Alice Feeney Announces New Novel DAISY DARKER and More Book Radar!

Book Deals and Reveals

If, like me, you devoured Alice Feeney’s 2021 novel Rock, Paper, Scissors, then you’ll be excited to know she has a new novel coming out in 2022 from Flatiron Books. Earlier this week, Alice Feeney took to Instagram to announce her new book Daisy Darker. She wrote, “Books are like children for authors, we’re not really allowed to have favourites, but this is mine.”

John Legend is joining Zando as a publisher with his own imprint, Get Lifted Books.

LGBTQ Reads has an exclusive cover reveal of Roan Parrish’s upcoming queer holiday romance, The Holiday Trap, which releases from Sourcebooks on September 6, 2022!

Here’s the cover for Walking Dead star Norman Reedus’ debut novel, The Ravaged. It’s coming out April 5, 2022.

Holly Black’s debut adult novel is coming out May 3, 2022! And earlier this week, the author shared the cover for The Book of Night on Buzzfeed.

Here’s the cover reveal for Danielle Jackson’s upcoming romance novel The Accidental Pinup, which is coming out in July 2022 from Berkley.

Can’t wait for Jennifer Egan’s new companion novel for A Visit from the Goon Squad? Entertainment Weekly has an excerpt of the upcoming novel The Candy House that you can read right now!

Mike Flanagan has announced 20 new cast members for his upcoming series Fall of the House of Usher. New cast members include Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, T’Nia Miller, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Katie Parker, Michael Trucco, Malcolm Goodwin, Crystal Balint, Kyleigh Curran, Paola Nuñez, Aya Furukawa, Matt Biedel, Daniel Jun, Ruth Codd, Robert Longstreet, Annabeth Gish and Igby Rigney.

The mystery of who wrote the fantasy novel A Broken Blade has taken over BookTok. Before the answer is revealed, let’s take a look at the clues.

Take a look at the top 10 books of 2021 as selected by the New York Times. Find out what they picked and how their list compares to other best of lists this year.

Book Riot Recommends

I’m a Contributing Editor at Book Riot, I write the Today in Books newsletter, and I’m a Bibliologist for Book Riot’s Tailored Book Recommendations subscription service. I also have a PhD in English, so I’m basically a doctor of books. Books are my life, in other words, so in this section of the newsletter, let me share with you some upcoming books I’m super excited about. And I think you will be too!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Can’t Wait for This One

Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow (Dutton Books, February 8, 2022)

So I’m setting up my cute little reading journal for 2022, and one of the spaces in the beginning of the journal asked me to list 10 of my most anticipated books of 2022. I know what you’re thinking: how the heck does one narrow down their most anticipated list to list 10 titles? Well, somehow I did it, and yes, as you’ve probably guessed by now, Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow made my top 10 list of the most anticipated books of 2022.

It’s YA. It’s being described as “social horror.” And it’s from an author who I’ve read and enjoyed not once but twice before (specifically, Mem and A Song Below Water). I haven’t read this one yet, but based on the description alone, I feel like this might end up being my favorite from Bethany C. Morrow yet. Also just look at this cover. I love it.

This novel is told from the perspective of seventeen-year-old Farrah Turner, who is the only Black girl at her country club that also has Black parents. The other Black girl at the country club is her best friend Cherish Whitman, but she was adopted by white parents. Farrah called her best friend WGS (that stands for White Girl Spoiled). When Farrah’s family is hit with money problems, she sees this as her opportunity to get an inside look at how Cherish’s family lives. So she goes to stay with the Whitmans, and the longer she stays there, the more she becomes obsessed with their way of life and doing whatever she can do to stay as long as possible. Despite her parents warnings that something is terribly, terribly wrong a the Whitman house.

What is going on with the Whitmans? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to read and find out!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Words of Literary Wisdom

“In my early twenties, it had never occurred to me that the women who gained their power from beauty were indebted to the men whose desire granted them that power in the first place. Those men were the ones in control, not the women the world fawned over. Facing the reality of the dynamics at play would have meant admitting how limited my power really was—how limited any woman’s power is when she survives and even succeeds in the world as a thing to be looked at.”

— My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

What’s Up in the Book Community?

My iPhone is constantly telling me I spend too much time staring at my screen, which is honestly so rude. But this means I spend a lot of time scrolling around the online book community: BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTok, BookLinkedIn (JK. That’s not a thing… I don’t think). You get the idea. Don’t have the time, energy, or the will to do all of that yourself? No problem. I got you. In this weekly section of Book Radar, we’ll take a look at something cool, interesting, and/or newsy that’s going on in the book community.

Soooo… you know how people turn to BookTok for book recommendations these days? Well. Earlier this week, author Rebekah Weatherspoon tweeted an interesting thread. Rather than summarizing, I’m going to let the words speak for themselves.

Weatherspoon tweeted: “I’m hesitant to tweet about this for a couple reasons. But a couple months ago a few people on booktok mentioned that they felt that people were recommending books they hadn’t actually read just to keep up with the algorithm. Last night I saw a Tiktok hyping up a book, using points that didn’t actually apply to that book. In the comments people were raising questions, like baby did we read the same book??? Turns out the person who made the video hasn’t read the book.”

Check out the rest of the thread to read more about what happened. But Weatherspoon ends by saying there’s no easy solution to this problem. Social media has become a huge part of the book promotion process. Publishers can’t ignore BookTok. And people on BookTok are going to respond to algorithms so that they get the most viewers possible. But what does this mean for the book industry and what authors get attention? If you have thoughts/feelings, I’d love to hear them!

Your Weekend Reading Soundtrack

Can you believe I haven’t put together a holiday playlist for y’all yet? (yes I say y’all) Well it’s time. Pop this bad boy on when you’re decorating or making cookies. And yes, it’s the perfect soundtrack for when you’re reading your holiday rom coms. A couple of personal favorites from 2021? The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo (which, yes, is a different book than The Holiday Swap, but I’ve also heard this one is good), and The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. And if you’re like, “Ew, romance,” well. This isn’t a book from 2021, but Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer is super fun holiday horror set in a publishing company. Whatever you’re reading, this playlist will work for you. Probably. IDK.

And Here’s A Cat Picture!

I’m back with my cats, y’all! And they’ve been so cuddly. I don’t know if they’ve always been this cuddly or if they just missed me extra. Or maybe it’s just cold outside. Anyhow, I’ll take it. Here’s a pic of Murray because it was his birthday earlier this week. I tried to get him to look alive, but he wasn’t into it. Trust me, he’s living his best life. We got him treats and catnip bubbles and a remote control mouse toy. He is spoiled rotten.

That’s all I’ve got for you today, friends! Thank you for making Book Radar a part of your day today. You’re all wonderful. Have the best weekend.

💚 Emily