Most Buzzed About 2023 Debuts

Immerse yourself in the world of Greenwild and meet Daisy as she discovers a magical universe while searching for her mother. As Daisy adventures through the Greenwild, she must join forces with a ragtag team of three others in order to uncover who she really is. Perfect for fans of The Secret Garden, Pari Thomson has written a stunning novel full of enchanted plants, a spunky cat, and botanical geniuses.   

A delightfully quirky story of wordplay and mystery by Beth Lincoln, this book celebrates individuality and is certain to become an instant classic as soon as readers meet the Swift family. Every Swift child is brought before the sacred Family Dictionary when they are given a name and a definition, a definition they are supposed to grow up to match. When Shenanigan Swift starts scheming for the big Swift Family Reunion, she never expected her Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude to receive a deadly shove down the stairs. While everyone believes Shenanigan will never be more than a troublemaker, she’s determined to become whatever she wants, even a detective to find the murderer and save her family. 

Is there anything Hayley Kiyoko can’t do? The pop star, actor, and director is now also an author, having written a coming-of-age romance inspired by her hit song “Girls Like Girls”. When Coley — grieving and recently relocated — meets Sonya, the attraction is instant. While they try to push their feelings aside, they discover that it’s only when they accept love that they feel most like themselves. Powerful and romantic, Girls Like Girls is perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Becky Albertalli. 

 A riveting debut that will keep you up at night, She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran is perfect for fans of Within These Wicked Walls and White Smoke. When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam to visit her estranged father, her goal is to be enough: straight enough, Vietnamese enough, and American enough, but the French colonial house Ba is restoring has other plans. Jade wakes up night after night paralyzed, discovering strange things, including the ghost of a beautiful bride cryptically warning her not to eat. Exploring themes like queerness, generational trauma, and colonialism, this horror novel will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.   

A sapphic fantasy for fans of Greek mythology, Sarah Underwood’s Lies We Sing to the Sea is great for anyone who enjoyed Circe and The Song of Achilles. With love, tragedy, and lies all intertwined, this story of death, sacrifice, and vengeful gods will captivate readers, taking them along for this journey.

This dark fantasy with a murder-mystery twist blends fantasy, romance, and mystery in this fast-paced tale by M. K. Lobb. With a murderer on the loose, Roz and Damian must join forces to find the killer, even if it dredges up old feelings, but for Roz, the hunt is personal, her father being a murder victim of the Ombrazian military. As the two try to find the killer, they find something much more sinister lurking in the shadows.  

Deepa Varadarajan’s Late Bloomers is an engrossing story of family and new beginnings. After 36 years of an arranged marriage, Suresh and Lata Raman decide it’s time to start over all while their adult children confront their own set of secrets. The complex characters are charming and surprising, and each get their own moments of heartbreak and humor on this journey of self-discovery.   

You’ll be swept away by adventure on the high seas in this stunning historical fiction about a Chinese pirate queen. With her fleet on the line after her husband is slain, she must decide how far she’s willing to go to keep it all. Meet this courageous and cutthroat leader in Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea, as Rita Chang-Eppig explores the cost of survival, gender, and power.  

Rewind time to Colonial Virginia and meet Tony, a character based on the first Indian to arrive in America. A coming-of-age story about his adjustment to life in Jamestown as an indentured servant, Tony begins to settle in, find friends, and even dream of becoming a doctor. With warmth and wit, Brinda Charry has written an immersive tale driven by its focus on racism, identity, and the power of imagination. 

An introspective novel centered on grief and healing, Sea Change is a captivating debut from Gina Chung. While processing the loss of her father, Ro’s final link to him — a giant Pacific octopus — is sold, and she begins to spiral into self-destruction. A tender depiction of friendship, family, love and loss, this witty and sensitive story is a masterfully written and unforgettable emotional journey.  

This book — and the endearing cast of characters within — has stolen our attention. When one kleptomaniac starts at her twenty-first hotel, she’s determined to break her habit of staying no longer than a month. Her new colleagues help her in this quest as they become friends, inspiring her to keep working towards her goal. Senta Rich has penned a poignant debut about friendship, love, and childhood traumas that is perfect for fans of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine. 

Perfect for fans of The Historian and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Jacqueline Holland’s first novel, The God of Endings is the breathtaking debut we can’t stop raving about. Interweaving love, family, history, and myth, God of Endings follows the immortal Collette LeSange as her life gets upended by a gifted child from a troubled home, the return of a stalking presence from her past, and her own growing hunger. With brilliant prose and a deep exploration of whether life is a gift or a curse, this stunning debut is one you won’t want to miss.

Your driver definitely will be waiting because it’s simply impossible to put this book down. Priya Guns pays homage to the 1970s film Taxi Driver but with a contemporary spin in Your Driver is Waiting. When a tired ride share driver is searching for love, dignity, and financial security, she never expects to even be interested in Jolene. Jolene seems like the perfect girlfriend, but there’s one thing holding Damani back: she’s never dated a rich girl before, especially not a white rich girl. But going for it anyways, Damani finds herself letting her guard down, and that’s when Jolene does something unforgivable and sets off an explosive chain of events

A deeply moving display of stepping into one’s own and complex family dynamics, Jessica George’s Maame tells the story of Maddie who is the primary caretaker for her father and whose mother spends most of her time in Ghana. When her mum returns home, Maddie takes the moment to step out on her own, but it’s not long before tragedy strikes and she learns the risks and rewards of putting her heart on the line.  

A hilarious and relatable novel about a “Surprisingly Young Divorcée” and her messy search for joy, Monica Heisey’s prose will make you laugh out loud while spotlighting modern love, friendship, and the search for happiness. With a lovely cast of characters and an entirely relatable main character, Really Good, Actually is certain to become a favorite for any reader who needs a little wisdom and hope in their lives.  

Profound and propulsive, Hungry Ghosts is an unforgettable literary masterpiece about two families colliding in 1940s Trinidad. When a wealthy man goes missing and his wife is endangered, the father and husband of a local family living in poverty is lured as a watchman to come to their farm by the promise of a large stipend. A searing novel inspired by oral storytelling traditions, Hungry Ghosts is an impressive first novel by Kevin Jared Hosein.  

This haunting novel of love and war, In Memoriam tells the tale of a forbidden romance and the tragedies of war. Taking place during World War I, it tells the story of Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood, best friends who attend boarding school together in the English countryside. Gaunt is half-German and enlists at the persistence of his family to try to prevent anti-German sentiment and to escape his growing feelings for Ellwood, but to his horror, Ellwood jumps to join him at the front, and other boys from their school follow. Gripping and moving, In Memoriam is a must-read.  

A vibrant novel that traces the lives of vagabonds, those whose existence is literally outlawed in Lagos, this story blends realism with myth and fantasy, following characters whose lives are forms of resistance. With an unexpectedly joyful conclusion, Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde is a triumphant tale that everyone must read. 

Slip into the lives of ten individuals in this stellar debut exploring class, gender, and survival in the quickly Americanizing Indian city of Hrishipur. A story of grief, family, and dreams, The Dream Builders by Oindrila Mukherjee has us excited to see what else she has up her sleeve in the future!  

A powerful novel about a group of enslaved women rebelling against the plantation owners, Night Wherever We Go is a story of defiance and high stakes. Tracey Rose Peyton’s book presents the stories of each individual woman while painting a portrait of their collective stand against injustice, and it will linger with you long after you’ve finished reading.   

This witty and tender story has captured our hearts about a “self-made” widow who gets requests from other wives to help them also get rid of their no-good husbands. Twisty and bold with a dark edge, Parini Shroff’s The Bandit Queens is one we don’t think we’ll ever stop talking about!  

Such Pretty Flowers by K. L. Cerra is a fast, delicious read where we watch protagonist, Holly, investigate her brother’s death and how she loses herself on the way. To wander through the pages of this lush psychological suspense novel will give you pause to rsvp YES to a garden party invitation. And at the same time, it won’t take you long to get through this book and even less time to wonder when Cerra’s next book is! 

The sacred meets the profane head on in Margot Douaihy’s debut mystery. It’s funny. It’s touching. Its honesty is refreshing, and we hesitate to compare the writing or the plot to anything prior. At times poetic and other moments full of zest. The Sisters of the Sublime Blood are an order of four nuns – and Sister Holiday breathes life into every scene and moment of this book. 

It’s all fun and gameshows until a body is discovered, a DEAD BODY that is…and everyone is a suspect in this debut by Jessa Maxwell. As with one of our Monthly Pick’s for Mystery/Thriller, The Appeal, the victim is as unknown as the suspect. Therein lies the secret ingredients to this baking competition themed mystery! 

What is it about the zodiac that sends our hearts in swoon mode? The calendar pages turn and turn and we all hope for our lucky sign. Our lucky day. The stars have sent us to Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen. Happy New Year. 

Stick with us on this one. When Santiago passes away, his mother seeks to bring him back to life. While Santiago’s mother creates Monstrilio, debut author Gerardo Sámano Córdova pens a creative, visionary, and fantastic examination of grief and love; parents and children; friends and lovers. Once you start the book, you won’t be able to un-read it. Unforgettable is the most perfect word here. 

A powerful feminist fantasy set in an Egyptian-inspired world with breathtaking elemental magic and Sapphic romance. It’s a story of love, power, politics, and sisterhood, and it’s also the first in a planned duology from the brilliant new voice of Hadeer Elsbai. 

Heather Fawcett’s debut is a stunning story that’s as whimsical and charming as it is dark and mysterious. Inspired by Icelandic folklore and written in an epistolary fashion, this fairy tale is full of witty prose with a grumpy supernatural love story. It’s dark academia with a cozy fantasy twist!