The Reading Lounge: February New Releases

A curated list of 15 new February books I can't wait to read

This type of newsletter takes quite a bit of time to curate, so if you enjoy this list of new releases, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future issues! Subscribing, upgrading to paid (if it’s within your budget), and/or sharing this post with a friend lets me know you value my work.

Hello! Before I get to the MANY new releases coming our way in February, I want to say a quick thank you to those who filled out my recent feedback polls regarding content you’d like to see here. It is so helpful to have a better idea of what you’d like to see in my newsletters. Your responses made me switch up my newsletter content for this week and get to work creating this February new releases post - you all clearly want more new release content and I’m happy to provide that! If you missed seeing the feedback post I’ll link below, it remains open forever and your feedback is much appreciated

I would love your feedback!

I decided to curate the list of new February books for this newsletter because there are truly SO many new books releasing this month and in March that it would be a super long list. I’m focusing here on the books that sound interesting to me and I think (hope:) that since you’re here they’ll sound good to you too. I’m also including the publisher plus a brief premise of the story. Be sure to let me know in the comments what February new releases you’re looking forward to reading!

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan - Feb 6 (Little, Brown and Company)

When a 10-year-old child is suspected of a violent crime, her family must face the truth about their past in this haunting, propulsive, psychologically keen story about class, trauma, and family secrets

The Road From Belhaven by Margot Livesey - Feb 6 (Knopf)

Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven Farm, Lizzie Craig discovers as a small child that she can see into the future. But her gift is selective--she doesn't, for instance, see that she has an older sister who will come to join the family. As her "pictures" foretell various incidents and accidents, she begins to realize a painful truth: she may glimpse the future, but she can seldom change it

Private Equity by Carrie Sun - Feb 13 (memoir- Penguin Random House)

A gripping memoir of one woman's self-discovery inside a top Wall Street firm, and an urgent indictment of privilege, extreme wealth, and work culture

Leaving by Roxana Robinson - Feb 13 ( W. W. Norton & Company)

Sarah and Warren's college love story ended in a single moment. Decades later, when a chance meeting brings them together, a passion ignites--threatening the foundations of the lives they've built apart. This is an engrossing exploration of the vows we make to one another, the tensile relationships between parents and their children, and what we owe to others and ourselves. —-I’m currently reading this and let me tell you I don’t want to put it down!

I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall - Feb 13 (Soft Skull)

A Black woman's coming-of-age story, chronicling a life-changing friendship, the interplay between music fandom and identity, and the slipperiness of sanity

Original Sins by Erin Young - Feb 13 (Flatiron Books)

In a brilliant and addictive thriller for fans of Tana French and Liz Moore, FBI rookie Riley Fisher must navigate a brutal serial killer as well as a kidnapping plot against the governor

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown - Feb 13 (William Morrow)

A debut novel full of magic, adventure, and romance, The Book of Doors opens up a thrilling world of contemporary fantasy for readers of The Midnight Library, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Night Circus, and any modern story that mixes the wonder of the unknown with just a tinge of darkness

Lone Wolf: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz - Feb 13 (Minotaur Books)

Once a black ops government assassin known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak left the Program, went deep underground, and reinvented himself as someone who will go anywhere and risk everything to help the truly desperate who have nowhere else to turn. Now struggling with an unexpected personal crisis, Evan goes back to the very basics of his mission - and this time, the truly desperate is a little girl who wants him to find her missing dog —- I’m listening to this and the narrator, Scott Brick is excellent with voices, he truly brings Orphan X to life- this is such a great, action packed thriller series, can be read as a standalone or start with Orphan X (book 1)

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg - Feb 20 (Nonfiction - Random House)

Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation.

Mrs Gulliver by Valerie Martin - Feb 20 (Doubleday)

Spirits of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, as well as the devilish denizens of the magical island in The Tempest, haunt this steamy tale of passionate love, found and lost, and found again.

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker - Feb 20 (Mariner Books)

Orphan Train meets Before We Were Yours meets Water for Elephants in this compelling multigenerational novel of survival, love, and the families we make. A sprawling, beautiful delight of a novel spanning nearly a century as four generations gradually peel back the layers of long-buried family secrets that may just change everything.

The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill - Feb 20 (Harper)

Moving between late 1990s small-town Texas to pre-World War II Japan and occupied Tokyo, an emotionally engaging literary debut about a grandmother and granddaughter who connect over a beloved lost place and the secrets they both carry

Hard Girls by J. Robert Lennon - Feb 20 (Mulholland)

In this razor-sharp crime novel, two estranged twin sisters hunt down their elusive mother--and face down the darkness they tried to escape. Melding elements of a chase novel, an espionage thriller, and domestic suspense, Hard Girls is an utterly distinctive pastiche--propulsive, mysterious, cracked, intelligent, and unexpected at every turn.

Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley - Feb 27 (Memoir - MCD)

A memoir that is a deeply moving and surprisingly suspenseful portrait of friendship, and a book about loss packed with verve for life

After Annie by Anna Quindlen - Feb 27 (Random House)

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her children, and her closest friend are left to find a way forward without the woman who has been the lynchpin of all their lives. Over the course of the next year what saves them all is Annie, ever-present in their minds, loving but not sentimental, caring but nobody's fool, a voice in their heads that is funny and sharp and remarkably clear. The power she has given to those who loved her is the power to go on without her. The lesson they learn is that no one beloved is ever truly gone.

February is looking great for books and reading! I’d love to hear what new releases you’re looking forward to reading…

Have a great weekend!