12 Must-Read Books of Spring
Spring into these novels!
Hop into Spring with these new and exciting reads! Whether you’ll be spending your time picking freshly blossomed flowers, picnicking under the sun, or simply enjoying the warmer temperatures, these upcoming books are sure to be the perfect companion for all of your spring adventures!
We choose to partner with Bookshop.org when possible to provide you with the following links so that you’ll be supporting local bookstores with your purchase. Please note if you decide to purchase through our affiliate links we may receive a small portion of the profit.
1. Khabaar by Madhushree Ghosh
Madhushree Ghosh’s collection of poignant essays explores the vital role that South Asian food plays in the survival of her culture; how it has morphed and changed through its journey across the globe via immigration, migration, and indenture. With a focus on home cooks, chefs, and food stall owners, Ghosh presents the question of what it means to belong, and how that sense of belonging might look in a new environment. With these questions being essential to Ghosh’s own journey, facing many challenges throughout her life as an immigrant and woman of color, the essays she composes are beautifully thought-provoking, passionate, and breathtaking.
2. Under Lock and Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian
In this addictive and thrilling mystery, Tempest Raj finds herself back at her childhood home in California following a career-ending accident. There, she feels the pressure of joining her father’s family business, Secret Staircase Construction, and upon visiting her father’s latest renovation, discovers her former stage double dead inside one of the walls. The strange part —this wall had been supposedly sealed for a century. Now Tempest, fearing that she had been the killer’s actual target and that the Raj family curse has finally come for her, must solve this mystery before it’s too late.
Click here to buy Under Lock and Skeleton Key!
3. The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George
You won’t want to put this mystery/thriller down! Estranged friends Darby and Morgan haven’t said a word to each other in two years—that is, until their former science teacher is found dead at the camp they both attended that summer. With more questions than answers and an alarming lack of memories from that summer, Darby, Morgan, and their reunited friend group must do whatever they can to recover their memories of summer before tragedy strikes again. But as the clock keeps ticking, Darby and Morgan begin to doubt not only each other but themselves as well.
Click here to buy The Summer We Forgot
4. An Upside-Down Sky by Linda Dahl
Travel across the globe to the fictional Southeast Asian country of Namyan in Linda Dahl’s latest novel. Lidia, a Latinx artist in her sixties, gets more than the vacation she expected when she signs up for a group tour of Namyan, a country recently freed from a long dictatorship. In this foreign country, Lidia and her fellow tourists jump from one adventure to the next, finding companionship, pleasure, and clarity among one another. This journey is one of self-discovery for Lidia, compelling her to confront the secrets of her past for the sake of her future.
Click here to buy An Upside-Down Sky!
5. The Walled Garden by Robin Maass
With everything in full bloom this spring, you won’t want to miss the mystery of Robin Maass’s debut The Walled Garden. When Lucy Silver, an American grad student, travels to a small village outside of Oxford in hopes of solving a longstanding literary mystery and finishing out her graduate studies with a bang, she gets far more than what she bargained for. Amidst her investigation of a wealthy aristocrat’s estate garden, the coded letters between her late grandmother and a renowned poet, and an attractive Scottish contractor whom she’s desperately trying to avoid falling in love with, Lucy stumbles upon a secret that has the power to upheave her life and the lives of those around her.
Click here to buy The Walled Garden
6. A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee
New York Times bestselling author Traci Chee is back with yet another immersive and encapsulating fantasy. In Awara, a world where humans, monsters, and gods live side by side, Muiko is an ordinary daughter of an innkeeper. That is, until she is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with deadly powers. Muiko embarks on a mission to reverse the curse and in order to do so, she must dodge tricksters, demon hunters, gods, and the demon prince who seems to always be one step ahead of her. But, as Muiko explores her newfound freedom and powers, she begins to wonder if she even wants to return to the life she once lived.
Click here to buyA Thousand Steps Into Night
7. Ice Out by Susan Speranza
Though the temperature outside may be warming, this icy novel is sure to grab your attention! When accomplished musician Francesca Bodin, husband, Ben, and daughter, Addie, get trapped under a frozen lake following a snowmobiling accident, her perfect life comes to a grinding halt. After Ben manages to escape and cruelly abandons her and Addie, Francesca is determined to save her daughter whom she allegedly saw being dragged out of the water by the family dog. However, the world she resurfaces in is not the one she left behind. What begins as a path toward vengeance shifts as she realizes that the only way to save her daughter, and herself, is to venture down the path of hope and forgiveness.
8. The Shadow House by Anna Downes
Alex, a single mother of two, would do anything to protect her children and in Anna Downes’ newest psychological thriller, she will have to do just that. When Alex and her children make the move to the rural and idyllic community of Pine Ridge, she is determined for this to be a new chapter in their lives and to leave the troubles of her past behind. But when strange things begin happening to the family, Alex soon realizes that they are in more danger than ever before. To continue protecting her children as she always has, Alex must confront both the shadows of Pine Ridge and those of her past.
Click here to buy The Shadow House
9. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
Venture to the breathtaking Amalfi Coast in Rebecca Serle’s latest novel. Following the unexpected death of her mother, Katy is left reeling in her grief and decides to go on the trip the two had planned to Positano, the small Italian town where her mother had spent the summer before meeting Katy’s father. However, the last thing Katy expects when she begins exploring the town is to run into her mother—thirty years old, healthy and sun-kissed. Over the course of her Italian summer, Katy gets to know her mother for who she was as a young woman and though it’s difficult, learns to reconcile the woman she knew to be her mom with the woman standing before her.
Click here to buy One Italian Summer
10. The Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux
Leap into another world with the latest page-turner from New York Times bestseller Madeleine Roux. Best friends Adelle and Connie may be completely different but one thing they will never disagree on is their love for their favorite gothic romance novel, Moira. So, when they meet a mysterious man who offers them a way into the world of the novel itself, the pair are eager to give it a try. To their surprise, it works, but inside the world of their beloved novel, things are not at all what they appeared to be. The romantic landscape of Moira is now riddled with sinister forces and unspeakable horrors, forcing Adelle and Connie to rewrite their story if they hope to make it out alive.
Click here to buy The Book of Living Secrets!
11. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
It’s the summer of 1995 and ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister are escaping the red-hot rage of their father, taking refuge in their mother’s childhood home in Memphis. Joan is well aware of the violence that has been a part of her family’s history for decades but, as she grows, she learns of the sacrifice that the women who came before her made in hopes that she would live a life free from loss and anger. With a paintbrush in hand, Joan learns that she has all she needs to journey down the path of healing and come to appreciate the complex nature of what is based down through a family, and through a country.
12. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Celebrated author Jennifer Egan is back with another exhilarating and deeply moving novel that you won’t want to miss! In 2010, brilliant tech mogul Bix Bouton has found his next great idea: downloading memories. Ten years later, Bix’s technology has taken off and almost everyone is trying to get their hands on it. Through the lives of multiple characters spanning several decades, Egan masterfully depicts the negative consequences of this memory-downloading technology. The author’s artistic and unique writing style delivers this story in an electric and intuitive way, making it one of the most anticipated reads of the season!
Click here to buy The Candy House
We Want to Hear From You
Which of these books will you be reading this Spring?
Message us on Instagram @womendotcom or Facebook to tell us!