The Reading Lounge: March New Releases
A curated list of 15 March books I can't wait to read
March new releases are an abundance of options, so it was especially hard for me to narrow down my most anticipated. As a mood reader, I’m heading into March in a literary and thriller mood, so my list reflects that. 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 March new releases you’re looking forward to reading!
In case you missed February’s New Releases…
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft (Bloomsbury Publishing) - 3/5
Eight translators arrive at a house in a primeval Polish forest on the border of Belarus. It belongs to the world-renowned author Irena Rey, and they are there to translate her magnum opus, Gray Eminence. But within days of their arrival, Irena disappears without a trace. - The author is a translator so this feels like it would have authentic details, plus I can NEVER pass up a missing person story, that has built in suspense in my opinion
The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan (Catapult) - 3/5
In this debut novel, the narrator, an artist in her late twenties, awakens one morning to a deep drone in her right ear, she is diagnosed with Sudden Deafness, but is offered no explanation for its cause. As the specter of total deafness looms, she keeps a record of her year--a score of estrangement and enchantment, of luck and loneliness, of the chance occurrences to which she becomes attuned--while living alone in a New York City studio apartment with her dog. Through a series of fleeting and often humorous encounters--with neighbors, an ex-lover, doctors, strangers, family members, faraway friends, and with the lives and works of artists, filmmakers, musicians, and philosophers--making meaning becomes a form of consolation and curiosity, a form of survival
Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan (Grayson House) - 3/5
Set against a high-society Shanghai wedding, a heartfelt, funny, dazzling novel about a reluctant bride and her two best friends, each with their own motives and fed up with the way society treats women, who forge a plan to steal all the gift money on the big day
Change by Edouard Louis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) - 3/5
Édouard Louis longs for a life beyond the poverty, discrimination, and violence in his working-class hometown--so he sets out for school in Amiens, and, later, university in Paris. He sheds the provincial "Eddy" for an elegant new name, determined to eradicate every aspect of his past. He reads incessantly; he dines with aristocrats; he spends nights with millionaires and drug-dealers alike. Everything he does is motivated by a single obsession: to become someone else.
James by Percival Everett (Doubleday) - 3/19
A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view
What Happened To Nina? by Dervla McTiernan (William Morrow) - 3/26
Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family's cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home. What happened to Nina? Nobody knows. Simon's explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn't add up. Nina's parents push the police for answers, and Simon's parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign. How far will his family go to keep him safe? How far will her family go to get to the truth?
Rabbit Heart: A Mother’s Murder, A Daughter’s Story by Kristine Ervin - 3/26
For readers of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a beautiful, brutal memoir documenting one woman's search for identity alongside her family's decades-long quest to identify the two men who abducted--and murdered--her mother
The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracy Graves Graves (St. Martin’s Press) - 3/26 recommended to me by one of my trusted sources Amy from @novelgossip- she said this is a complicated love story- my favorite kind!
Thirty-four-year-old Wren Waters believes that if you pay attention, the universe will send you exactly what you need. But her worldview shatters when the universe delivers two life-altering blows she didn’t see coming, and all she wants to do is put the whole heartbreaking mess behind her. She decides that a weeklong solo quest geocaching in Oregon is exactly what she needs to take back control of her life. Enter Marshall Hendricks, a psychologist searching for distraction as he struggles with a life-altering blow of his own. Though Wren initially rebuffs Marshall’s attempt at hiker small talk, she’s beyond grateful when he rescues her from a horrifying encounter farther down the trail. In the interest of safety, Marshall suggests partnering up to look for additional caches….
A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Mariner Books) - 3/26
A novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.
Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf (Park Row Books) - 3/26
The Best Friend. The Confidant. The Senator. The Boyfriend. The Executive.
Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show--someone is out for blood. And the game can't end until the world knows who the contestants really are...
Other Books I’m Excited To Read
The Hunter by Tana French (Viking) - 3/5
Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner (Grand Central Publishing) - 3/12
Lilith by Eric Rickstad (Blackstone) - 3/19
Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld (Harper) - 3/26
The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline (G.P. Putnam Sons) - 3/26
I’d love to hear what March releases you’re excited about reading!
This type of newsletter takes quite a bit of time to research, provide a blurb, and link 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 sharing this post with a friend are great ways to support my work.
Great list, Renee! I’ve read What Happened to Nina? and really enjoyed it. There’s a lot for discussion! I wish the cover would have been different though, not a fan.
I’ve been looking forward to James and Everyone is Watching. However now due to your list I’m adding on several. Of those, The Trail of Lost Hearts, The Hearing Test, What Happened to Nina, and Rabbit Heart. Really the whole list was so good! Thanks for giving us a great selection.