New books on my To Be Read list

February & March 2024

In just one week, The February Romance Collection will drop into your inbox to fill your TBR with well-written, unputdownable, and inventive romance novels. Until then, here are the NON-romance February book releases I’m most looking forward to, sorted by excitement level. I source most of my anticipated books from browsing NetGalley, checking the Indie Next List, or following bookish friends on Instagram—and I like to keep my list short and sweet to avoid TBR overwhelm. I hope this eclectic mix gives you plenty of late winter reading inspiration and a snapshot of my reading taste (love stories set aside).

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Essays coming up on The Eclectic Reader:

• Is everyone getting Botox without me?

• Romance Heroines are TIRED.

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Definitely Want to Read

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (1/30). I’m counting this one as a February release, and I can’t wait to read it! The audiobook is sitting in my Libro.fm account, waiting until I finish my last two romance previews. From the publisher: “A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption, and reckless abandon, Come and Get It is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion, and bad behavior.”

Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver (2/13). Oliver tragically died in 1966 before completing her work in the Iowa Writing Program, leaving behind this short story collection about characters living in the Jim Crow era. Tayari Jones writes the introduction.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin (2/27). From Kirkus: “An enslaved Black girl in antebellum New Orleans joins a female spy network against the Confederates.” I am so in.

Maybe Want to Read

The Book of Love by Kelly Link (2/13). I enjoy Link’s short stories, so I’m curious to see how her writing translates to a chunky novel about three friends who return to their high school classroom after mysteriously disappearing one year ago.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange (2/27). I still need to read There, There! It’s been on my list forever, and Orange’s new book is described as a sequel, or at least a related work.

Waiting for More Reviews

Normal Women by Philippa Gregory (2/27). I haven’t read any of Gregory’s books since high school, but her nonfiction “magnum opus” intrigues me. “In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, she tells the story of England over 900 years, for the very first time placing women—some fifty per cent of the population—center stage.”

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What is your most anticipated February book release?

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