February may be a short month, but it’s packed full of exciting new releases in every genre! These eight books only scratch the surface, but we’ll be back every Tuesday with more out each week.
I’m especially loving all the horror-ish genre-blending books out in February, like the slasher rom-com How to Kill A Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson and the horror/psychological thriller Greedy by Callie Kazumi. Even the YA dark academia fantasy Queen of Faces by Petra Lord is full of inconvenient corpses. What can I say—horror feels relevant to every genre these days.
But don’t worry, there’s also a slapstick fantasy book to escape into, or you can immerse yourself in a story of sapphic obsession in small town Ireland. Let us know what’s at the top of your TBR for February!
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All Access members, read on for eight of the most exciting new books out in February.
Fiction
Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth
Chloe Michelle Howarth’s Sunburn got a lot of buzz, so fans have been counting down to the U.S. release of the follow-up. It’s being pitched as a “new take on sapphic obsession, for fans of All Our Wives Under the Sea,” which instantly put it on my TBR. It follows a set of siblings who have just moved to the town of Ballycrea in 1965. A wealthy, childless couple in their forties takes them under their wing, but one of the sisters soon becomes obsessed with the wife, Betty. And the siblings are hiding secrets about their past. —Danika Ellis
Romance
How to Kill A Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson
If you love romance almost as much as you love horror, pick this book up. Jamie Prescott is innocently attending a speed dating event with her friend when the lights go out. When they come back on, her date’s throat has been slit open. There are also more dead bodies scattered around the venue. Now the remaining speed daters scramble to find a way out before they’re next. Jamie will have to pull from her knowledge of horror movies to make sure she lasts til the end. —Emily Martin
Mystery/Thrillers
The Exes by Leodora Darlington
For fans of unreliable narrators and multiple POV and timelines
Nat has a history of dead exes. They all died in accidents or in self-defense, and they all were terrible men. Nat doesn’t remember any of the incidents because she blacked out during them. Now she’s discovered that her husband James used their savings for IVF to pay off a blackmailing family member who thinks Nat is a murderer. —Jamie Canaves
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers (Titan Books, February 3)
In this funny debut fantasy, Sir Cameron is a knight who dislikes confrontation, and has done a good job avoiding it…until now. The Church has decided that in order to beat mad sorcerer Merulo, Sir Cameron—wait for it—needs to die. And in order to keep this from happening, he runs to the one person he should be afraid of: mad sorcerer Merulo. (Also it deserves a “Subtitle of the Year” award for “In Which Many Homosexual Things Happen.”) —Liberty Hardy
Horror
Greedy by Callie Kazumi
This horror/psychological thriller novel is perfect for fans of Parasite and The Menu. It follows Edward Cook, a British man living in Japan. He’s drowning in debt because of his gambling addiction, and he’s desperate for work. So he takes a job as a chef for Hazeline Yamamoto, a reclusive woman living in a remote mountain estate. Hazeline is a certified gourmand with a particular palate, but Edward is horrified to discover what Hazeline is really doing and what she wants Edward to do for her. —Emily Martin
Comics/Graphic Novels
Mama Came Callin’ by Ezra Clayton Daniels and Camilla Sucre
In this compelling and complex murder mystery, a young woman is forced to face the truth about her traumatic past: her father did not kill her mother as she always believed. So who is responsible for her mother’s death, and how does their community’s long and ugly history of racism factor in? —Eileen Gonzalez
Young Adult
Queen of Faces by Petra Lord
In the world of this YA dark academia, human bodies can be replaced, if you have the money. Anabelle Gage is trapped in a decaying male body and desperate to get out of it, so she attempts to steal one from the Paragon Academy, where students are automatically given new ones. But caught by the school’s headmaster, Anabelle is blackmailed into being his personal mercenary instead. —Liberty Hardy
Nonfiction
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell
Toni Morrison is one of the most beloved American writers of all time, and I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a deep dive into her work. Based on her famous lecture series, Namwali Serpell walks readers through every Morrison novel, each chapter focusing on one book with accompanying themes and ideas. I can’t get my hands on this title fast enough! —Kendra Winchester
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Other Book Riot New Releases Resources:
- All the Books, our weekly new book releases podcast, where Liberty and a cast of co-hosts talk about the most interesting books out that week.
- The New Books Newsletter, where we send you an email of the books out this week that are getting buzz.
- Finally, if you want the real inside scoop on new releases, you have to check out Book Riot’s New Release Index! That’s where I find 90% of new releases.
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