Canadian Living Books
81 New Book Releases To Kick Off 2024
Canadian Living Books
81 New Book Releases To Kick Off 2024
Our favourite new releases are tale-or made (get it?) for giving and receiving.
The Future, Naomi Alderman, $35
In a prescient narrative that takes on AI, billionaires and the apocalypse, Naomi Alderman writes a frenetic heist story that centres on Martha, the daughter of a cult leader, and Zhen, an internet sensation, who try to save the world. Told from different viewpoints and peppered with philosophical extracts from a fictional survivalist forum, this book provides a smorgasbord of ideas that’ll have you on the edge of your seat with your thinking cap on.
+ 5 more new releases that will make you go hmm...
- Held, Anne Michaels, $32
- Endgame, Omid Scobie, $40
- Killshow, Daniel Sweren-Becker, $25
- The Globemakers, Peter Bellerby, $40
- Absolution, Alice McDermott, $37
The Blonde Identity, Ally Carter, $25
This book is A. Hoot. Ally Carter has created a sparkling, adorable heroine in Zoe, our amnesiac victim who wakes up on a snowy street in Paris with a super-hot spy standing over her. The spy, of course, mistakes our heroine for her twin sister, his partner in spydom. With nothing in her pockets and no idea who she is, Zoe has to trust the sexy stranger as he dodges bad guys via train, boat and motorcycle, all while the two fall irrevocably in love. This breezy, swoony read has us crossing our fingers for a super-quick screenplay.
+ 4 more rollicking adventures you’ll hope are made into movies
- Vengeance of the Pirate Queen, Tricia Levenseller, $33
- The Salvation Gambit, Emily Skrutskie, $25
- Raiders of the Lost Heart, Jo Segura, $23
- Do Your Worst, Rosie Danan, $23
A Rome of One’s Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire, Emma Southon, $34
Men may think about the Roman Empire every other day or so, but we’re betting they’re not focused on the women who lived there. Southon’s book, with its 21 entertaining portraits of the era’s female poets, warriors, scholars and businesswomen, will change that for us all. In this astute volume, the author gives these unseen women and their accomplishments the dues they richly deserve.
+ 5 more eye-opening tomes featuring vibrant women we love
- My name is Barbra, Barbra Streisand, $63
- The Queen's Speeches, Lucy York, $31.50
- Class, Stephanie Land, $18
- Why Mummy Drinks at Christmas, Gill Sims, $22
- A Brilliant Life, Rachelle Unreich, $25
Four Weddings and a Puppy, Lizzie Shane, $23
Reconnection romances have a special place in our hearts, and when you add a puppy into the mix? Well, let’s just say we’re smitten by more than just the lead characters. This charming novel sees childhood friends Kendall and Brody, two star athletes who’ve had their Olympic dreams take a beating, moving back home to start anew. Chaos ensues when Banner the pup throws the couple together for a second chance at true love.
+ 5 more heart-melting rom-coms with couples you’ll wish you knew IRL
- The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella, $39
- The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale, Virginia Kantra, $23
- So not meant to be, Meghan Quinn, $27
- Courting Samira, Amal Awad, $24
- Fancy Meeting You Here, Julie Tieu, $24
The Mystery Guest, Nita Prose, $25
When The Maid burst onto the literary scene last year, it set off an avalanche of like-minded books featuring those “invisible” people who actually know all your secrets. But more than that, it introduced a charming, endearing main character we were all rooting for. We’re so happy that Molly Gray is back! This time out, Molly — now promoted to Head Maid — is on the case when a celebrated mystery author is found dead at the Regency Grand Hotel. With her old friends by her side, our favourite fastidious cleaner is sure to unearth all the suspects’ dirty secrets
+ 6 more pulse-pounding novels that say someone’s always watching...
- Enchanted Hill, Emily Bain Murphy, $25
- The Defector, Chris Hadfield, $37
- Perfect Shot, Steve Urszenyi, $25
- The Manor House, Gilly Macmillan, $26
- The Jazz Club Spy, Roberta Rich, $25
- A Haunting in the Arctic, C.J. Cooke, $26
The Other Mothers, Katherine Faulkner, $25
Ever noticed those yummy mummies in their trendy yoga pants, specialty coffees in hand, and wondered what it would be like to be one of them? In Katherine Faulkner’s latest, Tash is welcomed into the inner circle of these privileged ladies, but when a local young woman is found dead, cracks start to show in the group. When she starts to ask questions about the crime, the answers point to her new friends, which leaves Tash wondering just how good her neighbours are.
+ 7 more suspenseful yarns that will make you re-think people you thought you knew
- Coming to Find You, Jane Corry, $25
- The Secret, Lee Child & Andrew Child, $39
- The Favourites, Rosemary Hennigan, $36
- Perfect Little Lives, Amber & Danielle Brown, $23
- The Leftover Woman, Jean Kwok, $25
- The Strangers We Know, Pip Drysdale, $22
- The Fiction Writer, Jillian Cantor, $22
The Bittlemores, Jann Arden, $37
Get ready to add this novel to your canon of beloved growing-up tales, because if there’s anyone who can take on the vulnerability and determination of the young adult years with a perfect combination of heart and humour, it’s our national treasure, Jann Arden. In The Bittlemores, the singer/songwriter/actress has brought to life not only 14-year-old Willa Bittlemore, but her three aged cows, too. Willa is planning to escape from her cruel parents and their dilapidated farm in the Prairies to search for her runaway sister when a police officer begins investigating a cold case that hits too close to home. Soon, Willa and her cattle find out just how far her controlling family will go.
+ 4 more coming of age tales that reveal the inner strength of youth
- Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood, $19
- Those Pink Mountain Nights, Jen Ferguson, $25
- The Marvels of Youth, Tim Bowling, $24
- Far Creek Road, Lesley Krueger, $27
A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel, KJ Charles, $26
KJ Charles’s Regency-era Doomsday Books series continues apace with this second installment, and also cements her status as a writer we love. This entry involves the new Earl of Oxney, who’s inherited a remote manor on the Romney Marsh, and Luke Doomsday (all grown up from his appearance in Charles’s The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen), part of a notorious smuggling clan. Although the two should be natural enemies, instead they become allies, in hearts and deeds. But before they can have their happily ever after, the duo must each contend with loyalties that lie elsewhere, ones that could end up tearing them apart.
+ 4 more regency romps that have you wishing the London season was still a thing
- Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, Celeste Connally, $36
- Never Wager with a Wallflower, Virginia Heath, $24
- Neve Met a Duke Like You, Amalie Howard, $23
- My Rogue to Ruin, Erica Ridley, $23
By the Ghost Light, R.H. Thomson, $37
From one of our country’s most beloved actors comes a meditation on how the author has come to reconsider the legacy of war. While playing with toy soldiers and model airplanes as a child, wartime had a romantic, heroic appeal for Thomson, a perspective that changed as he discovered more about the family members who fought, died and survived on the battlefields of The First World War. Excerpting poignant family letters and diving deep into military history, this original epic is a moving and intimate examination of how our minds shape our pasts.
+ 7 more illuminating reads that speak to the heart of Canada
- The Road Years, Rick Mercer, $37
- The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Volumes 1 and 2, Kent Monkman & Gisèle Gorden, $48 and $44
- How Canada Works, Peter Mansbridge & Mark Bulgutch, $37
- The Awesome Game, Dave Hill, $35
- A Very Prairie Christmas, Karlynn Johnston, $37.50
- The Observer, Marina Endicott, $35
Devils at the Door, Tessa Wegert, $42
This is the time of year we’ve come to look forward to a new Shana Merchant mystery. Set in the rocky and forested regions of the Thousand Islands, the series just gets better with time, and we’re beyond excited to dig in to this new puzzler. In Devils at the Door, the detective takes in her rebellious niece for the autumn, only to subsequently find the teen at the scene of a suspicious drowning. It will take all of Shana’s persuasive powers to ferret out what happened that fateful night on the remote uninhabited island called The Devil’s Oven.
+ 7 more chilling thrillers that make you feel alone in the wild
- Midnight is the Darkest Hour, Ashley Winstead, $40
- Death in the Dark Woods, Annelise Ryan, $37
- Bittersweet in the Hollow, Kate Pearsall, $25
- Moon of the Turning Leaves, Waubgeshig Rice, $25
- Lost Hours, Paige Shelton, $37
- The Christmas Guest, Peter Swanson, $25
- The Curse of Penryth Hall, Jess Armstrong, $37
Wreck the Halls, Tessa Bailey, $18
Is there a world in which we wouldn’t want a new Tessa Bailey book in our Christmas stocking? Nope! This holiday stand-alone promises a healthy dose of merry mayhem when two children of feuding rockstar divas are offered a big payout to bring their mothers together for a live concert on Christmas Eve. Although reluctant, Melody Gallard needs the money — and is intrigued by the opportunity to see if the spark she once felt for Beat Dawkins, the son of her mom’s nemesis, is still alight. (Spoiler alert: It is!) But will the scandal that tore the music group apart years ago do it all again now?
+ 7 more holiday romances that favour festive foreplay
- It Happened One Christmas, Chantel Guertin, $22
- Three Holidays and a Wedding, Uzma Jalaluddin & Marissa Stapley, $23
- The Christmas Wager, Holly Cassidy, $23
- The Book Club Hotel, Sarah Morgan, $25
- Time to Shine, Rachel Reid, $24
- Christmas at the Lake, Anita Hughes, $24
- The Holiday Mix-Up, Ginny Baird, $26
The Christmas Appeal, Janice Hallett, $30
One of the literary joys of 2021 was Janice Hallett’s The Appeal, a whip-smart novel that was as fun as it was clever. We’re so glad the author’s revisiting the world of The Fairway Players, the local theatre group at the centre of her earlier novel. Here, it’s all suspects on deck when a dead body is found on stage as the actors rehearse a festive production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Written in Hallett’s signature epistolary style of emails, police reports, text messages, etc., The Christmas Appeal guarantees three of our best-loved things: a cracking mystery, a sharp plot that keeps us guessing, and a bit of murderous Christmas goodwill.
+ 5 more seasonal whodunits for a binge-reading snow day
- Murder on the Christmas Express, Alexandra Benedict, $23
- Up on the Woof Top, Spencer Quinn, $37
- Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow!, Donna Andrews, $32
- Snow Place for Murder, Diane Kelly, $13
- Stalking Around the Christmas Tree, Jacqueline Frost, $35
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