22 Anticipated Book Releases of 2022

As a new year of outstanding books begins, readers like us are already anticipating new releases. The excitement is building for titles that can help us separate the failures we want to bury in the past from the new realities we want to create for ourselves and each other, from sequel announcements from our favourite authors to debut titles from up-and-coming writers. Our anticipated books of the year span myriad genres, from YA contemporary like All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir to fantasy fiction like Gallant by V.E. Schwab to Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise, a dystopian literary fiction, and cover a constellation of topics. As we’ve discovered over the last two years, nothing is guaranteed, but we can be quite optimistic that we’ll get to read a lot of wonderful novels this year, some of which we’ve already picked up!

So far, we’ve curated for ourselves and for you, this list of 22 books for the year 2022—because we believe coordinated numbers have power (and they’re also satisfying!)

1. Salaam, With Love by Sara Sharaf Beg (Jan 4)

From A to Z meets When Dimple Met Rishi in Sara Sharaf Beg’s debut novel. Dua, 17, is celebrating Ramadan in New York City with her extended family. And there’s Hassan, the cute drummer in a Muslim band who drives her hormones insane. Dua soon realizes she’s learning far more than she bargained for about her beliefs, relationships, and place in the world.

2. Anthem by Noah Hawley (Jan 4)

This epic literary thriller takes place in the not-too-distant future when America is hopelessly divided, the political system is shattered, and the climate is on the verge of irreversible calamity. Three unlikely young heroes fight back against the movement and go to the American West, and together, they embark on an epic mission to save a buddy from the Wizard, a monster akin to Jeffrey Epstein, and in the process, they may just save the planet.

3. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (Jan 11)

Yanagihara creates a symphony out of three disparate stories, each set in an alternate America. In 1893, a wealthy family scion rejects an arranged marriage as he falls for a penniless music teacher; in 1993, a young Hawaiian paralegal hides his past from his much-older lover; and, finally, in 2093, a woman in totalitarian, pandemic-ridden New York uncovers the mysteries of the men she’s loved. 

4. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (Mar 1)

Salahudin and Noor had a practically unbreakable bond, understanding each other better than anyone else, until The Fight, which effectively destroyed their relationship. The Cloud’s Rest Inn is the culmination of a dream for Pakistani immigrants Misbah and Toufiq who face deadly illnesses and the dream begins to turn into a nightmare. Salahudin now has to rescue his parents’ dream while also attempting to save his friendship with Noor, his closest friend.

5. Gallant by V.E. Schwab (Mar 1)

From renowned fantasy author V.E. Schwab comes a new standalone young adult fantasy novel about Olivia Prior, who is offered to stay at a large family manor by a mysterious relative. Olivia finds herself in a crumbling, eerie version of the home she just left when she passes a ruined wall in the garden and discovers the mysteries that have tormented generations of her family.

6. The Honeys by Ryan La Sala (Mar 3)

The Honeys is a YA Horror that follows Mars whose genderfluidity means he’s often left out of his family’s traditions and expectations. This includes his attendance in the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy, where his sister dedicated so much of her time before passing away under tragic circumstances. Mars’ memories begin to fade the longer he remains in Aspen, bleached by the relentless summer sun. Something is out there and if he can’t find it soon, it might cost him his life.

7. See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon (Mar 3)

Barrett is eager to get behind her horrible first day of college. She wakes up the next day and realizes it’s yesterday. Again. She then realizes that her archnemesis is also trapped in the time loop. She agrees to work with Miles to find a way out after her attempts to restore her timeline fail. They’re soon exploring the university’s mysterious underbelly and embarking on crazy, romantic adventures.

8. Set on You by Amy Lea (Mar 10)

Crystal Chen, a curvy fitness influencer, and Scott Ritchie, a nemesis firefighter, battle it out at the gym. However, they bond through family, fitness, and cheesy pick-up lines after an unexpected run-in during their grandparents’ wedding. But, when a photo of them becomes viral, some savage internet trolls push their budding relationship to the ultimate test.

9. Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde (Mar 15)

“Vagabonds” in Nigeria are individuals who are outlawed simply for existing: the queer, the poor, rogue, or uninvited spirits. Nigerian writer and visual artist Osunde reclaims the term in her debut novel, weaving a tale in which individuals on the edges — sex workers, a lesbian couple, those who communicate with dark spirits — not only find a home and community but triumph. 

10. Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Mar 29)

In the humorous sequel to Dial A For Aunties, the aunties are back and they are fiercer than ever. Meddy Chan is happily married to Nathan, her college sweetheart, and is looking forward to her dream wedding which gets exploited by actual mafia who are there to conduct their shady business. Her aunties and mother will do whatever it takes to prevent Meddy’s wedding from becoming a murder scene—over their dead bodies—and will go to any length to save her special day, even if it means going up against the mafia.

11. Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk (Apr 5)

Two girls. A wild and reckless day. Years of violent past unravelled like a thin, fraying string in the hours after they set a fire. Their feelings for one other grew stronger until the hazy lines became a threat. The depth of their past, the perplexity of their present, and the unpredictability of their future are exposed over the course of a single day. The girls will discover that, like fires, hearts aren’t easily tamed.

12. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (Apr 5)

This story of queer love and working-class families in Scotland is centred around the romance between Mungo, a Protestant, and James, a Catholic— in this tale about the limits of masculinity, sectarianism, and the dangers of falling in love with someone too much. As they fall in love, they dream of finding a place where they belong, while Mungo works hard to conceal his true self from everyone around him, particularly his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold.

13. Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong (Apr 5)

Time Is a Mother, a collection of poems, glistens and rattles, and the poems deftly mine a variety of topics — sex, privilege, beauty, art, poverty, death — to offer us a fresh means of evaluating and understanding our world. On each page, he demonstrates that the word “untranslatable” is meaningless. His poems say, “We’re all humans having human experiences. Let’s figure this all out together.”

14. Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf (Apr 19)

Pitched as They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit, Nazwa Bakri is forced to investigate her best friend’s mysterious death when her best friend’s inactive Instagram starts posting cryptic posts and messages. As secrets are revealed and her friends’ true colours are disclosed, it’s up to Najwa to figure out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not only to save Trina’s memory, but also to save herself.

15. Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri (May 17)

This book, her first collection of essays, tells the story of her life with translation, from her early literary-translation efforts to her eventual decision to move to Rome and study Italian. She explains why her late-acquired language is so important to her, and how her devotion to studying it serves as a way of reconciling herself to the thrill of being an artist in these essays.

16. Yerba Bueno by Nina Lacour (May 31)

As two women making it work in Los Angeles gradually fall in love, flashes from their pasts surface in their present. The sumptuousness of the text and its echoes of Southern California will make you want to take a long, slow drive along an ocean vista as the lives of these ladies chaotically come together and break apart.

17. Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia (Jun 28)

American Horror Story meets Kafka’s dark comedy of The Metamorphosis, in which Cat must remember the terrible tragedy that trapped her in high school and why half of those trapped, including Cat, are mutating, to save herself from imminent self-destruction. It’s a tale of masks, both the ones made for us by others and the ones we make for ourselves.

18. The Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede (Jun 28)

The gods gave Alessa the ability to magnify a partner’s magic, not to kill every suitor she comes into contact with. She hires the cynical outcast Dante, marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard, in order to avoid being slain by her own soldiers. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal.

19. The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas (Aug 18)

From the author of The Spanish Love Deception comes the sequel that follows Catalina’s best friend, Rosie. It’s a slow-burn romance between multiracial roommates that will leave you wanting more! There’s forced proximity, an unrequited secret crush, A DATING EXPERIMENT, late night cooking, megawatt smiles, prancing in towels, hawt hawt steaming showers, and a cinnamon roll hero with some alpha sprinkled on top.

20. The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Aug 30)

Avery Grambs is on the verge of inheriting the 42.6 billion dollars left for her by the infamous billionaire Tobias Hawthorne in the much-anticipated conclusion to The Inheritance Games series. But, just as Avery is about to become the world’s wealthiest teenager, trouble strikes in the guise of a guest who requires her assistance—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything.

21. A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar (Dec 13)

A high-stakes romantic heist novel set on the Titanic, in which four girls team up to steal a priceless jewel-encrusted book. That’s all that’s been revealed by the author of the much-beloved sapphic novels The Henna Wars and Hani and Ishu, but do we even need more? The cover will be soon revealed and we can bet that it will be as beautiful as the previous releases from the author!

22. The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim (Dec 22)

The Love Match is a young adult romantic comedy starring Zahra Khan, a Bangladeshi-American teen who must deal with growing feelings for two very different boys after her meddling widow mother decides to play matchmaker. Fans of Sandhya Menon, Gloria Chao, and Jenny Han would absolutely love this upcoming novel.