Looking for new releases? Here are the best new and upcoming books of 2021, limited to books that slated as new releases published in the year 2021. There are a bunch of titles I’ve really enjoyed this year and some to be released that I’m really excited about.
This list of the Best (New and Upcoming) Books of 2021 is divided up in Adult/General titles and Young Adult titles. I’ll be updating this list, so check back as titles are released!
What books are you looking forward to for 2021?
For more books coming soon, see the list of Upcoming New Release Books which covers books I’m planning on reading and monthly book lists!
2021 New Releases, General
The Four Winds
What It's About: From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them...See the Full Summary and Review of The Four Winds Publication Date: February 2, 2021
What It's About: From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them...See the Full Summary and Review of The Four Winds Publication Date: February 2, 2021
Project Hail Mary
What It's About: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time...See the Full Summary and Review of Project Hail Mary Publication Date: May 4, 2021
What It's About: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time...See the Full Summary and Review of Project Hail Mary Publication Date: May 4, 2021
The Push
What It's About: An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had...See the Full Summary and Review of The Push Publication Date: January 5, 2021
What It's About: An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had...See the Full Summary and Review of The Push Publication Date: January 5, 2021
The Rose Code
What It's About: 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.
Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets...See the Full Summary and Review of The Rose Code Publication Date: March 9, 2021
What It's About: 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.
Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets...See the Full Summary and Review of The Rose Code Publication Date: March 9, 2021
Klara and the Sun
What It's About: From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans...See the Full Summary and Review of Klara and the Sun Publication Date: March 2, 2021
What It's About: From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans...See the Full Summary and Review of Klara and the Sun Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Malibu Rising
What It's About: An alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.
Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch...Publication Date: May 27, 2021
What It's About: An alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.
Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch...Publication Date: May 27, 2021
Harlem Shuffle
What It's About: Not a lot is known about this upcoming release yet, but it's tentatively planned for Fall 2021. Whitehead has described it as a 'lively heist' novel that a bit lighter in tone. It's set in Harlem in the 1960's.Publication Date: September 14, 2021
What It's About: Not a lot is known about this upcoming release yet, but it's tentatively planned for Fall 2021. Whitehead has described it as a 'lively heist' novel that a bit lighter in tone. It's set in Harlem in the 1960's.Publication Date: September 14, 2021
The Last Thing He Told Me
What It's About: Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother...See the Full Summary and Review of The Last Thing He Told Me Publication Date: May 4, 2021
What It's About: Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother...See the Full Summary and Review of The Last Thing He Told Me Publication Date: May 4, 2021
When the Stars Go Dark
What It's About: Anna Hart is a missing persons detective in San Francisco. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her...See the Full Summary and Review of When the Stars Go Dark Publication Date: April 13, 2021
What It's About: Anna Hart is a missing persons detective in San Francisco. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her...See the Full Summary and Review of When the Stars Go Dark Publication Date: April 13, 2021
Cloud Cuckoo Land
What It's About: When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.
How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.
Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love...Publication Date: September 28, 2021
What It's About: When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.
How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.
Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love...Publication Date: September 28, 2021
Bewilderment
What It's About: An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory.
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife...Publication Date: September 21, 2021
What It's About: An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory.
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife...Publication Date: September 21, 2021
Apples Never Fall
What It's About: #1 New York Times Bestseller
A Peacock Original TV Series–Streaming Soon
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty comes a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest
The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other ...Publication Date: September 14, 2021
What It's About: #1 New York Times Bestseller
A Peacock Original TV Series–Streaming Soon
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty comes a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest
The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other ...Publication Date: September 14, 2021
The Maidens
What It's About: Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge...Publication Date: June 3, 2021
What It's About: Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge...Publication Date: June 3, 2021
The Hidden Palace (A Tale of the Golem and the Jinni)
What It's About: In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I-- the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni--Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world...Publication Date: June 8, 2021
What It's About: In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I-- the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni--Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world...Publication Date: June 8, 2021
Beautiful World, Where Are You
What It's About: Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them...Publication Date: September 7, 2021
What It's About: Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them...Publication Date: September 7, 2021
The Good Sister
What It's About: An alternate cover edition of ASIN B08BYCWK6T can be found here.
Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters in The Good Sister.
There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life...See the Full Summary and Review of The Good Sister Publication Date: October 27, 2020
What It's About: An alternate cover edition of ASIN B08BYCWK6T can be found here.
Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters in The Good Sister.
There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life...See the Full Summary and Review of The Good Sister Publication Date: October 27, 2020
Later
What It's About: The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine - as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave...See the Full Summary and Review of Later Publication Date: March 2, 2021
What It's About: The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine - as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave...See the Full Summary and Review of Later Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Hamlet Retelling (Hogarth Shakespeare)
What It's About: Coming in 2021. Gillian Flynn, author of the bestseller Gone Girl, is to write a new twist on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Flynn is the latest author to be commissioned by the Hogarth Shakespeare project to rewrite the Bard's works. The series launches in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.Publication Date: Not Available
What It's About: Coming in 2021. Gillian Flynn, author of the bestseller Gone Girl, is to write a new twist on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Flynn is the latest author to be commissioned by the Hogarth Shakespeare project to rewrite the Bard's works. The series launches in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.Publication Date: Not Available
2021 New Releases, Young Adult
A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)
What It's About: Sarah J. Maas's sexy, richly imagined Court of Thorns and Roses series continues with the journey of Feyre's fiery sister, Nesta.
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly – proud, swift to anger and slow to forgive. And since the war – since being made High Fae against her will – she's struggled to forget the horrors she endured and find a place for herself within the strange and deadly Night Court...Publication Date: February 16, 2021
What It's About: Sarah J. Maas's sexy, richly imagined Court of Thorns and Roses series continues with the journey of Feyre's fiery sister, Nesta.
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly – proud, swift to anger and slow to forgive. And since the war – since being made High Fae against her will – she's struggled to forget the horrors she endured and find a place for herself within the strange and deadly Night Court...Publication Date: February 16, 2021
Chain of Iron (The Last Hours #2)
What It's About: The Shadowhunters must catch a killer in Edwardian London in this dangerous and romantic sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Chain of Gold, from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare. Chain of Iron is a Shadowhunters novel.
Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted...Publication Date: March 2, 2021
What It's About: The Shadowhunters must catch a killer in Edwardian London in this dangerous and romantic sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Chain of Gold, from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare. Chain of Iron is a Shadowhunters novel.
Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted...Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give #0)
What It's About: International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family...Publication Date: January 9, 2021
What It's About: International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family...Publication Date: January 9, 2021
The Fire Keeper's Daughter
What It's About: Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team...Publication Date: March 16, 2021
What It's About: Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team...Publication Date: March 16, 2021
Lore
What It's About: From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds comes a sweepingly ambitious, high-octane tale of power, destiny, love and redemption.
Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality...Publication Date: January 5, 2021
What It's About: From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds comes a sweepingly ambitious, high-octane tale of power, destiny, love and redemption.
Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality...Publication Date: January 5, 2021
You'll Be the Death of Me
What It's About: A YA murder mystery meets Ferris Bueller's Day Off, about three estranged friends who skip school and get caught up in a crime they can't solve without exposing their secrets. Publication Date: November 30, 2021
What It's About: A YA murder mystery meets Ferris Bueller's Day Off, about three estranged friends who skip school and get caught up in a crime they can't solve without exposing their secrets. Publication Date: November 30, 2021
it’s known that a court of silver flames is not YA. Sjm has said this. Plus Nesta is 22/23 and Cassian is a few centuries old sooooooooooooo…..
Across the Green Grass Fields is also not YA.
I am shocked that Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley is not on your YA list. One of the largest book deals ever, this book is a fresh look at modern life within tribal communities in the US. Similar to an “Indiginous Nancy Drew”, this book is exciting with drastic plot shifts, but also offers amazing insite into modern Native American life.
Nice bro thank you.