New Books Released 2023: Best books this month

Looking for the best books to read in 2023? Browsing the countless new book releases lists can be fun, but it does not leave much time for reading them. So, this bonafide book lover will scour the web for the newest books in 2023 and share with you what I think are the best books each month. And, since I am a diverse reader, the new books featured will span a broad range of fiction genre.

You might like this article: New Book Releases 2024: Our top fiction picks by month

New Books Released 2023: Best books this month
New Book Releases 2023 – Best books this month

Links and cover images in this article will take you to more detail about each new book, and when I have been lucky enough to read it, open up my full review in a new tab.

Disclosure: If you click a link in this post and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

So without further ado, read on to see which 2023 book releases have caught my attention so far… 

New Books Released 2023: Best books this month

New book releases 2023 by month

November & December 2023: New release fiction

The publishing year is coming to a close, but there are still some great new book releases to look forward to.

After loving Nita Prose’s breakout cozy mystery with unexpected depth The Maid, I was hoping we would get to spend more time with Molly. And now here is the sequel, The Mystery Guest.

Molly, now Head Maid at the Grand Regency, has her now perfect world turned upside down when world-renowned mystery author, J. D. Grimthorpe drops dead on the hotel’s tearoom floor. As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity, as she and her be-loved Gran had known the victim long ago. Read our review >>

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New book releases 2023 - Good Material

I do enjoy rom coms with male leads, and Dolly Alderton’s new release Good Material has been described as ‘wickedly funny and, at turns, both cynical and sincere’.

Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can’t work out why she stopped. Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend’s side of the story… Find out more >>

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Latest book releases - Daughter of Ashes

Ilaria Tuti’s The Sleeping Nymph was an intoxicating, uniquely captivating crime thriller in translation starring the indomitable Superintendent Teresa Battaglia.

In new novel Daughter of Ashes (the final in the trilogy) with her worsening Alzheimer’s still a secret, Teresa’s plans for retirement are shelved when menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi refuses to speak to anyone but her. She’d put him in maximum security prison 27 years prior. Now somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. Read our Daughter of Ashes review>>

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Lauren E Rico’s sweeping family drama and mystery, Familia is receiving high praise pre-release.

What if your most basic beliefs about your life were suddenly revealed to be a lie? An old crime, unsuspecting victims and beloved parents deceased. 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 Julia Alvarez and Diane Chamberlain. Find out more >>

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Books published in 2023 - Same Bed Different Dreams

Same Bed Different Dreams sounds like a Christmas gift for literary and speculative fiction lovers. It’s been described as a ‘Gravity’s Rainbow for another unfinished war’, and a raucously funny feat of imagination and a thrilling meld of history and fiction. Publishers Weekly featured it in their Ten Best Books of 2023. Ed Park weaves together three distinct narrative voices with an archive of mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope. Korean history, American pop culture, and our tech-fraught lives come together in this extraordinary and unforgettable novel. Find out more >>

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New Book Releases 2023 - September & October

September & October 2023 Book Releases

Most of the big-name authors have new book releases in 2023 and September and October are the months you will find many of them in bookstores. That said, there is still a fabulous debut and a title or two from some lesser-known authors to this diverse best new releases list.

You, Again - Books published in 2023

You, Again follows Ari and Josh, two enemies-turned-friends-turned-lovers, over the a decade in New York City. According to USA Today, “It’s raunchy and lovable and laugh-out-loud funny,” and Publishers Weekly have said, “The influence of When Harry Met Sally is clear, with Goldbeck updating the classic for the modern day. The result is witty, emotional, and deeply romantic.”

With sharp observations and sizzling chemistry, Kate Goldbeck’s debut novel You, Again explores the dynamics of co-ed friendship in this sparkling romantic comedy of modern love in all its forms. Find out more >>

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The Secret Hours - New books 2023

If like me, you are a big fan of Mick Herron’s writing, but are not quite up-to-date with his iconic Slough House series, then his 2023 new release The Secret Hours could be perfect for you.

This standalone spy thriller centres on Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, two civil servants seconded to the Monochrome Inquiry investigating “historical over-reaching” by the British Secret Service, and the unravelling of the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Cold War Berlin–an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history. Read our The Secret Hours review and book club discussion questions.

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The Seven - New book releases Australia

A new novel from one of my favourite crime writers Chris Hammer is always something to look forward to, and that’s particularly the case when it features homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan (Treasure & Dirt, Tilt/Dead Man’s Creek).

In this third outing for the pair, The Seven (Cover the Bones in the UK) they are investigating the murder of one of the seven rich and powerful founding families of Yuwonderie. Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim’s friend thirty years ago – another member of The Seven – or even the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War? What are the secrets these families are so desperate to keep hidden? Read our full review >>

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What The River Knows - Best new books

What the River Knows is the first title in a planned ‘Secrets of the Nile’ duology from Isabel Ibanez. Filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race, this new novel has been described as The Mummy meets Death on the Nile. After her globe-trotting parent’s tragic deaths, Inez Olivera inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, Egypt. With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance–or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.  Find out more >>

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Everyone on this Train is a Suspent - New fiction books 2023

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson was an impressively original, clever and entertaining meta-crime mystery. In this sequel, Everyone on this Train is a Suspect, Ernest Cunningham finds himself in the midst of another witty locked room mystery.

When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out. Find out more >>

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Bone Rites - Upcoming book releases 2023

Kathryn Darkling, imprisoned in Holloway, is facing death by hanging for her vengeance killing. Haunted by a spirit, she still hopes to perform the ancient black magic that will free her soul, or her struggle to punish the mighty will have been in vain. Will the love of her life come to her aid? Or can she find a way to escape her fate?

Winner of The Virginia Prize for Fiction, Natalie Bayley’s new release Bone Rites is a dark, literary tale of love, loss and one woman’s obsessive fight for justice and redemption within a ruthless world. Read our Bone Rites review>>

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More noteworthy new book releases 2023 – September & October:

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US readers – Browse this September & October 2023 New Book Releases List directly on Bookshop.org where profits support local independent bookstores.

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2023 Book Releases - July and August

July & August 2023 Book Releases

In this batch of new release books we have a vast range of mystery — classic homage, scientific, psychic, historical, mystical and gothic — plus a fun sounding adult rom-com.

New fiction books 2023 - The Second Murderer

Yes, the full title of this new book from Denise Mina is The Second Murderer, A Philip Marlowe Novel. Few would dare to go there, but as a massive fan of her writing (The Long Drop, Conviction) am sure she will do Raymond Chandler’s infamous detective justice and add her own clever dark wit.

Beverley Hills, LA. Marlowe is called to investigate the disappearance of wealthy socialite Chrissie Montgomery. This young, naïve heiress is a walking target and her dying father and his girlfriend want her found. To make sure, they’ve got Anne Riordan–now head of her own all-female detective agency–on the case, too. Who will get to Chrissie first? Find out more >>

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New Novels 2023 - The Woman in the Castello

The Woman in the Castello, Kelsey James new novel, has been compared to the wonderful Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters and recommended for fans of gothic storytellers Kate Morton and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, so my expectations are high.

Set in 1960s Italy, this stylish, atmospheric debut spins a bewitching web of ruthless ambition, family secrets, and the consequences of forbidden love, as an ambitious American actress snags the starring role in a mysterious horror movie shooting on location in a crumbling medieval castle outside Rome… Read my full review >>

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Upcoming book releases 2023 - Her Little Flowers

Shannon Morgan’s new release debut Her Little Flowers, is more gothic fiction. But, this is a modern ghost story set in a rambling Elizabethan manor in the lush hills of England’s Lake District.

Francine Thwaite has lived all her life in her family’s ancestral home, Thwaite Manor, amongst ghosts — harmless and familiar. Most beloved is Bree, the mischievous ghost girl who has been Francine’s companion since childhood. But, shen Francine’s estranged sister, Madeleine, returns to the manor after years away, she brings with her a story that threatens everything Francine has always believed. Find out more >>

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Best new books 2023 - To Catch a Storm

To Catch a Storm is the first book in a new series from bestselling author Mindy Mejia featuring physicist Eve Roth and psychic detective Jonah Kendrick.

When her husband’s car is found abandoned and on fire–in the middle of a rainstorm– Eve becomes the police’s number one suspect. Her husband had been suspended from the University of Iowa for inappropriate conduct with a student, and who else but an atmospheric physicist could incinerate a car in a downpour? But she’s desperate to find him. Then Jonah appears on their doorstep saying he’s seen Eve’s husband, bound and bleeding in a barn. Read our review >>

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New novel 2023 - The Bone Hacker

Kathy Reichs’ annual Temperance Brennan novels (most recently The Bone Code and Cold Cold Bones) are a staple for many readers. Her 2023 new release The Bone Hacker, is the 22nd title in the series.

Called in to investigate after a series of bizarre disappearances involving young male tourist on the islands of Turks and Caicos, Tempe uncovers a sinister labyrinth in which a new technology may wreak worldwide havoc. It isn’t long before the sound of a ticking clock grows menacingly loud and Tempe herself becomes a target.  Find out more >>

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New release books - Between Us

I adored the whip-smart banter in Mhairi McFarlane’s Last Night so am keen to see what she has in store for rom-com fans in her latest release Between Us.

When Roisin and Joe join their friends for a weekend at a country house, it’s a triple celebration–a birthday, an engagement, and the launch of Joe’s new TV drama. But as the weekend unfolds, tensions flair and Roisin begins to question her own relationship. And as they watch the first episode of Joe’s show, she realizes that the private things she told him are right there on the screen. Find out more >>

New novels 2023 - The Invisible Hour

The Invisible Hour is the upcoming release from literary drama bestseller Alice Hoffman (Everything My Mother Taught Me).

One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost 200 years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die? Find out more >>

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US readers – Browse this July & August 2023 New Book Releases List directly on Bookshop.org where profits support local independent bookstores.

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New Book Releases 2023 - May June

New Books 2023 – May & June

In this batch of new release books you will find new fiction that puts books and book lovers centre stage, blockbuster thrillers, moving historical fiction from some of the biggest names in the genre and rom-coms with a fun sci-fi twist.

New fiction books 2023 - No Two Persons

Erica Bauermeister’s latest novel No Two Persons is a ‘haunting love letter to the redemptive power of stories and the impressive mark it leaves on readers’.

Long aspiring author Alice finally pens her breakout debut after a devastating event breaks open her heart. Her words find their way to readers — a teenager hiding her homelessness, a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. As each is drawn into Alice’s novel, they each discover something different that alters their perspective and presents new pathways forward. Find out more >>

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Best books 2023 - The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

Bestselling fantasy author Mark Lawrence (Prince of Thorns) launches his new Library Trilogy with Book 1 The Book That Wouldn’t Burn. Book 2 The Lie That Broke the World is already scheduled for release in 2024.

Evar has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities. Livira has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes. The world has never noticed them. That’s about to change. As their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time, each will unlock vast secrets about the world and themselves. Read our 5 star review >>

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New novels - The Secret Book

Bestselling historical fiction author Patti Callahan Henry’s new novel The Secret Book of Flora Lea is about heartbreaking loss and love, described as a captivating and poignant celebration of sisterhood and the magic of storytelling perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Belinda Alexandra.

Involving sisters, a childhood fairytale, an unsolved disappearance, dual time periods, and a picture book clue found in a rare bookshop twenty years later, this sounds tailored-made for book lovers. Find out more >>

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New fiction books 2023 - Drowning by TJ Newman

Rarely does an action thriller earn my elusive 5-star rating, but Newman’s debut novel Falling did just that. So I cannot wait to read her new release Drowning.

Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation an engine explodes, and the plane sinks with twelve passengers trapped inside, landing on the edge of an undersea cliff, more than 200-feet below the surface. Will Kent and his 11-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives. Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team led by professional diver Chris Kent– Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife. Read my Drowning review >>

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Latest book releases - Have You Seen Her

Catherine McKenzie’s new thriller Have You Seen Her is about three women with dark secrets whose lives intersect in the picturesque and perilous Yosemite National Park. Cassie Peters has left her hectic and secretive life in New York City for the refuge of her hometown of Mammoth Lakes, California. There, she begins working again with Yosemite Search and Rescue, where a case she worked a decade ago continues to haunt her. She meets Petal, a young woman living in a trailer with her much older wife, keeping a detailed diary of the goings on in the park, and Jada, a recent college graduate on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, documenting their journey on Instagram. Find out more >>

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Books published in 2023 - Lady Tan's Circle of Women

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, the latest release from bestselling historical fiction author Lisa See (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) is inspired by the true story of a remarkable woman physician from 15th-century China. According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother, one of only a handful of female doctors in China, teaches her the pillars of Chinese medicine. She learns about women’s illnesses, many relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose. But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from using her talents. Find out more >>

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New novels 2023 - The Seven Year Slip

Ashley Poston (The Dead Romantics) is behind one of the most anticipated new releases of the northern summer. In The Seven Year Slip, overworked book publicist Clementine has a perfectly planned future but that hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate, a man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies, in her late aunt’s apartment… only to discover he lives seven years in the past. Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. Described as ‘off-kilter, romantic and irresistable’, this witty and wise novel is getting lots of love from early readers. Read my full review >>

Related reading: Books About Time Travel, Parallel Worlds & Alternate Universes

Upcoming books 2023 - The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

I have a soft spot for Connie Willis’ romantic comedy novels — two fabulous examples Bellwether and To Say Nothing of the Dog — so am excited to get my hands on her latest offering, The Road to Roswell. When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding — she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one. Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, this novel is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Find out more >>

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More noteworthy new book releases in May & June 2023

  • Cutting for Stone author Abraham Verghese’s literary epic The Covenant of Water would have to be one of the most anticipated books published in 2023. ‘A stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine’, it is receiving rave early reviews.
  • Fans of author Kylie Chan (White Tiger) will be pleased to know her new book Minds of Sand and Light is the first title in a brand new dystopic near future trilogy, The Council of Ais.
  • More big-name authors releasing new novels for the northern summer holidays:

US readers – Browse this May & June 2023 New Book Releases List directly on Bookshop.org where profits support local independent bookstores.

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New Book Releases 2023 March & April

New Books 2023 – March & April

Lots of fan favourite authors releasing new books during March and April, including new historical fiction from Pip Williams and Kate Morton, a new thriller from Helen Fields and Emily Henry’s latest romance release.

New release books 2023 - The Institution

The Institution is Helen Fields’ (One For Sorrow, The Last Girl to Die) new edge-of-your-seat thriller release. While technically a standalone, this novel stars forensic profiler Dr Connie Woolwine, a fantastic ancillary character I first met in One for Sorrow.

On a locked ward in the world’s highest-security prison hospital, a scream shatters the night. A nurse’s body is found and her daughter has been taken. A ransom must be paid, and the clock is ticking. Connie must go deep undercover among the most deranged and dangerous men on earth and use her unique skills to find the girl – before it’s too late. Find out more >>

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2023 book releases - Birnam Wood

Birnam Wood is the intriguing new book release from Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries). This literary psychological thriller is being described as ‘Shakespearean in its wit, drama and immersion in character’.

Birnam Wood is a guerrilla gardening group — an unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice, on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. But the group has struggled to break even. So when a landslide leaves a sizable farm seemingly abandoned, group founder Mira’s entrepreneurial spirit leads to them partnering with enigmatic American billionaire, Robert Lemoine. But can they trust him? Find out more >>

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New releases books 2023 - Go As a River

Shelley Read’s debut historical fiction novel Go As A River is already being compared to Where the Crawdads Sing.

Set in rural Colorado in 1948, this heart wrenching coming-of-age story centres on young woman Victoria Nash and a chance meeting with a dishevelled stranger that propels her away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength. This story of survival is being described as a drama of enthralling power that combines unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting. Read my Go As A River review >>

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March 2023 new book releases - The London Seance Society

The London Seance Society is the new novel from Sarah Penner (The Lost Apothecary). 1873 Paris. Spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire is known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them. Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so she must overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. The women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, but begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves. Read my The London Seance Society review >>

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2023 new releases books - Red Queen

Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado — the first title in a multi-million copy selling trilogy in Spain that’s now been translated into English by Nick Caistor with a Prime Video TV-adaptation also coming soon — reportedly stars the most compelling and original detective since Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander

Antonia Scott is special. She is not a policewoman or a lawyer, yet she has solved dozens of crimes. But it’s been awhile since she left her attic in Madrid. The things she has lost much more important to her than the things awaiting her outside. She also doesn’t receive visitors. That’s why she really, really doesn’t like it when she hears unknown footsteps coming up the stairs. Find out more >>

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Book reviews 2023 - The Bookbinder of jericho

The Bookbinder of Jericho is the long awaited new book release from Pip Williams, bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words (one of the most popular book reviews on this site). Once again she explores another little-known slice of history seen through women’s eyes. 

In 1914, the war draws the men away to fight, and it is the women who must keep things running. Twin sisters Peggy and Maude work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of going to Oxford University, but she has always been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. But she sees opportunity in the word changing around her… Read my The Bookbinder of Jericho review >>

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April 2023 book releases - Homecoming

After a few years hiatus, bestselling historical fiction author Kate Morton (The Forgotten Garden) has a new worldwide book release, a multi-generation epic called Homecoming, involving a shocking crime whose effects are felt across continents.

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. In London sixty years later, Jess is an out-of-work journalist in search of a story. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital. Find out more >>

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Latest book releases 2023 - Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is the new standalone cozy-crime mystery from Jesse Sutanto, author of the very popular Dial A for Aunties and Four Aunties and a Wedding. It’s being described as Knives Out meets Kim’s Convenience, and for fans of novels by Richard Osman and Janice Hallett.

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (aka sleuthing on her son). But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Find out more >>

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More noteworthy new book releases in March & April 2023

US readers – Browse this March & April 2023 New Book Releases List directly on Bookshop.org where profits support local independent bookstores.

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New Books 2023: January & February

New Books – January & February 2023

After the festive season shopping frenzy, January and February are typically quieter months in book publishing. But this year, I am very pleased to share there are several fantastic new novels coming out to kick our reading year off with a bang.

Best books this month- The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff - 2023

New year, brand new author. Parini Shroff’s debut novel The Bandit Queens is receiving high praise in early reviews.

In a remote village in India, rumours swirl after Geeta’s no-good husband walks out on her. But people think she killed him. That kind of notoriety has its perks, but it does lead to all the other ‘would-be widows’ in the village wanting her help to make their husbands disappear also. Inevitably though, even the best-laid plans go away… Filled with clever criminals, second chances, and wry and witty women. Find out more >>

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2023 highly anticipated book release - Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent, the sequel to Leigh Bardugo’s blockbuster adult novel novel Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) is one of the most highly anticipated book releases in January. And yes, after absolutely loving Book 1 (read my review) I pre-ordered this one.

Hard to describe this without spoiling for those who have not read Book 1, but let’s just say the Ivy League college of Yale is in for a shake-up. Hell Bent features an audaciously ambitious rescue plan, dubious allies, and faculty members dying off. And of course, more closely guarded secrets, a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts, magic, violence, and all too real monsters. Read my Hell Bent review >>

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New fiction 2023 - When I first held you by Anstey Harris

After adoring her 2020 novel The Museum of Forgotten Memories (read my review) Anstey Harris went on my “must-read author” list. It was deeply moving and uplifting fiction.

Her new 2023 book release, When I First Held You, about a woman forced to enter an unmarried mothers’ home and give up her baby in 1960s Glasgow, delivers another emotional gut-punch. Now more than 50 years later, Judith’s Mending Shop restores broken treasures, just as Judith herself has been bound back together by her late, missed partner, Catherine. But her tranquillity is shattered when the baby’s father reappears, wanting to unpick the painful past. Read my When I First Held You review >>

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New releases in books - Vampire Weeken by Mike Chen

I am not an avid reader of vampire fiction, but the author’s debut novel Here and Now and Then (my review) was something special. In that, he injected humanity and heart into time travel, and so he has likely done something similar in this new book.

Being a vampire is far from glamorous…but it can be pretty punk rock. Early reviews indicate with Vampire Weekend, Mike Chen has risen well above traditional vampire tropes. Publishers Weekly calling it ‘a love letter to the power of music’ and a ‘thoughtful, humorous exploration of what constitutes living’. Find out more >>

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Best new book - Maame by Jessica George

Meet Maddie Wright. All her life, she’s been told who she is. To her Ghanaian parents, she’s Maame: the one who takes care of the family. Her mum’s stand-in. The primary carer for her father, who suffers from Parkinson’s. The one who keeps the peace – and the secrets. But it’s time for her to speak up, and live her own life… her way.

Jessica George’s reportedly pitch-perfect debut Maame is earning early rave reviews — a blisteringly funny, heartbreaking coming-of-age novel about identity, love, loss, and becoming the woman you want to be. Find out more >>

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New releases books - Weyward by Emilia Hart

Firstly, can this new book release be any more beautiful? The AU/UK cover art is stunning also. Thankfully, according to one of my most respected authors Joanna Cannon, the story within is “relevant, empowering and brilliantly written” also.

Emilia Hart’s debut novel Weyward weaves together the stories of three women across five centuries — Altha (1619) is on trial for witchcraft, Violet (1942) is more interested in collecting insects and climbing trees than in becoming a proper young lady, and Kate (2019) flees London for Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. There, a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts. Find out more >>

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New in books 2023 - Someone Else's Shoes

I have always found Jojo Moyes‘ dramas and mysteries entertaining reads, and her 2023 new release Someone Else’s Shoes sounds like no exception.

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes? Nisha Cantor lives a wealthy globetrotting lifestyle until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. She is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope because she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That’s because Sam Kemp – in the bleakest point of her life – has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. Find out more >>

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New novels - Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne

Kerryn Mayne’s debut novel Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder has earned her lots of pre-release buzz in Australia but unclear whether overseas rights have been sold yet.

37-year-old Lenny Marks is good at not remembering. Her mother left her when she was a child, and her stepfather’s parting words, were – ‘You did this.’ Now Lenny fills her days teaching at a primary school, and her nights playing Scrabble with her pretend housemate. Recently though, if only to appease her beloved foster-mum, Lenny has set herself the goal of ‘getting a life’. Then, out of the blue, a letter arrives from the Adult Parole Board. And when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. Worse, she starts to remember. Find out more >>

More noteworthy new book releases in January & February 2023

US readers – Browse this January & February 2023 New Book Releases List directly on Bookshop.org where profits support local independent bookstores.

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How many of these new book releases will you be adding to your reading pile?

I will be routinely updating this list. Pin it for later and check back in when more new release books are added as we move through 2023.

Related Book Lists:

New Book Releases 2023: Best books this month
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