Every year around this time I always wonder how we’ve somehow skipped through half of the year already, and 2024 is no exception. Summer’s in full swing and I’m wondering: How is it July? Many of this year’s most anticipated reads have already landed and flown off the shelves. So, if your TBR needs a minute to breathe, rest assured you’re not alone!

If you’re in the thick of a reading challenge this year or participating in summer reading (adults can do it too, check your local library!), now is a good time to check in and see how you’re doing. And this is my personal PSA that if you need to adjust your goals... do it! Put down the book you’re not into, shorten your list of books to read this year—or increase it if you’re feeling ambitious—and just have fun. Reading should be an escape, not a chore. (I’ll get off my soapbox now.)

If your most anticipated book hasn’t hit the shelves yet, then hang in there! And while you wait, our librarians have put together a list of the most buzzworthy books this year. Check them out the Libby app and apologize to your TBR in advance. Trust me, I’ve had to do the same. Multiple times.

Browse our picks below, or jump right to a section:

• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Young Adult
• See the full list

Fiction

Good Material by Dolly Alderton
🎧 Audiobook
Jan. 30

An endearing, funny romantic comedy about growing up and growing apart. Andy doesn’t understand why Jen stopped loving him or how their relationship just stopped. If he can solve that puzzle, then maybe she can find her way back to him. Of course, Andy also doesn’t realize that he still has a lot to learn, and a lot of growing up to do in the process.

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
🎧 Audiobook
Jan. 30

Millie Cousins wants nothing more than to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. When a visiting professor offers her easy money, she jumps at it and ignores the odd circumstances. But when her side hustle starts to come undone by strange new friends and vengeful pranks, is the money really worth it?

The Women by Kristin Hannah
🎧 Audiobook
Feb. 6

Frankie McGrath prides herself on doing the right thing, but living with conservative parents doesn’t always make that easy. When her brother ships out to Vietnam in 1965, she decides to change that and enlists in the Army Nurse Corps to follow him. But as overwhelming as the chaos of war was, it was nothing compared to her return home to an America that wants to forget Vietnam.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
🎧 Audiobook
Feb. 27

This story touches the past and the future as three generations of a family are traced through the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. Star is the survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre whose son, Charles, is later sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and comes face to face with his father’s demons.

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen
🎧 Audiobook
Feb. 27

Freya’s dreams include being a warrior and putting a knife in her husband’s back. Instead, she guts fish by day, until she must reveal that she was blessed with a drop of blood from a goddess that gives her the ability to repel any attack. With that in mind, their power-hungry king binds his son to protect her while she trains to control her magic—and not fall in love with the king’s son.

James by Percival Everett
🎧 Audiobook
Mar. 19

This reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from Jim’s perspective starts when he learns he’s about to be sold to a man in New Orleans and separated from his family forever. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death. This begins his dangerous journey down the Mississippi River that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Funny Story by Emily Henry
🎧 Audiobook
Apr. 23

Daphne never thought she’d find herself stranded in Waning Bay, Michigan, living with her ex-fiancée’s new girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. Sure, she has her dream job, but she also has no friends of her own, until one night she and Miles decide to drown their sorrows and form a plan. It might involve misleading photos of their summer together, but how bad could it be?

888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers by Abraham Chang
🎧 Audiobook
Apr. 30

This is a love letter to pop culture, family traditions, and being a first-generation New Yorker. Young Wang’s uncle has taught him that you only get seven loves in your lifetime. But when he meets his sixth, Erena, he must decide which is more important to him: love, luck, or fate?

Long Island by Colm Tóibín
🎧 Audiobook
May 7

From the bestselling author of Brooklyn, this sequel explores Eilis Lacey’s family secrets and the complicated choices she’s forced to make in this riveting and suspenseful story.

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
🎧 Audiobook
June 18

When Ethan Marsh was ten years old, he and his best friend Billy set up a tent in Ethan’s backyard and camped out. When Ethan woke up, the tent was sliced open, Billy was gone, and he was alone. Thirty years later, Ethan returns to his childhood home and notices strange things happening in the middle of the night. Finally, he decides to investigate the night that still gives him nightmares and learns that no place is ever completely safe.

Nonfiction

Burn Book by Kara Swisher
🎧 Audiobook
Feb. 27

In three decades, Kara Swisher has interviewed everyone who ever mattered in the tech industry. Since the early 1990s, she’s earned a track record of digging up and reporting facts about tech titans who claimed they’d change the world, but really ended up breaking it instead. In the end, this book is a love story to technology from someone who knows it better than anyone.

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
🎧 Audiobook
Mar. 5

Defining ‘productivity’ with how busy we are is a broken concept. It leads to endless to-do lists and overwhelming amounts of meetings that aren’t sustainable, which leave us on the verge of burnout. Cal Newport takes us back to the mindset of Galileo, Jane Austen, and Georgia O’Keefe to show us alternatives to be productive at a slower pace.

Knife by Salman Rushdie
🎧 Audiobook
Apr. 16

Salman Rushdie’s personal account of the attack on his life in August 2022 is a brutally honest look at how traumatic events can shape us. Through his writing, he somehow makes sense of an unthinkable act and reminds us that you’re always strong enough to stand up again, and that your journey is no one else’s but your own.

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
🎧 Audiobook
April 30

This popular nonfiction author brings us the story of the pivotal five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the start of the Civil War. In this narrative, we learn about a chaotic period that was riddled with tragic errors and betrayals that even Lincoln was shocked to have somehow survived.

Coming Home by Brittney Griner
🎧 Audiobook
May 7

Brittney Griner finally discusses the WNBA off-season turned nightmare when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil, only days before Russia invaded Ukraine. From captivity to her prisoner swap and ending with her rise to global spokesperson for America’s forgotten, Griner finally brings insight to the horrors she endured for ten months.

Young Adult

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
🎧 Audiobook
Feb. 27

Arthie is a criminal mastermind who runs a well-established tearoom by day and an illegal bloodroom for vampires by night. When her establishment and her life are both threatened, she must begrudgingly put together a group of outcasts to infiltrate the vampire society. Of course in doing so, she finds herself stuck in the middle of a conspiracy and unable to trust everyone in her group.

The Summer She Went Missing by Chelsea Ichaso
🎧 Audiobook
Mar. 5

Paige always felt lucky to spend the summer at Clearwater Ridge with the Covington’s and her best friend, Audrey. Except last summer, Audrey didn’t seem like herself. Then one night, she didn’t come home, and left more lies than clues in her wake. No one, including Paige or Audrey’s brother, Dylan, can make sense of what happened. With the case having gone cold, Paige stumbles across a secret hidden in Audrey’s room that changes everything.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
🎧 Audiobook
Apr. 3

Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished, leaving her only daughter, Bel, as the witness. But Bel has no memory of it and Rachel is long gone. All she can do is try to escape the shadow of her mother’s disappearance, despite the true crime documentary that the Price family has agreed to film. Bel just wants it to be over, until Rachel shows up with an impossible story of what happened. But is it impossible, or just a lie?

Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
🎧 Audiobook
Apr. 23

Lulu Wong is one of the most famous faces in 1932 Hollywood, especially to the Chow sisters, her former classmates and neighbors. When the three sisters find a body one morning, they immediately recognize it as Lulu. When they try to argue that her death was the result of foul play, they quickly find that the police are in no hurry to help their Chinatown community. This means they must solve her murder, and maybe save their neighborhood, themselves.

*Title availability may vary by library & region.

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If your TBR has room for more, check out the full list of the best books of 2024 (so far):