman in New Orleans, the pair spend their days dreaming of a loving future and reminiscing about their family’s history. When mother and daughter are separated, Ady is left hopeless and directionless until she stumbles into the Mockingbird Inn and meets Lenore, a free Black woman with whom she becomes fast friends. Lenore invites Ady to join a clandestine society of spies called the Daughters. With the courage instilled in her by Sanite—and with help from these strong women—Ady learns how to put herself first. So begins her journey toward liberation and imagining a new future.

The Underground Library

Jennifer Ryan

I will be honest and say that I have no idea how popular The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle was among BOTM readers. This book has very strong reviews so far.

Synopsis: When new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she’s expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running it, especially when a confrontation with her past threatens to derail her? When the Blitz imperils the heart of a London neighborhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to save the community’s beloved library in this novel based on true events from the author of The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle.

Repeat Author

Sylvia’s Second Act

Hillary Yablon

This debut novel seems a bit unique considering the older protagonist. However, BOTM works a ton with its publisher and think a Thelma and Louise dynamic is right up BOTM’s alley.

Synopsis: Her husband’s cheating on her. She hates Boca. Sylvia is mad and she isn’t going to take it anymore. She’s moving back north, to the city of her dreams—with her best friend, Evie, in tow. Think a screwball comedy featuring a sophisticated Thelma and Louise with martinis in hand . . .

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One Moment

Becky Hunter

This debut novel is suggested for fans of three different BOTM authors. It is both a book about friendship and a romance. I can definitely see this being a pick.

Synopsis: This is a story of two best friends, Scarlett and Evie, and what happens after a terrible accident changes everything. If you could go back, knowing everything that happens after, everything that happens because of that one moment, would you change the course of history or would you do it all again? This heart-wrenching, page-turning read about friendship, love, and loss will appeal to fans of Rebecca Serle and Josie Silver.

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Flirty Little Secret

Jessica Lepe

Synopsis: You’ve Got Mail meets Abbott Elementary in this sweet, sexy romantic comedy for fans of Lynn Painter and Lyssa Kay Adams. School counselor Lucy Galindo has a secret. To her coworkers, friends, and even family, she’s shy, sweet, and constantly struggling to hold off disaster (read: manage her anxiety and depression). But online? She’s bold, confident, and always knows what to say—it’s how she’s become the wildly popular @TheMissGuidedCounselor. History teacher Aldrich Fletcher thought a new job would give him some relief from his drama-filled family. Instead, he’s dodging his ex-girlfriend and pining over his new co-worker—who only ever seems to see him at his worst. Thankfully, he can count on his online confidant for advice . . . until he discovers @TheMissGuidedCounselor is Lucy.

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This Could Be Us

Kennedy Ryan

This Could Be Us is essentially the second novel in the series with the first being Ryan’s first BOTM selection. I think a lot of people will be disappointed if this is not a pick.

Synopsis: Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who’s never met a party she couldn’t host or a charge she couldn’t lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion. But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn’t want but can’t seem to resist. She’s lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself? After all she’s lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

Repeat Author

The Other Side of Disappearing

Kate Clayborn

Georgia, All Along caught me off guard last being as a selection since it was released by a publisher BOTM rarely works with. I think it is a toss up whether Clayborn’s newest novel is a pick, but I think it is worth including in the predictions based upon how popular Georgia, All Along was. This novel is a late March release, so there is also the possibility it is an April selection.

Synopsis: Accompanied by two documentary podcasters, two sisters drive across the country to unravel the mystery of a notorious con man who ran away with their mother in this timely, moving, modern love story about intimacy and truth-telling in the digital age, from the acclaimed author of Georgie, All Along and Love Lettering.

Repeat Author

Listen for the Lie

Amy Tintera

This novel is blurbed by repeat BOTM authors and will be released by a publisher with which BOTM has been frequently working. The app hints also seemingly point to this being a selection.

Synopsis: After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast “Listen for the Lie,” and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it. The truth is out there, if we just listen.

Murder Road

Simone St. James

Arguably, BOTM has put Simone St. James on the map, and by map, I mean the best seller list. Her last three novels have all been BOTM selections. I think we have a good chance of seeing Murder Road among the selections in March.

Synopsis: In July 1995, April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases.

Repeat Author

Bye, Baby

Carola Lovering

I think Bye, Baby is a toss-up. Lovering’s debut was BOTM pick but her sophomore novel was not. However, this book is getting a lot of pre-publication attention.

Synopsis: On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It’s her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she’s just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world. Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye, Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.

Repeat Author

The Stars Turned Inside Out

Nova Jacobs

This is yet another sophomore novel by a past BOTM author. This book has been blurbed by at least one BOTM author. In addition, I think this cover just screams BOTM.

Synopsis: The discovery of a suspicious death at a famous Swiss physics laboratory sparks a mystery that merges science, philosophy, and the high-stakes race to unlock the fundamental nature of our universe in this thrilling new novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Last Equation of Isaac Severy.

Repeat Author

Kill for Me, Kill for You

Steve Cavanagh

While Steve Cavanagh is an established author, I think the premise his latest novel really fits BOTM. I am currently reading this one and will have a review posted in the next couple days.

Synopsis: One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan: if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you. For fans of The Silent Patient and Gone Girl, a razor-sharp and Hitchcock-inspired psychological thriller about two ordinary women who make a dangerous pact to take revenge for each other after being pushed to the brink.

Review

Day One

Abigail Dean

I am hoping that this book is a selection since I really loved Girl A. This is another sophomore novel. Day One is a late March release, so it is quite possible it will be an April selection instead.

Synopsis: A village hall, a primary school play, a beautiful Lake District town in England. Into this idyllic scene steps a lone gunman whose actions set off a train of events that will have devastating consequences for the close-knit community of Stonesmere. In the weeks following the cataclysm, conspiracy theorists start questioning what happened. Two young people find themselves at the epicenter of the uproar: Marty, the town’s golden girl and daughter of a teacher killed that day, and Trent, whose memories of his brief time trying to fit into Stonesmere fuel his attachment to the conspiracies. But what really happened at the Day One assembly? What secrets is Marty keeping and what blindspots does Trent miss? In this world where news travels fast, and videos and gossip travel faster, how does a community move forward together?

Repeat Author

A Fate Inked in Blood

Danielle L. Jensen

This late February release will be a selection based upon the app hints. If so, this will be the second month BOTM has a “romantasy” pick.

Synopsis: A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in the first book of a Norse-inspired fantasy romance duology from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

The Other Valley

Scott Alexander Howard

The Other Valley is another late February release. If I am correct about the app hints, this will definitely be a selection. I am currently reading this and will have a review posted before the weekend is over.

Synopsis: For fans of Never Let Me Go and The Giver, an elegant and exhilarating literary speculative novel about an isolated town neighbored by its own past and future, and a young girl who spots two elderly visitors from across the border: the grieving parents of the boy she loves.

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Annie Bot

Sierra Greer

Based upon the app hint, it looks like this highly anticipated novel will be a selection. It is compared to at least two past BOTM selections.

Synopsis: Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. She’s learning, too. Doug says he loves that Annie’s AI makes her seem more like a real woman, so Annie explores human traits such as curiosity, secrecy, and longing. But becoming more human also means becoming less perfect, and as Annie’s relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder: Does Doug really desire what he says he wants? And in such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself? For fans of Never Let Me Go and My Dark Vanessa, a powerful, provocative novel about the relationship between a female robot and her human owner, exploring questions of intimacy, power, autonomy, and control.

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Those Beyond the Wall

Micaiah Johnson

This novel is the follow-up to The Space Between Worlds, which was a BOTM selection in 2020. It was a well-regarded pick; so hopefully, BOTM will continue with this series.

Synopsis: In Ashtown, a rough-and-tumble desert community, the Emperor rules with poisoned claws and an iron fist. He can’t show any sign of weakness, as the neighboring Wiley City has spent lifetimes beating down the people of Ashtown and would love nothing more than its downfall. There’s only one person in the desert the Emperor can fully trust—and her name is Scales. A searing sci-fi thriller about a woman reckoning with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable deaths in the face of a coming apocalypse.

Repeat Author

Big Time

Ben H. Winters

Ben Winter’s The Golden State was a BOTM selection a few years ago. Between that novel and this one, he did publisher another. However, I think this fascinating premise has a shot at being a pick. My only qualm is that BOTM already seems to have a science fiction pick this month.

Synopsis: What if time could be taken from us—the minutes, the hours, the years of our lives, extracted like organs taken for transplant? What would it mean for the world? And what would it do to the person from whom it’s taken? In this jaw-dropping and stellar technological thriller, a mother engulfed by her own mid-life crisis stumbles upon a dark conspiracy to harvest and sell people’s time. 

Repeat Author

The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir

Susan Lieu

This is my top nonfiction pick. It seems that BOTM is primarily including memoirs as nonfiction selections. I think this memoir seems like a strong contender.

Synopsis: An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery. The Manicurist’s Daughter is much more than a memoir about grief, trauma, and body image. It is a story of fierce determination, strength in shared culture, and finding your place in the world.

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